#goldfinchfreehold

Sunny considers this "GOT to make.. yeah, been feeling more and more of that for weeks"

A laugh. "Okay, definitely sounds like a loser. Oh...sorry, Mike. He's you're dad, and I shouldn't say stuff like that."

Quiet troll-brow.

"Yeah" Mike sighs "I.. I didn't know he hit mom"

"Just once, Mike" She starts to say

"I don't give a shit if hit you JUST Once, mom.. he hit you." Mike flares up, a bit of nocker blood showing

Brows furrow with quiet anger.

"I don't want you hating your dad," Sunny says "he's ... got issues. The problem is, mommy just didn't want to subscribe anymore."

Mike frowns but nods

"Why don't you get yourself a soda from that vending machine" She hands her son some coins and sends him off. Once Mike leaves ,she looks at the two trolls "I'm sorry .. family baggage. "

"Ha. Welcome to the club."

"Well...he's not wrong." Sylvi gives her a serious look. "There's no 'just once' when it comes to hitting, especially when he was emotionally abusing you, too."

A nod as she points at Sylvi.

A wry grin at Dagmar's comment.

"TO be honest, the psychological stuff hit me harder than that slap did" She sighs "Look you girls look young.... holy shit tall, but young. Never ever hook up with a guy who gaslights you into thinking his problems are all your fault. " A smile though "Still, you two seem to have more sense now than I did when I was 20."

"We have nonsense about different things."

"Well, I think we've both made missteps...but we've also had the benefit of knowing that our lives are a whole lot more interesting than a lot of mortals ever get. Helps keep my head on right, anyway. And yeah...we get different kinds of nonsense."

"Like the shadow that spoke with my Ex's voice?" A thought "Yeah, thank goodness for Piper cheering me on"

"Oh, chrysalis stuff can be crazy scary. I was there for Dagmar's. Bugs, everywhere." She shakes her head.

"Well, really, mostly one BIG bug."

She looks at the stockings again, running the fabric between her fingers. Her brow furrows in thought.

"Jeeez" A chuckle "I'm almost imaginging my Ex's head on a roach's body now. Makes the roach uglier"

That's real clothing, with chimeric toucches

"Joy. Sounds like a catch."

"Like Covid " Wry

Mike whoops

Sylvi looks towards the sound and grins. "Sounds like somebody hit the vending machine jackpot."

"What, it dropped two of them?"

"Oh, you'll see. Ain't a normal bottle of anything in there..."

Mike comes in "It gave me an axe! I mean, a small one.. more like a tomahawk"

A hand axe to be precise.

Chimerical looks like. Good balance

The MOTHER However raises a brow "Oh.. hell no"

"Mm.. looks good for throwing..."

"Nice!" Then she looks at Sunny. "I mean, it's your call." But a look that suggests that thirteen is PLENTY old enough for a throwing axe.

"Yeah? " He offers it to Dagmar "Is the balance good? It FEELS good"

Dagmar checks, bouncing it a bit in her hand. "Oh yeah. Yeetable."

"COOL" he looks at Sunny "Mom, PLEAAAASE? This a dangerous world. You wouldn't want me facing a monster without Axe insurance?"

"And Dagmar knows all about the yeet."

Sunny sighs "FIne.. FOR NOW. And you wwill practice with it a half hour a day at least under SAFE conditions"

"Um, you'll need an axe AND training," Sylvi points out. "Again, Dagmar's your person there."

A nod to Sunny. Reasonable.

Then a sudden "Oh!" A smile and she snaps her fingers. "That's what it was! Something was nagging at the back of my head...."

"I mean, sure? "

"Sunny, I think I know somebody you should talk to, but I don't want to promise anything yet. I gotta make a call. Excuse me a bit?"

"Sure.." She says "And.. thanks, Sylvi"

Sylvi's already dialing the phone. "My pleasure!" she says as she heads out of the freehold proper and up towards the more mundane studio area.

"Dagmar thanks for teaching me " Mike says "I'll pay attention. I got a lot of motivation to.. " A glance at his mom, then he lowers his voice "To learn to look out for what's important to me" True

"I get that." She nods. "Important to do that."

"Hey, I hear mumbling.. VERY SUSPICOUS.." Sunny says