It's getting dark by the time Gunther makes it back to the Kettenrad trees, full of pie and ideas. So many things to do! Torment the twins, find a dragon, abduct that horrible creen from Dr. Pike... and get Parsley to bake him another pie for him to nab, since he didn't get the one at the castle!
Gunther is a bit sluggish as he unlocks the door to his room, opens it, and slips inside. "Too much pie," he moans, since in his own room he's alone and doesn't have to explain to anyone why he's moaning. "And too much to do."
There is something out of place, which Gunther notices almost immediately; a slight swampy odor. That, and the blanket-cloaked hump sitting in the middle of his bed.
Gunther sniffs the air and skews up his muzzle. "Wow, it smells like wet socks in here," he complains. "And my bed is swollen. I'll have to beat that down with the sledgehammer..." He shuffles over to his desk and rummages on it as if looking for something...
"Gunther!" the hump hisses, producing a big black nose and whiskers from the hood part. "It's me, Nene. You gotta help me!" a certain otter whispers plaintively.
Gunther grins and puffs up his chest when the lump announces who it is! So, he bounds over to the bed and hops onto it next to the be-blanketed otter. He even leans down and licks that nose before asking, "What do you need from me? It better not be more of that oil!"
Nene tries not to sneeze from the lick! "No, not that.." she claims. "When the Mint dragon got you and made you swell up.. how'd you fix it?" she asks.
Gunther blinks a few times. "Uhm, Parsley did something. She put me to sleep and when I woke up I was all better," he answers. "Are you swelling? I thought you were a girl!" That last bit sounds somewhat accusitory, too.
"But.. what did she do?" Nene asks, then says, "If I show you, you have to swear not to tell anyone or tease me!"
"I don't know! She said I had to be asleep for it," Gunther says and waves his arms around. "But, okay, okay, I won't tease you or tell anyone. I promise." What's even scarier is he sounds sincere about it.
Nene hesitates, and then opens up the blanket. It is a reminder that Amelia used to be the Shrine Maiden, no doubt, because Nene is proportionately sized to the Kadie girl now! Gunther can even see things poking out that were not obvious on the otter before. "You have to fix them," Nene pleads. "I can't hardly swim like this! They float.."
Gunther's head tilts from side to side as he peers at the oddly 'deformed' otter girl. The kadie then scratches his chin, reaches over, and cups each of the protruding bits in his hand and feels them. "Wait ... did you find the other dragon?" he asks.
"The Milk Run dragon did this, I'm sure," Nene sniffles. "Bebe wasn't affected like this! And don't squeeze them, because.. something weird happens!"
So of couse Gunther squeezes them. "I have to," he claims, "to reasearch what they do."
The Kadie gets squirted in the eyes for his efforts, with otter milk! "I warned you!" Nene blurts.
Alptraum acks! "Well, that was weird!" he states as he wipes off his face. "Maybe they have to be drained out?" he suggests, "Like a wound. Or, we could go ask the dragon to fix them."
EDIT: Make that Gunther
"Which dragon though? And.. you think I can be milked back to normal?" Nene asks, and begins looking warily at some of the devices hanging from Gunther's walls.
"Well, the one that did it! Take me to it and I will make it fix you," Gunther says and puffs up again. "It'll be afraid of me!"
"But... I don't know how to summon the river dragon now!" Nene says. "Isolde did it!"
"Well, we can go where you last saw it and maybe it is still around," Gunther says, "That would be easier than trying to milk you. If that fails, well, we'll come back here and figure out what to do."
"I can, hm, wrap those things down so you don't look too swollen while we go and we'll keep to the woods and such anyway," Gunther offers.
"Wrap them down?" Nene asks, warily.
"You know, tight bandages to squish them," Gunther explains.
"That sounds painful!" Nene squeaks, and then signs. "But I don't have any tops that fit now, so.. I guess it's worth a try, right?"
"That's the spirit!" Gunther declares as hehops off the bed and goes to a trunk. He pulls out a bx of strip bandages ... and really, is it any surprise he has a supply? The kadie then heads back over and hops onto the bed, then sits behind Nene. "Just tell me if it hurts too much," he says as he wraps a bandage around the otter then starts to slowly and steadily pull back to try and flatten out her noew ... gifts.
A problem presents itself rather quickly, in that squishing them has the same effect as squeezing them, and the bandages are getting damp as a result. "Okay, that.. I'm going to need to wash all that out.." Nene mutters.
