#rivervale_lodge

"Hey Lovecraft."

"Uhm" he takes the backpack and turns it over to see if Lovecraft's prize falls out...

and out comes the tiny Colonel Sanders figure... perfect for cat chewing biting abuse

It is snatched up and she prances off to play murder-mittens with the toy.

"Say what you want but that toy was screaming for salvation from a dark fate." JImmy shrugs

Zane eyes Lovecraft prancing away with the hapless colonel "he ain't lying"

An amused snort.

The Goth troll insists "Lovecraft is cool... she's just intuned with her inner darkness"

Zane looks at Gerd, "You think her darkness is INNER?"

"She has Layers, clearly" Gerd says

"I saw this meme. To look at a black cat is to look into the void. And the void wants chicken."

"Good meme" She observes

"Totally Lovecraft."

"I have a totally white dog, probably not very goth" she admits

"White can be goth. Like, ice-goth."

"Mmm yeah" She says "Anyway... Symon, good to see you again"

"Glad you managed to escape SOME math."

"See, that's why I like the social studies.. you can bullshit your way through those" Zane says

"Uhg. It's summer. No school."

"Yeah.. instead we got my big mouth giving away everything to a nocker spy for House Leanhaun" Zane sighs

"Who expects a commoner Leanhaun?"

"Thanks, but I still feel like I screwed up." He says "And while anyone could have blabbed, I'm the one who did."

"Well, maybe most of it wasn't really secret..."

Gerd nods "Our hold is an honest one"

"Exactly."

Jimmy nods "Maybe them knowing won't help them so much"

"Here's hoping."

Gerd says "Though if that's tied to Kerri's thing and Uncle Vali's vision too I don't know"

"What was his vision, does anyone know?"

"He doesn't usually tell... " Gerd who knows him best says "The Beaumayn have a code about it. Bad things have happened when they tried to break it."

"Oh."

"Sometimes he can tell but even then, it's like symbols gone literal and literal things become symbol"

"Groovy" Zane says

"Uhg. yeah."

"One time he saw a vision of a dragon dining upon the corpse of a great bird... the next week, a Gwydion lord died and his hold was seized by the Ailil... Vali couldn't stop it, but he brought evidence that the Ailil had arranged it"

"Hunh."

Zane frowns "Wait... Vali was looking for evidence of a murderer before the murder happened?"

"Yup." Gerd says

And she looks sad. "And before you ask, when I said he couldn't stop it? I meant it. It was ordained... itw as all a matter of HOW the guy was going to die. If Vali had intruded, it would have been worse."

"...Yeah, glad I got Gwydion. Tell the truth, defend the weak, kick evil's ass."

Zane nods "Arooo"

"I don't think the Spartans from 300 and the Gwydions are that much alike" Gerd says

"Yeah. That's more... um... hunh. Werewolf?"

"Well, you Gwydions need a battle chant or something" The satyr says

"I'll ask Chief. Maybe she knows."

Jimmy says "The CHief does not seem the chanting type"

"Well, maybe a war cry. Oorah."

"...Yippie ky yay, mother... oh, Chief wouldn't say that..."

"Don't knwo about Gwydion chants... but if you want to honor your troll side?"

Gerd clears her throat "Odin eier deg alle!"