#rivervale_lodge

"Much appreciated. Tell him I said, 'Don't break your toys.'"

A dignified sigh "yes, Dame." And out he goes

A grin as he goes. She can't help it...she's gotten rather fond of the boy. After all, any sidhe who is willing to take criticism about pastry clearly has his head on okay.

If she peeks out the window, it turns out the boy can take a few lumps too, though Olgar does NOT break his toy 🙂

The door slams open, the dogs barely have time to.. Gerd is racing in and up the stairs.

Her face flush with humiliation but then out of view

"Gerd? Gerd! Stop right there."

And ignored...!

Vali comes in with a sigh "Hey. "

Ignored? "Oh, that will not do." Then she turns to Vali...and offers him a pastry. "What happened?"

"Long story? " he takes the pastry "Thanks." A sigh "The LONG story is I busted her for going to a dangerous area where Balor are known to hang out...and might hunt her. Flicker flash is a pain in the ass if she's not going to use it wisely. So I gave her a lecture.. honest to god I didn't even ground her. At that time. ... something... " A sigh" Female happened. No big, very natural... and she has dark pants and... apparently your uncle 'helping' is too much..and it's all my fault for getting her upset and I'm a creep and a monster and she hates me"

"Or maybe that's the short story, it's all a glare filled blur"

A groan. "Oh, that's a pretty awful combination of events."

"The imperfect storm..." A groan "I keep thinking boys have got to be easier."

"That's my guess, too, but we run high to girl children around here. Let me go talk to her, see if I can help."

He bites the pastry, "Okay, that's... a diabetic delight, really good though"

Kerri grins. "It's Brogan's latest. He's doing well, but I did give a few tips. I'll bring one or two of these up." And she fixes a plate and a glass of milk for Gerd.

A frown at her offer, "I don't know, Kerri, she's my responsilbity and I can't shy away from every.. ah, woman problem. " Thinking "On the other hand, right now i'm lucky she's not flicker flashing to across country to get away"

"anything else I need to know before I venture in there?"

"She was trying Vapping" His eyes darken

"Oh, for the love of...." She shakes her head. "Right. Okay. Into the fray." And she marches upstairs to battle, armed with cookies and milk.

"Go away" As soon as her footsteps hit thetop step

"Gerd, I'd like to talk to you, please." Kerri says with kind firmness...or firm kindness. Either way, it sounds like the request is a polite formality.

"Is Uncle Vali with you?" The same tone as one might ask 'are you carrying a heaping plate full of maggots?'

"No, it's just me, and a few chocolate pastries. Special appearance by a glass of milk."

A pause then "Come on in" A bit brusque, but yielding to the authority polite combo

Kerri lets herself in and looks around the room while setting down the plate and glass. "I'd like to hear from you what happened to get you so upset."

Things have been thrown about, looks like she's redocorated in black... the toys of childhood either out of sight or kicked under things almost hidden "I was minding my own business and Uncle Vali showed up and intruded, embarrassed me and... got me so upset I..." she wipes at her face, the blacklip stick a clown smear. Too young for this.. so naturally testing it "I had my first period"

"No big. I knew it would happen one day" But she does not sound as ..solid as she hopes to.

A sigh. "Oh, hon. Okay, first off...give me your things so I can soak them. That's the first step with any blood in clothing, whether this or from combat."

"I.." She decides not to argue.. and soon hans them over "I've been wounded before so... this is nothing..." She keeps saying like it will make it easier to handle "It's a natural part of..." Mumble mutter

"Gerd...listen to me...." She sets the things aside near the door, and rests a hand on the girl's shoulder. "No matter how natural it is, the first time is always a surprise, and usually a shock, even if you think you're ready for it." Her voice is low and serious...she's not mocking this, nor brushing it aside. "It's normal to be upset, even if you know it's natural."

"Well. I AM upset.. and... it might noat have happened if Uncle Vali hadn't embarrassed me... he took .. nevermind what he took" A sniff, tears will NOT flow

"Gerd, if you know it's natural, then you also know that's not how it works. You didn't get your period because of what somebody else did or did not do. If it happened after something else that was upsetting, well, that's just unfortunate timing, but it's not a cause-and-effect thing. Do you understand?"

"Yeesss.." She clearly wanted to blame someone else

"I just.. you know? I was already angry with him and then suddenly... I .. and it was so..embarrassing. I was always told it was natural, and normal... and I even tried to think of it as a ritual of sort, like a first hunt? And I've got a mountain soul and all this wisdom or I did...but it didn't help and I can't make that old man appear and everyone LOVED Him..."

Kerri listens, hand still on Gerd's shoulder, letting her rant it out.

"And everhone has to shelter me... and I can go anywhere but oh no I'm hunted and I have a destiny and Vali thinks I didn't hear but I have... and I don't know what I'm going to.." She wipes her eyes smearing stuff "And it's not like I was really smoking!"

Kerri waits to see if more is going to happen, or if the girl seems to have run out of rant for the moment.

She winds down, and at last kerri can get a word in again

"Gerd...first, I hope you realize that people here love you, not just because of Vegard, but because of you being you...even when you being you is a bit in-your-face."

A nose wrinkle but she doesn't deny it

"As for the rest...yes, you're in a difficult position, there's no denying that." Kerri doesn't speak down to her, but uses the same tones she uses when speaking to Vali or the Chieftain. "And it's got to be frustrating. The challenge is figuring out how to navigate it in a way that works best for you and all involved in your life. And like it or not, each of us has other people involved in our lives."

"I'm tired of hiding from these people after us... I'm tired of Vali's vision bullying me... they killed my parents! Can't I .. don't I have a right to justice? or at least revenge?"

Kerri gives her a long look. "Is that what you want?"

"If someone killed Uncle Olgar, or Sylvi, you'd want revenge, wouldn't you? You'd want to make them pay"

Kerri is silent a long moment. "Gerd...is that what this is? The black hair, the running off...is this some kind of attempt to lure out the ones you want to take vengeance on?"

"I.. I don't.." She shakes her head "No... I don't think so I'm just so..angry"

"Okay...and good, I'm glad it's not that...but right now your anger is in charge of you. You need it to be the other way around, or you're going to get used, and used badly." A serious look.

"NOW you sound like Uncle Vali" An accusation