True to Gunther's word, Nene does reprise her role as the 'mummy' since she had no top when they went to the Milk River. The trip back is a scurry through brush and wood to avoid Nene being seen, especially by Emmett. Who knows what commentary he would make because of Nene's changes. Soon the pair are scurrying up a rope ladder and then dashing across the bridge leading to Gunther's cabin. The locks are undone ... and Nene is ushered inside!

Gunther's Grotto
Gunther's cabin, or grotto, as he calls it, isn't really a cave. But, with all the clutter in it, it might as well be one. Mounds of miscellaneous parts lie in piles with only a few narrow walkways through it to get to his elevated bed and his desk. The walls are lined with various weapons, from basic crossbows, to several prototypes of his repeating crossbow, to weird tentacle-looking devices that had best not be thought too much about. Amusingly, the only neat thing in the entire room is his bed. It's so well made a shekel could be bounced off the sheets.

"Okay, you're safe!" Gunther declares as the door is shut and several bolts are slid into place to secure it. "You haven't swollen again, right?" he asks. "Or anything else weird, like grown a second head?"

Nene isn't a shekel, and she bounces anyway. "Can I have one of your shirts? And pants?" the otter asks, then checks herself for any other changes. "I don't think I'm swollen now.. just.. more of me.."

"Hey, if I were a little taller, I bet I'd be the same shape as Midge!" Nene barks.

"I might have to wash some first," Gunther claims, "So you might be undressed for a bit." The kadie bounces across the room and rummages around through a trunk.

"You mean you don't have anything clean?" Nene asks, looking around at the general chaos from the island of order that is the bed. "Maybe some old stuff?"

"I might ... but you looked, er, it's easier to measure you if you're not wearing anything!" Gunther claims as he continues to dig. After a few more seconds, he does seem to produce some old shorts and what looks like a night shirt. He sniffs them before pronouncing, "Ah! These don't smell funky. Here!"

Nene takes them, then asks, "Wait, are you gonna measure me first then? So like.. you can tell if I'm swelling up again or not?"

"And for the machine, of course," Gunther says as he grabs a measuring roll from the chaos in which his desk is buried.

"Machine?" the Akwavi asks, sounding a bit suspicious. "Why would I need to be measured for a machine?"

"Like I told you at the river, to help if you swell up again," Gunther says rather matter-of-factly. "So ... you'll need to unwrap."

"But.. can't you just do it yourself?" Nene asks, but does start to unwrap the bandages.

"Aand ... they're still visible," Gunther observes once the bandages have been removed. He rubs his chin as he peers this way and that. "It doesn't look any more swollen."

"I mean, you made the swelling go down before yourself!" Nene says, holding her arms up. "And I need help with my pants too. I think the leather shrunk. Have you got anything waterproof?"

Gunther leans in and tests to see if anything more, ah, comes out like it did at the river.

The otter squirms a bit, and her muskiness reasserts itself, but nothing comes out.

Gunther checks both, just to be sure, multiple times. "I could but every time I do that you ... smell funny," the kadie observes as he sits back. "And you squirm a lot."

Gunther pokes himself in the chest a few times. "Maybe," he remarks a bit non-commitally. "So, you would prefer me and not a machine? A machine could do it better."

"It'd be weird though!" Nene points out, and then tries the nightshirt on. "Now help me with my pants - I don't have time for you to make a depantsing machine ... but if you did, that could be pretty funny.."

"Oh, well, Zahn's lathe works pretty well for that. There was this time that ... " Gunther babbles as he grabs a hold of the edges of Nene's shorts. He ends up putting his feet on either side of her up against the headboard and he pulls!

Nene makes a horrible noise, and then there's a 'pop' as the shorts make it past her hips and hit Gunther in the face!

"Ack!" goes Gunther as he rolls backwards, then off the bed and takes the shorts with him! He lays on the floor, dazed, with Nene's shorts over his head. there's a moment of flailing when his senses return and soon he's extracted the shorts from his head.

"Okay, that's much better," Nene says. Then she reports, "Still a little swollen there too, but that's because of the estrus. So.. nothing to worry about."

