#rivervale_lodge

"Revenge and hospitality."

"See you've been studying your lore. Good."

"Better than math."

"Ha. Yeah, well, I can't argue with that. Anyway, anger is in every troll... most of us keep it deep inside, and for the same reason we have a code of Dagda. We're too strong to let it own us. Now, every troll is as stoic as your dad, the chief, or even the mountain, but even the ones who aren't stoic find ways to keep their rage in check. Vali uses jokes. Much to our sorrow" a bit exaggerated

A snort. "BAD jokes..."

A smirk "Yup." Then more seriously "But against Thallian? He becomes a cold blooded dark eyed slaughter machine."

"Part of Being Beaumayn I suppose"

"me? I'm the cuddly one who never ever gets angry." smirk on his blighted face

"I'd believe it."

"Maybe my style is keeping it on a low simmer. I gripe when I'm pissy. I scowl when I'm in a bad mood. Probably makes me not always fun to have around, but those who love me love me anyway. What do you think works best for you? Helps you keep it in check?"

She shrugs.

"I dunno."

"I usually just try to hold off until I can smash something."

"And not a person."

"Sounds smart..if you can't keep it from going over the dam, you can at least decide what river bed it's going to." A nod

"But I sure can't stop it."

"Well, maybe one day you can. But at least you have a plan to mitigate the damage. Here, let me see your math." He says

A grunt and she hands it over.

He glances over, "mmm"

She's tried.

"Have you tried thinking of the sets differently? "

"C'mon, I'm almost done."

"Not gonna re-do done ones."

"Even if it increases your chance of a better grade?" he raises a brow

"Like, what, five points? It's stupid."

"Homework sucks, and it's not a test."

"A lot in life is a test. " he says "And almost everything has a challenge attached to it. Building up now, means you can take future challenges easier. It's true for muscle, it's true for the mind. Just giving up on homework is like giving up to the enemy with barely a fight. But let me show you what I mean, and then you decide if that's an easier way to do this for you"

She scowls. "But I'm almost done..."

"It's just the last part..." He says "here... mine's more visual.... which is a nice way of saying I may waste some more paper... but..." And he shows her. It's definitely visual in how he works it out, large swoops ...to do the full figuring, but the 'show your work' on the main homework is easy to extract from that.

"See if that works easier for you"

Siiiigh.

But she tries it.

But does it work better for her? It might.

She grumbles and scribbles for a bit before shoving the notebook away.

He looks at it to see if it's right

Well, not that he's sure himself "Okay. Pain in the ass to switch gears, but did it come easier to you?"

"I dunno. Still math."

"I can't wait until I don't need to do it anymore."

"You never know, it MIGHT come in handy in your adult life. I won't say it will no matter what, but it might. T ell you what. Let me know when you get it back if it's okay? See if that last bit was correct. "

"Sure, I guess."

She holds out a hand towards Brown Dog, coaxing him close.

Brown Dog not only moves close, he presses his cold nose into her palm and wags

She laughs, and rumples his ears. "Good boy."

"Look, if you were old enough to drink I'd say 'Now it's miller time' right or wrong, you did the work... however, if you want, and it's something you'd get offered anyway, my wife has a left over... oh heck, let me show you." he rises to go the kitchen

"You like chocolate right?" A voice from the kitchen

"Yeah?"

"And you like pancakes?"

Olgar is definitely getting something out

She gets up and trudges over to see what he's up to. "Sure?"

He comes out carefully...with