The debris from breakfast has been cleaned away while the crew from Stonebarrow (and the Duchess) were fiddling with the Happy Fun Box. After all the excitement, it seems a good time to relax. Which means Aviri can break out the fancy tea set, and Eve can use her 'tea table', which Gnarr rolls out of storage. It's round and very short, such that people kneeling or sitting on a cushion can sit at it. It's also painted with lots of flowers and creens and clouds with a sun in the center - a good hint that it isn't from Sylvania.
"It's been ages since I got to have a tea party," Eve gushes, and hugs Aviri without warning, while the maid-dressed Titanian sets out sitting pillows at the table.
Aviri stiffens at the hug, but manages to return a few pats to the kitten.
"Will there be cookies?" Trilup asks. "Real ones, not imaginary?"
"I gets biscuits," Gnarr announces loudly, and heads off toward the kitchen.
"An' what do you think the odds are of it bein' a cursed tea set?" Lin asks nobody in particular as she situates herself at the tea table. "I mean, it was in the room full of weird magic junk an stuck to the floor pretty solid." She trails off and fiddles with her vest.
"Great-grandpa might just not have liked tea," Eve suggests, sitting on a cushion.
"The tea is real, too, right?" Aviri says as he carefully unloads the set from his impromptu crate, muttering something about the original chest. "We probably shouldn't use this tea, because it'll turn us into mushrooms or something, but surely you have non-cursed tea, right Duchess?"
Eve's ears droop a bit. "We've got local tea," she admits. "Bark, licorice and one made from herbs but that's mostly for upset tummies and sticky bottoms."
The Lapi nibbles air for a moment. "Licorice would do fine, I think. Or ... we could try the cursed tea." He proffers one of the boxes that came with the set.
Lin leans forward over the table. "Why don'tchya show us the loot an' then we kin make a choice once we know what's what?"
"It will take a while for the water to boil to fill the kettle with anyway," Eve says. "I don't know if tea can be magic. Maybe magic was used to grow the leaves.."
Aviri pulls all of the cursed-tea from the crate and arranges the boxes on the counter. "Well, here are our options," he says. "And bark and licorice."
The boxes at least are colorful, even if they don't have any writing to indicate what sort of tea they contain, beyond drawings of the original plants.
"I like that one," Trilup says, pointing to one with a blue-leafed flower of some sort on it. "It's blue. I like blue."
Aviri picks up the box and looks to Eve. "Are you okay with trying Mystery Blue Tea?"
"It's tea," the feline notes. "As long as it doesn't taste too icky. I'll have Gnarr bring out lots of cream and honey though, just in case."
"Might want to bring lemon, too," Aviri says, putting the other boxes away. "Some teas only like lemon."
Lin sighs and rubs her eyes with the backs of her paws. "What's the smartest reaction to finding some weird, cursed thing in an old basement? Let's eat it, of course." She grumbles under her breath then chirps, "An maybe some magic antipoison is you have somethin' like that?"
"If you don't drink the tea, then I get your share of the cookies," Trilup tells Lin with a grin.
Gnarr returns with a plate of assorted cookies (some with jam), a bowl of lemons, a pot of honey and a pitcher of cream. "Water almost hot!" he claims.
"That's true," Aviri says solemnly. "Official rules of the tea-party: tea must be consumed before cookies can be eaten." He chuckles and nods his thanks to Gnarr.
"I suppose one of us could try the tea out first," Eve suggests.
"Oy!" Lin barks and sticks her tongue out at Trilup. "My cookies. Alright, I'll put my doubts on hold her the time bein', but I'm not gonna hold back from sayin' I told ya so."
"Deal," Aviri says to Lin. "And I'll go first," he offers Eve. "That way you all have time to run when I turn blue or something." He laughs suddenly.
Gnarr arrives again with a big ceramic kettle, and fills the teapot with it. On the way back to the kitchen, he pats each of the three 'Mewses' - feline statues holding harps - so that they begin to play some chamber music.