"It'll be okay, Gunther promises as he continues his 'work' to try and return Nene to looking more svelte. "I'll wash you after this, I promise," he offers.
"Gonna get wet in the river anyway, probably," Nene notes. Once she's sure she can still breath, she nods to Gunther. "That seems tight enough."
Gunther ties off the bandage and pats Nene on the back. He then tilts his head a bit and says in an oddly nice way, "Uhm, thank you for coming to me about this. I ... guess you really do trust and like me."
"You'd already gone through something like this, too," Nene notes, and then turns and feels Gunther's pants. "It's all back to normal, right?" she asks.
"Mostly!" Gunther squeaks and squirms around a bit. He leaps off the bed before Nene can get a good grip on anything!
"Mostly?" Nene asks in alarm, and gets down from the bed. She still wraps the blanket around her like a cloak though. "So.. I'll always be bigger than Bebe then, no matter what?"
"I don't know. We'll have to see what happens with the dragon," Gunther says as he heads to the door and opens it for the otter. "After you."
Nene walks out.. and she moves funny. She's actually rolling her hips more. Because now she has them, apparently. It makes her leather shorts creak a bit.
Gunther ends up walking a bit funny himself. "You know it isn't all bad," he tells the otter as he follows her a few steps back. "You walk much more slinky. I ... well, er, I think I like it?"
"Well, you like me no matter what, don't you?" Nene asks as she heads to the ladder. "You smell nice tonight too.. like.. pie."
"Of course I like you no matter what," Gunther insists, "I don't see you enough." As for the pie comment, well, secret pie club! He can't talk about it.
Once they're on the ground, Nene heads for the road, shifting her shoulders every so often. "I don't know how Midge puts up with these," she complains.
"What do they do that bothers you?" Gunther asks as he jogs a bit so that he's now walking beside Nene towards the road. "They're just extra padding, right? Hey, maybe it'll protect you from being hit?"
"They.. feel.." the otter says, and then seems unable to describe it. "They rub against the bandages and it feels funny," she settles for.
"A good or bad funny?" Gunther now asks.
"Not as good as when you were holding them, but not bad.. but.. you know," Nene replies, "you can only rub some things so much.."
Gunther leans over and sniffs Nene too, curious if she smells any different from her usual swampy scent. "You liked it when I held them?" he asks.
The otter smells a bit milky of course, and musky too since she's still in her first heat. "Yeah, it was nice," she claims, as she trots along towards the intersection with Milk Run Road. "Did you like it?" she asks, a bit cautiously.
"Well, it was nice to touch you," Gunther admits, "I like how slick your body feels; it's like a well-oiled gear."
"You don't fondle gears though do you?" Nene asks, just to be certain.
"Of course not! And I wasn't fondling you, I was making sure you were okay. I worry about you!" Gunther claims.
"Okay then," Nene says. Then after a moment, asks, "I'm better than at least five gears I bet."
"Better than ten," Gunther corrects, "You're more interesting and fun! Even if you squirt me with milk."
"I kind of like that trick," Nene admits, as they turn up the road that runs along the river. "The spot was up past the madwoman's castle!"
"If you like it we don't have to fix it," Gunther says as the pair now head up the road towards the indicated spot. "I'm sure I could build a milking machine to keep you comfortable..."
Up past the castle some distance, where the road becomes more overgrown from disuse, is another little pool of sorts where the river suddenly widens out. "This is it, the dragon's pool," Nene says, and goes to look into the still relatively clear water, as it hasn't picked up too much chalk yet.
Gunther goes over to the pool and peers into it along with Nene. "Hey, dragon!" he shouts at the pool. "You made my otter swell up! I want you to come out and fix her! She's very unhappy!"
"Your otter?" Nene asks, smiling. "What about Bebe? I'm the one you really like, right?"
The water remains.. watery, with no sign of responding to the complaint.
"My otter," Gunther confirms, then sticks his hands into the pool and waves them around. "Come on, fix her already! She wants to be normal again. If you need something, just tell me and I'll find it. Or transfer it to me, and I can get Parsley to just ... fix me again. It'll spare her embarassment."
"Maybe I need to get in," Nene says. "Like before?"
"Okay. I'm coming in with you then," Gunther says and starts stripping down. "I'm here to protect you."
Nene runs into problems again; she can't untie the bandages. "I'll need your help!" she says.
Gunther is soon down to nothing but fur. The kadie then slips over behind Nene and undoes the tie on her bandages and unwraps the otter. "Look, the mummy lives," he says in a faux-Igor accent. He even hunches over and lets his tnguehang out of his mouth.
