#rivervale_lodge

"I ride a dark horse" Eden explains

"Oh! Nightmares? You have literal nightmares about this?" Sylvi looks at the gate as they go past. "What the hell....?"

They drive past.

And it doesn't seem to have a near dreaming about it at all...

Siv frowns "I hate to admit this, but I think you're right. If I talked to someone from there I might blink out"

Then she blinks. "Wait...holy crap, you know who we really need, right? We need Sally Mae, or maybe Adam. If one of us goes in, we can get messed up. But if one of them goes in with us, it won't hurt them bad, and they can help get us back out again."

Eden takes a breath "Yes yes..Adam.. he can be the virgin sacrifice"

Siv snorts at that

"Okay, you're making it just a little bit more appealing," Sylvi mutters, but she doesn't seem to particularly mean it.

"Well...Dagmar's his guide. We should really check with her first, and I'd like her sense of this layout, anyway."

Gerd frowns "Maybe we SHOULD tell Anne Marie."

Sylvi looks at her...then looks at the sign. She bites her lip. "Too big for us, you mean?"

"Let's not quit before we start " Siv says

Sylvi bites her lip and sighs. "Eden...can you tell what happens in those nightmares? I mean, as best you can?"

"Whoosh pop fizzle"

she says

"There you go" Gerd says

"Um."

"So...you don't remember?"

Eden sighs "I...the wash me...and wash me, and they can't do a think outo f me... so I shrink and I bleach out"

"Geez."

"Siv...I don't think it's quitting...but...this might be more of a Mountain-level thing. Or a Chieftain thing. I mean...I don't even know how we'd get in there without pretending we were trying to be saved or something. And I don't want to have them whoosh-pop-fizzle me."

"Fair."

"Unless..."

"uhm.." Gerd says "Unless?" Nervous

"What if we said we were doing a story for the school news?" she suggests dubiously.

"Do..we need some student news ID?" Siv says

"It would probably help. And I think I can get those. Worst case, we can print something out that looks official. But if we just Hopscotch that fence and they catch us in there...."

Sylvi looks at Eden. "Think we can get you to stay over another night? Or another week?"

"Maybe" Eden says

"Cool. I know you love your mom, but I don't think you should be there right now."

"Unless that meant 'probably not.'"

"I... " Eden looks worried then "Should I go to hollywood?"

A blink. "Run away?"

A nod "This is like really easy for you"

Gerd sighs "I wish I spoke pooka"

"I suck at it, I know, but...I'm trying. Gerd, you want to get Dagmar? You can just blink right back into the car, right?"

"Might be better if we stopped moviing" Gerd says

They pull over

"Okay. Go Gerd."

Gerd vanishes with a zork

"Since when does she go 'zork'?"

Eden watches her go and mutters "been study Chicanery for decades and I can barely elmer fuddle."

"Well, gotta be hard to advance in anything if you're getting messed with all the time."

Eden bites her lip

An apologetic look. "Sorry. Just...I'm worried about you."

"What... the other morning when I almost won the academy award for the final cartoon"

Eden says then goes on "You do know that was.. you can't just give the bows to my folks right?"

"No. I get that. Your folks aren't the only thing wrong. But like I said before...you need people you can turn to, and they're like anti-that right now."

Eden sighs again