Trilup leans in.. and grabs a jam-cookie.. to see how Aviri brews the tea.
Linyala looks at Aviri as thouh he's as crazy as she thinks he is. She chirps a thank you to Gnarr and waits for him to start serving the tea.
Aviri carefully opens the box, as though expecting it to explode or, even worse, start crawling away. He then carefully spoons a few scoops of the tea into a holey ball, closes the ball tight, and drops it into the teapot, looking quite pleased with the whole affair.
Nothing begins screaming. No specters appear in the steam. It smells rather nice, even. "See, it's just tea," Eve says smugly.
Lin sneaks a cookie with nuts on it and quietly starts counting down from ten.
"Give it time," Aviri says, his eyes narrowed in suspicion at the pot. He can't believe someone could dislike tea so much to resign such a set, and delicious-smelling mix, in with talking swords, singing skulls, and haunted demon-chests.
After a few more minutes of steeping.. still nothing unusual happens.
Although Trilup does start nibbling loudly on her cookie.
"Huh." Lin chirps, "I was really expectin' it to do something weird."
Aviri takes one of the cups and gently pours out some tea, transferring his suspicious gaze to the liquid, and then to the cup itself as he sits back and sniffs. "Well, here goes!" He blows across the top, then takes a sip.
The tea is pretty mild and not very bitter. There's also an odd undertone that Aviri can't place.
The Lapi nibbles at the air again, tasting the tea. "Hmm ... decent," he says. He puts the cup down and looks at his hand, front and back, then back at the others. "I don't feel blue."
Lin peers hard at Aviri. "Maybe just a little around the lips?"
The Lapi does notice something though.. sudden flashes of movement. It takes a moment for him to realize they happen when he blinks, in the fraction of a second his eyes are closed.
Aviri shakes his head and flinches slightly, his eyes starting to flutter as he tries to catch more of what the flashes are about. "Uh ... hold on," he says, closing his eyes experimentally to see if the flashes will resolve into anything.
The grand ballroom is lit by thousands of candles, which also warm it up a bit. Aviri is going through the steps of a waltz with a pretty Skeek girl in a fancy dress. Everyone is wearing fancy clothes. There are some Eeee, and Khattas and quite a few humans and Cervani. Aviri has never seen a live human before.
"See?" Lin asks, pointing at the lapi who looks like he's having a mild stroke. "It may not be quite as flashy as I was expectin' but still. I rightly called it." She smirks and grabs another cookie.
"So what is it, 'viri?" Trilup asks around her cookie.
Aviri's eyes snap open again, and he looks around the table, a bit overwhelmed at it all. "Oh, that's new," he says mildly. He looks at the tea, then at Eve and the others, trying hard not to blink. "Well, it doesn't appear dangerous, at least." He closes his eyes again and takes a deep breath. "I see a ballroom, and pretty clothes, and lots of people." He starts swaying on the cushion in time with the dance.
"What? Like a real one, no ghosts or monsters?" Trilup asks.
"That sounds familiar," Eve says, her forehead wrinkled in thought.
Linyala looks around, checking for the sudden appearance of suspiscious partygoers. "Well, whatever it is seems ta be in yer head. Maybe it only works on crazy people? Gonna pour some fer the rest of us?"
"No monsters that I can see," Aviri says with mild wonder. "Humans, and ... Khattas and cervani ..." he gulps and opens his eyes, shaking himself slightly and stopping the swaying. "Yes, sorry, Lin." Keeping his eyes wide open again he pours a few more cups. "It's a rather lovely ball, even with all the people."
"So like.. a knob ball?" Trilup asks, eyes wide. "With gowns and fancy shoes and upper crustiness?"
Aviri hands the full cups to everyone else, accidentaly blinking, which makes him pause and shake himself again. "Well, there are gowns and fancy shoes," he says.
Trilup drinks half of hers down in one gulp, and closes her eyes and giggles.
