#bergen_county

"Like, how will folk know to fear the dread pirate roberts if no one sings his tales?"

"And pretty soon, Star's gonna be too fat to ride..."

"She used to be a clipper, and now she's a tugboat?"

"Tugging along, yeah. I am so scared I'll hurt her, y'know?"

"I don't want to fuck it up."

Tove gives Dagmar a hug "oh honey. It'll be okay"

Basil actually smiles.

"From what I hear, she's not hesitant to speak her mind. I'd sure she'd, I dunno, buck someone off if they bothered her or if she was in any discomfort. Like the top off a dandelion, fwip!"

Then a GRIN. "Dagmar, ever thought of trying a mechanical bull?"

"Hunh. I haven't. Could be fun!"

"There's good cash to be made betting on those too, at state fairs sometimes. Or even certain country bars."

Basil says "Okay. Mechanical bulls are real? I mean... magic horses and horns on my head I can roll with but.. mechanical bulls are real... and people PAY to get on them? Not sure I can believe" half joking

"Oooo, bet they'd have arm wrestling tables, too."

"I've surprised a couple mortal dudes."

"Just figuring if you can stay on one of those monstrous horses while it thunders around or FLIES, and while getting LANCES shoved at you, you can hold your own on a electronic toy."

And a laugh at Basil. "Be careful what you say, sometimes the dreaming listens! Especially when you're fresh and new. All we need now is a traveling Nocker rodeo..."

Snort-grin.

"Honky Tonk's not normally my thing" Tove admits "But if you want to try"

"Could be fun."

Piper GRINS and strikes a pose... tipping an imaginary cowboy hat...

"Cause I saddle up my horse
And I ride into the city
I make a lot of noise
Cause the girls
They are so pretty
Riding up and down broadway
On my old stud leroy
And the girls say
Save a horse, ride a cowboy!"

BLUSH.

Tove gives a light laugh

"And they say Hip hop's dirty minded" But Basil chuckles

"Country's not my main jam, but there are some gems... and it's fun to listen and hear the similar elements with a lot of modern country, back to Appalachian tunes, way-way back to Irish folk."

"Country, cajun, blues, bluegrass, even rap can all be bundled into genres of Folk music." A grin.

"Oh yes. And some of it in the last twenty years is funny. I rather am fond of Brad Paisley" Tove confides

"I like Lil Nas, and he does some country stuff..."

"Isn't he the guy who just did that quarantine drinking song? That wasn't half bad!" To Tove.

"I may have missed that" Tove admits. "But I think everyone can agree that Johnny Cash is amazing no matter if you like Country or not. Now that's a skald."

"Props" Basil admits

A laugh and she sings the one line she remembers,

"There ain't no "U" or "I" in beer, that's right
But there's about to be a lot of beer in you and I!"

"It was on the tonight show... about coming together even when we're apart, and drinking a beer."

"Ha."

"And ain't no one who can say that Old Town Road doesn't slap."

"Oh yeah!"

A grin to Basil, "That video shows you just how it would work out to ride a horse down the city streets..."

Basil says "i'll give it a look"

Tove says "Where's Snow?" And looks about.

The monkey is gone

Brow furrow.

"Did she raid the fruit bowl and take a runner?"

"Did we have unguarded produce?"

"She's gonna flip her lid in a few months if you have any apple trees out there..."

"Oh, the plums..." Tove goes "She had one... and then realized here you got them from" sure enough, monkey gone. And bag of plums. Gone

"Oh, she's gonna make herself sick..."

"Will she learn from it? Or only until her stomach recovers?"

"If even that long..."

"She's adorable, but a glutton to the core"

"I should get back and see about clearing space for Basil to settle in. Baz, you wanna head back, or Dagmar could show you around the lodge or something?"

Basil says "you sure about me getting to use your room? We don't know how long this sit up is gonna go on"

"I'm sure. You get to share a bathroom with Zane and Lydia, and I get to play Holly Homemaker with a new studio apartment - not hard to see who got the short end of the stick! Anyways you need the Fam' looking out for you for now, anyways."