The Bloody Bandersnatch
There aren't many deep-water boats that can also operate in the shallows of a swamp, but the Bloody Bandersnatch manages both by having outrigger pontoons that can be raised or lowered. The figurehead is menacingly monstrous, sporting tusks that would put a Bromthen hog to shame, and various ropes and changes dangling from the carved maw to make it look as if it's actually drooling. There are a lot of cables that drop down into the water at the prow, which seem to move around on their own, and the edges of the main deck have the snouts of ballistas poking over, with the hulking shapes of catapults behind them. There are even sails, although they're currently tightly bound to the masts. If not for the few faint lights, the black-painted hull would be nearly invisible in the dark.

Captain Scarlet hauled Aviri off to her quarters at the ship's aft, while the Akwavi girls were ushered below-deck before they could see much of anything. Waddles had issues with the narrow, steep stairs, but solved this by retracting its legs and just sliding down - much to the woe of the pirate that was below it.

The bunkroom was.. fragrant. But it didn't take long to become nose-blind to the overall armpit odor. Things were stowed, and Linyala was helped up into the hammock she was set to share with Wee Mad Arthur the Skeek, while Trilup got to share with Daft Wullie, one of Scarlet's Akwavi brothers. The smell, closeness and round-robin snoring made it all feel a bit like an Oggton barge in practice. The only obstacles for a full night's sleep were that Wullie was a drooly spooner, and Arthur had a tendency to twitch violently at random.

There was also the matter of shift changes. There weren't enough beds for everyone, which was solved by having crew on lookout for part of the night.. who would then return to rouse their replacements, which was an often loud and argumentative affair.

Actual morning wakeup involved someone banging on a gourd and tipping over the hammocks. At least they were tipped over from girls' side, so their sleeping partners didn't fall on top of them. It was the Kavi, Tulgy Woods, that was the alarm clock. "Up, up, up and down buckos and buckettes," the man shouts. "Pour yer hangovers out yer arses and get some grub."

Lin had been dozing fitfully with her hat over eyes when the alarm sounded, Arthur's convulsions having made getting a proper rest quite dificult. She'd just lifted her hat to see what the commotion was when her hammock abruptly pitched over. "Aye, an' a good mornin' to you too." She grumps at Tulgy as she helps a somewhat worse-for-wear Arthur stand up.

"Ooo-arrr," the Skeek complains, then blinks a bit at Lin. "Oi, did we get married last night?" he asks. Not far off, Trilup is trying to get the fur on one side of her neck to comb down, but it seems to have been stiffened by dried drool.

"Ye weren't that drunk. An' no." Lin retorts as she straightens her hat and reties her belt. She wanders over to Trilup and raises an eyebrow at the matted slober fur. "Sleep well?"

"I'll tell ye when I wake up from this nightmare," the other girl notes, and spends some time unkinking her tail. Everyone begins moving towards the aft doorway, which conveniently opens right into the galley. "Think they'll have fishcakes and honey?" Trilup asks Lin.

Lin nods and stretches her back, eliciting a rapidfire series of pops. "We kin hope. Probably though, there's more'n enough Aquavi in the crew fer the grub to be... Okay." She follows the flow of grogy pirates into the gally and gives it a tentative sniff.

There's a very strong fish smell. The galley is one long table with benches on either side, where the crew slide into place. Breakfast seems to be fish porridge - which is just chunks of fish in a mush of rice and cornmeal - with some lumpy biscuits and cups of mateh.

"Sorry Tril," Lin chirps over her shoulder. "Looks like kinda poridge." She grabs a bowl of the fish mush, a couple of the biscuits, and a drink. She looks skeptically at the table then just seats herself near the end without worying if there's a set order.

Trilup squeezes in next to Lin with her own grub, and sniffs curiously at the mateh. "Ever had this stuff before?" she asks Lin. "Smells a'right, but so does the sludge at the bottom of a scumble still."

"Nope," Lin chirps and takes a sip, "But it tastes better than Coffee." She digs in and seems to be mainly going for speed.

From the other end of the room, near the kitchen, a Lapi doe enters. She's carrying an empty platter under one arm, and some sort of box under the other. She's clearly a maid, since she's dressed in black corset and a skirt that's short enough to see the frilly bits of her underpants. Even the apron is longer. But the oddest thing is that she's got Savanite markings! Spots, golden-brown fur, and even tearmarks on her face. Instead of a choker she's got a slave collar around her neck.

"The captain has her own maid," Trilup says, elbowing Lin. Aside from Medium Sized Jock, everyone else looks a bit surprised by her arrival.