Lin picks up a cup and sniffs at it. "Well, this is prolly a terrible idea." She sips tea, realizes that it's way too hot, and pours some from her cup into a saucer then slurps at that.
Eve sniffs hers. "There's a wine that has memories in it," she says quietly, then has a few sips.
Aviri takes another sip, nibbling at the flavor, and settling down into the cushions again. "This is a rather lovely memory, then," he says, and closes his eyes. "You say it sounded familiar, Duchess?"
It's fairly pleasant, as weird experiences go. Of course, everyone sees pretty much the same thing - meaning the girls are also dancing with the Skeek. For people that live on rafts in a swamp, it may as well be a glimpse of Paradise.
"Mephisto wine," Eve says. "That's what it was. It's made from grapes that grow in.. oh, right. Graveyards of rich people, in Mephisto Valley. The grapes absorb memories somehow. And.. uh.. I guess you can do it with tea too?"
"So it's got dead brains in it?" Lin asks with her eyes closed.
Aviri's eyes snap open, and he looks at the tea suspiciously. "Lovely. The vinyard of the dead...." He sniffs again at his cup and takes another sip, and closes his eyes once more, swaying with the dance.
"Well, memories like this are pretty neat," Eve mews. "Not brains.. maybe little bits of their spirits I guess, that mix in with the plant?"
"Hey, Silver. Wanna get in on this? It's pretty fancy. Might see someone ya know." Lin chirps.
The dance seems to be on a loop. Or else rich people in Sylvania really like repetition. Still.. it feels nice, and is a bit of an escape from more mundane activities.
"Were there things like this in Rephidim?" Aviri asks Eve, his voice hushed with awe, his internal eye trying to absorb it all.
"I'd avoid mixing someone else's spirit wi' me own I think," the ghostly voice replies.
"Oh no.. they'd never allow this, I'm sure," Eve claims. "It's necromancy I suppose. And the wine is really really expensive, even in Sylvania. I wonder how it got into tea though. Can you use wine as fertilizer?"
"I mean the ball," Aviri says, a twinge of annoyance creeping into his voice as he's forced to pull himself from the dream to interact with real people. He clears his throat and composes himself. "As for the tea, you said necromancy runs deep here. Maybe Phelix made it." He looks at the box. "If so, it's kind of precious. A limited amount of these memories."
"Oh.. well.. I guess so, out on the big noble estates," Eve says. "A few times in the city, but nothing grand. Not enough space. I had a big party at my opera house in honor of Sylvania - but the main actor went and died on stage and ruined it."
"Nifty. So I guess necromancy isn't all bad? Sure, it's kinda weird usin' dead folk as part of the spell like that but the results are nice." Lin muses into her cup.
"Conjuring spirits is also necromancy, and those aren't of dead people," Eve notes. She opens her eyes long enough to grab a cookie.
Aviri opens his eyes again and smiles warmly, completely relaxed in a way he'd not been since his encounter with Swampy. "I certainly hope the other teas are as nice as this," he says. "Should maybe mark the boxes with what they contain." He grabs a cookie in a manner suggesting he had forgotten they even existed.
"Oh.. yeah.." Trilup agrees. "The other ones could be anything. Maybe bad stuff, to get them locked up.."
Lin churrs and opens her eyes. "So, what'd happen if we tried two at once?"
"Maybe they were locked up simply because they used necromancy," Aviri says. "Like everything else down there. Or ..." he ponders the tea-pot itself, "maybe the tea isn't what's enchanted with the memories." He finishes his cup and smiles, looking pointedly at Lin. "We should probably wait for this to wear off before trying the others. Plus, mixed tea never tastes good."
"If you drink too much, do the memories become permanent?" Trilup asks.
Lin sets her cup down and gobbles another cookie. "We kin just eat cookies ta get rid of the last tea taste before checkin' out the next one." She reaches for another.
