#rivervale_lodge

"You felt this was private information."

"I didn't know it was the chief juicy gossip of the hold, no. I figured you knew, sure. Kerri? But everyone knows and is talking about it? And she wouldn't just back OFF. She kept going at it, and then going on how she could just throw me in the lake because how the fuck dare I tell HER to fuck off, because I mean, why wouldn't I want to talk about the baby and why aren't I thrilled about finding out people been talking about my business all over?"

"And you do not wish to talk about it."

"No."

A quiet nod.

"And she's all 'I don't deserve your shit' because I told her to back off, and I told her to back off or she'd SEE some shit."

"But no, Princess Butthurt has to keep at it, because now she's the victim of Dagmar-the-Bully."

"Do you think she knew you did not want to talk about it?"

"I have not heard her say that she feels she is a victim."

"I left!"

"Oh, she thinks she's Queen Hot Shit, I'm sure."

Eyebrow. "That is not what I asked."

"She's better than me, she's so righteous and pure and while I am the bad guy, she's the virtuous hero standing up to me!"

"Connor popped up, because.. he does that. And then she clung to him and acted like I was going to hurt Connor, and went on about how bad and terrible I was. How I am the bad guy."

"You think she feels that way."

"Of course she does. Ain't the first time."

"No?"

"I was mad. Saw red mad. Calling me the bad guy because, what, I wasn't thrilled that she wouldn't let the fuck up?"

"Accused me of being a threat to Connor because I was yelling at HER?"

"Mm. Saw red. That can be dangerous, for you and me."

"I know. I held it in."

"It just.. I was mad and I told her to fucking leave but she WOULDN'T because she had to get the last word in!"

"You were able to control it. But as a Gwydion, you know the danger if you had not been able to do so."

"And she had to do it the fuck again just now. 'I don't threaten little kids' - fuckin' bullshit."

"I know. I know. I left when I first got upset."

"Did you mean to frighten or threaten Connor?"

"I didn't even know he was there!"

"After he showed himself."

"I probably scared him by being loud..."

"Why would I want to threaten Connor?"

A nod. "But you meant to threaten Gerd, as she continued to pursue the topic."

A scowl. "...yeah, I guess. I wanted her to stop, and then I was mad because she was being a bitch."

"Because she did not stop when you wanted her to stop."

"...yeah."

"She may not have intended that to be, as you put it, a bitch."

"Oh, she sure was when she was going on about how she was going to throw me in a lake."

"Because man, I'm supposed to just shut up and roll over at that, right?"

"She can fuckin disrespect me all she wants, right?"

"But that was after you had threatened her?"

"SHE called it a threat." Snort. "Wasn't a damn threat."

"No?"

"What were the words? Do you remember?"

"I told her if she wanted I could show her shit, yeah. But she was butthurt over me telling her to go away."

She frowns, squinting. "I told her to fuck off when she followed me and was like SCREAMING how she just found out and all this stuff about how she found out and how rude I was to get away..."

"Then she's all "Did I deserve your shit?" all aggrieved and put upon because I didn't want to talk about the goddamn baby AGAIN."

"Mm." A thoughtful silence.

"And I was like, fuck it - sure, you did deserve it, because she fuckin' did, not backing off. And if she kept on, she'd get more shit. That's when she started going on about how she'd drop me in a lake."

"Do you think that, if you had hit her, she would have had the right to defend herself?"

"Sure. But I wasn't gonna hit her."

"How would she know that?"