#rivervale_lodge

"I understand, Gerd, and I feel the same way about you."

A smile "thanks "

"You are very welcome, Gerd. And welcome on the trip."

"Looking forward to it" She says

His beard moves again and he looks back at his papers. He frowns a bit at one, nods thoughtfully at another.

"Need me to drop off something?"

"No, thank you. Just catching up on the correspondence."

"Fair. In that case, I'm going to loot tthe kitchen. I'm snacky"

"Go forth and conquer." Frank nods.

AND into the kitchen she goes

Frank works to make order out of the chaos on his desk. Invitations/announcements are in a stack on the corner of his desk (or already sent out if that works better for our timing).

Kerri comes down the stairs, hauling a basket of linens and towels for the wash. "Hello, Mountain!" she says with a smile.

"Raiding some food" From the kitchen

Clearly Gerd's voice

She calls back, "Welcome to it, especially if it's Spam!" Kerri sounds as if she's in a good mood.

Frank's beard smiles back. "Hello, Kerri."

"Anything new and/or interesting?" she asks, putting down the basket and indicating his stack of correspondence.

"I'll get some spam" she laughs "The suff with the pineapple"

"Good choice!" she calls back.

"Mm. Not really. Some House business."

"House business?" she coaxes.

"Hearth did you want somethingg while I'm in the kitchen, a drink maybe?"

"Notes, updates."

"Oh, no, thank you, Gerd. That's fine."

Sounds i the kitchen, nothing dangerous

Since Frank seems uninterested in expanding on the idea, she nods and picks up the laundry again. It's not a problem...she's quite used to his taciturn nature.

Kerri carries the laundry into the kitchen and takes a peek at whatever Gerd has selected.

"Found something good?"

"Yup, Spam pineapple pizza with extra cheese want some?"

"Y'know...I think I do. Let me put this in the wash...can you set me up a plate?"

She goes down the hall to the laundry alcove and starts putting the wash in the machine.

She sets her up a plate after heating it a touch

Soon the machine is running, and she comes back to join Gerd at the kitchen island. "I've decided that Spam is underrated," she declares after taking a bite. "Of course, I might have been brainwashed."

'Stockholm syndrome?" A smile from the wilder apprentice

"I've seen things," Kerri quips in mock horror. And takes another bite of Spam-za.

A laugh at that, "You know, I think you handled Nolann just the right way."

"Well, honestly? At first I thought it might have been an accident, so I decided to go easy on him, since he's new. By the time he started to pull an attitude about it, I was already set in that mode, and...well...it worked better than I expected." Another bite.

"Momentum had a lot to do with it, I think."

"Judo throw, he expected one thingg, you surprised him with understanding and threw off his balannce" A look at her "Mounntain Frank will be driving more i seems"

"Mm-hm." She agrees with a tone that suggests she's not at all concerned as she fetches herself a drink from the fridge. "Back on the road."

"And that's .. okay right?" She whispers "I mean...I think everyone thought he'd be ...well, here more, not less"

A blink. "What made you think that?"

"Well, I don't know, I guess I should have realized, but he was going on how he was sill part of the hold and would advise Vali"

A breath "I believe Uncle Vali can do it, but I was hoping he'd have the first six months on easy mode thanks to back up"

"Well, I think six months might be a bit long for both of them, don't you? I mean...you don't want them getting irritated with each other over how to do things, right?"

A pause "Are we asking good witch Gerd, or bad witch Gerd?"

Kerri tilts her head. "Which one wants to speak first?"

"I think I could get away with a LOT while they do that" A smile "Well, more than I would. But I also see your point. I guess I'm justt protective Vali. He really wants to have folks respect and do right"

Kerri nods. "Which is why it's even more important that he appear to have the Lodge's trust in the position as soon as possible."

"He will have the Lodge's trust, but it won't look that way quite as much if Frank is still calling the shots in the background."