#bergen_county

"You want to see MY symon?" Anne Marie is startled. She has worked with this woman before, but didn't expect here.

"If it's not too much trouble, Ma'am" Clem says polite like and tips her straw hat

"Well, come in, He's probably heard you" The boggan smiles

A mop of dark greasy hair peers from around the corner, a mask covering most of the face. Not one of Anne Marie's, this one is black and has a skeletal jaw pattern on it in greyish white.

"Symon are you ooo there you are" Anne Marie smiles as Symon shows himself and introduces Clem "This is Clementine DeBuke" then she whispers "SHe's the Chieftain of the Farmhold in Iowa . She's here to see you"

"Hi, Symon" She has taken her hat off and come inside

His eyes widen a touch above the mask, and then narrow as he whispers to Anne Marie, "Dirk in trouble?"

"Dirk in trouble? No.. certainly not that I know of. " Clem says "I've come to make a request of you to work with a small group of slaugh we're gathering for an objective. Miss Zara and Mr. DeVere both spoke highly of you as did Chieftain Brekke"

His eyes stay narrowed, he hadn't meant for her to overhear that. He's clearly slipping. But - a request? Interesting. "I don't think I know DeVere."

Clem blushes "Pardon. I have conversations with Sluagh.,.sharpens the ears."

Anne Marie smiles "I'll get some tea for you both, sit down"

The Chief explains "He's helped the farmhold a lot in the past"

A quiet moment of contemplation, then recognition and a nod. "DeVere. I know OF him, but haven't had a chance to meet the guy in person." He clarifies. Belatedly he gestures towards the sitting room "Uh, here." Moving a sewing project off of a chair to make room for the Chief to sit. "Tell me about the job?"

"Well, " She says taking a seat "I'll just get to it then troll style. For the longest time, one of the biggest threats to our hold has been this huge aggro corps at the side of us. Pretty much banality central, hired autumn folks, and makes agriculture a soul crushing dehumanizing tedium ... now farming is hard work, but they just about kill all the glamour in it. They wanted our land for a long time, we've fought them on the legal side, and on the not so legal side as best we could. Then..well, you remember that immense storm hit parts of Illinois Iowa and other areas?"

"Oh yeah. It was all over the news." He nods, remembering the more morbid reports.

"Well, we used our bunks .. primal, chicanery and more to have the storm miss us or go softer... " A pause "It flattened , crushed, and curbstomped the aggro corp though. Mother Nature went whole hog on that place. The big aggro corp took major losses when they discovered their insurance didn't cover things... and the land maybe going up for sale. This is good for us, but we'd rather not risk ANOTHER big corporation just buying it up."

"So, we figure we can lower their property value" Clem says as tea is handed to them both "Thank you, Ma'am"

"Don't mention it," Anne Marie gives her son his, and scoots off

Clem continues "Lower their value cheap enough to buy an acre or two buffer space ourselves. IF mortal folk become convinced that area is now haunted"

A faint smile crossing his unmasked face as he accepts the cup - perhaps he didn't even realize it. His own cup of something green without any cream, but with a mildewy smell as though the leaves got wet or moldy. "Who should this focus on? Current owners or Realtors can get the heebies but that may encourage them to market it faster and harder, and not just lower to benefit you guys. If you have a tip on any potential buyers coming out, that might help. Scare them and they'll spread the word, where the sellers might try to hush it up."

Thoughtful. "Did Big Agg do a lot of chemical treatment? Pesticides and the like? Or were they more of those nutty no-GMO hippy types? No offense to you 'natural' types."

Clem ponders "Well, we want them scared of the property so it would have to be 'on location'" A brow at the 'natural' types but she doesn't seem offended "Oh they did not spare on the chemicals. Worried us a bit actually. When the 'organic' craze kicked in.. never mind organic covers so much as to be a worthless term, they sectioned off an area , used less chemicals and sold it as specialty food at 300% mark up"

"You gotta make sure that other locals don't try to buy. If they tried to purchase your land but you held out, they might not want to sell to you out of spite. You can't just lower the price, you have to make sure you're their only option." A sip. "Maybe the storm dumped their chemicals into the water table, or something. Messy. Expensive to clean up."

"Rumours can help too. If you got a boggan or two you can depend on to disseminate what you want to be said."

Clem sips the tea, then says "I admit, you're going with a more scientific angle than I expected in some ways. I just figured a group of sluagh would have fun acting like ghosts or what not. We know one or two boggans might help. Heck, Chieftain Brekke thinks I should invite Dirk along as long as he agrees to take your lead."

A toothless grin. "Oh, I'm into that. But you also gotta know where to scare folks best. Where does it hurt the most? For these folk... probably their wallets. Fear of loss of profit, heave FORBID." A rasp of amusement. "I've been learning to diversify. Social Distancing makes a proper scare harder these days."

"Not so sure about Dirk. Now if you wanted them to think there was a crazed slasher on the loose or that the local prison had a jailbreak and a murderer was roaming the area and possibly hiding on premise... but that's a temporary problem."