Aviri shoots Linyala a look but says nothing about her gluttonous pastry-grab. He pours himself another cup from the pot, swirling it to check how much is left, and sips again. "I misjudged the magic-tea," he admits. "Unless we all wake up tomorrow in a ball-room dancing with Skeeks."
"That's not so bad," Eve offers, still working on her first cup. "At least my feet don't feel tired after this."
It takes awhile to go through the pot.. and then it needs to be decided if the tea in the infuser should be dried out or not in an attempt to reuse it.
"Well," Aviri says, pulling the infuser out and opening it up, "I'm up for trying another, unless anyone has any objections?"
"Kin we use less water this time?" Lin asks, "If we're goin' through all of 'em, why not just make enough fer the four cups at a time?"
"Because the strength of the tea would be all messed-up," Aviri says.
"We're gonna have ta pee so bad after all this." Lin shrugs, "Well, what're we waiting for."
The other boxes are red and purple and green. At a call from Eve, Gnarr appears and takes the teapot to be cleaned and readied for another use.
"How about the purple one next?" Lin suggests.
Aviri exchanges the blue box for the purple and takes a sniff of the contents.
This smells a bit more.. gamy? It's got a slight musk to it.
The Lapi begins preparing the infusor for when the water is ready, frowning at the tea.
"What's wrong?" Trilup asks.
"Something wrong?" Lin asks, "Yer face is all scrunched up."
"Just seems ... off," Aviri says. "Never smelt a tea like this before. Seems ... meaty."
"Lemme sniff!" Trilup asks, holding out her webbed hand.
Aviri hands over the box. "Just be careful," he says. "Don't spill any."
In order to not spill any, Trilup sticks her entire nose into the open box and has a deep sniff. "That's not meat!" she claims, pulling her nose out. "I know it.. uh.. just.. can't place it?"
Lin leans over and takes a sniff too. "Dunno offhand. Maybe some kinda mushroom?" She chirps.
"I know I've smelt it in the barges," Trilup says. "I just don't know what it is."
Aviri looks thoughtful. "Doesn't smell like fish," he says. "And your barges only smell like fish."
Lin quirks an eyebrow at Aviri. "Hey now, that's like sayin' yer hole in the ground only smells like chalk. There're complexities ta smells. An fish is good!"
"It does smell like chalk," Aviri says with a grin. "Luckily chalk is much more palpable than fish."
"It's something ottery," Trilup maintains, crossing her arms. "Or.. you know.. something."
Gnarr returns with a cleaned and refilled teapot.
Aviri puts the infusor into the pot, thanking Gnarr again. "We'll see," he says.
As nobody seemed to want to add anything during the steeping-time, Aviri begins to pour the tea again. "Anyone else wanna go first this time?"
The odor is more pronounced as the tea is poured - but doesn't have any obvious spirit effects, just like the first one. "I'll go!" Eve volunteers.
"Well, it the last one didn't kill you so- Er... That works too!" Lin chirps.
"Alright." Aviri serves everyone a cup, and raises his own almost daintily. "To ballroom dances ... and benevelant necromancy."
The white kitten takes a sip, wrinkling her nose at the taste. She closes her eyes.. then spits out the tea in a spray towards Lin almost immediately!
Lin lets out an undignified squeak and topples over backwards. "What?"
The kitten is blushing furiously. "I.. can't say!" she squeaks, and pushes her teacup away. "It's naughty."
Aviri's eyes go wide. "Er ... alright," he says, pushing his cup away, too. "How about the green box?"
Trilup looks at Lin, then back at her cup. Finally she pushes it away as well. "Green.. green.. that seems a safe color?" she says.
Lin picks herself up and wipes the tea spray off her face. "Ya didn't have ta spit it all over though." She complains. "Anyways, what's next?"
Aviri closes the purple box and puts it back in the crate, pulling out the green one. "Gonna need to clean and refill the pot," he notes. "Clean it really well."
"Gnarr is very thorough," Eve says, as the Titanian appears. The cups are dumped back into the pot before he takes it away. "Lemon no work?" he asks.
