#rivervale_lodge

She comes back out with a bowl, and turns on the outdoor spigot to fill it. Then she murmurs an old song she's heard, one about a boxer in a clearing, carrying reminders...only she changes the pronouns....and casts some glamour into the water.

Glower. "What are you..."

"You screwed up your hands. Have a drink. Or don't. I don't want to waste it, but even if you don't use it, it was still good practice for me." She offers the bowl of water.

She hesitates before taking it.

"..kay."

She closes her eyes after taking a drink... her swollen and bleeding hands returning to normal...

Sylvi watches, satisfied with the results. "Better?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"I'm not a bad guy."

"I'm not."

"Nope. But you scared Connor, and you know how protective Gerd is of him."

Scowl.

"He'll get over it. You might need to apologize to him, later."

"So...not loving the idea of being a big sister?"

"That won't be my sister,"

"Ain't related."

"Not by blood. But then again, your folks aren't either. Still your folks."

She grunts.

"Nothing lasts. They don't get it."

"Well...stuff changes, yeah."

"Yeah."

"Why couldn't she just SHUT UP?"

"Why does everybody have to know and talk about it?"

"Well, I didn't know. Don't think I'm the only one, either. Does Adam know?"

"I haven't told him."

"Okay, so...not everybody knows." She looks at Dagmar. "So...stuff's gonna change."

"Yeah, I know. It always does."

"They think it's just gonna be fine, that they'll feel the same once they have a real kid."

"Right. So? Sometimes it changes in a good way."

Snort.

"Oh, come on. Stuff changed when you met Jaymes. It was good. This could be good, too."

"I mean, it'll be different, but it doesn't have to be awful."

"I can tell you exactly what's gonna happen. Tove'll pop out some perfect tiny baby that doesn't have any garbage, that doesn't have any issues except sleeping and shitting and crying. And everybody will be so happy about the perfect real baby that's theirs."

Sylvi's quiet a long moment.

"Yeah. Nobody's ever had to deal with that before."

"And of course, they're trolls and they'll do their duty and there's an Oath, but now they have a real baby to compare it to..."

"And what kind of piece of trash is jealous of a baby, hunh?"

"Um, just about every older sibling ever, if what I hear is right."

"Is that what it is? You're thinking you're trash because you're expecting to be jealous of the baby?"

"It's not FAIR! I just got them. I just..." A snotty sniff.

Sylvi sighs and shrugs. "Yeah, I get that. But I'm pretty sure that this is more about your head than theirs. They're bonkers about you, Dagmar, and if you can't see that, you're blind."

"They won't be. Not when they have the baby."

"They'll see the difference. They've never had real kids. Just me, and so I've been... I've been trying so hard to be perfect, but I..."

"I can't.... they're gonna see..."

"That you're not perfect? Geez, Dagmar, of course you're not. Doesn't mean you're disgusting or repulsive or whatever. Because you're totally not."

Another harsh sniff and she scrubs at her eyes. Not crying!

"Hell, you know you weren't perfect when Jaymes decided to be your dad, either, right? But he still decided it. And then he followed through on it, even though you're not perfect."

A frown. "Then again...what does Jaymes know. Not like he's perfect or anything."

"But it's... " She hiccups. "He doesn't, no. No, he doesn't know. he always thought I was better than I was."

"So, okay, you're saying he's stupid?"