Lin looks up from her meal and goggles at the maid. "You think those markings are died on?" She quietly asks Trilup. On the second look, she notices the slave collar and frowns. "An' I hope the outfit is just a dressup thing. I thought Scarlet was pretty cool. Slaves ain't cool though..." She adds under her breath.

"Is tha' the one we brought back las' night?" Big Yan whispers to Big Aggie. The raccoon woman just shrugs. "Bunny's a bunny.."

The doe looks around the room, her eyes a bit downcast, though her mouth smiled, especially at Medium Sized Jock. She doesn't seem to react to the presence of the two strange otters beyond her eyes briefly noticing them before she sets the platter aside and sits down at a table. The box is placed on the surface with almost religious care, and she starts eating, picking through the fishy things to get at the biscuits. Her ears twitch gently at the sounds around her, but she looks mostly at the table, her food, and the box.

"I like her ears," Trilup notes to Lin, since the new doe has half a dozen studs in one ear and half a dozen gauges in the other.

Lin finishes her food, downs the last of her mateh, and starts clearing her dishes. "Yeah, it works with the whole look she's got going on. We'd better get topside though an' meet with Cap'n Scarlet. Worry 'bout this after we've got a proper plan for takin' the temple." She gets up and takes her dishes over to the wash bins.

Medium Jock nods to the doe, then smacks the Skreek that nudged him with his wooden spoon. "Dat's the rabbit we brought," he says, as if it's obvious. "Was just pretendin' to be a buck.. s'why she only showed her butt 'stead of strippin'."

"Oh.. oh yar, I knew dat," the rat claims, nodding his head. "Can't fool ol' Billy! I knew right aways.. just didn't want to.. spoil the surprise for the Cap'n.."

The doe eats slowly, though only gets through a handful of biscuits before she stops. She looks up from the box to Medium Jock, then back at the box. Her lips move ever so slightly, and then she stands and takes a deep breath. Or, tries to - it seems part she has a bit of trouble in that regard. With a reverant motion, she opens the box, and music begins to trickle into the room. After a moment's pause, the doe starts to dance.

Trilup stares at the 'new' Lapi doe though, brows knit together in skepticism. She's sure she's seen Aviri naked often enough to know he didn't have boobs like that..

The dancing gets everyone's attention, and the center of the table is cleared off. "Up on top, missy," Daft Wullie says. "So's we can see proper!"

Lin frowns at the scene and taps Trilup on the shoulder and motions to the stairs to the deck. "Later." She mouths and walks out.

The doe, now blushing at the feeling of all the eyes, obliges. She manages to climb atop the table mid-dance, keeping the fluid hip motions throughout, until she's dancing. Her eyes don't look quite as morose anymore, though her mouth still smiles at the audience.

Trilup isn't inclined to leave yet.. she's still trying to figure things out. The dancer's panties are just skimpy enough to show the edges of the shaved spots.. so that matches. But.. "Aviri wouldn't dance. In public. And smile.. Somethin's up here," she mutters.

Lin looks over her shoulder and sees that Trilup is still watching the spectacle. She scoots over, pinches Trilup's tail tip, and motions subtly to the door again. Now that she's closer to the lapi as well, she looks hard at her face and tries to catch the doe's eye.

Trilup barks at the pinch, and blinks at Lin. "You don't think the vampires swapped our Aviri for an imposter do ya?" she whispers to the other otter.

The seated crew are banging their empty mugs on the table in approval, since it's a fancy belly-dance. Except for Big Aggie, anyway.

The doe never looks at either Linyala or Trilup, at least not directly. The dance involved several full circles on the table, seemingly to show the audience her moves from as many angles as possible. She'd occasionally make eye contact with one of the crew and wink, or insert a suggestive move into the dance, but she didn't ever look into the girls' eyes. Maybe the doe was just being aware of their ages, and trying to engage only those who most wanted to be engaged.

"I don't know, Tril. I also don't wanna make too many guesses until we have more information. I especially don't want to cause a fuss in a galley of pirates. Lets go outside, have a think, and then find Scarlet." Lin whispers. This time she gently takes Trilup's hand to make sure they leave together.

At least the crew isn't rowdy, beyond a few whistles and catcalls from those winked at. Of course, that may be entirely due to the doe being the Captain's bunny, which means hands-off until told otherwise.

Up on deck, Lake Frunge is hidden beneath the morning mist still, which makes it feel like the pirate ship is floating on a cloud. There are a few crew up and about, each with a mug of mateh to keep them going, but there isn't much activity - and no sign of the captain. Some of the mist that spills over onto the deck swirls into teasing shapes. There's also a big raised hatch that is covered in warning labels which almost obscure the 'Cheese Storage' sign on it.

