#rivervale_lodge

He huffs an answer, holding up a hand to shade eyes already covered by flopped-over bangs, and edges his way towards the others, glancing back at Ann-Marie so he can catch the moment she turns to go socialize and he can slink back once more.

Colton smiles at that, then looks around, "Wow, Crowded.I.. sure." he looks behind him, "You gonna be okay?"//His guest nods// ANd Colton walks off with Sylvi

"Oh! Oh, sorry, I..." She belatedly greets the guest. "Hi, I'm Sylvi." She offers a hand to the guest.

The pooka with the feathered hair and sharp features and wings shakes her hand with his own, "Call me by the manly name of Kelly, please. Colton hasn't told me nearly enough about you."

Siv has dared to slip near the eshu, and he's talking to her, whispering in her ear

"He has?" A curious look at Colton, then back to the pooka. "You're from EarthRunes, then?"

Colton says "Kelly's lies are.. uhm.. not always opposite speak so if your'e trying to decode him..."

Symon finds Ann Marie is now talking to the Wayburtons! He can retreat safely!

"Oh, Chieftain...Mountain...I just want to check on a few details...." Siv may notice that Kerri has drawn her parents aside a bit on pretext.

Siv makes a note to hug the Hearth later

"Okay..." Sylvi nods. "I'll keep that in mind."

He moves to the side, ducking behind one of the tables groaning with foods, and looks over the display of burgers and etc. A bowl of mayonnaise-heavy potato salad is eyed more closely, but after swiping a finger through the edge of the bowl and giving a lick, he shakes his head. Needs more time in the sun.

Kelly smiles at Colton, "What sexy pants is afraid I'll say is I'll make it like all he does it talk about the hawtness to the point where it will have you forced to launch him out of here in a michael bay explosion, but I understand my friend is prone to exageration and I'm sure you do too. And no, no, I'm from the Firnostian Frontier. Not many Beltaines there so... he grabbed me here promising me a cermony where I would stick my hand into a stump full of holes while the others beat it with sticks and I risked getting stung, because.. you know, guy thing"

"Hi." Gerd says behind Symon, "here... this food is older and icky" the childling assures, "You'll love it. But you have to talk to Dagmar because she's not crazy about noise and I heard she knnows you so maybe you'll be okay."

the childling holds up a bowl of chicken fingers ready to be thrown out

He startles a bit at the wee troll suddenly popping up behind him - keen of hearing he may be, but when it's all a bustle, it's hard to not be overwhelmed. Settling after a moment as he eyes Gerd with uncertainty, then accepts a Chicken finger. "Thanks. Where's she hiding? It's a sea of blue here."

"no, that blue spot by the wall"

Symon may note there's a table standing in the shade of the Lodge, slightly apart from the rest and...holy moly...it's covered with sluagh food. Week old bread, rancid meat, moldy pasta....

Sylvi listens, decodes, and laughs while blushing. "Well, yeah, I think he exaggerates a little bit." A hip check to Colton. "But I'm glad you could make it, Kelly."

He eyes the table with a bit of surprise, then scans the surroundings - looking now for any shadowy figures or pale splotches clinging to the edges. But, perhaps any other sluagh attending are smarter than to come out while the sun is still high. Moving towards the blue spot by the wall. "Hey." He whispers.

She flinches, startled. "Oh. Hey."

"Thanks. The exciting car chase was rather stressful," He says, then smiles, "You two go on... you know how it is, two's company, three leads to dirty jokes."

Sylvi definitely blushes then. "'Kay. Help yourself to food and stuff." Then she smiles at Colton a little shyly and brings the flowers into the Lodge.

Colton says "Sorry, " whispering low toh er "Everything he says comes out..kind of macho? but also makes fun of it. Weird huH?"

"Are you holding up the wall on your own, or mind if I give you a hand?" Moving over to lean against the wall as well. "Now it's not going anywhere." Still holding a chicken finger that is gone slightly slimy at the edge, as if not quite sure what to do with it.

"You gonna eat that, or just carry it around?"

"It's fine," Sylvi says as she leads him through the main hall and into the kitchen. "Is he...an eagle?"

"Figured I'd carry it around, use it to ward off any well-wishers." He tears a bit off the edge and gives it a sniff, then tucks it into his cheek. "Really needs a little longer to get squishy, but then you get maggots, and that's probably asking too much of the hosts." Matter-of-factly.

"Kerri keeps a whole cupboard of sluagh stuff. Smells awful, but it's always around."

"No, a Kestrel I think" he says

A sly glance up at Dagmar, checking to see if she's getting grossed out. No? Hm. Impressed, or disappointed, maybe a mixture of both. "It doesn't bother you?"

Colton, once they are alone, steals a kiss from Sylvi "I missed you"

"Really? He is? Wow...." Sylvi seems a bit amazed for a moment, then remembers she's got an armful of flowers. She inhales their scent again, then sets them down to find a vase.

"I've eaten worse. And like you said, it's part of being a sluagh, right? Like the whisper?"

((switch those)) She is surprised by the stolen kiss, but not at all upset. "You did? How much?" she teases.

A half-smile. "We have a separate fridge at home, and she - my dad's wife- " He nods towards the Bogganess chatting with the Wayburtons a little ways away, "Generally leaves me alone to eat, except for supper. Since she's always after me to eat more, having a snack is a good excuse to get some alone time. And if I'm not hungry, I can just stash it somewhere to eat later." A pause, and remarks. "But she got mad about the stuff behind the furnace, when they had to call a repairman out." A hint of a snicker.

"Oh, bet it stunk up the whole house!"

"Enough that I am really worried you'll be tired of flowers and I'll have to find something else fast to impress you" Colton says

"They thought Lovecraft had dropped a dead rat in the vents."

"Better than potpurri. Though she stopped the Glade plugins when I said it was making me sneeze, at least." A glance up at Dagmar again. "How's the current digs treating you?"

She looks up from the paper plate, finally. "I did that once. A squirrel, though, from the road. Got a whoopin', but it was worth it."

Another blush. "Flowers are still really, really impressive." A little bite of her lip. "You know you didn't have to? I...like when it's just you visiting, too. You don't have to bring gifts...."

An exhalation, nearly soundless laugh at that.

“You look too big to whup these days.”

She puffs up a bit, and nods. "I'm big now, yeah."

"They sucked, though. And they got rid of me after that, so.. win, right?"

"If they can't take a little dead squirrel, you're lucky to be rid of 'em. "

At that, Colton smiles, "That's... that's nice to knnow, but, can I tell you a secret?"

"Um...sure?" Sylvi smiles and whispers back.

She nods. "I hated it there."