The crew takes the skiffs from Frungible out onto the lake, to where The Bloody Bandersnatch is moored. Aviri is separated from Lin and Trilup and rides with Scarlet, who leans far over the front of the skiff to navigate. There aren't any lights to betray the presence of the pirate ship, so she must be using some other method.
Scarlet kicks open the door and shoves Aviri into her quarters! "Welcome hoooome," the pirate cackles as she follows and closes the door behind her. "Only one bed, but no worries, I'll have the pillows at the foot of my bed at some point." She then locks the door and rubs her hands together, muttering, "Oh, this be fun, heheh."
Aviri squeaks and stumbles headlong into the chamber, his eyes twitching frantically as he simultaneously tries to observe all of the things and not fall, an effort which is aided by the sudden presence of Scarlet's bed. He stands up straight again, and turns with worry to Scarlet, gulping as he sees her lock the door. "D-don't need pillows," he says quietly, so much so it's hard to tell if he is even talking to her. Though he notes the cabin is quite deficite in moss, lichen, or even the softer varieties of rocks that generally provide padding when not in a barrow.
A glance at the book spines shows several different languages. Either Scarlet really likes books for their look, or else is literate in several languages.
Scarlet snaps her fingers to get the lapi's attention. "Clothes off," she commands, then turns away to dig through a nearby desk drawer. When standing the otter looks even more slinky, but she radiates danger ... as it it would be foolish to try and mess with her in any way.
Contrary to appearances, Aviri was paying attention to Scarlet. At least eighty percent, which was quite a lot considering all of the everything else that inhabited the room. After a second's hesitation he begins to comply, disrobing swiftly, and taking more time to fold the items properly.
Scarlet turns around and stretches out a cord with a loud snap! "Good, you ken listen," she comments, "Those ears good for somthin' after all. Now hold still." The otter then saunters over and runs her hands down the lapi's sides. No, wait, she's stretching out the cord along the lapi's sides. It has little markings all along it at equal spacing. Her brow furrows as she hmms to herself, then lifts the lapi's arm and stretches the cord out along it too, then the other, then down his spine. As she crouches down to do the same to his legs, she swats his butt! Not hard at least.
Aviri flinches at the snap, his eyes darting from one of the spines of the books to Scarlet. All the innuendos of the tavern rush his mind, and he braces himself for getting beaten or something. He tenses when he feels her touch his side, but he quickly becomes confused when pain doesn't follow. He looks down at her, a bit shocked at being measured. "Uh," he says, and lifts his arms for her to measure. "Tailoring?"
Scarlet comes around to his front. She drapes the tape around him and pulls him in close ... nose to nose. "Aw, who be a clever boy, hmm?" she says with a toothy grin (as well as fishy breath!) "You find out soon enough," she promises ... then licks his nose, right up to between his eyes. She releases the cord and steps back, whistling.
One of the toys on a nearby shelf seems to be staring at Aviri. It's a wind-up Chronotopian cymbal-banging Kavi with a really disturbing grin.
The wide-eyed surprise that grew on Aviri's face as he finds himself face-to-face with her disolves into wrinkled displeasure at the smell of her breath. "Been measured before," he says, gesturing to the clothes he just removed. Whatever he's going to add to that is lost in a yelp, the Lapi practically jumping out of his skin at the lick! He wipes his forearm across the wetted spot. He glares at Scarlet a moment, but his eyes are almost immediately diverted to a pair of books behind her, each obviously in a different langauge due to their different alphabets. "You can read both of those?"
"Eh, I can read more than that," Scarlet remarks, looks terribly amused, and waves a hand. She turns her back and heads over to a bench. The otter throws the top open and starts rummaging around while remarking, "Jus' don have enough room to keep 'em all on the shelves. So I rotate. An yer lucky, yer size about matches, so no alterations needed. Aha!" She yanks her arm out of the bench and trails it is a flurry of ... frilly cloth. She spins back around and holds it out. "Yer new outfit; required wearin' when on de ship," she declares. Egad ... it's a dress. It's worse than a dress. It's mostly black with frilly edges, a poofy skirt, shoulders, and even looks like it comes with some sort of bonnet. And it only gets worse as more details become apparent, like the corset that makes up the center section, complete with boning and evil-looking laces ... and worse, garters dangle from one sleeve, along with what might be frilly undergarments. "One Gallesian maid's dress. Perfect fer any servan
t," the pirate declares. Wow, can she grin both widely and evilly. "I 'ad dis tailored fer Jack, but you will do jus' fine."
