#rivervale_lodge

"Not?" He reads over it again. "Actually.. that sounds pretty practical to me." He muses. "I don't really care about the musical part, but.... " A thin finger traces along Vali's handwriting.

"You think it's practical? I just... man, Tove would love it, and Klump, too..."

"It remembers every story told to it. If you can get some of the Chieftain's time, have her settle in for a day or two and recount tales of Rivervale, and her deeds. Easy reference manual of things that might come in relevant when she's off in Alaska. Sure you can call her, but... she wants to retire, and we shouldn't bother her unnecessarily."

Her eyes go round, she hadn't considered that. "Oh... oh, yeah."

"Plus, imagine... if you install it somewhere and then hold Rivervale events there, it can listen to your... whadayacallit, Brags? And then they are saved for posterity and skalded for you."

"And it SHOULD be in a place of honor, somewhere accessible, not hidden... because you don't want it hearing conversations it shouldn't. Maybe Klump would offer to guard it."

Her brow creases, and she nods. "Finding the right place would be important. It'd be nice to have it somewhere natural enough that Klump could be comfortable checking on it."

"Maybe in Skywolf turf - they have stories, too."

"Maybe Klump might bring it IN for stories." He muses.

"Like during a party, yeah. When we brag."

"I'd quest for that. Granted, you have to carry it back."

"If there's something else that appeals, though? Or if you had an idea... I mean, we don't have to look for the Lodge..."

"In the Dreaming, I'm even stronger. Can probably carry a good chunk of rock."

He rests a hand lightly on one of hers. "We have a lifetime and more to quest for items for us. With Chief leaving, the lodge will feel empty. This might help. Keep something of hers here, even after things change to match the new Freeholder."

A pause, "...or we could put up a statue of her. There's one at Firnost we could steal."

She snerks.

"Y'know, before..." Hand-waving "I was honestly thinking about not going back in the fall. Especially with Chief gone. Doing my work here full time."

He startles a bit. "But I thought you liked Rutgers. Wanted to get a degree?"

"I... Rutgers is okay. I'm still lonely there a lot."

"And with Sylvi graduating, that..." She shrugs. "I don't take change well. But I feel better, now."

"I.. oh.. yeah, okay, we might have to have a talk about Masey." Purple blossoms across her cheeks.

Symon takes a slow look around the hold, checking that their privacy remains intact. "Yeah. I had... some thoughts?"

Leaning against her legs, he wraps an arm around the closer tree trunk, hand dangling to lightly rest on her ankle where a bit of skin is exposed. "Did you want to find a roommate? Or keep the apartment for ourselves?" Note that he did not say, "third roommate" where he may once have - counting, at this time, he and Dagmar as a single unit.

Her hand drifts to her mouth, teeth finding cuticles to worry at.

"I dunno if we can afford the apartment with just us. It'd be nice, but..."

"I mean, Jimmy is perfectly nice, too. Though I'm not sure if it's fair to him to be the third wheel."

The little bird hops down onto her hand, getting in the way. Headtilt, and it clacks it's beak.

"I thought it would be nice to have the place to ourselves. We can afford it, I think. Even if I cut down on the night shifts, I have a decent income stream now. From necessity before, but now its extra."

"Hey now..." She holds her hand away, frowning at the bird.

"I could try and find a job that works around track."

"If we need to bring in someone else, we can always decide that later."

The bird clings to her hand, feathers flapping to keep steady as the hand moves around.

"Masey seems nice. I've seen her around campus." He considers, then says, "Do you like her? Like, like like her?"

"Um. Like... um."

"Masey's nice. Like - fun to hang out with, yeah?"

He traces a finger on her ankle. "It's okay, if you do. If you want to be with her. That way."

She catches a breath, biting on her lip. "I don't... like... it's never been... it..."

"Just, yeah, sometimes... like, when I was stressed out, like... satyrs, yeah?"

"If it makes you happy? It's like... remember how I did that exploration into haruspication?"

It might take her a moment to place the term, the study of divination via entrails.

"And sometimes it was just nice to shut my brain up and just do what felt good." Oh, purple. "It was nice to not feel afraid about it."

"....You are not doing any bird gut augury in our kitchen."

"Right. But you didn't mind that I was doing it... just you didn't want any particular... gory details... and you didn't want it done in our shared space?"

She swallows and nods.

A small smile up at her. "So I don't do it in our house, or tell you any details you don't want to hear about."

"Masey doesn't... I don't think she thinks it's a relationship. Just... like, she doesn't mind being that physical with a friend? It doesn't have to be more than that." She scowls at the bird, who is keeping her from chewing up a knuckle. "If you don't... I don't have to... I can make it clear that that's over."

"Sex to me? It's... like haruspexy to you. You respect that I might like it. And I respect that you might like to have sex. Just, y'know, not in our apartment?"

She's VERY purple, but she nods.

He takes her hand and flicks a hand lightly at the bird, who flutters off and back to Dagmar's horn. A kiss pressed against her hand. "Then that's that. If you want to... if it makes you happy, or lets off stress, or if it's just for fun... I'm happy if you are happy."

"And if you don't want to? You don't have to. And you can talk to me. You can talk to me about anything. I just don't really need... extra details."

A huff of amusement and he adds, drily, "That's what Sylvi is for."

"I just... I wanted you to know that.. that it had happened, I guess? I maybe should have told you about it, before, I dunno..."