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.

Gunther awakens from a really weird dream about wrestling with a furry snake. Of course now he remembers that he's not alone in bed.. and is tangled up with Nene Oggton. His sheets may never smell normal again!

"Phew, she really smells," Gunther complains as he comes to. It's about then he smells his arm and scrunches up his face. "And I do too!" He's all about ready to push Nene out of the bed when the kadie just stops. He's looking at the otter; then his right ear twitches. And then the unspeakable happens; his expression softens. He's actually smiling while looking at the sleeping otter. "I must be coming down with something, I feel funny," he thinks.

A big snot-bubble grows out of Nene's left nostril, and pops in front of Gunther's face. Then she snorts, burps and twists around, smacking the Kadie in a sensitive place with her thick tail.

"Yowlp!" goes Gunther as he curls up. The mood broken, the kadie growls and bites Nene's tail!

Nene barks and wakes up, turning to wrestle with Gunther! "Ahahaha! So, did you mean that bite?" she asks.

Gunther answers that by biting again. One thing's for sure, a otter tail is thick and easy to bite! "RrRrR" he replies!

The otter responds.. by churring and nuzzling at Gunther! "Oooo, you're being aggressive.." she purrs.

And boy is he. He misses the the implications of Nene's tone, because he's determined to pin her down on the bed! It's not until he's got her arms and legs held down that he even notices the nuzzling. "Uh, you normally don't nuzzle people when wrestling," he says cluelessly.

"Wrestling? I thought you were.. you know.. being frisky," Nene notes in confusion. "You bit my tail! That means you want to mate. At least, that's what my mum always told me. 'Cover your tail, Nene, and unless you want it bit!' she'd say."

"It does?" Gunther asks, confused and blinking. "I'm not a very good otter. Er, I mean I don't know, er." He legs Nene go and just flails his arms in frustration.

"So... you don't want me?" Nene asks, big brown eyes tearing up as she hits a mood swing. "It's the smell, isn't it? I'm stinky and disgusting!"

"No, no, no," Gunther blurts, "It's ... I, er." There's quite a bit more arm flailing before Gunther actually kisses Nene. Even though she has fish breath! Naturally the kadie has no idea at all what he's doing.

Eventually, Nene calms down and just hugs Gunther. "This isn't fun, I don't want to be a grown-up," she complains. "And I stink! I want to be pretty too. That's silly!"

"You smell fine," Gunther claims, "And I smell just like you. So, uh, we stink together?" Real suave there, kadieboy. "Really. You're fine Nene," he repeats. "And ... it might be useful! I bet dragons could smell you from a mile away! You might be a good lure!"

"Do I get a gown and stuff?" Nene asks, cheering up a bit. "I mean, I know dragons like me!"

"I'm not sure where to get a princess gown," Gunther admits as he scratches the back of his neck. "And I think there's a law that you have to wear a corset. I mean, Amelia had to wear one when she was the frog princess..."

The otter looks down at her newly blossomed body. "Well.. I never had a reason to wear one before," she notes.

"And I know where to get that! Amelia left hers in Zahn's shop! I can modify it to fit you!" Gunther claims triumphantly.

And naturally the wrestling starts all over again. At least for the next ten minutes. It's mostly biting, tickling and pinning, but then neither really know what to do. Once Gunther pins her again, he says, "So, up for ... raiding my brother's shop?" He grins widely.

"Yeah! That's worth Otter Scout Points!" Nene says, catching her breath. "Uh.. I can wear some of your clothes right?"

"I can't be seen like this!" Nene pouts. "You don't see Amelia wandering around the compound naked, do you?"

"Well, one morning she was coming out of Zahn's bedroom like that," Gunther notes. He quickly shakes his head, then says, "Sure, you can borrow whatever you want." For Gunther to offer that, well, that's major for him. The kadie is definitely smitten.

"Wow! Thanks Gunther!" Nene says, hugging him again and smooching him as well. "We should take a bath together sometime!" And then she's running around and grabbing things.. but seems to settle on the clothes Gunther wore last night.

Gunther still looks very confused. He's not used to, well, having his mind running quite the way it is currently running. It leaves him a bit awkward when he gets out of bed and digging up some new clothing for himself. "You're not going to get in trouble, uh, /staying. here, are you?" he asks as he dresses.

"Nah!" Nene claims, tying off the shirt below her breasts like she's seen Amelia do. "How do I look?" she asks, and turns and wiggles her hips.

"Like someone I want to attack. But not really attack. Not hurt, uh," Gunther babbles, confused.

"Maybe we should talk to Parsley to sort this all out," Nene suggests. "After we have the dragon!" she adds, showing all of her teeth in a grin. "Let's go! You probably need pants.."

And Gunther grabs some pants. "Oh, uh, I'll probably have to take you blindfolded. I shouldn't show how to break into his workshop," he says weakly.

"What? Why not?" Nene asks, hugging Gunther from behind and resting her head on his shoulder. "Is it because I blindfolded and tied you up that time?"

"No ... you might tell Emmett how," Gunther says as if such a thing were the plague.