"A very bitter tea," Aviri says. "Entirely disagreeable."
After Gnarr heads into the kitchen, Eve says, "I've got drinking chocolate. It's good for dipping the cookies into.."
"Chocolate is always good," Aviri agrees.
Lin rubs at her face some more. "Sure!" She chirps, "All I can smell right now is that last tea."
"Maybe some chocolate just in case we have to wash out the taste of a weird memory," Trilup agrees.
So, the next course is hot chocolate. To which Eve still adds cream, because she can. There's a fresh batch of cookies, and because there must be a note or something in the kitchen, there is also some fruit (apples) and honeycomb.
Aviri grabs an apple and munches on it slowly, savoring the flavor. "Thank you, Duchess, again," he says, gesturing to the apple and, by association, the whole castle.
"It's not my castle," Eve notes. "But while Jynx is away I get to play with it. He'd never use the zipline, because he's too serious. And unlucky."
Lin goes for more cookies while they wait.
"But you're still giving us hospitality," Aviri says. "Which deserves thanks." He takes a sip of chocolate. "Oh, that's good!"
Trilup is careful in sipping the chocolate. This she wants to savor.. and also not use it all up so there's still enough for dipping cookies.
Aviri nibbles at the apple some more, eyeing the green box. He caves to temptation and gives its contents a sniff as well.
There's a bit of an acrid smell to the green box. Almost alkaline.
The Lapi blinks and winces, pulling the box away from his nose quickly, scrunching his face. "Unpleasant," he says. "Though I've drank many teas that smell bad and taste great."
"I don't know that taste is all that important with this collection of tea," Eve says. "It's the memories.."
Lin nods and picks up a piece of honeycomb. "So, lots of honey fer this one. Looks like it's down ta me an' Tril fer who to go first."
"Or lemon," Aviri says. "Sometimes complimenting a tea's flavor is best. And the memories are important, but if you can't handle the tea itself, the memories don't matter." He looks at the box again and frowns. "I hope we didn't pick the best box first-try."
"Maybe there's a way to.. you know.. make it less?" Trilup asks. "Like adding cream and honey. Would that make the memory more.. cream and honey-ier?"
"And lemon more ... zesty?" Aviri asks with a chuckle. "I think the memory would remain the same. Maybe less powerful, if diluted like that, but unchanged."
"I volunteer Lin then," Trilup says with a grin. "She can drink anything."
"That has yet to be proven." Lin claims, "And that time with the pint of fish oil was on a bet. Let's have it then."
Gnarr finally returns. There's a slight chemical scent to the teapot, but only Aviri can really pick up on it. "All scrubbed!" Gnarr proclaims.
"Thank you very much, Gnarr," Aviri says, taking the pot and sniffing at the scent of cleaner. He prepares the infuser and plops it in, swirling it gently to stir it. "Though, still not dangerous," he notes.
"That smells worse than the other one," Trilup notes as the tea steeps. "Better add lots of stuff."
"We 'kin make wax impressions with the honeycomb!" Lin exclaims and takes a second piece to add to her drink when it's ready.
Aviri gives Linyala an odd look and starts pouring the tea into the cups, once again serving them up. "Alright, Lin," he says. "I'd toast again, but ... that didn't work out so well last time."
Lin puts in the pieces of honey comb and swirls the tea as she waits for the wax to melt. "Well, here goes." She chirps and downs the tea. She doesn't close her eyes though and makes a funny swishing motion with her mouth. Then she spits out a wax imprint of her teeth and sets it next to the cup. Her eyes close.
Once her eyes are closed.. the world goes mad. It has to be a hallucination (or an hallucination OF an hallucination) along with feelings of paranoia and fear and nausea! She's in a small dark room, and things are coming out of the walls to get her!
"And?" Aviri asks, lifting his own cup to his lips, seemingly unphazed by the smell.
"Woah!" Lin barks and opens her eyes. "Don't drink that!"
