#rivervale_lodge

"Ask. Tell them I'll talk price on her behalf." Jaymes says, "Tell them Jaymes Ironhawk pays his debts"

"Sorry, Symon, I know you wanted to talk to Sylvi..."

He swallows, lump bobbing in his scrawny neck, and nods to Jaymes. Eyes flick back to Dagmar, and he shrugs noncommittally. "Not the end of the world. Nothing as important as keeping you upright. I bet 12' coffins don't come cheap, and you'd never live down dying of a bugbite because you didn't have your flyswatter." Amused.

A bark of laughter.

Jaymes shakes his head then asks, "Okay, what's the flyswater talk about again?"

"My halberd. He calls her a flyswatter..."

"Ha, so she does have a name"

"Oh, c'mon!"

An inaudible snicker. "There are worse names... zitpopper, buttscratcher..." He ducks aside - not sure if the punch is coming, but fully aware that it would be deserved.

A very-gentle shoulder tap.

..which only rocks him back slightly. "Sorry!"

Very little repentance in it.

Jaymes nods,"You'll find your own name for her,, but given the nature of your enemy, maybe Flyswatter is a good one for now"

She snorts. "I should shower. Can I take one here?"

He suddenly notices the box of chocolates on the bench, still half full. His eyes widen. "Are those yours?" Prodding at Dagmar, before she can run off to primp.

"Sylvi's. She's selling them. Matthew bought, like, seven!"

"Chocolate. Obvious. Think she'll sell me some?" A hand digs down into his pocket, pulling of a wrinkled wad - mostly lint, but some green showing there.

"Probably?"

"go shower..." Jaymes says, then looks at the sluagh, "You want to stay here tonight, Symon? You can talk to Sylvi later"

She rises, much more stable on her feet. She sniffs and makes a face. "Oh yeah. I smell like shit."

"I didn't notice." He shrugs a little, but gives her a wave off. "Probably a bad sign."

"Seeya..."

"Seeya both." A look from Sy to Jaymes, and then she's off towards the lodge.

Jaymes nods at the farewell

After Dagmar is gone, he gives Jaymes a look - mostly apprehensive. "It's about tomorrow. I didn't think I had to do anything. But then my dad mentioned... he thought I'd already got something." A swallow, and he says defensively, "I didn't think I had to. She's not my mom. I don't have one."

"Oh..." He eyes the chocolates, "I think I see an out. Just put three bucks down, take one. I know Sylvi will be thrilled. ANd your step mom will probably like it."

He hesitates a moment, then says, "I do like bugs. But Dagmar's a friend. And Sylvi sav- . Told off someone giving me a hard time. I owe them. If I could sic bugs on anyone, they're not on that list." That there would be a list, oh yes, doesn't seem to be a question.

Jaymes looks the scrawny, meek, fragile, oh so fragile, little night creeper, and sees something he likes, "good. I know your kith gets a lot of shit everytime something bad happens. So sorry if I fell into that trap. But talk of whispers and insects has me thinking that way, I admit it. but I believe you. And I hope you and your mentor can learn more. I don't want Dagmar hurt, and I sure as hell don't want her hunted. There's a good kid in there... maybe not so far in actually. We are are going to make sure whatever ass is going after her regrets it. Right?"

He nods to Jaymes. "We will. If she doesn't beat them up first herself." A sudden gleam from down below, where a shadow amongst shadows seperates, and eyes reflect the light. "Chiiiiiicken." The eerie mrowl. Symon can't help a grin at the cat. "Lovecraft agrees, too."

"Of course you've got a creepy little cat," At the feline's appearance, then "Thanks, Lovecraft."

He peels off a few bills from the sticky wad of pocket gunk, and straightens them best as he can, before trading them for a few bars of chocolate. "I should get home. Didn't tell anyone I was going out." Unsaid, is the fear that if they knew he snuck out again, she might close off that dryer vent that leads out from the basement, because it's just not SAFE to be out alone so late...'

"Mums the word outside of this lodge" he nods, "Later kid."

A nod, and he heads out, shadowcat melding into the darkness with him.

Jaymes watches him vanish, "Like batman, without the money, good looks, or machoismo. Mmm." A sigh as he thinks about what's transpired, and he realizes how much this has shaken him. "The girl doesn't deserve this. She's had it rough enough and now this? i'm going to sharpen my claymore again. Get my own 'fly swatter' ready."

(End Scene)

A bit later, Symon does get a text: Sorry about that. Just...crisis mode, right? You okay?

----------------

Wounds are healed and bruises tended and stories heard and correlated. Sylvi and Dagmar are up in Sylvi's room talking when Kerri draws Jaymes aside. "We need to get her out of there, if she's hunted."

Jaymes nods, "I could kick myself. How did we miss that she's been hunted all this time?"

"Well...she isn't exactly forthcoming about details." A pause. "About that... I mean, about her not admitting the pain?"

"go ahead." He says

A glance to the stairs, and an exhale. "I'm pretty sure she's been abused. A lot. And not just verbally. When she does that...it's not about not admitting she's flesh and blood. It's a way of not letting the other guy win, not even a little." A tight set to her jaw.

"Admittedly, I'm guessing...but I think I'm right."

"No, you're right. She has been abused, and the scars are deeper on her psyche than her body. Some bastards , maybe more than one set, mistreated her and told her she was worthless, and she believes it, or at least she believes Sam is worthless... dagmar is strong. But Sam? She hates herself. If I could find the bastard who slapped her around and got that self loathing into her brain... " A teeth grind that might remind her of Frank a little , "They took a perfectly good kid, and made her hate herself. And yeah, the...tough so no one 'wins' over her... geezus, she won't drop her guard down for anyone barely, and when she does...it makes her made. She's terrified we're going to drive her off from here, that she's going to break some rule and be banished from the lodge. Great kid, and she's terrified of one little mistake and believes she's shit. " All said in seething whisper in case ears show up.

Kerri watches him as he whispers and seethes, and she nods. "She's been sent away from places before. When she first got here...she just wanted to know the 'rules' so she would know how not to get sent away...I don't think she's learned it's not quite like that."

She also keeps her voice low.

"Okay, since I don't know who beat on her exactly.... " Unspoken 'yet', "And we don't know who is sending these thing after her but will be learning. Let's go back to your point about getting her out of there? We can't just have her move back into the system to a whole new set of mortal fosters- it'll destroy her"

"Absolutely not," she agrees firmly, then sighs. "I think she got off on the wrong foot with Mrs. Wayburton. Not sure if that's still an option."

"Yeah, Marsha shouldn't have tried the chummy approach... " he says, then a breath, "Apparently ...Frank thinks I should ..." A sigh "Okay, Frank is a bit weird. he thinks that someone who doesn't have a kid should adopt her so she can feel special, not like the 'spare' and I get Dagmar deserves that... but he's looking at me. Given we have two sets of parents who have great daughters I thought that was bonkers but at the same time, I admit, Dagmar's plight gets to me."

A pause, then a bit of a grin. "Guess I'm a bit weird, too, then. I think it'd be a good fit. You don't know what it is to be a father, and she doesn't know what it is to be a daughter. Could figure it out together."