#debukefarmhold

"But note - the wicked."

"Well, and sometimes we have quite a good time with terrifying the merely naughty."

"there we go" Clem says as if she was waiting for the other shoe to drop

"Wicked first, merely naughty is okay if we're bored?" Jacob says

A mischievous little smile. "About such, aye."

Jacob almost visibly files this away for later.

"Clem, truth, you enjoy a good scare a'times. No?"

"That is why we tell scary stories, and make monster movies, or why the humans celebrate Halloween."

"At the risk of opening up a can of worms, sometimes yes"

"there are stories, like mr poe.. I've been to his grave..."

That last from Jacob

"Mr. Poe was not a sluagh. He should have been, aye, but nonetheless..."

"oh.. he wasn't? " The boy sighs "Life was so unfair to him"

Clem has that look as if she's not sure she's being messed with or not

"Indeed! But his stories.. well, surely he was mused by us."

"Mused?" A blank look

"We are born of dreamstuff, nu? So - we harvest what we sow, by inspiring mortals - humans - to dream and hope and create. To believe in something more."

"You can reap some glamour by crushing dreams, aye - at the risk of permanent damage to the human and yourself. That.. ah... was the risk of what you nearly did in the graveyard."

He hangs his head

"It's like hurting the goose what lays the golden eggs" Clem explains

"Nobody is mad at you. You did not know. But we will teach you the safer way, aye?"

"yes..." he says

Clem recites the escheat to him, gently, then explains "Now, most folks see this as.."

But then finishes "But every kith, and indeed, every kithain, has their own take. Sluagh, as you're learning, have a rich culture with rules dear to them. Rules I, as a troll, will never know"

Zara inclines her head to Clem.

"Do trolls have rules? and uh a rich culture?" He asks

Clem smiles "Well, yes, though we are reserved they're not exactly secrets."

At that his interest visibly wanes a touch

"Oh, I don't know - not so many know about Lodges proper. Or.. ah... Dagda." That grin again.

"Dagda?" Jacob raises a brow

"Oh you don't want to know about that, " Clem waves it off

"I think I do," The boy says

"Well..." She ponders, "It's all rather trollish"

"Please?" he thinks of a word that might work

Clem smiles, and then answers "Well.." And she goes by the Code of Dagda, and explains "A lot of that is because we're so big, and have a sense of fair play."

When Jacob hears all this, he says "it sounds ...kind of self defeating. I mean, nice and all... but it closes off a lot of choices"

"Zara can tell you first hand how trollways can be , cumbersome by sluagh standards"

A long-suffering sigh.

"Aye."

That gets a smirk from Clem

"They probably don't mean to be cumb..cumbersome" The boy tests the word

"No. But oh, wait until you see one trying to be sneaky..."

"I know i'm new but you can't believe I'm gonna fall for that, they're like elephant tall"

He says with that roll

"I said try..."

Clem ignores the eyeroll, "Glad he said 'tall'" She looks at her hips

"But why would they bother? " He says "I Mean you can hear every step...wwoomb..woomb..."

"We do not whomb whomb" Clem protests

"Ah..."

"If I may..."