Aviri just freezes when he sees the cloths, his eyes making tiny jumps from side-to-side as they examine the frilly fabric. He then peers at Scarlet, and discovers she is, indeed, serious. Or, at the very least, joking in a way that is the same as serious when it comes to what he's supposed to do. He takes the clothes with a bit more reverance than they might deserve (a well-made set of clothing is a well-made set of clothing, after all!) and turns them around a few times to figure out what is what. "Y'and Jack seemed to have an interesting relationship," he notes.
"Eh, he steal from me, I steal from him, we try t' kill each other, den we roll in de hay. It all be perfectly normal," Scarlet remarks as she gestures randomly with her free hand. "See, he won de last round, an I no able t' catch him ... so you standin' in his place. Star' dressin; I'll help cinch de corset when ya get t' dat." The otter has to pase and consider the lapi a moment. "You do know how t' dress yerself, right?" she asks.
"Course I know how to dress myself," Aviri mutters as he finds the undergarments and starts applying the various bits and pieces in what may not be the proper order, but is at least an order in which nothing has to be re-done. "I'm not a very good surrogate for Jack," he says idly, coming finally to the corset and starting to don it with almost practiced motions, and a look of expectant pain.
"Yer not dumb as a post, you qualify," Scarlet remarks as she goes behind the lapi. "Breathe out," she instructs ... and once the lapi does, she grabs the laces, plants a hand in the piddle of his back, and pulls.
"The trick is to hold in a deep breath while it's tightened," Silv's voice whispers into Aviri's ear.
"Don't underestimate the intelligence of posts," Aviri says, and exhales loudly enough to signify he was exhaling, but keeping a good half a lungfull of air so that the corset would tighten, but not completely restrict his breathing. Even so the sudden constriction makes hip squeak.
And it gets tighter, and tighter. The otter is strong! And worse, as the corset tightens, the lapi looks like he has doe-hips ... and sort of a chest with how it pinches and pushes. "De only post I keep on a first name basis is de whippin' post. Keeps the crew in line," Scarlet remarks idly. Ugh, she pulled again. How tight does she plan to get this thing?
Aviri grimaces, and resiliently holds the half-breath he's selfishly trying to keep. Thus he can't really respond to the post comment, if he even could think of a way to respond to it.
The pulling stops and Aviri can feel the laces being tied off. The otter soon drapes her arms around the lapi's new 'waist'. "Aww, don' you just look so pretty," she giggles in his left ear. "Comfy?"
"I like this girl, she's got zest," Silv notes to the Lapi.
Aviri's grimace remains, as the Lapi's organs slowly adjust to the corset's attempts to turn them into diamonds. He manages to roll his eyes at Silv, if she could see it, and nods. "So pretty," he squeaks.
"I had a figure like that once," Silv claims. "She escaped eventually though."
"Bah, no complaints? No even a whimper?" Scarlet remarks as she traces fingers up the lapi's taut belly to just under his chin, where she flicks it. "I guess I jus' have t' try 'arder," the otter adds right before playfully nipping his left ear.
Aviri remains stock-still as Scarlet strokes his form, his face still clenched in discomfort. He flinches at the flick. "Wouldn't do any good to complain," he says, and tentatively tries to pull away from Scarlet's grasp, to continue donning the rest of the outfit. "You saying you were never this pretty, Silv?" he asks the air, "only had servants this pretty?"
Scarlet huffs and lets the lapi go. And of course she swats his butt again. "Never let it be said I give up on a challenge!" she declares and goes to another stash in her room to rummage around.
