#debukefarmhold

(somewhere between then and there after)

Even though a day at the Farm involves a lot of hard work, Sylvi enjoys that hard work during a Farm trip. It's reassuring in some way. Balancing.

Indeed, stacking the hay , watering the animals, and even daring to beg the chickens to share their eggs

When the tasks are done, they're done (at least until the next day). It can be very satisfactory.

"that red feathered hen give you any trouble?" Chief Clem asks "She can be a mean one"

Sylvi grins. "Hi, Chief. She's mean, but I'm stubborn."

"You? Nah..." Clem smiles "Your daddy says you're an angel"

"Ha! Dad knows better, but he's a great PR crew." She offers over the basket of eggs. "Want to check them over before I bring them to the Hearth?"

"Oh, I trust you" She nods "Though I do remember a girl wigging out when she first camee here when she learned eggs could come in brown. I will go with you though. Been meaning to ask how you're doing?"

"I didn't 'wig out'!" she protests. "I was...enthusiastically surprised." Then a shrug. "Doing okay, I guess. I feel like I'm trying to fit a lot into a small amount of vacation, before I go back to school."

"Vacation? " Clem looks bemused "You want to spread word to the others that farm work is a vacation? Might get some of them to whine a bit less about the stable cleaning and hay baling. " Indeed, work aside, the sky is clear and beautiful, the breeze keeps the edge of the heat off just a bit.

"Well, I'm guessing that it might get tedious if I had to do it all the time, all year. But for me, it's a novelty, a nice change of pace. And it's really nice to get some time to ride Lanark." She sighs a bit. "It reminds me of being a childling, too, y'know?"

At that Clem nods "I know. Wilder or Grump, it's not wrong to visit the past long as you live in the present. Heck, sometimes it's...grounding, but in a good way? Like going back to a clear spring and having a sip"

They enter into the main building where the balefire and the kitchen beyond it await

Lanark was his usual surly but lovable self.

A grin. "I like that. A clear spring. Yeah." She knocks on the frame of the open kitchen door. "Hearth? Eggs."

"Oh come on in," Hearth Kourtney says. It's kind of weird calling a teenager two years younger than Sylvi herself 'Hearth' but the young lady works her ass off. She takes the eggs when they're brought to her and jokes "oh my god, brown ones, is the chicken sick?" then flashes a light grin at Sylvi "Thank you"

Sylvi rolls her eyes and sticks out her tongue briefly. "I'm never gonna live that down, am I."

"We missed you, short stack," Clem explains "Got to get our licks in while we can"

The kitchen area is different from her mom's, of course. But it is a place of clattering busy serenity

"I don't really mind," she assures them. "I just hope people know I'm not that farm-stupid anymore."

"Oh you never were, darling" Clem says "You learned quick . Which is best anyone can ask that the lessons stick after the first time. And you humbled us all when you helped figure out the Lanark code where the rest of us were lost. Sad to say it, you're not even that short anymore. Done grown"

"What'd you expect, Chief? She came to visit first when I was a childling" Kourtney reminds

"Well, I should hope I've grown. Mind you, I'm no Dagmar."

She bites her lip a bit. "I'm sorry I don't get up more often."

Clem says "You wouldn't be the first DeBuke who needed to go Rumspringa so to speak... Sally mae doesn't get up here so often right now either. Spencer's got his musical scene near Dark Gate and on tour. I hope Ives and Eulalie are enjoying their work at Rivervale. You're bettering yourself academics wise AND a fine freeholder. Don't think of this place as an obligation, or you might grow to resent it, and don't none of us want that"

"Well, I do have an obligation to Lanark, I feel, even if he's being well cared for whether I'm here or not. But I get what you mean. So...from what I've seen, Ives and Eulalie seem to be doing okay, and Sally Mae's really carved out a place for herself, and she seems happy. And...I guess Spencer's doing okay? At Dark Gate?"

"That theatre group.. with Sully happy to take charge of his career, part time. Spencer's actually performing in N'awlins later this month"

At the talk of Sally mae, Kourtney looks thoughtful. It's no secret if Sally mae had been a full troll, SHE would be hearth now

"Sully's good people," she says with a nod. "N'awlins? Cool...that's great. I'm glad he's doing so well."

There's a knock at the kitchen window

Sylvi looks around to see who's there.

No one, it seems.

Unless she opens it?

A frown...and she goes over to open it.

"WAR" cries a small voice and a blue hand lobs a water baloon in, splashing her...and to a lesser degree the Hearth and Chief

A childing races off

A surprised splutter!

"Hey! Kitchen's off limits!" Sylvi remembers that from her own experiences with water balloon fights here.

Indeed it is.

"Oh, I am ready to grab someone by their little horns..." Kourtney fusses

"Chief, Hearth, if you'll excuse me..." she's already making for the door.

"Oh right" Clem remembers "War games for the younguns... Hearth, okay if cousin Davidson handles this?"

Kourtney wipes up some of the spill "I'd be obliged if she did." Hurumph.

And Sylvi is on it!

She follows the direction the assailant went, and seeks out a stash of water balloons.

Heidi DeBuke, a trouble maker to be sure, pig tails bouncing in the distance.

Other childlings are engaged at the 'war games'.... and they are supplied with such by more than one barrel full of them. Others prefer to fill up their own with a hose.

(Perception plus Alertness)

/roll 4