On the raised wheel deck, behind the wheel itself, is a large collecting of odd devices, including a huge spool of thick-looking rope cable and something big hidden under a tarp.

As soon as they get abovedecks, the fur on the back of Lin's neck poofs out and she sudders. "That was so weird." She hisses and stalks towards the bow, expecting Trilup to follow her. "I know fer a fact that Aviri's a guy. When we all switched bodies, his was deffinitely a he. I didn't hear anything about other lapis on th crew and nothin' again about any new ones. When 'she' walked out, the crew were pretty surprised so she's a new... Feature..." What how are you doin' so far?" She looks over at Trilup.

"I wanna learn that dance," Trilup claims. "If that was Aviri though.. oi, he musta disappointed the cap'n, and she sliced it off!" The otter puts her paws to her muzzle then, and gets wide-eyed. "Jes' like Amy's always threatenin' to do to Emmett! It must turn ye into a girl when that happens!"

Lin humms and smooths down her poofed fur. "She did say we'd get him back unharmed after the raid on the temple. I'm pretty sure cutting his weenie off would be harm.- Silver!" Lin smiles a little at last. "How's Aviri doing?"

"Putting on a right fine show," Silv claims and chuckles. "'Course, when I was up on the table, I had to shed a bit more fabric to get 'em really riled up."

"And the collar?" Lin leads, moving her hand in little circles in the air. "We agreed to Cabin Boy. Not slave."

"Oh, the collar is a bit complicated," the ghost notes, sounding a bit amused. "It's all part of the costume, along with the music box. Scarlet has a lot of interesting things she's picked up. Should be finishing up down there, the box is winding down and Rob Anybody is starting to tell folks to get to work.."

"Magic collar of dick vanishing?" Lin guesses. She looks askance to Trilup in case she has any better ideas.

"Oooo, we gotta keep that!" Trilup says, her tail wagging. "I can think of sooo many guys to try that on.."

"Maybe we can stea- trade for it from our portion of the loot from the temple." Lin offers, a little sinister grin pricking at the corners of her mouth.

"If we claim we want it to use on Jack, I bet the cap'n would let us have it," Trilup schemes.

The Lapi doe, having managed to keep all her clothes on, probably to Silver's dismay, emerges onto the deck. She sniffs at the misty morning air, then walks to the general half of the boat where Lin and Tril are. The box she holds tightly under one arm, as she leans on the railing looking out to the fog beneath.

"Well, I'm satisfied." Lin chirps, "Magic transformations that don't actually hurt him might get him to loosten up a little around Waddles. Let's see Scarlet and figgure out how to tackle this temple thing." She snickers as Silver flits off.

The doe jumps at the goose, her free hand going to ensure the box doesn't fall out of her hand. She glares at Silv, brow furrowed, eyes narrowed.

"Hey..." Trilup says, "How come Aviri can feel Silv but we can't?" She then looks to Lin. "Do you feel it when she touches you?"

Lin shrugs and strolls over to Aviri. "Dunno. Maybe this is another one of those magically charged places that makes Silv stronger. Bodes well fer finding somethin' cool in that temple." She looks over the side of the boat at whatever the lapi is looking at. "Sleep well?" She asks.

At hearing the name "Aviri" the doe turns to Tril, offers a little smile. She puts her back to the railing looking across the deck. She nods to Lin, then points at her with a shrug.

"Arthur flails in his sleep. Think I'll tie him down tonight if we've got the same bunking arangements." Lin chirps, "Magic got your tongue?"

"You went back in time and screwed things up so bad your dad turned out to be a savanite and now you're a mute hybrid. Gotcha." Lin nods, as though this is a perfectly reasonable explanation.

"Remember when we all switched bodies?" Silv asks. "Lin changed a bit when I was possessing her. The same is happening to Aviri. He's being possessed by the ghost of a Savanite slave."

The rabbit rolls her eyes at both, then nods at Silv. She points to the collar, then the music-box, which she still holds quite protectively. She looks toward Scarlet's cabin throughtfully, but stays where she is.

"That's so much less awesome than my idea." Lin pouts, "So the ghost's in the collar? That's why he's totally girl-looking now? Could have been time travel... I guess this means we won't be able to get that collar for pranking later. Prank hauntings would prolly be frowned on by the witches... And Natasha."

"We could get Natasha to do the pranking though maybe.." Trilup suggests. "But do you hafta carry that music box everywhere now? Uh.. you can unpossess yourself too, right? If you can't talk, it'd be hard to explore the ruin. Well, unless it's completely flooded.. then none of us can talk!"