"Swollen," Gunther asks. His right hand appears over the edge of the bed and feels around. Right up to when he finds what is swollen and there's this pause. "Oh, uh, heh. Sorry!" he blurts and his hand yanks back and quickly disappears over the edge of the bed. "Maybe I should stay down here until you get those shorts on. I hear women can curse people that uh ..."

"I can curse people?" Nene asks, rolling around until she's peeking over the edge of the bed at Gunther. "How? Nobody ever told me I could do that! Is it like being a witch?"

"I don't know! You would have to ask Isolde," Gunther claims, "I think it has something to do with blood but ..." He shakes his head a few times. "Right, so you wanted waterproof clothing? Well, that means rubber or oilcloth," he says.

"Is that what your otter suit is made from?" Nene asks, her whiskers twitching. "Why are you on the floor like that?"

"I fell when your shorts attacked my head. Now I smell like otter," Gunther complains as he sits up, then crawls onto the bed. "And yeah, basically. The suit is made mostly from oil cloth, it's more flexible and cooler. Rubber is more waterproof over time, but tends to be very hot. It's better for joints and seals than large area."

"I probably don't need hot pants," Nene notes, and rolls onto her side to make room for Gunther.

Gunther flops down on the bed beside Nene. "What will you do with your old shorts? Give them to Bebe? Will they even fit her now?" he asks.

"They'll fit someone," Nene says. "I should be able to get a new pair once it's safe to go back to the barge. Until then I can stay with you, right?"

"Stay? Oh, um, sure," Gunther says and shrugs a bit, "How long do you think you'll need to stay? Long enough to need food? We don't have any fish here but I can probably get some. All I have here is that horrible fish oil you used when you taught me how to hide oil in my mouth. Bleh."

"Well, until my season passes of course," Nene says, and licks Gunther's nose. "So about.. uh.. I dunno. A week or two maybe? It'll be fun though! And I can eat other stuff, not just fish."

Gunther blinks. "You want to stay a couple weeks? What would we do?" the kadie asks and looks cross eyed at his own nose after being licked. "Am I supposed to help your season pass somehow? I'm not sure there are any books in the archives about that."

"We'll figure it out," Nene claims. "You got the swelling down after all. Are you worried I'll cramp your style or sumthin'?"

"No no! I'm worried you'll get bored. All I've got to do right now is catch a dragon," Gunther says as he waves his hands around, then rolls over onto Nene and pins her to the bed. "I'm not fun like an otter."

Nene's whiskers twitch and she wiggles under the Kadie! "Oh? Catching a dragon sounds fun! And.." She starts rubbing against Gunther now! "We could do other stuff!"

"Other stuff?" Gunther asks as he starts wrestling with Nene; he tries to actually get a hold of her hands and pin them down. Of course given how slick and oily an otter naturally is, this doesn't work so well. "You mean like things Zahn and Amy have been doing? Or Zahn and Parsley? Or Deridre? But ... I don't have that much rope."

"Well, you said you wanted to try mating," Nene points out. "Although.. there's still the matter of the Right Fish.."

"Uhm, how about if I give you the dragon after I catch it?" Gunther offers. "Unless you want to help teach me how to catch fish and such. Like, well, uh, otter lessons."

"Hmm," Nene ponders, bringing thumping her tail on Gunther's butt. "Okay, I guess a dragon is better than a fish. And I can teach you otter stuff. But.. what dragon are you talking about? You can't catch one of the river dragons!"

"Oh, no! There's one up in the castle with the mad doctor. I ... think it's the creen," Gunther says after leaning in to whisper it to the otter. "And they steal pies."

"A pie stealing dragon?" Nene asks, her eyes going wide. "I could have all the pies I want then.. but.. how is it a dragon if it's a creen? Are creens just baby dragons?"

"I think it got transformed somehow," Gunther claims as he uses his hind feet to grab Nene's tail and get it to stop thumping his butt. "That creature is evil. Therefore it should belong to me," he says ... then quickly amends, "So I can give it to you!"

"Wait, it's evil because it steals pies?" Nene asks, using her feet to try and intercept Gunther's. "Does that make us evil though? Or is it because they're special pies?"

