#rivervale_lodge

"Pretty good! I can't pick it up right this sec, I don't think..."

"Don't risk it. You don't want to leave marks in the paint. What color will you do the lettering? I think there might be some gold acrylic in there, but I know for sure there's black."

"Oh, and make sure to get the underside of the handle. It's an easy spot to miss."

"Maybe black. That should stand out... OH." Checking the handle, and hastily dabbing at it with the brush.

Frustrated beeping of a smart phone. As Siv comes in with a sigh "Do we have anything I can snack on to forget my frustration?"

"Black would do nicely. Oh, and a tip about the lettering...start with the Y and the M in the middle. That way you'll be sure to have enough room on either side for the rest of the letters, and it will look more even. Same with the A for 'Dad.'" She sets the bowl down again to rescue the last of the cookies.

It would be impossible for Siv to miss the expressionless gingerbread army wandering over the counters on various cooling racks and platters. "They're not decorated yet," Kerri points out. "But you can have one. What's wrong?"

"Bancroft couldn't meet me...but he has no shift. And I don't know what he's doing... He's..doing stuff. And not telling me..." She grabs a gingerbread man and beheds him with a bite. CRUNCH

"Maybe he's doing secret Christmas things."

Kerri grins. "Better the cookie than Bancroft. And you, young lady, need to learn how to not ask questions around the holidays. The best revenge is to find things to do yourself."

"I ... " She munches a bit, swallows "Guess. I just... he said it didn't involve me so don't worry, and I had this horrible feeling that it didn't involve me at all and..." A pause "Well, normally if I have time, he's there, listening... and when he doesn't have time, he's on duty. He's..very troll like. You know? And this? I mean, if it's a gift for me he's lying to me. If it's not a gift for me, then he's...keeping secrets or there's stuff he does I don't know about? And I ... well, I feel like that's just odd and strange and it bugs me."

"'It doesn't involve you so don't worry' is exactly the thing that sets me to worrying..and I don't know why" She seems alarmed

Kerri gives her a look. "Jealous?"

"YES, but there's no other girl... at least, I don't think there's another girl, and I'm still ...how can I be jealous IF there's no girl?"

"I don't know if lying about Christmas is really a lie, though."

Perplexed, baffled, and despite nearing 17 she seems to be having a case of whole new feels

MUNCH.. there goes a leg.

"It sounds like you're jealous of him having a life outside of you." Kerri fetches a piping bag and narrow tip, and starts to fill it with icing mixture.

Then a look over at Dagmar's project, "Oh, I'm sorry, Dagmar. I didn't even see there at first. I love that shade."

"It's trollish, right?"

Squirming a bit as she changes the subject

Then a genuine smile "True blue."

A slight grin, but if she noticed the change of subject, she doesn't mention. "All right, lets see...." She puts a few cool cookies on an available rack and starts piping designs onto them. A nod of satisfaction as the consistency of the icing proves to be just right.

Dagmar stops painting again, watching.

Siv finishes the gingerbread man, then says "Great as always, Aunt Kerri." Then "Do either of you need help? I can help while I'm .. sorting things in my head"

"Well, I promised Dagmar she could try, but...Dagmar, do you mind if Siv takes a turn while your fingers are still extra blue? As you can see, there's no shortage of cookies to decorate."

"I don't mind. I got to paint words yet." She taps the side, seeing if it is still wet.

"Thanks, I apologize for butting in. " She heads to the decoration station, "Any preferences, Heath?"

"Oh, I'm very finicky about how I decorate the ones I work on, but I've long since given up trying to control what others do with these. Knock yourself out, but try not to be too wasteful. If you want tips, I can give you some guidance, but feel free to improvise."

Dagmar switches over to a smaller brush, and squeezes a generous dollop of black onto her paper-plate "palette".

Most of the cookies are little ginger people, but there are also some other traditional shapes...stars, circles, diamonds...little cookie palettes for artistic endeavors.

Siv grins at the work Dagmar is doing, then takes some white and red decoration, and makes a circular one look like....Captain America's shield. "Too bad one isn't hammer shaped" A wink

Her foot work is great, but she's got deft hands.

Kerri looks on with approval, and works on tidying up some of the baking trays.

Dagmar is quiet, brow furrowed as she concentrates - the letters are a bit crude, but she's trying to keep them neat.

Perhaps "blocky" is the best description.

A thought occurs to her, and a blue skinned santa cookie takes form

"I like him," Kerri says, looking over Siv's shoulder.

"Thanks... though I don't know if I can get the horns right under the hat How do I...?"

"Make them curl up over the edge of the hat. It'll work."

J-A-Y-M-E-S on one side, D-A-D on the other. Dagmar sits back to look for any glaring issues.

"huh." She starts to it, then says "So Dagmar, your team is two for two so far. "

"Yeah?"

"Well, sschool record for the girls team for consecutive wins in the last ten years, think you can beat it?"

And yes, the horns form "Aha. I think I got it"

"And those were some excellent games."

Another look, and a nod. "See? That works. If you're lucky, somebody will appreciate the artistry before biting his head off." A wink.

"ha. " She grins, then squints "Oh no. he looks a bit like dad.I can't bite HIS face off."

"I didn't want to mention, but yes, he does."

"Mom can have him? " A double check with the Hearth, not wanting to overstep Hearth Authority