#bergen_county

She plunks down in the chair opposite Connor, eyeing him warily. Her faded t-shirt is baggy, with a "DeBuke's Fine Produce" logo across the front.

"Oh, that seems fair actually."

"Did you come from the land of Squash?" Head tilted to one side curiously.

"Sometimes, but not really. I come from Oz these days."

"Our house is still there. Just lifted up one day, whoosh." She whirls a fingertip in a little spiral, then smashes her hands together.

"Did you land on a witch?" He seems worried.

"I'm fine" A whisper says in a corner.

Lily sighs as she slips.

Connor, who is not startled, jumps and goes EEK!

A hand to his chest, and he pants, "You almost scared me to death! I'm comin' Florida!"

A warble and her wings make a soft clatter as they flutter in surprise.

He does not know why he would go to Florida if he died, other than maybe because a lot of old people are there and likely to be eaten by alligators, but it's a Thing People Say.

"I didn't get any new shoes out of it. That doesn't seem fair. Who are you?"

"That's my best gal." He says, wagging his tail.

"tis your fault for sounding worried, Connor. It snuck past my veneer of indifference, " Soft scoff "Most vexting." The sluagh girl looks up at the two pooka, " I am Lily. "

"We go out dancin' in blue suede shoes!"

"Hi, I'm Cheryl."

She offers her hand to the sluagh.

A long look at the hand as Lily looks for joybuzzers or other pooka standards.

"You don't need to tell her your name." Fondly. "She hears things on the winds and in the shadows. It is KNown."

Lily shakes the hand, "Greetings, as one of the few sluagh active in the area I shall be prying into your family's secrets as is my nature. I also trade and sell secrets. Here is a free one, your brother lost a fight. It's not going to stay secret long, hence the freebie."

"He got WHOMPED good. I think he bit Dirk's middle finger though. That was a good bite, it's his FAVORITE finger."

Lily's handshake is fleeting, limp and clamy, as is proper.

"He was a real gentleman though. Everyone knows that in a fight, biting is okay, but unless it's a REAL fight you never bite anything OFF."

Very solemn, this.

"Else they lock you up with the Mad Dogs!"

Lily looks at Connor "Some of us are denied teeth so the caveat is appreciated."

"You can still bite. It's just cute."

A sigh "Cute. Such a curse."

"You could get dentures? And put poison in a tooth!"

Her feathers fluff then slick. "Oh."

She fidgets.

Connor looks at her. "What's wrong? You don't look as coo as a cucumber any more."

"Your brother IS fine," Lily says, pooka, blast them, often move her to almost unseemly moments of compassion and Connor brings out a civic mindedness in her that encourages her to actually give a darn about others. "Just beat up."

She looks up at the ceiling. "You sure? He..."

"We're all we got."

"Then hold onto what you got, and go out and get more." Simple as pie.

Lily assures "Oh yes, swollen tissue about the eyes and lips are rarely life threatening, and well, he is a redcap, they are tenacious cousins of we slaugh... less refined dreams of fear than ours, but sturdy. He can drop by the balefire at either goldfinch or Rivervale if he wishes a quicker recovery I am sure."

"I came here with nothing but the fur on my back, and now I run the place." He looks to Lily. "Just ask my chief deputy, she knows I never lie."

"I know much" She concedes that much.

"Yeah. Yeah. No. Yeah. I know."

She puts on a smile.

But her fingers twist together, and she hasn't finished her cookies.

Connor frowns. "There's no crying in baseball, and no lying with friends. If he means that much to you, well."

"Everybody knows I never lie. Honest Amy, that's what folks call me."

He stands up and brushes cookies off. "I guess We'll just have to make you part of the Syndicate. We're a Protection Racket, you see."

"Should I spy on your brother for you?" Lily offers "I shan't even ask for your future first born, the market is NOT what it was for those."

"You join up, and we protect. Sure, we shake folk down for protection loot, but it's all in a gangster's day's work. Portant thing is, we protect our own. "

She shrinks, shoulders curled, but she smiles brighter.