It's been a hard few days for Oliva. From finding a shriveled head in a box with journals to the super-secret pie club, to plotting to scare Gunther to see what he'll do ... well, that's almost more than a skeek can take! This would lead many to wonder, then, why it is that she decided to visit Djivan of all people. He's enough to drive people to drink, and that's on a good day. But ... he does appear to be home as the door to his wagon is unlooked. This is when she makes a 'fatal' misstate ... she goes inside!

Djivan's junkyard His wagon is in much better state of repair than it was several months ago. The roof has been fixed and everything has been given a fresh coat of paint ... even the socks stuck on the wall (everyone was afraid to touch them to remove them). But, repaired and painted as it is, it's still full of typical guy clutter. Clothing is tossed in piles and nothing is organized at all.

The room hasn't been cleaned, but that's pretty normal for him. Olivia considers it a small victory when she doesn't have to step over five things when crossing the length of the wagon. She spots Djivan lounging on his bed and is just about to walk over when she notices that he's completely naked. Well, save for a worn rhugrhat collar that he wears around his neck, complete with an attached lead.

"Oooh, I be a baaad skreek," he actually teases and flutters his eyelashes at Olivia. With the way he lays back and then puts his hand on his heart ... it's obvious he's deliberately trying to be silly. Well, for whatever reason best known to him.

Olivia closes the door firmly behind her, then locks it for good measure. Not that most of the other gypsies in the camp - especially Liliana - would raise an eyebrow at Djivan's behavior but the Skeek doesn't want to deal with the potential catcalls. "Wow, you missed me that much, huh?" she says, hands on hips. "I don't even get the fun of taking the clothes off you?"

Djivan's answer to that is to jiggle the lead he's wearing, then try to stretch out seductively. "Vell, vou usually complain me clothes smell funny ... so I thought I vould save time," the skreek claims (way to go with seduction, there). "See, I jus' new vou vould be coming by..."

Olivia joins Djivan on the bed but she doesn't strip down just yet. She runs the attached lead through her fingers as she asks, "Oh yes? And how did you know that?"

"Magic! I have seeecret powers!" Djivan claims! He's able to hold his expression for about five seconds before he cackles. "Actually, I testin' out costumes for th' play. This is jus' part of one of em ... but I heard vou coming an thought I voul haf a leetle fun."

"Your play has costumes like this?" Olivia asks incredulously, her hands ceasing to move for a moment. "Are you sure this isn't some sort of on-stage orgy rather than a play? And if it is, you can count me out. There'd be no way I could avoid Lili trying to kiss me then! And I have a betting pool to mess with..."

"Oh, no, I wrote de orgy bit out," Djivan says as he rolls over onto his stomach and looks up at Olivia. "Dis is just part of de costume. De heroic prince-type-person who is prisoner. It be missing the clothing parts, I just be testing de accessories. See, I though vou vould like dis since vou vould be de evil one doin' de imprisonin.."

Olivia gets a grip on the lead again and tugs it just a little. With a mischievious glint in her eye, she asks, "Are you sure you want me to drag you around the stage like this? Out in the open, where everyone can see and not just in private?"

Djivan actually arches up and grins at Olivia. "RrrRrr," he replies and waggles his eyebrows, "Gives me shivers jus t'inking about it!" He licks his lips, then says, "Now, I try t' be serious 'ere! I be clothed and such fer de part, I be a prisoner, brought in front of de troll queen ... dat be vou. 'Course dat costume gots to be worked out still too. Be hard t' make you vile-lookin'."

Olivia lies next to Djivan with her hands behind her head and thinks this over. "We could try some sort of swamp-green costume with an ugly mask, maybe. So what's the plot of this play, anyhow? Besides me getting to capture you."

Djivan takes advantage of the moment and scoots over to lay his head on Olivia's stomach! "De basics of eet are pretty simple. Dere is a queen of de trolls who envies de world above and is angry fer being forced t' live beneath the soil," he explains in-between nosing Olivia's navel (he's got a cold nose). "An she sends her goon patrol up to cause havok and end up capturing a young, dashing, suave, hero! And ve all know who has t' play dat part! Vell, he get taken down to de queenie of course. An bein' de gentleman and such dat he is, he tries t' make de queenie no feel so ghastly."

Olivia yeeps and jumps a little at the Skreek's cold nose but she obligingly plays with the fur on the back of his neck. "Just as long as that doesn't involve a song-and-dance number, we should be okay. You know I can't carry a tune in a bucket. Or dance, no matter how many times Lili tries to coax me into it."