"True. Maybe your chieftain just thought it would be good practice for him" Clem ponders "To be honest with you, Symon. I do feel more than a wee bit out of my element. NOt that trolls can't have guile, but you are aware we can be a bit more rigid than some folks like about honor and the use of our might etc. I worry this comes across as me asking you and other nightmare kith to do our dirty work because we're looking for an excuse to keep our hands clean, but while that might be a factor, the truth is, I know enough to know that sluagh have a history of terrifying folks. You've got some ideas I didn't consider, and I'm h appy to adjust but mostly I was going to leave a lot up to Mr. DeVere, yourself, Squire Velvet, Jacob .. that's Miss Zara's younger brother, and maybe Lily. Miss Zara thinks this could be good practice for the sluagh childlings. Miss Zara herself might be involved on and off. Would you be willing to discuss all this with them?"

He blinks. "Yes. You're asking us to do your dirty work. But there's no problem with that. That's what I'm for. I'm built to scrounge, to lurk, to slither and creep through the muck. I like it. So don't feel bad to ask, if it helps keep your conscience lily-white. It might feel like deception to you, but it's my stale bread and rancid butter." Evidently trying to reassure her.

And a nod. "That's a good idea. I worry that Lily isn't getting out enough amongst sluagh or getting chances to keep her hands dirty. And then they uproot her to some Fiona hold. It's not..." Nose wrinkle. "Healthy."

Clem says at his words "I appreciate what you're trying to say" Then at the mention of Lily "mm.. I should talk to Kyle...Warn him of the mistakes the Farm has made. We're good with trolls but we have not always done well with other kith among us, recognizing their own special dreams. I hope we've gotten better, but maybe I should tell him Lily is welcome to skulk around the farm with Mr. DeVere ... you seem fond of the childling. She your apprentice?"

Slightly taken aback. "ME? No, I'm just a local slug. Well, less local now. Not the best sluagh to learn from, but the only one in the tri-county area, y'know? So I tried to tell her about how things work, without givin' over too many of my bad habits." Sigh, "Probably for the best she has a real whisperer to learn from now. Miss Zara will set her right." A nod.

"But, yeah. I'm interested." A pause. "What's in it for us? Other than the thrill of the game."

"Well, I know that sluagh can , without ravaging, muse glamour by educating through feaR, so the game does have a prize if you're good at it" She points out "But I can tell you're a man who won't just let pokes at his pride suffice and I DO want to deal fairly. Now, Let's be earnest, helping ANY freeholder is a nice fall back in the future for when one is low on glamour and our bale is huge.. So there's that. But we have some talent that would surprise you... a Scarecrow inaminae who ..gives most of US the heebie jeebies but knows the autumn side of our farm and beyond. We can certain make a fantastic meal of your choosing and let it decay just so. I understand you like taxidermy. Tell me. Do you a stuffed vole or mole? I'm betting there are a lot of rural creatures you don't normally have access too. "

He thinks and says, "Got any goats? You could keep the meat. I just want the rest of the corpse, preferably as intact as possible."

"Or just the head."

"More portable. Hmm."

"We do, in fact, have access to goats" She says

"Better yet. Let me have one for the job. A dead animal corpse is a HELL of a prop... both spooky and lending itself to a "something ain't right here" feel chemical wise. And I can always retrieve the parts later, if it doesn't get marked as biohazard. Either way, I get to play with it, AND it benefits the job,"

A couple moments to let her imagine, then offers politely, "Would you like details? I had this idea involving the entrails..."

"Mister SYmon, have you ever raised a calf, watched it grown itno a fine bull with a friendly demeanor and big brown eyes, set it among cows to stud, and then, one winter, broke it's skull with a hammer and cut it up with a cleaver?"

He exhales softly. "No." A bit envious.

"I have. His name was Bobo. I adored him, and he was delicious. "

"But, point taken." A grin. "You don't spook so well."

"just so" She smiles "I don't claim to enjoy it either"

"Think I have give a hand in butchering some time? I don't have the stamina or muscles you do, not by far... but I'd love to get a glimpse in a larger corpse. I can even call it medical research. Human or farm critters, there's always a heart, liver, all the goodies... and sometimes extras."

"You'd be welcome to watch if you're serious, but " She puts a hand around his arm and feels a bicep "No offense? Weak blows are just needless cruelty. But sure.. good way to learn is cutting into after."

She's not sure there IS a bicep there. He flushes a little and edges away from her. "I know it. True Cruelty is for those that deserve it, and I've yet found any non-human animal in that category. Except maybe my cat, and she deserves whatever torment I give her."

She nods at that "I'm not that cynical myself, but you sound a bit like Murray, my older brother and Storm. " Amused look "And much as I like them, some cats seem to be born of dreams of 'nice guys finish last'. Probably why I prefer dogs"

"But yeah, we can get you a goat corpse. And I'll be happy to pay you by letting you help with the next animal we butcher, give you time to go over it if you like."

"Then count me on board." He nods, and if it looks like Clem is looking for more, offers a clammy hand to shake. Slightly warmed by the tea cup, like a corpse under the bright summer sun.

She does shake, but does not squeeze or act too chummy about it, when that breaks she says "Thank you, Symon. I know it's going to sound like flattery, but there's truth in when I say I consideer this the Sluagh wheelhouse and i prefer experts."

"Thanks. It sounds like fun. And I think I can figure out something for Dirk too. He should be into it, it involves free goat."

"Just one goat, we can't feed him a herd, not in raw goat form anyway. " A pause "Though if he'd like, we know a hog farm that... well, Iowa is big on pigs. Probably could literally get him a whole hog"