So Gunther and Nene end up with their toes intertwined, which means both do a lot of squirming and rubbing as they continue to tussle. "Don't you want to be evil?" he asks Nene. "I always wanted to be an otter, but I'll settle for being evil."

"Really?" Nene asks, and licks Gunther's nose again to distract him. "Why'd you want to be an otter, aside from the shear awesomeness of it?"

"That's why! You always have fun and can swim and stuff!" Gunther claims as his squirming stops because he's looking cross-eyed at his nose again. "I have to work."

"But you get to make toys," Nene points out, using her broad nose to point to all of the various weapons on the walls. "Anyway, how are you going to catch the castle dragon?"

"I need bait, of course. A really amazing pie. Or a maiden. I hear dragons like maidens. Maybe a maiden in a pie," Gunther muses as actually does think about it. "Then lure it into a cage and close the door!"

"Does it count if you spend time with someone who isn't an otter?" Gunther asks. "And ... hmm. How tall are you? I'll need to make a really big pie pan..."

Gunther actually looks disappointed. "So ... I can either have you, or a dragon? Not both? That's not fair!" he complains.

"Hey, you can have me after you get the dragon though, right?" the Akwavi points out.

"Oh, well, if you're as tall as me I can make you secret pie pan armor," Gunther says. "No, wait, your torso is longer than mine. I can't use myself as a model."

"Or we could mess around, then get Bebe to be the bait," Nene suggests. Evilly.

"Oh! Think she would agree to being dragon bait?" Gunther asks as he grins widely.

"Of course not, but we can probably trick her into being it," Nene points out. Then whispers, "She's not very bright."

Gunther blinks. "She isn't?" he asks. "Is that why you swelled up and she didn't?"

"No, the dragon liked me better, obviously," Nene says. Apparently the notion that it makes her better bait hasn't sunk in.

"I won't have any problems from what I, uh, drank will I?" Gunther asks as he considers the source was dragon.

"But not dragon made otter milk," Gunther counters. "So, uhm, do you want to be the bait ... or would you rather Bebe be the bait?"

"It didn't make you swell up did it?" Nene asks. "Like when the Mint Dragon got you? Oh.. uh, well, whichever is better to you. I mean.. it's our secret dragon, right? Bebe is greedy and would want some of the pies if she helped.."

"Well ... we could try to have you trap the dragon first ... and if it looks too dangerous or messy, get Bebe," Gunther suggests and grins evilly. "And in the meantime you can help me learn how to fish! I won't have to bite them will I?"

"Well.. I suppose it doesn't matter how you catch them, so long as you.. you know.. catch them," Nene agrees. "But we should sleep too. Have you figured out the dragon's routine? Emmett says you should always watch and see what your prey does, because if it follows a schedule or has certain habits it's easier to catch."

"It likes to scream a lot ... and lurk outside a door in the castle," Gunther claims as he rolls off Nene so he can reach up and actually pull down the sheets of the bed.

Nene falls off the bed trying to avoid the sheets. "Wow, you've got layers of bed!" she exclaims.

"You get in between the layers!" Gunther explains. "And you don't need clothes because the layers keep you warm!"

"So it's like.. a sandwich?" Nene says. She pulls off the nightshirt and clambers in between the sheets then.

"Kind of!" Gunther claims as he crawls into the sheets too and pulls them up. He wiggles around a bit, then tosses his clothing out from under the sheets. "See? Warm!"

Nene immediately gloms onto Gunther, pulling him into a cuddle! "Yeah, and with two it's really warm!" she claims, as she wiggles and twists into a comfortable position against the boy.

Gunther squeaks and his ears twitch. "It makes me feel really funny when you do that," he claims, "And it's worse now that you're all smelly." He takes a few deep breaths then shifts a bit too and tries to get comfortable against Nene.

"So, right, sleep. I'll come up with an amazing plan in my dreams using you! To catch a dragon, that is," Gunther claims as he closes his eyes and tries to calm down. What he doesn't remember is ... he'll have to explain to his mother later while Nene will be staying for a couple weeks ... or try to hide her for a couple weeks. It's a toss-up which is harder to do, really...