#rivervale_lodge

After school, Lily comes into Rivervale lodge and puts some things away. Her dad is at work a lot. Mom is taking care of Adam...

And Jack and Connor are doing BOY stuff

Symon is lurking in the corning. Watching her!

She breaks out her books, and starts to write whatever her project is. She does not yet notice she is being watched. Perhaps it is a busy day

He ponders looming over her, shadows extending, darkness creeping, overwhelming until she tries to scream and scream only no sound comes out... but, no - that's for others. There IS a professional courtesy, after all. And he slides out of his corner, one of many, and allows his footfalls to make soft sounds that she'll hear as he moves over.

She straightens, and blushes lightly before saying "Hello, Symon."

He leans in, curiously glancing at her papers. "How's business, Grub?" A friendly nickname, from one slug to another.

she smiles at that, her little black lips curling "School's easy... the farm has so many secrets though. It's just hard to get them." A sigh "my mother and farther are temporarily separated. Adam says we have to stop it. Get them together. He wants me to fake being sick. Do you know anything that would give me a fever?"

His lip curls back in distate. "Why would you want to?"

"I don't know. Adam is my brother and it worries him. And I don't want my parents separating. Would you want your dad and Anne Marie to stay together?"

"Yes, but they want to be together. My dad and my Eomma - that was my birth mom - they split when I was little. It was a long time ago - I don't remember much, but things were better once we left. If they don't want to be with each other, why force them? They might just get frustrated, then angry, then start hating each other, or even take it out on you guys." He whispers.

"Not on purpose. I know your parents aren't that kind. But think about if someone made you stick around in a room with someone you didn't feel like being around. Like that Boggan brat with the pink barrettes in her pigtails. Eventually it would drive you crazy." He does observes things.

"oh" she gums at her lips "is sorrow always our lot as sluagh?"

He lowers to the ground, letting his arms drape over his legs in a loose crouch. "Sometimes. Not always. But... think of it this way. Maybe they'll stay apart and start to miss each other. When I spend too much time around people, sometimes I think I'm going to shrivel up and die. But give it a few good weeks in my room... and I start to think, "What's Dagmar up to", or, "I wonder if the Hearth has anything good aged under the floor boards.".

Symon scratches at his head. "The thing about pretending you're sick - that's a trick. Sounds like something your pooka friend would do. Think of it from the other side. If you realized someone tried to trick you into something, how would that make you feel? More likely to do that thing? Or maybe to do the opposite because fuck 'em, they tried to force you?"

"i would not use that language," She makes a face, then she sighs "But I would probably think it. You'sre saying don't fake the plauge unless I want to scare folks"

He darkens a little green around the cheeks. "Sorry." Muttered. "I'm a shi- shoddy role model, I know. And yeah, I'd be upset if Dad suddenly wanted to leave or something. But sometimes things break, sometimes things fall apart. Sometimes they're better that way. And sometimes, well, maybe they come back together. You could seek an omen if you really wanted. But I think trying to force their hands might not work. Your mom's a satyr, and your Dad's a troll - two of the most stubborn damn kiths there are. You think they'd respond well to being pushed? A troll will go all sullen and solid like a rock wall, and a goat will butt right back against it. There are things you can do, though, sly like."

A sigh "Gerd is right. The most annoying thing about you is you're often right."

He snickers, then blinks. "Gerd said that?"

"She likes you" a nod "So I don't think she finds you THAT annoying"

He flushes a little bit and mutters about suspect taste. "So, I don't recommend a trick. But there are things you can do. Sluagh can be sly. Think about what your parents liked to do together. Was there a meal your mom made, or someplace you went as a family? Memories are tricky and worm their way into your brain where they have no right to be and play on your emotions, if you're not smart enough to lock that stuff down when you don't want it affecting your clear thinking. Trolls are surprisingly sentimental. You can remind him of why he liked being with your mom, and see where that gets you."

She has put her home work away and begun scribbling notes down

"yes. I think mother and father worry they're not..com..com.. pater able?" A sigh "She fears she'll betray him by Samhain. I.. overheard"

He exhales, thoughtfully. "Maybe she would. This is your first Samhain. Things do get a little... extra weird. They could be right, you know. Mortal Brenda and... uh. Dad, might not work together the same way that Troll and Satyr parents do. You're not who you were before you changed either. I bet you had a barbie and didn't even see if her head came off." A small snicker.

"I still have a barbie" she says

Then adds "Of course when she's bad, she has to learn a lesson"

He nods. "Do you know how to do a noose from embroidery floss?"

Her little eyes light up, "Yes. they're so much easier than webs from giant spiders...though not as pretty. Oh I forgot, you play with dolls too"

"Eh... they're miniatures. It's different. But I can show you some good knots. And before winter hits, remind me... if you go out in the fields at the farm at dawn before the sun is up all the way, you can see the way the dew sits on the webs out there. They have different spiders out there than in houses, and they make some kickass designs. If you're lucky, we can even catch a couple grasshoppers to flick into webs and you can see the ladies work."

"How is it different?" probably not where he expected her to rewind to "They're small, people like.. and I've seen you play with them"

He stifles a grimace, and offers the answer that he has practiced, but Dirk never listens to. "Dolls are meant as small models of human figures. Action figures are... technically dolls, but intended as representations of specific people or fictional characters and intended for vigorous motion and holding up to more than posing. Some miniatures date back to victorian times and later when they would use them to mock up old crime scenes as dioramas.

But what I like to do are 'minis' - they're scale models meant to augment a game or represent a character in place - they're not meant to be manhandled or played with independent of the setup, though some people just collect them. They're not an independent toy like a doll or action figure." He blinks, surprised he actually made it through the entire explanation for once.

She listens, then says "So they're snotty dolls."

He sputters a little, and then scowls at her. "You're teasing me." He accuses.

"And I'm not snotty. I'm pretentious."

a soft wheeze of a giggle

"I am. do i still get to see grasshoppers flicked into webs?"

He grins. "Only if you keep a pocket full. I want you to sneak one into that pig-tail girl's desk or lunchbox - UNSEEN - and tell me how she reacts. That's your slugwork for the week."

"okay" she nods "See, that-s fun homework"

"What were you working on over there?"

"Oh, the homework from the school?" She makes a face

He nods, and reaches over to snag the paperwork in long fingers, if she doesn't object. Looking it overr...

"It's math" she sighs "Miss Sally Mae says it's on my level, but " nose wrinkle

His eyes gleam a little. "Oh, I can probably help." And settles in to walk her through it. He IS a dungeon master after all, if he can't create a suitably macabre story problem to help with grade school math, then he might as well hang up his dice.

Oh she lights up at that "So, you're saying, the trap would get more and more people as the time went by, and to figure that out, we..>" She runs fingers over the formula

Soon they have calculated the rate at which a trap working with this math would depopulate a village of fools and adventurers

"And if you consider the exponent as being how many times their friends outside would still come in after them if we mimick'ed a call for help..."

"Wow, they dont' want to live" she says

But she works it out with him.

And Symon hears ..footsteps.

He turns, starting to slink back into his corner - but no, Lily is here with her stuff all laid out. Instead he just lurks next to her, watching.

"Doing your home work already?" Sally mae says "That's nice"

"Uhm.. thank you" The sluagh whispers "I'm almost done."