"Shhh, don't blow my cover," Silv whispers to the Lapi. "Half the junk in here is haunted or cursed or enchanted I think. I don't want to end up in her collection too! Plus.. I'm gonna rummage around under her mattress and see what she's got hidden there."
Aviri figures out how the dress works and starts putting it on, taking care he's doing it properly. "Like you could," he mutters to Silv. "Aren't you bound to us for good?" Louder, to Scarlet, "What, you want me to complain?" He looks down at the dress and smooths out some wrinkles. "Thought you didn't want me to be 'flimsy'."
"I expect you to be fun," Scarlet remarks. "Now, were izzit?"
"See, that depends on your definition of 'fun'," Aviri notes, turning the bonnet over in his hands and looking pensive. "Though I'm not sure what a were-izit is. Sounds like it could be scary."
"Aha!" Scarlet declares, triumphant. She turns around holding a length of chain terminated by two rings, and a scary-long needle. "Fun is makin' me cabin 'boy' squirm," she claims.
"Oi, she wants you to act like this Jack fella," Silv suggests. "Would he be all morti- muto- EMBARRASSED by this?"
Still not yet bonneted, Aviri takes a surprised step back at the sight of the contraption/device/implement/thing Scarlet displays. Or, he tries to, only to find his way impeded by the bed, whereupon he promptly falls onto it, his legs splaying and his hands trying to keep the dress against his thighs.
Scarlet leans to the side. "Ey, ya got de undies on right! Y'know, most guys jus' can't figure dem out," the otter cackles. "Dressin' like a girl often, den? Well, that would explain many things."
"It took me a few tries to figure out underwear at first meself," Silv admits to Aviri. "The frilly pants sort never have a tail hole.."
The inside of Aviri's ears turn pink at either the fall or the accusation, or both. "Not hard to figure out," he mutters as he picks himself back up and tries to get to his feet in a dignified manner. Which is nigh-impossible to accomplish considering his outfit. He huffs and settles on giving the front of the dress a few brushes to remove the wrinkles that aren't a part of the design.
Scarlet watches this ... and giggles the entire time. Once the bed is free, though, she goes and sits on the edge. The otter then points at the floor in front of her. "Kneel," she orders.
Although he doesn't say anything more, the pinkness in his ears doesn't go away all through her giggles. Aviri has no trouble keeping them down against the back of his head as per her orders earlier, and he, after a moment, nods and kneels in the indicated spot, not looking at her either out of respect or embarassment.
Scarlet takes the lapi's left ear between her finger and thumb. "Y' obey. Good," she comments, "Now, dis is likely gonna 'urt." And the this becomes quickly apparent when the brings up that long needle again ... and stretches the lapi's ear out. "Is best to not move too much," she warns a mere second before the needle flashes and goes through the upper part of his ear near the edge! Good Gods, that hurt. Really hurt. The lapi can feel his ear throbbing around the needle.
Aviri closes his eyes and cringes when he feels her grab his ear, the organ still hot with his blush. "Hurt?" he asks, and just as he's opening his eyes to look up for confirmation the needle slides through his flesh! He yelps and obviously only barely manages to not flee from the otter and room and probably dive into the lake wearing the dress to escape, which probably wouldn't have ended well for his ear. Instead he stays on his knees and whimpers with the throbbing pain.
"She ain't tied you up yet, a' least," Silv whispers reassuringly. "Sailors know all sorts of inneresting knots too. I learned to untie more of 'em than I ever knew to tie. Useful skill."
Scarlet pats his cheek. "Wow, impressive," she has to admit. She lets the needle sit where it is, then slowly starts pulling it completely through. It's ... not comfortable, but also not as bad as the initial jab. Before it comes completely out, though, she lines up the open edge of one of the rings on that chain. Then as the needle slides through and out the ring slides in. A firm twist, and the ring is closed snug ... and the lapi can feel the weight dangling from his ear. "Now, I give ye a choice here," the otter offers, "Lower part of the ear, or nose." She explains this by holding up the other end of the chain and dangles it in front of his eyes. It has another ring.
