#rivervale_lodge

"THAT thing."

His cheeks mottle a touch of purplish for a moment, and he clears his throat inaudibly. "Yeah, that. I got better things to spend my valuable time on. Like learning to summon demons to do my bidding. Or making sure my best friend doesn't flunk algebra before we FINALLY check out that cave you promised to show me."

"Wait, shit - what cave?"

"And I currently have a C in algebra, thank you."

"Oh, remember way back.... shit, was that before samhain... no, earlier. There was that river where we went fishing with Jaymes - sorry, your dad, not sure if he was back then, though - and when we hiked back it drained off into an underground area. We were talking about checking it out.

"OH! Yeah! Mystery cave!"

"I was looking up Spelunking gear and Dirk threatened to tell Ann Marie I was downloading porn. I tried to explain that it wasn't a thing but... it was easier to just give him my allowance that week."

A cough and a grin. "If Spelunking IS an Urban Dictionary thing, I don't WANNA know."

"Oh jeez, yeah. Dirk."

"It was worth it, though. I guess he doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut, so instead of saying nothing, he told them - AM and Dad... I was doing some extra studying online - and this when I was on free time - and I got my curfew loosened back up a bit after the Rome thing.

"FInally!"

"Of course, now that I snuck out at night I'll probably be grounded again." He doesn't sound all that concerned.

"Well, blame me?"

"Maybe Ann-Marie will excuse it."

"I think with the Hearth being sick, I can probably get it to slide. It's my dad that's the trouble, and she gets all weird about it if I want to do even just a little fuddle."

"Yeah, tough luck you couldn't get funky magic threads..."

He shakes his head. "Oh, fuck no. For all I know I'd end up with another boggan, or something worse. I'm fine with a muggle parent - at least him I -can- work around, even if Ann Marie gets fussed. And until the Hearth is back up and running the place, it's an excuse to hang out here, isn't it? I mean, help out with things. Right."

"Totally!"

"I like being busy, for sure."

"I'm sure the Rover will have things in hand, but an extra set of eyes that can see in the dark ain't a bad thing. Especially if there are more giant bugs around. And I brought some glow in the dark spray paint. See, if one attacks at night, I'll give it a rattle and spritz and then you get to flyswat it. Because you KNOW spooky shit like that likes to come out in the dark. Hell, that's what I would do."

"Ha."

"Glow-combat. It'll be the cool new thing."

"Yeah! Flyswatter would kick ASS if it glowed in the dark. Like Sting from Lord of the Rings."

He looks thoughtful about this. "It was a joke... but I wonder if you COULD get a cantrip to do that. Make it glow if something dangerous was around."

"That would be badass."

"Thallain, maybe? They're bad."

"We'd have to fight with the rest of the group about who gets what colors. Like with lightsabers." A snicker.

"And yeah - but those are pretty rare. And I guess most monsters we see aren't shy about letting you know if they're around."

"I'm not too sneaky either, so it works out."

"There's rumours that sometimes bogies... that's like slugs, but if thallain... that they can pass as slugs. They just whisper, even though they don't have to... and try to give us a bad name just for shits and giggles. ...but I don't see other sluagh so very often that I'd need an alarm, and I can give myself a bad name, with just a few chicken bones." a snicker, remembering the recent gossip he'd picked up on.

"I don't think people mean anything by it, not really."

"Oh, I know. But I like to keep 'em guessing. That way when I do something normal it seems exceptional, and if I'm nice it's extra-credit."

"Smart!"

"It;s getting late though. You gotta get back to the Barn? I can walk over if you want. I don't get to see the lodge at night much."

"I should, yeah. Dad won't be home yet. Stupid fucking store."

"Cool. We can hang out and I'll keep watch. Hell, maybe they'll give me a title like Dirk. Wait, scratch that. With great titles comes stupid responsibilities." A grin.

"You'd look weird in spurs, anyhow..."

And off they go

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Snot. Kerri can taste it. The only thing that allows her any reprieve from that taste are those moments when chills hit- distracting her with a shudder with accompanying weakness.

It's really bad, this time. Really bad. I've got to.... But she can't quite remember, she just knows that things need to be done and she can't get out of bed.

A snuffle that only makes her head ache.

A cold compress on her head and a klenex for her nose "Easy"

An un-troll-like whine. "This sucks." Cough.

"Does." Her husband agrees, "But they've got it covered."

They've?

Sally Mae is just one. At least, that's how math still works.

It takes her a few moments to process that. "Who?"