#rivervale_lodge

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It's been a kind of rainy few days in Bergen County (though nowhere near the flooding from before), and now that things have drained off a bit, Sylvi's taking the dogs for a walk. Well, she's walking...they're loping all over the place, occasionally chasing Flopsy in good-natured harrassment.

Happy barking carries through the trees.

Ahead, broad-shouldered and halberd-bearing, tromps another teenager.

She stops and turns at the barking, however. "Oak? Edie?"

The dogs race at her as soon as they spot her, then break away and run in circles around her. It's GOOD to be a dog!

"Hey, Dagmar!" Sylvi smiles and waves, catching up.

"Hey guys!" She crouches, holding out her hands. "Hey Sylvi/"

Flopsy takes a grateful break from being the chase rabbit.

Oak and Edelweiss snuffle her hands (treats?) then her arms, then her face....wag wag wag wag wag.

Oak might even try to jump up with muddy paws...but Edelweiss is much more polite.

"No treats, sorry..." but pets! A good ear-rumple!

"Didn't know you were out here. Everything okay?"

WAG WAG WAG WAG WAG at the ear rumples.

"Yeah. I just like walking here, you know?" She drops down to sit, mud be damned, and concentrates on giving each dog their due. "Felt cooped up in the house."

Sylvi's a bit less happy with mud, but she leans against a tree. "Yeah, I hear you...better to be outside."

"Yeah. I like the woods. And I met a rock person the other day, so that was cool."

A blink. "A rock person?"

"He called himself a Glome, yeah. So instead of being a person - a human - he's a rock? He was nice."

A bigger blink. "There's a Glome? Around here? I...wow...I wonder if the Chieftain knows. She's never mentioned it, and neither have my folks. Where is it?"

"I... I don't know if I should tell yet?"

"I want to ask Brekke if it is okay if he visits the lodge."

"Oh. Oh, sure. No, that makes sense." Sylvi nods. "I wonder if he would? Visit the Lodge, I mean. That would be cool. What was he like?"

"Hm. I thought he was a weird troll, at first. Quiet, but polite."

"He looked like a troll?"

"Well, BIG. But grey, not blue."

"Horns?"

"Mmm..." A frown and she shakes her head. "So I guess not that much."

"Well, I'm just trying to picture."

The dogs are ranging around, snuffling at this and that. Sylvi gives Flopsy a hand up so he can ride on her shoulder for a bit.

"He had a trench coat. And one of those hats?"

A surprised look. "Really? Like an old comic book detective?"

"Yeah!" She grins.

"Wow. Okay...geez, Dagmar, I've lived here my whole life, but then you show up and discover something I didn't even know we had!"

"I think he might have been here before the Lodge. Like, you know the Ents in Lord of the Rings? And rocks are older than trees..."

"Probably, yeah." She nods.

"Well, I did climb on his rock. Maybe you just didn't?"

"Maybe. So you figure that's what...um...woke him up, or whatever?"

"Maybe?"

"I'm not exactly small, not anymore."

"Hey, did you tell my dad about it? I don't remember a lot of what I was taught about Glomes, but he'd probably remember a ton more."

"I should, yeah. But then the bug thing happened and everyone freaked out."

She rubs her arm, biting on her lower lip. "Thanks, you know."

"Hey, no worries. I mean, you did the pulling-parts-off bit, so...teamwork."

"But you stayed so calm, you know? With Matt right there?"

A disgruntled harrumph. "What do you think of Jaymes?"

"Oh, yeah...that was weird, but you sort of learn how to fake 'normal' when the Glamour gets wonky."

"I've gotten better at not breaking stuff around the house by accident."

A blink at the change of topic. "Umm...I don't know. He seems okay. A little grouchy, but not mean or anything. And I think he might have a crush on Tove." She grins.

She nods and grins. "Cool...that probably makes life easier."