#rivervale_lodge

"Okay. I know it sounds like I'm tempted to jump on it, but I HAVE my space so I'm nnot asking out of greed, but, if you're living elsewhere, who gets this room?" Gerd says as she helps pack before the sleep over. A look "And are you taking the hand with you?"

"Oh, yeah, the hand comes with me. It'll fit right in at DarkGate. Heck, might even turn into a mascot." Sylvi gives the tank a gentle little tap-tap-tap of greeting.

It waves.

"As far as the room goes...." She pauses and looks around, biting her lip. "I don't know. That's...I guess that's up to the Chieftain and Mom and Uncle Frank."

"Yeah, Zombie hand chimera in a place guarding against dark powers, that can't go wrong"

A bit of humor about the hand

"Hey, he's a reformed Zombie hand chimera."

The zombie hand gives a thumbs up

Gerd ponders "Probably they'll keep it for you and use it as a guest room otherwise. I mean, you might do your year and a day and come back."

"Yeah, I think...I kinda hope?...that's what they do. But Gerd, please don't tell them that, okay? I just....I gotta treat this like I'm operating without a net, right? Like I can't bail out. I've gotta commit to do it right, I think. At least for that year-and-a-day." A sheepish grin.

"Tell them what?" She says and puts an exaggerated blank look on her face "Sorry, were we talking about something?"

She gets a sweatshirt lobbed at her in reply.

Connor peers in the doorway, then ducks back as clothing gets lobbed.

Sylvi spots him in that moment. "Hey, Connor. Come on in, just watch out for the boxes."

"Boxes again." He comments, somewhat dolefully. "Boy, I hate boxes."

Gerd says from under the sweatshirt on her head "Hey, little bro"

He picks up a pompon from a box, gives it a half-hearted shake, and puts it back.

Sylvi gives him a sad smile. "You're not mad at me too, are you?"

Gerd pulls off the sweat shirt

He ponders this seriously. "It only sounds like mad. Mad is for bad. But not glad. Cad, lad, fad, had." A sigh.

and puts it in a box

Gerd says "Litle brother, when I moved to Uncle Vali's, it wasn't the end of the world. We still had adventures, tornadoes and all"

"That's just over there. And Sylvi doesn't snickersnack." He eyes a larger box - calculating. Maybe buddy would fit in there!

"It's not that bad. I mean...there's a trod," she offers.

"Sylvi can snickersnack just fine when she has to" Gerd says "She's at least as good with her knife and stuff as I am with my mace"

"He means flickerflash. Hey, Gerd...I know you're doing the goth thing still, but...don't suppose you'd need these?" She fishes the pom poms out of the box again and rustles them as Connor just had. "Think my cheerleading days are kinda done."

"Can boys be cheerleaders?"

"I... wow" She seems surprised "Are you sure you wannt to part with them?"

"Boys totally can," Sylvi says to Connor. "Usually, though, they don't do much with pompoms -- mostly they do a lot of jumping and lifting and tossing and catching. Gotta be strong for that. But I think you, Connor, would be an amazing cheerleader, pompoms and all."

Then to Gerd, a shrug. "I mean...they're not made of gold." She rustles the plastic floofs again. "Memories, yeah, but not gold."

"I just don't know if cheer is something you're interested in. But if it is...well, you'd totally get your own pompoms. Maybe Connor should have these after all? I mean...if he can cheer well enough." A measuring look at him.

"It's the memories that makes them golden" She says "But I bet Connor would hold onnto them for you long as you liked"

A nod

"I can cheer real good. But it's harder when people can't see you? But they're fun to play with. And maybe Layne would like them, she's QUICK. And would be REAL sturdy at the bottom of a pyramid..."

Sylvi shakes her head. "If I give these to you, Connor, they're yours, and you've gotta take care of them. Gotta make sure they get a good shake several times a week, with plenty of jumping and shouting."

"Oh boy can he shout"

"They'd probably get all MUDDY."

"Then you'll have to give them a good rinse-off with the hose, and let them hang somewhere to dry where the sun can't fade them."

"Yeah! That's what Hearth Kerri does with me and Jack."

That gets a laugh!

"Well...okay, how about this: Gerd, you hold onto the pompoms, but Connor is in charge of making sure they get at least a little exercise now and then. Sound good?"

He brightens up. "Can we come visit you at SpookyDoor?"

"Sounds great!" gerd nods "I know just where to put htem at Connor level"

Sylvi takes the pompoms and presents them to Gerd. "There."

She then considers Connor's question carefully. "I think that would ONLY be a good idea if you let me know ahead of time AND if I said specifically that it's okay at that time. Otherwise, Chieftain Hewitt might get mad at me."

She's trying to avoid loopholes that Connor could exploit.

"Gerd can bring me? After asking." And he pouts a bit. "Chieftain Hewitt isn't allowed to get MAD at you. I'll tell him!"

Gerd puts them away along with a rather dark blue black scarf that Sylvi may not remember handing over

"Well, if I invited somebody to sleep in your room without telling you, and you didn't know them, wouldn't you be kind of mad?"

This gets some thought. "I can come sleep in your room AFTER you tell him then!"