#elsewhere

Symon checks his contacts, and winces a bit when he realizes he had Jimmy listed under 'Jamie'. He gives JIMMY a call...

Somewhere, Jimmy stares at his phone. It's never RUNG before. Even Robo callers forget he exists. He gets some Texts, mostly adressed to Timmy or Jaimie, sometimes to 'whom it may concern' but it's rare. But an actual call? Crazy

On the fourth ring, he picks it up "Hello?"

"Hey Jimmy, it's Symon. From School, y'know. Can you talk?"

"Well yes" And he doesn't say he can even do it at normal volume. Sluagh don't find that funny "Wha'ts up?"

"Some bullshit is going down with a Dairrean lord thinking he can claim vengeance on my mom. And he put in a hit on Dagmar's dog as a distraction, so she's really pissed too, not like she wasn't before. I have to chase down this hitman to confirm who hired him, if I can... but without shaking him down troll-style... it's complicated. I was hoping maybe if you were up for some action, you could be my wingman, since you can blend in so well..."

"Wait, Twobit got hurt?"

"Nah, browndog, the mutt."

"Poisoned, just to wave his dick around that he can do whatever he wants." The soft voice is angry.

"Brown Dog? The goof? What kind of sick asshole goes after a dog that's biggest crime is getting lost chasing his tail?"

"Right?"

"Sure, I'll help" He says realizing there was a request "Sorry just.. got caught up in the idea someone hurt Brown Dog"

"Thanks. We have to get to Boston - it's about 3 hours drive, I think. I'll cover the way there in dross if we can Flicker-flash, or can get a Knight's Heart. Dagmar thought the bus sounded dangerous. What do you think?"

"I can borrow my grandma's car" He offers

"That would be great, actually. I can pay gas and anything else. ...you sure? I think you'll be safe if they don't recognize you as connected to Ann Marie or me... but I can't guarantee anything."

"The only one who remembers my name every time is my grand ma" he reminds "Under color of my eyes, most have me listed as 'two' It's good" He assures

"Good. When would you be ready to go? I don't want to sit around waiting for them to try something new."

"I guess I can go now" He says

"I'm at the Lodge and will get some supplies together, if you can meet me here."

"Sure. I'll be there in ten minutes"

"Thanks." He closes the phone, then heads to the kitchen - not stocking up a lot, but putting together some road trip provisions. He is careful to keep Timmy's food separate from his own. Once that's packed in his bag, he checks the rafters. "Lovecraft? Psss pss pss pss" Making the universal 'call the kitty' sound.

"rrrow?"

He offers a bit of chicken lunchmeat snagged from the fridge. "Do you want to come on a trip with me? Or stay here to watch over mom? She's more used to you than Quetz... but you'll always be my best girl, you know that."

"Better Be" she snags the food

"I stay. Want to play hunt with any hunters"

A stroke on her back, and after looking for any watchers, he checks the crawl space, where his snake was on the lookout for unwary chimerical rats, bugs or vermin he would be free to hunt. "Quetz? Good hunting?" He offers a raw shrimp from the freezer, warmed up in his hand. Not sure if that's what the snake might like, but it's basically a sea-bug, right?

"Quetz guarding father" Lovecraft says

"Ah." He slides the shrimp into "his" cabinet, it might be nicely aged by the time he comes back. "That's good." Still, he feels a bit naked without his companions. "You two keep everyone safe."

"don't die or I'll nible your corpse eyes"

Symon scolds her softly. "You know the eyes are yours, but do be a dear and leave the rest for Lilly?"

She licks her paws, but does not say no

Thus bereft of any companionship, he checks to see if the Level Boss - er - Ann Marie, is still sleeping.

She is up.. and making phone calls

He approaches. "Mom? I'm going out with a friend from school for a bit."

SHe looks up and over "Are you sure you'll be okay? What if someone comes after you?" Worry

"We're going for a drive, so we can run any assassins over." He gives her a reassuring gummy smile.

"Symon, I don't know about this..." She says "Oh, we? Welll.. fine. Just.. text me every few hours?"

He gives her a quick clammy hug. "Will do." And he's off to meet with Sammy.

She kisses his forehead "My little shadow stretches so far" And glamour flows

She cast something

“Mom? Did you do something?” He whispers...

"Just a wish for luck" She assures " I may not be with you, but you're my son. And I will do what I can"

———
Symon glances over at Jimmy. Small talk isn’t really the sluagh’s forte, but he makes an attempt. “You been going to the farm school?”

"you haven't?" surprised

Checking his phone for messages- no updates, good- no news is good news. “Yeah, but mostly the quieter classes. I hadn’t seen you around.” He says before realizing how silly that sounds.

"Ha. I haven't seen you much either. Guess for different reasons." He says as the car moves on. "Yeah. I tend to get overlooked as usual, until someth8ing goes misssing, THEN they remember me"

Symon resists the urge to check his pockets. “Sorry. I know what it’s liked to get pigeon-holed as a kith stereotype, I didn’t know you were getting the same. They’re not accusing you of stealing stuff, are they? I mean beyond the... uh. Borrowing.”

"Not really. They're pretty cool. " He says "Guess I can't blame them. I don't even know I'm doing it sometime"

"So what are we looking for again? I mean, Boston, Roadtrip. Okay but... any details?"

He mulls this over for a bit, before filling Jimmy in on the basics of what’s been going on. “So since she was ballsy enough to think she could nab a ward from under this lord’s nose without retribution, here we are now seven years later.” A scowl. “... not that she could have ignored it if she tried. It’s in her nature, and not just as a boggan. She’s... too good for this kind of underhanded shit, you know? She deserves better.”