Trilup passes over more hot chocolate to Lin.
"Why not?" Aviri asks, not putting the cup down.
"Not yet, it's just freaky." Lin says as she calms down from the initial shock. "It's like the fairy stories of what it's like to lose your mind, or worse. I'm gonna see what happens if I let it play out. The ball one is a short loop, right? So this should only last a little while before skipping to the begining again." She closes her eyes again.
The sense of nausea and panic come back again, along with a growing sense of out-of-bodiness or body distortion. The screaming demon faces and notion that something is squirming behind the walls (and possible under the skin) adds to the stomach-churning.
After being disolved into spiders, a little skin squirming isn't going to scare of this otter. She rallies and keeps assuring herself that she can always open her eyes and whatever this is will stop. "It's- It's pretty scary in here." She chokes, "Just going to wait for it to loop and then get out."
"Lin, don't ... go crazy, or anything," Aviri says, his cup wavering and dropping slightly.
It isn't clear if it's looping or not, due to the unreality of it. The emotions seem very real.. and Lin is about to lose her cookies before much longer.
Lin grips the edge of the table with both hands and grits her teeth. "What's the point of recording a memmory like this unless it goes somewhere?" She growls.
"Lin, if it's that uncomfortable you should stop," Aviri says.
It just keeps spiraling down further into madness, it seems. Maybe that is the point though..
Just when she finally can't take it any more, she opens her eyes. Lin looks around, blinks quickly, then says, "I have looked into the heart of madness, and it was boring. I'm-... I'm going to lay down now." She slowly leans back until she hits the floor, where she starts breathing heavily with her eyes wide open.
"Do you want some chocolate to wash out the taste?" Trilup asks, leaning over. For a moment, even with her eyes open, Lin is absolutely certain that Trilup is a demon wearing her friend's skin and is trying to poison her. For a moment.
Lin shuders and runs her tongue around her mouth. "Yeah, that would be nice." She sits up unsteadily and adds, "The honey didn't help, at all."
Aviri looks from Linyala to his cup of tea, sniffs it, then looks back. "Madness? You aren't being very helpful ... beyond suggesting we don't imbibe."
Trilup hands over the cup, as if expecting Lin to bite her hand.
"Well, go ahead if you want." Lin says over the brim of her hot chocolate, "It just was not a very good memmory. Maybe that person got burried alive or something in the middle of the necromancer wars. Bleh."
"Not dangerous," Aviri says, and takes a tentative sip of the tea, wincing and shivering at the flavor. "That's potent," he says.
"Yeah, but wait 'till you close your eyes." Lin says, "It gets better."
Aviri takes a deep breath and then closes his eyes, putting the cup down to prevent spills.
The nightmare hallucination is harsh - but not new. Aviri did have that one incident when he was less experienced, and picked the wrong mushroom. There was some alkali involved in that as well.
Aviri's eyes quickly snap open, the Lapi trembling slightly, his eyes frazzled. He looks around a moment, shocked, breathing deeply, teetering on the edge of control.
Eve slips the mug of chocolate towards the Lapi. "You look scared.." she notes.
"It's pretty much like that all the way down. It gets worse though." Lin notes when Aviri's eyes open.
Aviri jumps at the approach of the cup of chocolate, looking to Eve with terror that slowly simmers into fright, before leaving only an echo of memory in his eyes. "Th-thanks," he stutters, taking a sip. "Don't drink the tea," he says to Eve and Trilup. "It's ... terror," he says. "Hallucinations. Fright, and things in the walls and in your skin." He blinks and shudders again, trying to stave off both his own memories and the tea-effects. "Bad tea."
"Weird to have," Trilup says. "I can see the dancing.. and I know someone like Emmett would love the naughty tea.. but what good is one that makes you crazy?"
"It'd make a good poison." Lin suggests.
"Oh.. yeah, I guess," Trilup says.
"Mind-poison," Aviri says, still shaking, almost spilling the chocolate. "Much more dangerous than body-poison." He twitches and takes another sip. "O-one more box?"
