#rivervale_lodge

Kerri smiles quietly as Sylvi speaks enthusiastically.

Then she startles. "Me?" with a squeak.

"Well, yeah, you! I mean...you want to create a place where Dreamers can dream, right? And yeah, not enchanting at all."

"You" Sally mae nods "Look, this sounds like a sensible commoner hold... but even Mews have duties divided"

Then the Kinian blushes "Might be wanting to watch how I say 'sensible and commoner' in this lodge huh?"

"A commoner hold. Huh... I guess I had... my first idea was it was an extension of the lodge, to be honest. Really? I mean, if you think I could do it. I don't know boo about managing stuff... but I could try to learn?"

Kerri chuckles at Sally Mae, then says, "I have to admit, this does sound like a really strong dual purpose arrangement."

"And...that's where you come in, Sally Mae," Kerri says. "Helping her manage it. You've already volunteered some financial support."

"Or helping her learn to manage it."

"Piper, part of the thing that the Chieftain explained to me about this," Sylvi says, "is that she wants there to be a place for the fae who don't always feel comfortable at a seelie troll-focused Lodge. An alternative."

"me?" Sally mae blinks "But my duties here? Won't I end up neglecting them?"

"I don't mean to take you away from here," Kerri clarifies. "I just mean...could you be somebody Piper turns to when she needs to figure out how to manage the studio?"

Piper beams at Sally Mae. "I gotta say I feel a lot better about it if you're on board. I know making Music. Between the three of us we can make music, magic, and moolah management. It's got that alliteration factor..."

Sylvi moves a bit. "I just kinda got shivers," she says with a grin. "This is really happening."

"Well" She pauses "Gerd and Brogan do so much work around here, Dagmar too that i suppose..." Sally mae smiles at Piper's threefold plotting "If Sylvi wants me too. But please remember, I have a big famiily with strings that might yank me back in emergency, as well as some duties here"

"I mean...is it happening?" she looks at Piper. "You're okay with this?"

Then Sylvi says to Sally Mae, "I'd be an idiot not to want your help in this."

"It's a whole lot." She admits. "Do you think we can handle it? I mean, really, auto- autono- independent from the Lodge? If you're lookin' to make it it's own thing, but the Chieftain or folk have to step in to help out, it might not come across as a new place, and more just a new branch of the old place. Which isn't a bad thing, again, but might not have the 'here we are a new thing and welcome to common folk and all kith' type appeal."

"It is a concern," Kerri agrees, and looks to Sylvi.

Sally Mae says "Let's not delude ourselves now, there maybe no oaths, but this is still the Chief's barony and if she sees a problem she has a right to knock on the door. Otherwise the Count might come by and seize it if he felt he had to. My family had to HIDE it's location for decades just to thrive, and there's no doing that here. Instead it's going to have to be a recognition that there are political realities and the hold's power ends at it's front door"

Piper looks stricken. "No... he wouldn't. I mean, the Chieftain wouldn't let that happen?? Would she?"

Sylvi takes a deep breath. "I think..." she pauses. "You said earlier that you figured I'd be in charge here some day. But...I don't think I'd be comfortable being in charge of a noble hold like this really is. Like, it'll always be beholden to whoever is in charge of Caer Falken. And yeah, Piper, he would. He...he's done stuff like that, when he thought it was the right thing to do to keep things under control." A look at her mother, who gives a brief sigh and a nod. "So...no, I don't want to work under him, at least not directly. But I do think we can make it its own place, and...yeah, we may need RV help now and then, but just like the Farm does. Like, as allies. Sure, people will say stuff, but...that doesn't mean we don't try, right?"

Piper nods. "There's a difference between the Chieftain stepping in if she sees a problem and looking like we go to her with every bump and bruise, or that the lodge is pulling the strings. I know it will still be part of Rivervale, but heck, even the Apartments are part of R-V, too."

"If it was something run by the Count, I don't know if I would be comfortable there.. but this, this could work."

Sylvi reaches to take Piper's hand. "Really?" Eager hope.

"To be fair, the Chief has been mostly hands off with the appartment, so there is precedent"

Sally mae admits

She squeezes it. "I can't promise to not fudge things up... but... yeah, if you want me? Really. It would be... really nice, actually. I found a home here, but I wasn't sure I really had a -place-. Maybe this could be something I can do to really make a difference..."

"A bit different," Kerri points out quietly to Sally Mae. "The Chieftain didn't establish the apartments."

A nod to Sally Mae, exactly what she was getting at.

"Is the Chieftain establishing this freehold? Or is she granting the.. spark, the whatsit to Sylvi and she's establishing it?"

Sylvi's out of her seat and pulling Piper into a happy hug.

"Eeep!" Hugging back!

Kerri almost answers before the conversation is interrupted by enthusiasm.

Sylvi lets go. "This is going to be So Great!"

As Sylvi releases Piper, Kerri says, "To that question, you're right, that is a distinction. And either way...the Chieftain says she's absolutely interested in keeping as hands-off on this new freehold as possible."

"I can only speak for myself, but as someone who knows the lodge, but also feel like... a bit of an outsider? I can say that would definitely seem an important difference."

"Exactly," Kerri nods. Then something outside the window catches her attention. "Uh-oh...the natives are getting restless, and the guards are about to be overwhelmed. We might want to wrap this up."

"Right," Sylvi says. "Piper, can I see the place? And...I mean, how long would it take to get it settled? I haven't seen the ember yet, but the Chieftain said it needs to be soon."

Sally Mae says "I can help with the purchase flat out I think."

Sylvi blinks. "You...you can?"

Kerri nods. "Apparently, she can. Sally Mae has made some VERY good decisions with Knight's Heart."

"It's... a LOT." Piper says, and shares the total that Lori gave her. "That's the cost to buy it outright, a bit cheaper than cash, but still more money then -I- ever thought I'd see in my lifetime, to be honest."

"I'm no investor or anything, and I think the studio CAN make money.... but will it make back the cost? I doubt it. I think it would be a bit of a money sink. Until you take the glamour and the dreamers and the hold into account."

Kerri says, "We could Scooby Doo it....you know, fuddle inspectors to say there may be asbestos, lower the price."

"The owners are Country-Club rich. I doubt they'd be hurt by a lower cost."

"Like, snooty-tooty buy a mercedes for their daughter's birthday rich."

"And I totally agree...on its own, this sounds like a property that would be better off demolished, if we're just looking at money. Sadly, that's what happens to the best freehold material, so let's not let it happen here."

Sally Mae smiles "Maybe Zane could help with a bit of chicanary? he could affect many a mortal"

"Sally Mae," Sylvi says, "what do you need me to do?" She's eager to get the process underway.

"Well, " Sally mae goes into the finacial aspects and options including co ownership options or creating a private business for anonymity etc... beyond the fourth wall, the ST blinks in confusion and tunes out a bit rather than doing a google search so he might actually understand this stuff better, trusting the players and player characters to roll with it and assume Sally mae knows what she's talking about and dreading Questions