Scarlet's compliment doesn't seem to affect Aviri; he may not have even heard it, what with his ear throbbing like that! He mewls meekly as she starts feeding the needle through, and yelps, flinching, as the ring is affixed to his body. Once it's clear the stabbing has temporarily stopped his lets out his half-breath--the best he could manage with that corset--out with a rush, and does his best to take a deep breath. "E-ear," he says through gritted teeth.
"Y'sure?" Scarlet asks and leans in, looking at him through just one eye. She taps his nose with the business end of the needle.
Aviri's obviously still having troubles with the whole breathing thing, and doesn't answer her verbally. He does nod, though, and at the touch of that point against his quivering nose he flinches back and even turns his head to the right. In truth he's just doing his best not to pass out--the lack of air certainly isn't helping in that endeavor.
"Oh well," Scarlet sighs dramatically, "Mebbe later, eh?" She shifts her fingers down and takes a grip more at the base of the lapi's left ear. She twirls the long needle between her fingers, grins widely, and javelins it (sort of!) through the base of his ear without warning! It hurts! As bad as the last one! Now both ends of that poor ear throb. At least they throb in time with each other.
Knowing what to expect certainly doesn't make the piercing any easier. At least Scarlet didn't faff about with the needle, though, and there's a tiny glimmer of hope in the resulting blinding pain that washes over Aviri: getting it done early would mean he'd have more time to get used to it, maybe let it heal.
"Hopefully she has some good booze about," Silv whispers into Aviri's right ear. "A bit on the wounds, and a good bit down your throat will ease the pain."
Like before, Scarlet threads the needle through and uses it to guide the ring into place. She cinches that closed too. "I'll braze the rings solid later, so y' don' get any ideas about removin' them," she promises. "An y' get a bit of a break for now. I'll stud-line yer right ear later. At least six, I think," she comments as she puts the needle between the fingers of each hand, then pulls, putting tension on it. Thwip! It lodges swuarely in the center of her door a moment later.
After the pain, the closing of the ring is practically blissful. Or, at the very least, almost painless. It still takes Aviri a good 7 seconds to resume breathing again, his eyes slightly defocused, his body a bit wobbly as he stands and then immediately sits back down, having enough thought to sit at the foot of her bed. "Y'think I'll take them out?" he asks a bit woozily. "After all this you think the rings will be what I take off?"
"Yer not gonna take any of that off," Scarlet warns and waggles a finger at him. "Not without mah permission, at least. An I impressed, y' didn' pass out. Yer tougher than y' look."
And now Aviri is well aware of the weight on his left ear ... and any twitch of it sends the interlinking chain swaying. It's an odd sensation to say the least.
Passing out wasn't quite out of the picture yet, as Aviri sits a bit hunched on the bed. "Won't take anything off," he promises. "Less you ask me to," he adds a bit quieter. He takes a few deep-as-he-can breaths, which isn't that deep, and does nothing to ruin the fabulous hips she'd given him. He bites his lip and asks, "Y'got alcohol or something?"
Scarlet breaks into a fit of mighty giggles! "Did ... you ... really," she wheezes, "Ask a pirate iffin ... she has booze? Really?" She falls back on her bed and even kicks her legs in the air. "Cabin boy an jester!"
Maybe it's the pain, or being short of breath.. or worryingly that he's closer to death than usual, but Aviri can make out the ghostly outline of a naked raccoon wearing a familiar hat, sitting on Scarlet's desk. The otter doesn't seem to notice Silv at all though.
Aviri decides it's best not to mention that his job as jester is just as new as his job as cabin-boy. Or maid, as the outfit would suggest. Neither does he interrupt her mirth to clarify that the question was more about whether he could have access to it, as per Silv's suggestion. Instead he looks at the ghost. He tilts his head a bit, wincing as the rings and chain jingle.
"So, booze, yah. I have grog. Y'know what grog is, right?" Scarlet asks once she recovers from her giggle-fit.
With each wince, the ghost becomes clearer. She doesn't seem aware that Aviri sees her though.