"Seems cruel," Eve offers.
"The red box?" Trilup asks, a bit nervously. It's her turn next to be the tea taster.
Lin cracks her neck and stretches. "Yeah! It's Trilup's turn. With her luck it'll be a field of daisies."
"I hope dumping this stuff out the window or whatever doesn't cause problems," Trilup says.
"I think moss-monsters won't be much affected," Aviri says. "And if they are, ... all the better."
"We have a drain in the kitchen," Eve notes. Since that probably dumps out into the underground monster-infested waters.. it may not make much of a difference.
Gnarr picks up the ready-to-dump pot, and gives everyone an odd look. "You even drink'n dis?" he asks.
"W-we're trying new teas," Aviri explains, gesturing to the green box. "Some are not so great. Hoping red will be better."
"Hokay.." the Titanian says, and goes off to wash out the teapot again.
Lin closes her eyes breifly to check if the horrors are hanging around.
There's still a sense of dread, but none of the hallucinations at least. It seems to be fading.
"So what does the red one smell like?" Trilup asks.
Aviri is startled by the question, jolting on the cushion. "Hmm? Oh ... right." He puts the green box away and gets the red, opening it and giving a nervous sniff.
It smells like blood. But.. is that what it really smells like, or is the green tea still affecting Aviri's frame of mind?
The Lapi shudders and pushes the box toward Eve. "M-might still have the green in me," he says, taking a deep breath. "Smells like blood to me."
"Ewww," Eve says, but gives it a sniff. "I guess it smells like that? I don't smell blood a lot.."
"Oh, how wonderful," Trilup moans, and rests her forehead on the table.
"How's about we end with another round of the blue box to clear up any residual effects of these bad ones?" Lin suggests.
Gnarr brings back the freshly flushed and filled teapot. "No more boiling water, need make more if you gonna need another pot," he points out.
"Alright," Aviri says, wringing his hands tightly. At least he's calming down! "Er, do we wanna risk red, or just do blue again?"
"Let's get it over with," Trilup votes.
"Well, I'd try it if Tril doesn't want to. My mind still feels all gumpy from that last one but we should figgure out what it is at least. 'Could be something cool!" Lin chirps.
"You still look frazzled," Trilup says. "I'll do my turn. I ain't a wimp! Otter Scouts gotta stick their noses into stuff!"
"Onward it is," Aviri says, taking a deep breath and preparing the infusor. "And Lin ... I could mix a tea that helps with ... green, if you'd like."
"Regular tea?" Eve asks Aviri. "There's one that makes you saner?"
Linyala gives Trilup a reasuring pat on the shoulder. "Thanks!" She chirps, then to Aviri, "Yes, please."
"I'm sure the Duchess has the ingredients," Aviri says. "And makes me saner ... probably not. But it helps with hallucinations. At least, it helps me."
"You hallow-see-nates a lot?" Trilup asks.
"Not intentionally," Aviri says. "The perils of experimental botany." He shudders again and starts setting up the cups to be served. "Please don't be blood," he asks the pot.
Aviri pours and serves the tea, albeit tentatively.
The tea is a bit red, but then some teas are. Trilup sniffs it, then takes a sip. She doesn't close her eyes right away, but when she does it looks like she's trying to pass a stone or something. She keeps them clenched shut for all of two seconds before she falls off her cushion screaming and curls up on the floor. This brings out everyone - Gnarr, Butterlump, their two sons and even Ysnor appears behind Eve somehow.
The Lapi is on his feet in an instant, bounding over the table to tend the awkwavi. "Trilup ...!"
Lin is already at her side so she's the first to respond. She checks Trilup's eyes first and makes sure they're open. "It's okay, it's just a weird memmory."
"Auugh!" Trilup keeps yelling. She's curled into a ball, and hasn't opened her eyes yet! "Noooo!" she cries, which at least isn't screaming.