"Well, no, de singin' and such then vould be me. You jus' haf to look all grumpy an mean," Djivan claims. "Y'only dance at the end and such... Now, see, de hero is held captive for a while ... and basically has t' entertain de queenie. At some point he claims he actually likes de queenie ... not dat she believe 'em. Vell, at some point she kinda does ... and den he be rescued! She left alone! she fume! she glower! Oooh boy she be pissed!"

"And then she sends her troll minions back to the surface to really create some havoc?" Olivia guesses. "Burn down the town, bombard the castle, or whatever else it is that evil troll queens do?"

"Yeah! Really bad t'ings ... like stealin everyone's shoes an shaving off half of a mustache and makin' all de pickles go sour," Djivan proclaims. "An t'ings escalate from dere! Until de queenie gets a shock!"

"When she get home after throwin' a right tantrum, she find de hero-type-person waitin' for her in her chambers! He snuck back in while she be out, see," Djivan explains, "cuz he did really like de queenie after all. An dere he formally surrenders t' er again! See, shockin!"

Olivia hmmms. "That doesn't sound too bad, actually. So if I'm the troll queen and you're the, er, dashing young hero, who's playing the minions and other roles? And what possessed you to want to write a play, anyhow?"

"It get even more convoluted a'ter dat when they both discover dat de whole troll kingdom are actuall peoples vho vere cursed by de evil sorceress type person played by Liliana. See, de troll queen before she become a troll had scored 'er advances," Djivan babbles on. "Oh, why? Vell, jus felt like it. I can' sit around all day an do nothin' ... and I kin only annoy Amelia so much. I haf to be careful lest it become boring..."

Olivia now starts rubbing her temples. "Wait, this sorceress made a pass at the troll queen and when she refused, the sorceress turned her into a troll? Is this some sort of sick plot on Lili's part to kiss me on stage? You know what will happen if she does!"

"Oh, no, dis is revenge fer her tryin' t' kiss you," Djivan says, "I made it part of deplot, cuz it be de kind of t'ing someone evil vould do."

Olivia doesn't look like she quite believes Djivan on that one, but she lets it pass for now. "So Lili's involved...anyone else?"

"Vell, I was t'inking Amelia could be vour right-hand goon. She almost troll-like already. Bet if ve shaved her she would look de part," Djivan suggests.

Olivia shoots Djivan a pained look. "Yeah, good luck holding her down long enough to do that..."

"I gots a good club t' bonk er with somewhere," Djivan claims. "An prolly gots to include dat crazy short one, Guther ... otherwise he attack the stage, t'inking it real."

Olivia perks up at that. "He could be one of my minions! Boy, that would make him maaaaad. But I'd love it."

"Dat might be hard t' convince him t' do. Well, unless you get one of de otters t' wiggle bum at huim. Bet he would do it if she joined 'em," Djivan claims.

An evil little smile plays across Olivia's face. "That might be arranged. I'll ask the twins."

"I ought t' warn him dat de twins are gonna be controlling him if he's no careful ... but it be jus too funny to watch, so I no gonna tell 'im," Djivan claims. "So ... sounds like you be willin' t' actually play the part, den? I'll haf t' ask one of Lili's girls to help fit and design yer costume. I can't let Lili do dat. Snog-hazard an all."

"Indeed," the Skeek agrees. "Well, it sounds like something fun and silly to keep my mind off all this trolls-under-my-bedroom nonsense that's been going on. Plus, I get to collar you on stage! So that should be interesting."

"True! D'ya want t' design that part of the costume any, or will dis old t'ing work?" Djivan asks and suggestively waggles the one he's wearing!

"Well, if Amelia's going to hunt you down, collar you and drag you off first, then it ought to be a bit...sturdier," Olivia points out. "She might just break that one! By the way, you know you're setting yourself up for abuse if you let Amelia play this role, right? She could break your fingers or something and claim it was all part of the act!"

"Oh, she wouldn' go fdat far cuz she afraid of vhat vou might do t' her. See, it'll frustrate 'er knowing she can't! Heheh," Djivan cackles. "An Lili's dance practice shoul be done in an hour or so. Ve could practice some of de scenes in 'ere. The ones I had to remove cuz dey wouldn't be proper in public, iffin you know what I mean." That ends with a waggle of his brow.

"Vell, I vould ask vou t' be gentle ... but vhere is de fun in dat?" Djivan asks as he rolls up so that he's now straddling over Olivia dressed only in the old collar and lead. "Now ... I t'ink a successful rehersal vould be one dat distracts haf de camp..." And wow ... a skreek's grin can look dangerous when they're being devious.

Olivia returns Djivan's devilish smile with one of her own. "No complaints here," she says and pulls him down by the lead so she can cover his mouth with hers.