There for Each Other (for Zaylah)

[VGKforever]

In general, Eir was a good kid who did her best. Five years prior, she'd moved in with Rikke, a friend of her father's, after her parents died in a car accident. Even a as a young child, it had taken a long time to process her grief and begin to move on from it, but Rikke was always there helping her. In return, Eir adored her guardian and looked up to her. However, Rikke's ex-military background and Eir's inability to take anything seriously could conflict. But for the most part, the two got along great.

One Friday afternoon, Eir hopped off the school bus and ran home, eager for a weekend off. It had been a slightly rough week at school, made worse by the fact that she didn't get along well with her third-grade teacher. When she entered the house, she immediately threw her backpack down in its usual corner and removed her shoes. "Hey, Rikke!" she called out, not seeing her guardian. "I'm home!"

[Zaylah]

Rikke Andersen felt the corner of her lip twitch upward when she heard the familiar footfalls racing up the walk, the thud of a decently equipped backpack for a 3rd grader and last but not least, the bright and cheery greeting call from little girl's lips.

The ex-military woman had seen her share of troubles and woes etc before the military and through out it, yet nothing hit her quite as hard or maybe quite as directly personal as losing Bernard and Anna Stahl to a car accident, but there was still a bright light amidst all the tragedy.

Eir.

The little blonde and blue eyed girl was not always the angel she looked like, she was a beacon even still and Rikke would not want it any other way,

The woman stepped out into the main hall answering back,

"Hey Spirit, welcome back."

She gave a little smirk,

"You managed to make it through the week, I guess I lose that bet."

The tease came along with clear sarcasm so the little blonde might get, there was no real wager with her capability of surviving 3rd grade.

[VGKforever]

After giving her guardian a hug hello, she returned the smirk and crossed her arms. Eir was perfectly capable of picking up on her teasing, and often returned it. Sometimes to the point of driving Rikke crazy. "That's right, you lost. So that means you owe me double allowance. Those were the terms of the bet, remember?"

Joking aside, she nodded, now taking the statement at face value. "Yeah, I made it through. I don't think I would have if you didn't make me go to school though. You never let me skip days unless I'm sick. Actually sick. I thought the fake puke I put out on Tuesday morning was really good. I still don't get how you knew it wasn't real right away." Eir had had a math test that Tuesday, and deliberately chose it as the day to try to convince Rikke she had a stomach virus. Rikke wasn't fooled for a second.

[Zaylah]

Rikke gave the young one a squeeze back,

"I think you had a little crud in your ears kiddo."

The ex-military woman smirked back a bit wider,

"The terms were, you get an extra cookie not money, ya con' artist."

Rikke let the joke drop but did lead the girl to have her afternoon snack, which indeed had an extra cookie.

"Ah, do you finally see now without fussing and grumbling why I make you go to school?"

A raise eyebrow,

Rikke doubted it but it was always a hopeful whim,

"Yeah for one ya little rascal, I ain't no novice, I've seen that trick a million times and fail just as many."

She narrowed her eyes lightly with a knowledge,

"Also, looks can be deceiving never just trust those senses."

She crossed her arms with that small lecture, before sitting down with her own snack.

"Now real talk, Eir, did you get back that test grade yet?"

[VGKforever]

Eir decided the extra cookie was an acceptable compromise, though it wasn't as good as double allowance. "Okay, fine. I'll take it. But maybe next time it can be an extra... fifty-dollar bill?" Not that she even had one. She was joking around again, but she always enjoyed driving people a little bit nuts, delivering sass with a toothy grin. But when Rikke let the subject rest, she stopped pushing it, realizing the longer it went on, the less funny the joke would get.

She looked up at the mention of "real talk." With Rikke, "real talk" was code for not tolerating any sass while discussing the subject at hand. It had been a long process, but Eir had mostly learned when it was and wasn't okay to give her guardian some slight lip. It didn't mean she always followed those unspoken rules, but she was definitely aware of them. "The test? Yeah, I got it back. I'll go get it. I need you to sign it anyway." She disappeared into the living room, got the math test from her backpack. She set it on the table. The score was 80. It was lower than she was capable of, but an improvement over the last two, and still a somewhat respectable grade. "It's better, right?"

[Zaylah]

Rikke had rolled her eyes too herself at the nudge again for extra allowance and of course the amount.

*What a little rascal.*

The woman thought seeing the familiar toothy grin.

*Oh well, it is one of the things I like best even if I turn gray earlier.*

*She will be buying me hair dye with that fifty.*

Inwardly chuckling at her own thoughts, Rikke waited for Eir to come back with her exam.

*Well, she is not stalling this must be a good one.*

Her thoughts were proven true, an eighty was sufficiently enough in her eyes, especially after all the crap the little girl pulled to try to get out of it.

"Atta girl, Eir."

Rikke praised gruffly, ruffling up blonde hair,

Cleaning their snacks out of the way and grabbing a pen, it was easy to sign, Rikke Andersen on the line.

"Now this, grades like these, might add on a few bucks to your allowance, if you catch my drift, little spirit."

Giving back the paper, another school question,

*If I don't ask, she won't tell.*

"Any homework for the weekend?"

"Any other notes from that teacher of yours?"

[VGKforever]

Eir was happy to hear praise from her guardian, especially over grades. She would rather do almost anything than study, and sometimes getting her to review the material, even before a test, was like pulling teeth. This time had been equal parts effort and luck. She did study for the test the night before, and even though she hadn't felt ready to take it, she'd retained enough to do all right. The idea of getting a few extra dollars to spend for consistently better grades was enticing, and had her attention. "How many bucks is 'a few?' Give me a number to work with, Rikke."

The mention of other homework distracted her from the conversation. "No. I didn't get any notes sent home. Not that I can remember, anyway. And the weekend homework is just reading, like it usually is." Every weekend, her teacher required the class to read for two hours on their own, then have their guardian sign off on a form confirming they actually did it. Eir liked to read, so this was rarely a problem. "Can we do something fun this weekend? You do remember what fun is, right Lieutenant Commander Andersen?"

[Zaylah]

"Alright, that is normal, sometimes you have extra credit though or a project with a classmate, but only reading, well good."

Then the brunette returned the attention back to the other topic about grades,

"Alright, yeah little swindler, my number is three extra, for a B grade and five extra for an A grade."

Rikke did not find that two unreasonable, she knew Eir had it in her, and for some reason it had to be yanked out, the will to study.

*I want her to see the importance of it earlier and if that takes a little motivational bribe, I am willing for the benefits later on.*

The woman gave a snort,

"Mmmm, for snarky little squirts a fun weekend is doing chores, eating brussel sprouts, yah know."

She spoke with a smirky sarcastic edge,

"However if nice little girls would ask, this weekends fun could be going to maybe to the beach or park or maybe lazar tag...."

She trailed off those rather fun and active ideas.

[VGKforever]

Three dollars for a B and five for an A sounded like a good deal to her. She put her arms around Rikke and squeezed. "All right! Thank you! I can get B's. And... I've got one right here. So I think that means you owe me three dollars right now, right? 80 is a B-."

When the subject was changed, she raised an eyebrow at the mention of chores and brussels sprouts. Being snarky was fun, but not fun enough to sacrifice a fun trip. "You're driving a hard bargain again, you know. All I know about snarkiness came from you. But can we please do something fun? Any of those things!"