Aviri bites his lip, reaching toward her head but stopping short. "Trilup, open your eyes!" he pleads, not sure if forcing her to do so would even work.
Lin isn't just going to stand by while a fellow scout goes through... Whatever that is. She tries to gently open Trilup's eyes. "Come on, Tril. It's only the stuff of nightmares." She pleads.
It takes an effort, but when the otter's eyes open.. they're so dilated that they look completely black. Trilup immediately begins gasping for breath and grabbing herself.. or rather, her chest and stomach.
Aviri starts trying to calm her with gentle motions, looking for damage she might have done to herself in the process. "You're safe, Tril," he says soothingly.
"Mmm.. muu.." Trilup chokes. "Murder.. I'm being murdered!" she finally gets out, crying. "Knife.. knife.. don't let me bleed out!"
At least the girl didn't hurt herself with her own claws.
"Nono, you're not," Aviri assures. "It's just bad tea. You're safe, you're perfectly safe. We won't let you die."
Lin retrieves Trilup's mug of hot chocolate and offers it to her. "You're safe now, that wasn't happening to you, you're not bleeding. This should help, it's your hot chocolate." She says, trying to keep her voice calm and even as possible though it cracks a couple times.
It's hard to sit up and swallow the chocolate without closing her eyes, but Trilup is determined to keep them open, despite all the tears. "I'll die if I close my eyes," she says after washing out the flavor of the tea. She does blink though without any ill effect.
Aviri gets up and points to Lin. "Don't let her close her eyes." He turns to Butterlump. "I need to be in the kitchen now."
"Mebbe you not try teas any more, yah?" Gnarr suggests.
Eve is mewing in distress. "Yeah.. no more tea," she agrees. "Oh.. thank the Star there wasn't any black tea! That'd probably be.. being a zombie or something.."
"You got it." Lin says and hugs Trilup.
The mother Titanian leads Aviri to the kitchen. There are lots of jars of ingredients, along with dried vegetables and herbs hanging from strings.
"I don't ever wanna be stabbed, Lin," Trilup tells the older girl while she's hugged. "We can't even use that tea as a prank.."
"Yeah. Pranking isn't pranking when it's with stuff like this." Lin agrees wholeheartedly.
It takes Aviri a moment to get adjusted to the kitchen's layout, his eyes frantic, his head twitching so quickly his ears are almost dangerous weapons. He starts pulling various herbs down, sniffing some, crushing others, and putting dollops of oils into a jar and mixing it all together. Somewhere in all this he puts a pot of water on to boil.
While the tea boils the Lapi is still a frantic blur of activity, gathering this and that, until the concoction is apparently ready the moment the water reaches the proscribed temperature. He adds the tea directly to the pot, with quickly-muttered promises to help clean it afterwards, and a few minutes later is coming out with four teacups filled with a dull yellow mixture. He adds a dollop of honey to each and crouches next to Lin and Tril. "Here," he says, offering them two. "Will help calm."
Trilup guzzles hers down, nearly choking.. and holds her cup out for more.
"Thanks." Lin says and removes an arm from around Trilup to accept the drink. She blows across the top once then drinks it slowly, trying to hide how her whole body is shaking.
Aviri blinks and hands her a second cup, glancing at Eve who, while she didn't need a calming drink, probably would have liked one.
The kitten does take a sip. She's still a bit rattled. "We need to do something fun," she advises.
Lin, for once, does not have something to say and holds out her cup for more.
Aviri takes the two empty cups and heads to the kitchen. He returns with the last of the tea, offering one to Lin and watching Tril desperately, clutching the last cup ... his cup ... in the hopes she wouldn't want a third.
Trilup seems fine with what she's already had, able to close her eyes again and relax.
The Lapi breathes a sigh of relief and sips at the last cup happily, feeling the tension of madness start to seep out of him. "Something fun," he agrees, "and ... let's stick with unenchanted tea for the future." He takes a deep breath, soaking in the calm.