#bergen_county

Symon gets a Text,from Nadeen TXT:I'd like to meet with you.

Dagmar gets a text from Kerri: TXT: Would you still like me to meet with you and Symon? I'm not sure if yesterday settled everything for you.

TXT: I think things are better?

TXT: That's good. I might talk with him still.

TXT: Okay

TXT (to Dagmar): Please have him get in touch with me? I don't have his number.

Clearly the Varich are devious

Brow furrow.

TXT: Kerri wants to talk to you. Probably about Nadeen. Or me. I'm sorry.

And he heads lodgewards.

He can hear the sounds of kitchen work -- sweeping and moving things around -- as he approaches.

He gives a polite knock on the wall as he peers inward. Kitchens being largely outside of his domain., other than to hide behind cupboards or seek the aging drawers.

Kerri turns at the knock and spots him (because he wants to be spotted). "Hello, Symon. Come in."

“Dagmar said you needed something?” He enters, at least to the ‘in’ side of the door, staying out of her way.

And an invisible Anne Marie scolds him. “Uh. And hello, Hearth.”

"Well, to talk, yes. Would you like something to eat?" She opens the sluagh-treats cabinet and looks through the sealed food containers. "Some old egg noodles?"

“Nah. I mean, No, thank you. I’m good.”

"Oh, well...if you change your mind, tell me." She closes the cabinet and offers him a seat on a stool at the kitchen island.

He moves over and perches, rather like a gargoyle worn down to thin spires of stone and grotesquery. “Is Dagmar okay?” He asks, abruptly.

She leans back against a counter and looks at him with a slight approving grin. After a moment, a nod. "I think so, yes. Better than she was."

He frowns, disliking that he’s so transparent. But he’s started to get used to it, living with a boggan for a ma. “I don’t like it, you know.” He mutters. “The way she treats her.”

"Things may have changed." She gives him another look. "You want to protect her."

He looks away, not meeting her gaze. “She deserves better than someone who expects her to be a side-piece to a glory hound who wants schmooze up to something she thinks she deserves just because of a title she didn’t even EARN in this lifetime.”

"Mmm." A nod, a heartfelt one. "Well...as I say, things may have changed. I don't want to say more...that's for Dagmar to explain." She pauses. "There's still something you have to do, though."

“Me?”

She nods again. "You. Dagmar values you as a friend. She also cares a great deal for Nadeen. The tension between you and Nadeen has gotten increasingly difficult for her."

He exhales with a soundless puff of frustration. “Listen, I’ve tried. I don’t talk sh- I don’t badmouth her, not around Dagmar. Or anyone else, really. Except you asked.”

“I try to include her. I even said she could invite her to one of our board games - she has that eye for strategy thing going on - she might actually be worth setting up Starfleet Battles for, if it wasn’t too nerdy for her. And if it wasn’t an invite from a sneaky, conniving, plotting, deceiving wormtongued creature. After all.”

“I don’t CARE being called that shit, you know. When I’ve done something to earn it. But being given the stink eye for something that happened aeons ago - IF IT EVEN happened, that gets stuck in my craw.”

Kerri listens, and nods slowly at the end. "I can understand that. And I think...I think that's a very fair approach. Can you respect, though, that Dagmar still cares for her and wants to make room for her in her life, somehow? I can tell you that the worst of your concerns may have been alleviated."

He looks at Kerri as though she asked if the sky was blue. “Of course. I like Dagmar much more than I dislike even Nadeen. And if she’s part of the package, then... well, that’s my dumbass fault for letting a seelie sink hooks into me.”

"Ah, yes, those darn seelie hooks." The Hearth grins. "Well...I think maybe you should talk to Dagmar, then. Get an update."

“Yeah, we have a quest to plan!” And then a sudden pained look. “You don’t think.... never mind. I guess I’ll find out.”

Curious. "Think what?"

“Just wondering if we’re getting a third wheel on our quest. And that’s not even fair, because even when I was there first, I always end up as the odd one out.” A snort. “Well, I make an effort towards the odd, I guess that’s what I get.”

She shakes her head. "I can almost assure you that's not what's happening."

He kicks his feet, dangling a bit from the height of the troll-height stool. “Hearth - do you think it would help if we DID quest together?”

"The three of you?"

A glum nod.

“There’s that saying about misery and strange bedfellows.”

And he gulps and rapidly shakes his head. “Not like THAT!” He is clear to insist.

"Understood. Well, it depends on what 'help' means. Do I think you and Nadeen would understand each other better, and maybe even find value in each other? Yes, I do. Do I think you need to do that right now?" She shakes her head.

“Well, that’s something, at least. And I admit she’s useful. I just wish she was useful somewhere else. But if they can make perfume out of whale vomit, maybe someday she’ll find something worthwhile about some sluagh. If not me.” Amused. “I’ll talk to Dagmar. whatever you did to make things better with them.... thanks.”

"Well...I just facilitated. Just...Symon, try to avoid doing a victory lap, please? Supportive best friend is needed today, I think."

He nods. “Where’d you see her last?”

“Wait, before I go... did she talk to you about school at all?”

"A bit, yes. I think some of those issues may be lessened...but not all. I'd appreciate knowing what you see in that situation, though."

He ducks his head a bit. “I wasn’t paying enough attention. I didn’t know anything was wrong until she just wasn’t there any more. But... I had some ideas about maybe, ways to make things suck less?” And he gives Kerri the nickel tour of the ideas he had floated by Dagmar earlier. “I figured maybe Vali would know if it’s all just dumb ideas, though.”

"Hm..." she considers. "Those might be worth some discussion."

“Maybe the cornboys can handle farm school, but I bet Dagmar’s not the only one who’ll eventually go mad, especially once winter hits and we’re cooped up inside more.”