#rivervale_lodge

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Nadeen does not stomp. Troll stomp, however she manages an angry glide.

"how Dare they" eyes flickering "How DARE they?"

"Mortals, presuming to give me chores, and deny me egress past my 'curfew'?"

"If my cantrips were working propertly, I'd have them scrubbing floors." A gesture to the trees, "This is whole autumn world is very badly designed!"

A sigh "And my tutors so far are Liams and a Gwydion," She makes a face, especially at the Liam part, "I supposed he'd be all upset if I enchanted them and made them my foot servants? Probably. " Upset at the unfairness of it all

"Maybe y'just don't get to order everybody around anymore. Gotta live with it."

She turns and looks around for Dagmar "It's easier for you, Dagmar. You're used to a string of long mundane lives in your past. Youv'e been eased into this crap set up. For me it's a reverse cinderella story, and here I am in the ashes"

A snort. "It ain't ashes. You said you remember Tanya's life? At least some of it? If the Browns weren't her first placement, she probably has some bad shit, too."

"...You don't wind up like either one of us without it, I don't think."

She stops, "You're right about that, I still sometimes ..get the urge to stick my finger down my..." The sidhe's ire dims "I miss my father, I miss my things. And I miss my lands, and worse, I only have hazy recollections of them." A scowl "And Olgar won't let me on the trods. He blocked me. Said I wouldn't be safe. "

"I'm not allowed, either. The one time I went was on Halloween, and I don't remember it."

"Crap" She says sounding a bit less magical " THat kind of sucks "

"Yeah. Everybody else gets to go places."

"But noooo, fledges aren't allowed to do anything." A harrumph. "No trods, no adventures - no aths, neither, which is why I don't get to be adopted yet." A note of resentment, and an unsaid implication.

"But you have an oath you," Nadeen says "Oh. Yes, no new Oaths. I don't understand, you have to have an oath to be adopted? is this a troll thing?"

"There's a troll oath, yeah. A magic one. So that it'd be real." Dag is sitting on a largeish rock, and she draws her knees up to her chest. "Before the Browns, counting respite and GALs and group homes and all that crap, I had 26 placements. But with an Oath, it'd be different."

"Twenty six? Geez, Tanya only had 12."

"Tanya was a good kid. Sam wasn't." A shrug.

"We both know good has nothing to do with it sometimes" She frowns "We are all caught in patterns and pulls, and even a strong swimmer can only keep her head up so long"

She shrugs. "You said it, too. About Sam. But trolls stick to Oaths, right? And Jaymes is a troll. And it won't just be... whatever, you know? It'd be real. Oaths are magic."

She chews on a hangnail, contemplative. One could wonder how often she's repeated that particular mantra.

A tilt of her head "Being a giant, a dream of protection and duty with incredible might and will isn't already magical enough?"

"No.. that's not..."

For a moment, she seems less blue. "I know it's stupid. That it won't make him my real dad..."

Nadeen moves to her, "stop that. What you believe or not, is one thing, but do not call what you hold to stupid. MY father would never entrusted me to an idiot, so ergo you are not stupid. "

A shrug.

"Just because I don't know about troll oaths doesn't mean it is stupid. It means there's a part of the world I am only now seeing. If you tell me there is a stream I haven't seen yet, that doesn't mean the stream doesn't exist. It means you have traveled father, that's all. If you say this Oath of Adoption is important to trolls, then I believe you even if I don't understand."

"I don't know. There's lots I still don't. I don't have a name yet, and everyone says that'll be different."

"Well, at least you're learning from people you understand. I' ma sidhe, and the lodge confuses me. The Baroness doesn't even hold court. Folkss just walk right up to her and let her know this or that ...as if she was on call" a sniff

"The lord serves their subjects."

"That seems odd, I mean, yes, I suppose , but the subjects should defer to their lord. He or she is the one bound to the land to the fire, to the very elements. She provides for them all, protects them all, and they are beholden are they not?"

"Well, sure. I mean, she's the Chief. She gives an order, you follow it."

"Wel, maybe it's the lack of formality that bothers me"

"That's what Dagda says - respect those of a higher station. Respect, but not, like, be a slave. Dagda also says not to abuse power."

"Dagda? Dagda is important to trolls?"

"Sure? There's a whole code."

"Could you teach me? SOunds like a troll thing but I am learning from trolls so.." A shrug

"Well, the Code of Dagda was written by Dana. I know it sounds like some soccer-mom name, but Dana's a goddess. Like, of all the fae? She's the one who made the first trolls, to serve as protectors for the Tooth-a."

"The Tuatha dananan" She says "Go on"

"Right. So, the code is a set of rules for trolls, seelie or unseelie. Because we're the strongest. So.... first, we protect the dreaming. That's our job. And that includes sidhe." Was that a friendly jibe?

A lofty look but was there a smile at her lips?

"Then, of course, you respect those above you - respect, at least. Be civil. Don't have to like them, and that doesn't mean you do whatever whim they take."

"The most important is not abusing your strength - so, like, in a fight, you go after other trolls first, or the biggest monsters. It's not fair, like, ganging up on a pooka. Not when you're seven foot tall."

"That last IS pretty troll specific" She agrees

"Well, I think it works for everybody in a way - like, if you are super smart, it ain't fair to pick on the dumb kid. Or race the fat one just to make yourself look better, you know? Like those mean girls picking on May. They're being bullies, even if there's no fists."

"Leaving May alone, that wouldn't hurt them. They're strong and she's weak and it's not fair."

"It ain't even an 'honor' thing - how can you be proud of yourself for defeating someone weaker than you? I mean, I can kick a toddlers ass at chess, but that doesn't mean I'm good at chess."

"A fair point, and there's something about May. A hidden strength"

"May's nice."