#rivervale_lodge

"We can have popcorn! And Hearth can't tell you not to eat popcorn in the bed because it's WAY over THERE!"

She grins. "Well...something like that. And you know they have a Hearth too, right?"

He blinks.

"There's ANOTHER Hearth?"

Eyes wide as he considers a SECOND KERRI.

"A different Hearth. Just like the Farm has a Hearth, too."

"Oh. Do they have Embers there, too?"

His tail wags!

She glances over at the pilfered scarf. "A-hem."

"The farm is a FARM though. This is a lodge and ANOTHER lodge."

"Just seeing if you were paying attention" Gerd takes out the scarf and offers it back

"No Embers. That's a Rivervale special thing."

"Maybe you should suggest it?" Gerd says regarding the embers

Sylvi takes the scarf. "I'm moving north," she reminds. "I might not need pompoms, but I will need scarves."

"I don't know about embers up there. There's not so many childlings at DarkGate."

"I mean...most everybody who's there already has a title and a role. And...well...the locals are still kind of distant. Not like Rivervale at all, really."

A soft laugh at the moving north "Does that mean your swimsuit is staying here?"

"Then you need Friends to let them know they are welcome." He tugs at his ears explanatorily.

Then the mention of the locals "Disant from the hold in their area? Okay, tthe Bridge thing sounds more and more a must the more I hear it"

Then she nods to Connor "What he said"

"Furry friends are best, but Sylvi is okay too."

He allows - HIGH praise. Practically as good as a pooka!

"Is Flopsy going up too?"

Sylvi nods. "Yeah, that's...I never seem to be able to explain it right, but Chieftain Hewitt made me really see it. They need somebody to put a welcoming face on a kinda scary place, I guess."

Then a grin as she crouches down to give Connor a big hug.

"I...uh...well, I was going to..." She turns to Flopsy. "I never really asked, did I?" she says to him apologetically.

"Of course I am" Floppy says to Connor "Don't worry, Connor. You watch Gerd and Dagmar, and I'll keep an eye on Sylvi. The fellowship of Fur and fluff is vigiliant"

Sylvi smiles at takes a deep, relieved breath. "Okay."

He beams at the bunny. "Good! She needs someone with a tail to keep her on duty." A solemn salute to Flopsy.

Floppsy looks at Sylvi "If you'd tried to stop me I would have stowed awayk," A sniff "Really, Sylvi. After all the work I put into you , you think I'm going to let you go face this alone now? Nonsense. I don't have time or energy to break in and educate ANOTHER kithain"

And Flopsy salutes with a rabbit ear back at the pooka

"Gerd doesn't need much watching over. She moved out with Mr. Vali and Tiffany." He comments. "Dagmar is still here though. And she won't leave." He states, putting as much certainty as he can into that, because if he says it, it will be true.

Gerd smirks as the sometimes uptight rabbit makes it sound like Sylvi is his project and friend both

Sylvi grins. "Uh-huh. I'm a handful." She shrugs. "I just didn't know, with all your chimera connections and such."

"Oh that's perhaps the best part of all, I've been dealing with too many chimera politics. Time to retire from THAT old job" the rabbit assures "New challenges await us"

At the mention of Dagmar, her smile fades. "She's really upset about me going. I mean...we really yelled at each other last night." The admission directed mostly towards Gerd. Then she says to Connor, "We made up, though."

Gerd says "Oh.. " A wince "Yeah.. Hope you handled being yelled at better than I did. " She WAS younger then

"Well...I did some yelling of my own."

Connor tugs at an ear. "I don't like people leaving neither. But someone has to stay behind. Otherwise there is no 'Home' to come home to..."

"Yeah. And I'm counting on you guys. You're part of what makes home, home. But...that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to do other things, too...." biting her lip.

"I do lots of things! I get to go to the Farm now!"

"That's true!"

"I practically run the place now." He says with a grin. "Me and Orwella and Miz Poppy have it under our paws."

"That sounds like quite a crew," Sylvi says, suddenly feeling kind of out-of-the-loop. She folds up some more stuff and puts it in a suitcase.

"Okay...Dad's right...that's a LOT of shoes in there," she says, looking at her closet.

"Are you gradgitated yet?"

"You could still come to school, maybe..."

Gerd says "Poppy is trouble" She does not say that entirely unfondly

She shakes her head. "I'm still doing the distance-learning thing, and getting work-study credit through the Farm's school. I think that's how I'm going to finish up. I mean...oof. Senior year next year."

"Puppy is the BEST." He beams. "After Lilly, of course. Did I tell you we went to the OCEAN?" And he rattles on a while about the ocean trip, though Sylvi may suspect that some of the sharks and pirates and such may have been in Connor's head.