#rivervale_lodge

"Go 'way." Muffled.

"Would you be more willing to talk to Tove?" Screw his pride. His kid is hurting. If he'll talk to her easier, so be it.

"NO. Don't tell her!"

"I don't know what to tell anyone" he says "All I know is one side of part of a story, and going by that isn't fair to you. What did Gerd do?" He blames Gerd?

"I'm NOT a bully."

"She called you a bully?"

"...go 'way..."

"Dagmar, please."

...silence...

The sound of a thump against the wall, not the door, not a hard thump. Just a soft thump

A muffled hiccup, more silence.

He winces. He hates for her to cry so he says "earlier. I asked you if you needed to break those fallen branches and wood to keep from hurting someone else or yourself . The reason I asked, is because if you did it for that reason. I'm proud."

He does not sound sarcastic. He's quite serious

"I got mad."

"Then I'm proud you handled it the way you did"

Said calmly, and as factually as one might say ice is cold

"Shouldn't have gotten mad."

"We can't always choose when we get mad, or scared, or anything. Its what we do with those feelings, or what we we don't do with them, that matters. You got mad, but you didn't want to hurt anyone, so you went somewhee where you could express your anger without hurting anyone. It's called Self Awareness, and it's a big step on growing up. " A pause "Not easy, is it?"

"...No."

A nod "was never easy for me either"

Of course, she can't see the nod, but , she can tell his voice is from a lower altitude than before. that soft thump must of been him sitting down against the hallway wall