#rivervale_lodge

"Zebra tracks."

"Oh, huh," He looks over. "Centaur tracks... but too big for Egon." He says. Something she didn't notice!

She squints. "Layne ain't that big."

Still bigger than Egon's. MIGHT be Layne. Her only other suspect. So, it's true, it's always the NICE Taurs, that's how they get you.

Or she may have other reason.

"Your call," He says "But I'd ask her. Do the pooka thing where you get folks talking."

"Well, they're headed that way...." Might as well follow?

"Redcaps aren't half bad at getting people talking, neither, excepting it usually involves way more pants-pissing."

"That's why hydration is important," He says dead pan and they head towards Layne's House.

"Clearly!"

"I met another bird on the bus."

"SOmeone flip you off or was it pleasant?" He says and then he head jerks towards a sound of singing behind the house. Layne's voice.

She ducks her head, creeping. "She's a lark."

"She likes music."

"Huh, cool. See if she can visit the house sometime. Mom won't even experiment on her."

"Science could be fun, though." She holds a finger to her lips and tolts her head to listen to Layne.

"I long to be a Disney Princess, but my parents don't want to die tragically. I want to be a Disney Princess, but they won't let me be cursed magically!" 🎼 "I want to be a Disney Princess, but the Prince complains about the Danger. I want to be a Disney Princess, but Mom won't let me quest with a stranger. So I guess I'll wait to be a Disney Princess, for a few years more!" 🎵 "But I've postponed the dragon napping three times now, and he's getting mighty sore!"

The song ends. She sees Layne doodling on a note pad.

She looks around for signs of her second-hand backpack and her glitter pencil box and her fancy pen....

Gah, that's her glitter box being used on the note pad

The note pad says "I think this is yours, found it and was worried it would get lost. Your neigh-bor, Layne"

Lots of hearts and sunbeams.

Oh.

Then Layne turns and smiles, "HEY, here you go" And hands it over to a possibly stunned Pooka. It would appear Bergen folk, well, at least this one, really IS that nice. Who knew?

"Thank you?!?"

"You're welcome! I wrote a note for you see?" And she shows it off "It's yours because it has your pencil on it ... oh, and let me tell you about my first day today... we'll compare notes"

"Oh, sure." Bewildered, but willing to go along with it.

There is no escaping the Extrovert of niceness, and they shared some classes, and her stories are not SUPER exciting, but well... there are worse centaurs out there. Certain brothers maybe?

(End Scene)