#rivervale_lodge

"I...have a nice day, Nana Binky" Vali says

Sylvi stifles a laugh until they get out of ear shot. "Did you hear how she said it? 'Play-ER.' So cute!"

"I know I know, she's inappropriate in more ways than one. Is your mom talking to the boggan chain again?"

"Um...maybe? I don't know much of what she does on school days."

"Maybe I'm just paranoid" He mutters.

"Hmm...maybe it's Sally Mae?"

Others on the patrol they met do have news and gossip too. "Oh yes, Baron Kealan is setting up a ringer to take his place for Pennons to look just like him. Tired of getting unhorsed every year"//"Rumor has Thralla the troll, the one who married that Scathach fellow? Rumor has it one ofh er children is grown now and has returned to the area."// "The DeBukes are trying to take over the squash trade, they're under cutting everyone"// "There's talk of a magical strip club setting up ... and oh you have of the younger ones with you, later Vali"

A bemused look at him at that last. "Magical strip club, huh?"

A sigh "I don't go to those things. It would hurt Tiffany's feelings." Then "but yes. I know what club they speak of. And you are SOO too young to get the details. "

"But you went to them before Tiffany, didn't you?"

"I was in New Orleans. Women would rob me of my beads once a year" He says "But yes, I have been in a strip club. It was valuable research"

She frowns. "What does 'rob you of your beads' mean?"

He groans and bares his head in his hands "Madi Gras? Like Carnival for mortals? New Orleans has a huge one. Anyway, many women will ah... if you throw beads, will lift their shirts. And EVERYONE attending is 21 years or older. "

"Oh! Oh. Like Carnivale....right. Okay." Perhaps mercifully, she doesn't ask anything else.

Vali shoots a grateful look dreaming word.

One Nocker comes out "When does my buzzomatic get returned?"

"Your...what?" Sylvi looks to Vali.

"You ask this every time you see me," Vali says "You get it back when it stops carving every tree it sees." Then he explains "Yanbun here ..."//"That's CRAFTER YANBUN to you, punk"//"Crafter Yanbun made this robot that cuts trees down, REALLY cuts them down, invoking the wyrd. And it doens't know how to stop. "//"A minor flaw"//"It's also a threat to the Right of ignorance, Crafter. All we need is one mortal with enough creativity to start writing... folks notice the missing trees..."//"The chieftain had no right to rip it's battery out"//"It WAS trying to carve HER when she got in tthe way" //"BAH, excuses! Tell her I want my Buzzomatic back!"//"She knows"

"Um...Crafter Yanbun, it sounds like a really powerful robot, but why would you want to make something to cut down trees? It seems to me there aren't enough trees left in Rivervale as it is."

"That was for marketing to figure out, ya sotheaded newb" He growls

Vali's eyebrow raises, "You're insulting the daughter of the Rover Olgar. Thought you should know."

Suddenly the crafter sputters "The big ug... uh noble guy who helps us get supplies? I.. you know we nockers. Yak yak"

Sylvi only pouts briefly at the insult. "I'm just saying...that if it's that good a robot, maybe it could be good at something else. Like...like stacking sandbags when we have floods, maybe."

"That would make it a bagstackomatic, not a Buzzomatic" The nocker says as if that showws how silly her idea is

Vali fights an eyeroll

"Right. Far more...marketable." She suggests.

"Marketable?" Suddenly the nocker's eyes light up "mmm"

Vali's eye blink. Apparently he did not htink of that tact himself

"Right...uh...could....could stack other things, too, right? Like...like stock room help."

"Maybe, specialization is easier but yheah....maybe. Mmm I need to get to my furkin schematics.. a stackomatic..." Mmmm he turns and walks off. Disregarding the trolls

Vali looks at Sylvi then says "Does the chief realize how good you are at that?"

A dubious look at Vali. "At what?"

"Negotating, getting folks to consider other avenues? "

A blink and a shrug. "I guess? I mean...that's why I get to be Emissary, right?"

"Yes. but it was cool to see it in action" He admits. "you have a gift."

She rolls her eyes. "It's not that big a gift."

"Like a tree, it depends on how much room you give it to grow, and how much you tend to it" Oh sure, NOW he sounds like a teacher

Wry, "And making sure the Buzzomatic doesn't get to it?"

"Where'd you learn to be so snarky? " A smile though

"You've met my dad, right? And mom gives plenty of snark, too...it's just different. And a lot of it's not out loud. She can snark with the way she puts down a plate."

"Good point. Sometimes I worry I've been conditionedd and don't even know it. Like, she taps a a spoon against a fork and I take out the trash"

"Right?!" Sylvi grins with a mixture of shared suffering and familial pride.

A chuckle "Okay so you come by it naturally. Still, I think you have a lot to offer."