#bergen_county

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Sam checks and re-checks the snacks. Stale popcorn. Wings from the place at Rutgers that have turned into a science experiment inside their gladware. Tea. Mountain Dew that had been left out overnight to get flat.

And she sits on the couch, hands folded over her knees, and waits. Trolls are good at stoic. Her face is neutral.

Brown dog lays on top of her to support

He's still not fuly aware he's not twobit's size

Luckily, Dagmar has a very generous lap.

He will sniff her stoic face, and lick it to fix it

"Thanks, Mrs. King." Symon whispers to Tove, as she sees him into the den where Sam has set up for entertaining.

"Sy!" She lights up like the fourth of July for a second, grinning, eyes bright, before she gets back to something more nonchalant. "Um. Hey. There's food."

He grins back, and holds up a paper bag. "Brought something. What with your dad running a store, maybe you've seen it... but word on the internet says it's rare..." He pulls out a 6-pack of "Coconut Cream Dr. Pepper.'

"Heads, it's good and you like it, tails, I figured if it's gross I'll like it."

"Dude, I haven't even heard of that..." She reaches out, scrunching fingers in a 'gimme' gesture.

He pulls one out of the plastic rings - it actually takes a moment as he fights the plastic, but - wins! And tosses it to her. It's not a great throw, but Sam has the arm reach and coordination to catch it anyways.

She catches it and pops the tab. "Thanks." A sniff before sipping.

It smells... coconutty. Good or bad, well, that depends on your palate.

Meanwhile Symon is scooching past brown dog. He gives him an awkward pat. "Seems like it's been forever since we've had time to just hang."

"It really does. I missed this."

She takes a sip. A confused face.

"Can't be worse than the spicy one. Honest, it exists, but I couldn't find any." A huff of amusement as he slides onto the couch.

"How you been?" A touch awkwardly.

"Fine." A smile, and only a small twitch of her eyelid. "You hear about the new fledge? An eshu dropped her off on my doorstep like Harry Potter. She's off meeting with Anne-Marie right now."

A second, thoughtful sip. "I don't know how to feel about this. You try it." She holds out the can to the sluagh.

"...it kinda tastes like tanning lotion smells?"

He accepts the can and takes a sip, then makes a bit of a face. "Needs to be a bit more sour, like that time you left a coconut water in your locker and it got all bulgy..."

She holds out her hand to take it back. "Fair enough. It's not bad, it's just weird."

"Do you remember that? I gave the bottle to Eden and she hid it in the locker bag of that soccer player who kept bothering her, with a pinhole leak?" Snickering.

A touch of a wistful tone in his voice, if a whisper can be said to have such.

She takes a swig of the pop, not bothering to wipe the can. "OH yeah. God, the smell."

"Ol Coconut Courtney..." He snickers. "I suppose it wasn't nice of her to get a nickname after that, but hell, she started it. And she graduated that year anyways."

"Oh, she totally deserved a nickname. She was a bully."

"I don't like bullies."

--pause--

She slumps back in the couch, letting the can of soda dangle loosely from her fingers. Her mouth thins for a moment, drawing into a slight downward curve as a crease flickers between her eyebrows.