This gets him a playful swat from Nene's tail. "Help me with the shorts too.. I had to really pull hard to get into them," she notes, as she searches for something to hang on to while Gunther pulls.
Gunther rolls up the bandages ... and can't help himself, he licks one of the damp spots to see if it tastes fishy. They're quickly set aside and gunther drops to his knees before Nene. "Put your hands on my shoulders and push down. I'll pull down at the same time," he offers as he grabs onto the waistband.
The otter seems uncertain of this tactic, but braces against Gunther's shoulders and pushes down!
And Gunther pulls down hard on Nene's shorts! The two forces should holefully counteract and keep her from going down while he tugs!
There is much resistance, and then.. POP! Nene actually launches up out of the leather shorts, and nearly ends up going over the Kadie's head.
"Yipe!"goes Gunther and he falls back onto his butt. His hands flail as h grabs onto Nene's waist to try and steady her too. "Should I check you for swelling around your hips too? That was really hard."
"I think my butt is bigger too," Nene laments.
Gunther pats Nene to get her to stand a bit spread so he can examine her closer. "Yeah, your butt is bigger," he says and pats it, "And curvier." The Kadie then bites his lip nervously. "You also have this terrible-looking wound on the other side. I hope that'll heal up once the dragon fixes you."
"What?!" Nene asks. "I don't remember being hurt? Where is it?" the otter asks nearly bending over double to look.
Gunther rolls to his knees, then hops up. "Between your legs, sort of front, lower. Want me to go in first and make sure it is safe while you check?" he asks and thumbs towards the pool.
"That's not a wound!" Nene barks in laughter. "Let's go in together," she suggests, taking Gunther's hand.
"It's not? It looks like one. It's all puffy!" Gunther insists as he takes Nene's hand and the pair walk towards, then slowly into, the pool.
"That's 'cuz I'm in season," the girl explains. "Means I'm ready to mate, you know?" The pool isn't very deep, but deep enough to confirm the 'they float' claim.
"Oh! Have you picked someone to mate with, then?" Gunther asks as he watches her new appendages float around. He can't help himself and ends up poking them a couple times.
"You of course, if anyone!" Nene says, giggling at the pokes. She notes, "The water still feels kinda warn, but.. I don't feel no dragon.."
"Me?" Gunther says, blinking. His attention, though, returns to trying to find the dragon. He even dunks his head under the water and yells, "Come out!" It sounds very bubbly.
Nene tries swimming around, and calling as well. "Maybe it only comes out once? Or goes to sleep after it's been.. apple.. appeased.. that's it," Nene guesses.
Gunther tries this for a while too. Eventally, he hmms, and waves Nene to come over. "Come here, I have an idea..." he says in the sort of tone that makes people worry.
Nene wades over, nearly nose to nose with the Kadie. "Yeah?" she asks.
Gunther takes a hold of her shoulders and turns her around, then wraps his arms around her with his hands cupping her new 'floats'. "Lets see if this summons the dragon?" he suggests, then lightly, well, milks poor Nene in the pool. Just a little to see if the presense of the liquid makes anything appear.
The main thing that happens is that the otter starts to rub back against Gunther and make strange little noises. At least the activity washes away the milk that was stuck in her fur from the bandages too.
After a while though.. they do seem to feel smaller.
Gunther hmms. He continues trying this for a little longer, then turns Nene around to look at her. He lifts one of them up, tilting his head. Then without any explanation as to why, he leans down and gently takes ahold with his lips and nurses. Kadies are nothing if not curious.
It doesn't taste like rughrat milk, that's for sure! There's even a bit of fishiness to it. Nene starts rubbing the back of Gunther's neck and purring though!
And ... Gunther keeps on with what he's doing! He even uses one of his free hands to help balance Nene by placing it in the small of her back, just above her tail and where her new backside starts to curve.
It seems to work - at least, the milk eventually runs out! It leaves the otter a bit lopsided though until the other side is worked on. It does make Gunther's stomach feel a bit strange, what with all the pie in there.
In the end, Nene is almost back to normal - at least, normal enough not to have trouble swimming, although her fur doesn't cover everything anymore.
Strange or not, Gunther kind of ... likes it. So once one side is done, he switches to the other. That hand resting in the small of her back? Well, he pets along her tail. When her upper half is done, he releases her and sits back. "That's as small as they'll go," he says and the fleshy bits aren't shrinking ... so it looks like they're going to show from now on." His ears twitch as he adds, "Sorry."
