#rivervale_lodge

"I'm fine it's just you know I ... I might be coming with someone and I need her take on it" Squirming

Sylvi smiles. "That's cool, Zane. I just don't get why you're looking so...squirrly."

"Just wlel, you know us satyrs" He says

"Um...yeahhh?"

"Well, there you go" He smiles

Eden is behind Zane and gives Sylvi a questioning look as if seeking approval for something

A little nod to Eden. "Uh-huh. I'm...still a little confused."

"you worried your girlfriend will be upset with the wrong pick?" Eden says

"A little yeah.."

"And you're an emotional guy.... and that could down your night if she's not happy?" Eden says

"Yeah" He says.

"And your girlfriend is?" The pooka asks

"Nadeen, and yeah She might not even want to go public so..." He covers his mouth

"You're dating Nadeen?" LUcia says "O my gosh how did I miss that?"

Sylvi's eyes go wide. "Ohhhh....wow....."

"Great, just GREAT" The satyr glares at the pooka "NOW she'll probably dump my ass.. and she's lonely enough"

"Hey, I'm not telling." Sylvi holds her hand up in a promise.

"Not to stereotype, but " He looks at the boggan

LUcia says "REALLY? ? O h typical"

"Oh, come on, guys...please."

Colton says "Sylvi's right, guys. You're friends. Or at least you all share a fief. "

A sigh. "Okay. Zane...ask her out to Carnivale. If she says yes, she's gotta know that you two are going to go public. And we can try to...control the story?...until then."

Zane says "She's only now starting to feel welcome. Maybe, but she wanted me not to tell."

Colton raises a brow and frowns but says nothing

A deep sigh. "Okay, look...that's fair, we were mad when she first arrived. It was...well, complicated. But I think we're past that. I'm glad she's starting to feel welcome, but if she wanted you not to tell, that's..." Sylvi pauses. "Huh." A frown.

"Why are you two frowning?"

"She told you not to tell? Did she say why?"

"Something about her father wouldn't approve and a rep" Zane says

Okay, bigger frown.

Lucia bites her lip

"Zane...I know it's not my business, and...well, you might feel differently...but if Colton told me he didn't want people to know we were dating because it might hurt his reputation? I wouldn't be okay with that."

"you guys do realize that almost every one of you has done something similar, right?" Zane says "Because I'm a satyr, if I show interest in a changeling girl, she is bound to think I'm trying to get into her pants. I'm a guy, and I'm a satyr, and so that's ' all' I think about. Folks gossip about it" He looks at Lucia, who blushes, "Or they think it's all I can give" A look to Eden who also looks away "And unless I prove myself by stopping other satyrs...from being even bigger horn dogs I'm always going to be a horn dog myself as far as many folks see it. Nadeen is just honest, and she's lonely... and she gave me her trust, and I've wrecked it." A frown

Wide eyes. "I...oh. Wow. Zane....I'm sorry...."

Zane looks.. surprised. He didn't expect an apology

"Ah, it's okay. I mean.. after those jerks lived up to the worse sterotypes I.. it's just.. Nadeen might BE someone, you know? In the political sense? WHat if her dad returns and needs an alliance? What if she really has to make peace for the Count one day?"

"It's stupid, but it's the system she's in, right?"

He paces then "Oh..for the record. No we haven't and if we did I wouldn't tell."

Lucia looks uncomfortable then "I think it's not just those two guys that lived up the bad part of kith rep, Zane. It's true, I DO gossip about you. I mean, I do about anyone, but..." a shrug "APologies. I should spread word about the good things"

Eden is blushing

Sylvi sighs. "I really didn't mean to make life complicated for you, and I'm sorry about this...and yeah, it sucks. But...well, Count Hemlock's wife was a satyr. And...and I don't think someday should mean she (or you) has to be lonely now. And I don't think you have to hide it."

"Well, she wants me too, and no harm, right? " Zane smiles "I get to be the guy she dances with at midnight when music is nearby but no body can see. I get to be the guy she has read poetry to her as she imagines what she could invite me to do IF she wanted to. I'm that way for her passion to find a small crack through a wall of restraint and duty as much as she needs without shame. It's.... kind of like what we're here fork, we satyrs."

Said with a certain pride, sort of like when the trolls of the lodge speak of duty, honor, and guardianship

"Huh" Colton says "I may have underestimated Sir Bachdion"

Puzzled. "You're....you're okay with that?"

"For now, yeah, and now is all we really live in, isn't it?" He smiles "now is what we get. Worrying about what happened in the past and yo ucan't change, and stressing about what troubles MIGHT come in the future while the present slips by? That's like spending a great movie obsessing over how you didn't get enough butter on your popcorn, or thinking during the best scenes how you've got a test later in the week when you can't study for it now anyway. If you're not where you are, and you're not when you are, are you really any place?"

Then he adds "My dad could say it smarter"

A bit of a grin. "I get it, I think. You said it okay. I just...I don't want you in trouble with her. And...and if you enjoy being together, I hate that you can't do it openly. But...okay, I'll drop it."

Zane grins "Heh. So, you're saying you're feeling protective. I guess our kith DOES Shape each of us. It's how we direct it right? ANd she's cool to me too. Though she threatened to kick my ass if I keep slacking at school and acting dumber than I am. "

"You're acting?" That slipped out before she could stop it, and she looks immediately embarrassed. "Um...I mean..."

Zane seems for a moment torn between being offended or laughing , and he decides to laugh "Well, not always . SOmetimes I really AM clueless. You know? But I am also smarter than I pretend. I mean, I could get As if I studied but Cs and Bs are okay"