#rivervale_lodge

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"Hell of a day" Olgar says as they prepare to go to bed. "You okay? I know things with Gerd got grim, but I'm guessing it's all on the mend for her now."

Kerri sighs, slipping into bed with her faded t-shirt that reads I'm A Drop The F-Bomb Kind Of Mom. "I think so. She certainly had a chance to grapple with her demons tonight." She's still frowning, though.

"Yeah? Okay.... how come I get the feeling you've got one with you and it's not the sexy Suckabus kind?" A pat on her thigh "What's eating you, hon?"

She hesitates, frowning, then sighs. "You know those moments when you act in your best judgment as a Rover but somebody else calls you a dumbass?"

"Happens. Very tempting to leave someone by the proverbial roadside. Did someone question YOUR hearthship? They're nuts."

She doesn't answer right away. "Do you ever end up wondering if they were right?"

"Not while still on the job.. can't afford to. Get them to safety, let em feel how they want to feel... complaint box is the circular file" He answers "now after the job's done? Between you and me? Yeah, sometimes I go over it. I'm adversarial by nature, so if someone gets in my face I tend to want to get back into theirs... which is why it's best to store it for later when both are safe and i'm alone so I don't feel the urge to rip a head off and instead can mull it over. Not that I'd cop to it to anyone but you, but I do sometimes mistakes. Most of the time? Screw em. I do good work, and I do my best, and if they don't like it there are other Rovers good luck next time. But anyone can slip, or find a way to improve their game. But you sound like it's a bit more serious than that"

A head shake. "It's...I don't know how serious it is. I know I'm...not happy being on the receiving end of a few little digs, but...well...maybe I should just let it go."

"Okay... look, if I promise not to murder whoever gave you shit, will you tell me whos and what specifics?"

"Promise to not be a jerk if you think I screwed up? I mean, tell me what you honestly think, but...play nice." That's an unusual request from her. She usually doesn't worry much about his attitude, and gives as good as she gets.

he strokes her hair, "I promise"

A preoccupied nod, and after a moment to order her thoughts, she says, "When I first got a glimmer that Gerd was in trouble, I went immediately to Anne-Marie for help...and then I went to visit this Erika to make sure there wasn't any chimeric involvement or anything like that. We were so close to her ceremony at that point, I wanted to eliminate that possibility. It took a day or so...and then I spoke with Vali. He...feels I should have come to him first." The last words are spoken in carefully measured tones.

Olgar ponders this for a moment.

She lets him ponder, not looking at him.

Then "I feel like a hypocrite saying this, but no, he shouldn't be told first. You had a dire situation rise up that could mean someone's undoing... first priority when you see a house on fire in a neighborhood is not to place a call to the folks on vacation in Miami that 'hey your house in Jersey is on fire'. First priority is to call the firestation. If Anne Marie were the fire station, then you did the right thing and I think while rough, she fits the role. Either that or YOU are the fire station, and you broke her out of glass and started spraying with her..which is actually a funnier metaphor"

A half-snicker, and she backhand swats his shoulder. "That's terrible, and of course it's the first thing I'm going to think of the next time I see Anne-Marie, and thank you so much for that," she ends with heavy sarcasm. Then a sigh. "Well...Vali's made a few comments that...well..." she shakes her head. "Never mind. I should just...it doesn't matter."

"Hold on.. not done yet." He says "Notice I said 'I feel like a hypocrite' part?"

Then a stop before he can continue "Wait, what comments?"

"Yesss...?" she says to the first, but then waves off the second. "It doesn't matter."

"mmph we'll get back to the 'it doesn't matter'. the reason I admit to hypocracy is that if it were something involving Sylvi? I ABSOLUTELY would want to the first person called in. I wouldn't care if it's not something I was qualified to handle. she's my little girl. Logic has nothing to do with that. Now Vali's not a dad, but he's been stuck in dad mode quite often. Frankly it's amazing he's still a wilder himself. No, he shouldn't be told first but I can see why he'd want to be. Now.. he could make a fair point about being told faster.. like a real close number two... maybe you took a bit longer on that than you should have ,mahybe not. You're not a machine. You and Anne Marie are talented women ,but you don't spit out solutions as soon as someone types in the problem. So Vali is wrong... and you were right, but you might have been a bit slow on the inclusion after you started the plan as he sees it."

She looks at nothing in particular, mulling that over for a long moment. Eventually, she nods. "That's...fair."

"Well, notice the might... I am monday morning quarterbacking here. Easy to act all wiser than thee about it. " He says "now.. about those comments and if they don't matter you shouldn't mind repeating them" light poke

She shakes her head. "Just little things he's tagged on to conversations...the 'if I'd known sooner' kind of comments."

"mmph.. bit dickish. " A frown "You said conversations plural? And was it just with you?"

A frown. "No. When we were talking with Frank before the ceremony. He said something like 'don't make any more decisions about my ward without letting me know'...." Olgar can see her shoulders tense.

"Possibly a lot dickish" he edits "But honestly, I don't think the message was to you...he's worried about everyone backsliding."

"Everyone? Backsliding?"

"Baby, you weren't as bad as the Chief or Frank, but you don't remember him first coming here with Gerd? He's a grown man, and everyone , myself included I guess, treated him like a kid. Now partially his sense of humor makes it easy.. .yeah he jokes to deal with dark visions ooo wee ooo " Creepy sounds" and all that... but more than once folks acted like he was some sort of horn dog after anything that moved... or that he needed lectures on duty etc. He and the Chief had a few talks about it. Now, imagine this... he didn't see this. He did not SEE this coming.. so he's blaming himself. It doesn't matter who told him what, in his heart of hearts he kNOWS he should have seen this. He didn't, so it's his fault. Everything that happened to Gerd is on him because he IS in Dad mode but doesn't have my years of realizing that the universe really doesn't always care if you're a dad or not. So he is caught off guard... andit's on him. Possible he's snapping at you because he's mad at himself and doesn't relaize he was snapping. Possible he's reminding Frank and the CHief -Hey, do not leave me out of this , I fucked up but I am still a peer and this is my charge. if we suddenly start treating him like the younger wilders ...again, or less trust even, then he really can't help Gerd at all because he'll truly be out of the loop because of his elders deigning he doesn't need to know. And when it comes to fam? I think we've established it sure as hell FEELS like yes, yes you do. I'm not saying he's right. Hell, sounds like insecure macuilinity ... but I am saying I don't think he realizes he's being a dick. It's the only way to explain why he's risking his life talking to my wife like that"

Kerri listens and gives him a serious look, as if measuring how much of that she agrees with...Olgar might realize it's the same look he's seen her give pooka while she's trying to figure out what they're actually trying to say. Finally, she gives a small quirk of a grin. "Well...I guess I should trust your past expertise in insecure masculinity." Then she leans to kiss his cheek, whispering, "You're very good for my ego, thank you."

"You're welcome. " he says "Pardon, that was a lot of lot... nutshell. Sometimes we treat him like a kid, and he's touchy about that, and probably does deserve more than that. Touchy about that, he's being a dick, but we don't know if he knows he's being a dick so better to assume accidental dickery. Third, he's blaming himself for missing this.. I suspect you and he both are blaming yourselves. Fourth, that's dumb of both of you. Now...sex or sleep?" A grin

A grin back, and she holds up fingers to count off the options, one at a time: "Makes sense, probably, likely, true, and yes."

A toothy grin, and a kiss.. as he tries to convince her of which way to vote on that last proposal... even the attempt to sway should be fun.

(End scene)