"Not without getting something really good in return!" Nene promises, and nibbles Gunther's ear. "But.. okay, you can blindfold me.. and maybe tie me up later.." she purrs.

Gunther's brain short-circuits for a few seconds. "I don't understand what I just thought," he admits, then shakes his head. Tje kadie grabs a bandanna from a dresser and declares, "Lets go! I'll blindfold you when we get there."

Inside the Kettenrad Workshop
The inside isn't any more normal by any stretch of the means. Gearing and axles crank and groan throughout the workshop. All are powered by a large central gear linkage connected to a feeder axle on one of the waterwheels. Aside from just the general din of the gears, odd puffs and hisses can be heard as seemingly random intervals as one of Zahn's latest grand inventions is probably finding its way to a grand parts pile as it rattles itself into oblivion. Belts also crisscross throughout the rafters, transferring power from one side of the shop to the other. Still, all things given, the workshop is in relatively decent order. No unruly piles of paper stacked in corners or puddles of goo to step in. In the corner sits a desk and drafting table, which currently has a small stack of detailed plans for some sort of new flying machine.

"Are we in yet?" Nene asks... again. She keeps reaching for the blindfold as well. And it isn't easy blindfolding an Akwavi, with their streamlined skulls.

Which is why Gunther tied it around, then under, her jaw. The way in was ... confusing. Nene is sure that at some point they must have been under part of the floor! But how? The entire foundation of the shop is stonework! At long last Gunther does say, "Yep! Here!" But before the blindfold comes off, Nene finds herself pushed against a crate and kissed!

She finds Gunther looking confused again. "I don't know why I did that," he admits. "I was looking at you ... then the next thing I knew I was..." He shuffles about a bit. "Sorry."

"I hope it's not the clothes!" Nene notes, whiskers waving. "So.. what next?" she asks, looking around the place. "How do you make it all go?"

"Oh, we don't need to make any of it go! I just need to pick a lock," Gunther claims as he darts here and there, looking for tools (probably). Once he seems to find what he was looking for, he zips over to one of the chests in the room and starts working frantically at the lock. "Gotta hurry in case Zahn decides to come work," he mutters.

Left alone.. Nene starts nosing around of course. "Lots of funny smells in here.." she notes, and eyes a bunch of straps on a worktable the smell suspiciously of.. Parsley.

"Something wrong?" Gunther asks as he looks over his shoulder for a second. His hands are still working, though ... and scarily making progress!

"Hmmm, what does Zahnrad do in here?" Nene asks, whiskers buzzing. "Some of the scents are making me feel.. weird."

"Lots of stuff. Sometimes Parsley is even helping him. I think it's because he's been helping with Clover," Gunther notes and shrugs. His atention shifts back to the lock ... and with a resounding click, the lock opens! "Aha!"

With the opening of the lock, Nene dashes over and drapes herself across Gunther's back to look over his shoulder. "Treasure? Maps to Treasure? Candy?" she asks.

None of the above! Old clothing! And sitting right on top is the corset from the frog Festival. It still looks like some sort of terrible torture device. Gunther grabs it. "Right, now I have to adjust this to fit you."

"You're sure it won't hurt me?" Nene asks, after getting a good look at it. "Will I still be able to do this?" she asks, before bending over backwards so her hands and feet are both flat on the floor.

And after Gunther pulls his nose out of the spot instinct made him stick it, he says, "Nope, but then princesses aren't supposed to!" He carries the corset over to one of the workbenches so that he can really get to work. And that's when Nene gets to see something few ever have. Gunther may be crazy; but he's skilled. His fingers move like lightning and with perfect dexterity as he disconnects and reconnects parts of the corset in a blur. It goes from being wider to being longer in a matter of ten minutes. It almost looks like it was originally designed for an otter!

"Wow," Nene says. "You're really good with your hands. I'll be careful next time we tickle-fight!"

Gunther presents the corset proudly! "Now lean over on the worktable and I'll fit it!" he insists. "Be sure to steady yourself with your hands."

"Should I take off the other clothes first?" Nene asks, eyeing the odd garment warily.

After shedding the borrowed clothing, Nene leans over the table and braces herself with her hands, tail twitching back and forth nervously.

And Gunther presses up against her back and drapes over the otter wrap the corset around her waist and torso. He pulls it up and starts cinching up the buckles, tighter and tither as he goes. At one point he's even grunting. And it's right about then the door opens and Zahnrad walks in. From his perspective there is a young, naked, otter bent over his workbench with his brother grunting away behind her! Zahnrad blinks a few times. The elder kadie then sets down his pack, turns around, and heads right back out the door. "I think I want to try scrumble today," the pair can hear him say.

"I can get you some!" Nene offers. "But first.. ah.. could you maybe explain a few things to us?" Naturally, the Akwavi doesn't know what's got Zahn upset, beyond their being in his workshop. "And can we borrow this corset? We're hunting dragons!"

"LALALALA!" goes Zahnrad, apparently not wanting to hear anything more! Poor Gunther just looks confused. "What's his problem?" the kadie asks; still pressed up quite snugly to Nene. "This isn't weird, is it?"