"I don't mind anymore," Nene purrs, and leans against Gunther. "That was nice, thanks Gunther! I hope you don't get sick or anything."
Gunther uses this time to take stock of himself, from his stomach to his head. "Even if I do ... that's okay," the kadie says, "It hlped you, right? And ... I think it even felt good for you. It, uh, kinda did for me."
"Yeah? That's good too," Nene says, laying against the Kadie. "I don't think I want to be a Shrine Maiden anymore. Let Bebe do it."
"Aren't you a shrine maiden until some event, though?" Gunther asks as he checks to see if Nene's hips and such shrunk any from thr weird event.
Nene still has hips, barely, and she seems a little smaller in the rear, but not a lot. At least she should be able to get her shorts on though.
"I think you're pretty much back to normal," Gunther decides and even pats her on her smaller rear. "Just a little more swollen in places than you used to be. Now people can tell you two apart!"
"I think some of that is just from the becoming-a-woman stuff," Nene notes. "It should go back to normal once the moans run out, or something. I don't know the details.."
"So, how will you get out of being a shrine maiden? You know if this happens again you can just come to me, right? I promised I wouldn't tell anyone," Gunther says as he cradles the otter rather gently in the water. "I have to protect my otter."
"Oh.. I guess I just don't come along next time?" Nene guesses. "It's like, once a year or something, I dunno. I don't think there's anything else we're supposed to do. Anyway, can I stay with you tonight? Just in case stuff swells up again?"
"Of course you can," Gunther agrees. "And are you sure that isn't a wound?" he asks as his hand cups Nene gently under the water in the aforementioned spot. "I have more bandages I can use to make sure it doesn't get infected."
The otter jumps and squirms! "Hey! Don't do that, it's sensitive!" she squeaks. "It's supposed to be like that! Don't you know how girls are different from boys?"
"I haven't really paid much attention," Gunther admits as he quickly pulls his hand away. "I guess it hurts to be touched there?"
"No, it feels.. interesting," Nene says. "You've got sensitive bits too, you know. And ours fit together, like.. like a machine, right?"
"They do? Should we try to fit them sometime?" Gunther asks, ears perked with curiousity.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the mating stuff," Nene says, sounding uncertain. "It comes after snogging or something. Mum says I'll just 'know' when I'm ready or something."
"Anyway, uh, I guess we can get out of the water and head home, right?" Gunther says and looks towards the shore and their clothing. "And ... will you promise not to hit me for something I want to try?" he asks.
Nene blinks, and then licks Gunther's nose. "Well.. I promise not to hit you hard.." she says, cautiously.
Gunther nervously cups his hand against the back of Nene's neck and kisses her. It's awkward, inexperienced, and probably downright weird, but he does it nonetheless. It's a kiss that does remind the otter of Gunther's ockpicking 'talent' too. When he lets her go he has the oddest mix of confusion and apology written on his face. "I ... it was this urge," he tries to explain, "You were pretty and right here and I like holding you it feels nice and I don't mind your breath is fishy and ..." Yep, Gunther is now babbling. He's Zahn's brother all right.
Nene breaks out into a big smile, her whiskers twitching. "You taste like pie," she says. "Let's go dry off!"
"Right!" Gunther says as he bounds out of the water and shakes. "And I just had this great idea for an otter milking machine. I can work up the plans tonight since you'll be visiting. I can measure you!"
"Umm.. okay," Nene says, climbing out as well. "But.. could it milk other things? Like rughrats?"
Gunther has to think about that. "Probably!" he declares and points towards the sky. "I can use rubber from the rubber trees to make custom molds for each type of ... what is it called, oh, yes, the teat!"
"It's a good thing your fur doesn't cover them," Gunther concludes, "Rubber sticks to fur."
"Just don't let Emmett find out," Nene says getting into her shorts with a few vigorous wiggles. "He'll find a way to use it for something weird!" She looks at her chest, and says, "Well.. no helping it now. I'll have to wear a vest all the time.."
"Except when you stay with me," Gunther adds as he slowly comes down from his inpirational high. "I .. don't think I mind how it looks. Plus I can make you purr with them! That was really neat! Lets get home to see what other fun sounds they can make you do." He shimmies his own shorts back on, then shis shirt. He collects the bandages next, then waggles his ears, saying, "And ... no vest! So ... The Mummy Returns! Mwahahaha!"