"So long as it's got bite," Aviri says, closing his eyes and pressing his palm to his forehead as though to banish the pain. It doesn't work, and when he looks back he blinks in surprise as Silv is even clearer. He blushes--which certainly doesn't help the pain, and looks away from the ex-pseudopirate and the desk.
Other things in the room seem to be more.. glowy? Well, not quite glowing, but certainly standing out more. There's the cymbal-Kavi, which really is looking at him. Some of the other items seem.. squirmy. One of the statuettes looks like it's on fire.
"Oh, it does. See, grog is rum and water, just without the water," Scarlet says as she slips herself off the bed. She pats the lapi on his head, then goes to her desk. Reaching through Silv, she grabs a bottle on the desk. After checking the label and pulling the old cork, she heads back and holds it out to Aviri, "Is over a hunnert years old now, so sip lightly, eh? Only have half a dozen bottles left of this vintage an I doubt the poodle has any left t' steal."
Silv licks her lips, and floats over to try and sniff the open bottle.
Aviri manages to not tilt his head again in curiosity, seeing Scarlet reach through Silv. Obviously the otter didn't notice, or was adept at dealing with ghosts. He sniffs at the bottle, managing a smug smile to Silv as he does so. A kind of 'haha, I can smell the delicious rum' smile, although the scent seemed to burn at his nose. He takes a tiny sip, and his eyes go wide. He lets the rum linger on his tongue, and then he gulps, suppressing a cough and feeling his throat burn all the way down. "Lot of bite," he nods. He glances back at Silv. "Er, any chance these rings are enchanted or anything?"
Scarlet is once again surprised! The lapi didn't cough. Huh. The otter sashays back to her bed. Yes, sashays. The sway of those hips is not natural. She sits on the edge and sticks out one leather-clad foot. "When yer done, first job. Take me boots off. I want a foot rub," she says.
Silv sticks her nose into Aviri's right ear (and even worse, he can feel it, and her, pressing against his back), and whispers, "You should try and seduce her.. or impress her more by sucking on 'er toes! Drives some gels wild. And if not.. it'd be entertaining to watch at least."
"I bets the webbing is reeeeeally sensitive.."
It takes the Lapi a few moments before he can sip again. Too many sips too close together would've induced coughing, which would've jangled his ear which, if recent experience was anything to go by, would've probably moved him solidly into the realm of ghosts. The second sip is a bit larger, Aviri torn between wanting to drink the pain away and wanting to preserve the obviously-expensive booze. After a third sip he puts the bottle on a shelf, thinks better of doing that on a ship, and corks it before setting it on the bed. He feels his cheeks start to flush with alcohol. Or Scarlet's request. He clears his throat a few times (or maybe that was just more suppressed coughing), and starts unlacing those boots, doing his best to ignore Silv. However, he yelps and pulls off the left boot with a startled jolt when he feels Silv against him! For a moment he's just sitting there, bolt-upright, his face pale, staring at a trinket a few inches above Scarlet's shoulder. "That's new," he stammers, and starts workin
g on the other boot. "Think these rings are enchanted," he says quietly, trying to remain calm and, above all else, keep breathing against the corset.
"Eh?" Scarlet asks, "What's new? Takin' off a boot? Yeah, mebbe so. I have 'eard Stonebarrow is pretty backwater." The otters smirks and wiggles her boot all around while the lapi tries to work on her other boot. And since one foot is now free, those webbed toes of hers tries to tickle his exposed side! "Y' look like ya seen a ghost dere, kiddo! Or mebbe I just be dat hot, eh?"
"No, 've taken off many boots," Aviri says haltingly, still pale, as his fingers fumble with the other boot's laces. He huffs, takes a deep breath as though he still doesn't remember he can't, and manages to control his shaking enough to actually be competent at unlacing a boot. Soon enough the other boot is freed, and the Lapi's quivering fingers start exploring her right foot. With the ghost occupying much of his discomfort, he hardly notices Scarlet's left foot touching his side. "You be like kyootcumber," he says with a grin as he starts rubbing the foot.
"Hah!" Scarlet barks in laugher. She wiggles her right foot all about and flex-spreads her toes while she watches the lapi with curiosity. And yes, like most otters, she has webbed toes! "Y'know, y' be takin' this pretty well," she observes, "I though you be all sobby and whimperin' by now."
"Hah, ye've got her hooked now," Silv whispers. "Mebbe you won't have to sleep on the floor if'n you impress her more."
"Yar, I be full o' s'prises," Aviri says, doing a rather poor impersonation of a pirate accent. He flushes and looks away, his fingers still able to work by feel alone. "'ll stop that, now," he mutters, looking at neither Silv nor Scarlet. Though the fact that half his vision is consumed by the black-and-white dress certainly doesn't help his frame of mind. He gets woozy as the whole situation hits him in full, and he focuses on the task at hand to keep from passing out. His ear still throbs, which prevents his mind from wandering to various plants he might be able to find in the area. "Y've nice feet," he says quietly towards his dress.
At last Silv moves away.. and Aviri feels less chilled where she was touching him.
Scarlet lifts her left foot and uses her toe-webbing to cup the lapi's chin and make him look up. "Awww," she says, "I think ya actually mean that. Huh, full oh surprises you are. I think y' like how I been treating ya." She grins widely, clearly amused by all of this. "Most guys woul' be either sobbin' or indignant and huffy. But you ... you just take to the job. That cute."
The accusation and departure of Silv helps Aviri's mind get itself back together, at leat a little bit. "Well, what's worse," he asks rhetorically, "being in a silly outfit, or being in a silly outfit and being all indignant and huffy?" He shrugs. "Either way I'm in a silly outfit." He adjusts his seating on the bed so he doesn't have to twist to get at her feet. "This way I don't disappoint." He offers her a grin, or at least that's presumably what he does, as he still can't actually look at the otter. He does pull her right foot up a bit and give a kiss to the inter-toe webbing while he massages her toes.
"'ey, the outfit is not silly," Scarlet insists as she pokes him square in the nose with her left foot before dropping it. "Why I ought to ... oh hello," she starts out sounding a bit put out, but the hello part is a bit of a breathy surprise. Huh, Silv may have been right about the webbing being rather sensitive. "Wait, what was I sayin'?" she asks a bit later.
Aviri tries not to be surprised that Silv was right, and is about to start suspecting Silv knows Scarlet from back when she was alive before he rememvers that Silv's been dead a long time. He digs his thumbs into the ball of her foot, and gets a little twinkle in his eye. His right arm goes to her left foot to give it some attention as he experimentally licks at the edge of the webbing he'd just kissed.
The otter arches and chitters. "Ey, y'best be careful or y' gonna be doing what lapi are known for soon enough," Scarlet remarks and smirks. She wiggles the two toes connected by the kissed webbing and makes it wiggle. She then has a gigglefit again and remarks, "Jus' wait until yer friends see you now, eh?"
"A clever tongue can open all sorts of doors," Silv returns to whisper to Aviri. "I don't just mean talking!"
By now the few sips of rum were beginning to work on Aviri's mind. Or the pain in his ear was starting to ebb. Or both. After her comments in the tavern, her threat didn't really have an effect. His fingers work between her toes, rubbing the tops of her webs while his thumbs remain anchor points. "They don't care much for fancy clothes," he says as he spreads her toes around his nose and slurps at the webbing. Yes, the rum was certainly getting to him, now, not that he minded. It definitely helped keep the pain at bay!
Scarlet shifts and puts both her feet squarely in the lapi's lap as she lays back, hands behind her head. "Dis even better den I planned. Y' actually gettin into it instead of fightin," she comments. "So, yes, I decided, tomorrow I find de collar!"
Aviri gives one last kiss to her toes as she settles her feet in his lap, and thus out of kissing range since his ability to bend down is severely hampered by his new hips. "You're gonna have to collar me before you can de-collar me," he says with a chuckle. Another wave of vertigo washes over him, and he focuses for a while on the foot-rub, keeping himself from just flopping onto the bed and joining the land of dreams. Or joining Silv, depending on how well his unconscious body does at breathing with a corset.