Lin yips and slides back. "I am kind of liking the new you, but whoever's in that collar would probably be better moving on than body-sharing with you forever. Unless she actually wants to hang around..." She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. "We should prolly go talk to Scarlet now if we want to get to the exploring. I'd rather not still be down there when it gets dark. Any light we can get from up top will only make things easier."

Another eye-roll. The Lapi gestures toward Scarlet's cabin, then at the box, then back. She opens her mouth experimentally, but then shuts it again.

"Alright, whatever that means." Lin shrugs and walks over to the cabin, reaches for the handle, pauses, then knocks.

"Something better be on fire!" a voice shouts from some distance behind the door. "Because if I gotta get outta my bath fer anything less, someone is gonna burn."

The doe flinches at that, though seems somewhat pleased that in all likelihood the target of Scarlet's wrath won't be her!

"Mind if we come in then?" Lin chirps, unphased by the shouting, "You kin stay in your bath if you want."

Something thunks against the door from the inside. It might have been a dagger. "She's a bit cranky still.. didn't get to really unwind with Aviri, you ken?" Silv notes. "But now she couldn't blame for you poking around that stuff on the wheel deck, could she?"

"That tarp is mighty tempting." Lin concedes, "And maybe it's the diving bell!" She excitedly scoots up to the wheel deck and walks past the helmsman like she knows what she's doing.

The Lapi pushes herself off the railing and walks toward Scarlet's door. She frowns, touches the wood where she heard the thunk, then looks back at the otters and pile of supplies.

Wretched Dan Handsome is watching the wheel, which is secured at the moment since they're at anchor. He manages to look like he's leaning against something even though nothing is there. He does tip his hat to the doe though, if not the otters.

Some of the stuff looks disorganized. There's a big pile of heavy pullies, clearly meant to work with the thick cable on the winch. There's also some sort of pumping apparatus and what might be a coil of hose. Whatever is under the tarp is at least six feet tall and just as wide.

The doe catches Wretched Dan Handsom's hat-tip, and gives a little curtsey in response.

Lin gives the variety of gear an appraising look over before walking around to the back of the tarp-covered object. She glances around to make sure there isn't anyone watching before sliping under the tarp.

Trilup joins her. Together they face a giant eye! Or rather, a circular window set into what appears to be an upturned witch's cauldron, made of some unfamiliar ceramic. The surface is dotted with attachment points for.. things.. none of which are present.

"Cooool." Lin cooes quietly. She peers inside and tries climbing up the side of the cauldron.

It's very smooth, except for all the little extruded rings, circles and other shapes. At the very top is another big ring, presumably for lifting it.

"It's a stew pot," Trilup points out. "A big one! For big fish.. and you can watch them cooking.."

Sitting at the top, under the tarp, Lin takes out her knife and tries 'ringing' the pot with the pomel. "I don't think it's a stew pot. For one, it doesn't have any feet. Also, it's next to a bunch of weird gear and stuff. And it doesnt have any soot marks from being over a fire." She wipes a finger along the top of the bell just in case she'd missed soot or any other interesting residues.

The Lapi seems to ponder setting the music box beside Scarlet's door, but decided against it. Instead she heads to the tarp, pokes it, then shrugs and looks up toward the wheel and waves to Wretched Dan Handsom. She gestures to the wheel, then toward the anchor line, and shrugs at him.

The vessel doesn't bong or react to the pommel tap, and the whole thing looks brand new somehow - even though Lin has probably never seen a 'brand new' pot in her life.

The Khatta saunters over to the doe. "What's this?" he asks, trying to follow the gestures. "Ah, just 'cuz we ain't moving now, still gotta have someone assigned to the wheel in case we does have to move suddenly. This's a pirate ship, girly.. when we move, we gotta do it fast."

Lin looks at her knife like it's made bad life decisions and just majorly disapointed her. She taps the cauldron a couple more times, just in case it feels like ringing now and it just didn't take the first time.

No sound results. Of course, the 'mouth' of the thing is flat against the deck, so it isn't really free to vibrate - the walls may just be very, very thick.

The doe nods with an "ah" on her mouth. She frowns and looks back toward the anchor, then at up at the mast, as though trying to figure out just how long it'd take for the ship to actually get into motion. Then she looks out across the lake toward the inlet, and realized they'd probably have the time.

The doe practically flinches at that. She swims her arms through the air, a look of bemusement and query on her face.

"You'd better make this up to me later." Lin grumbles at her knife and sheaths it. "It's way to clean to be a pot, and I mean the kinda clean that justifies a big word like 'immaculate'. It also didn't ring when I hit it with my knife. What can you see through the windows?"

"My reflection," Trilup says. "Too dark inside, and we didn't bring up the Frog Lamps."

"Maybe I just shows you, eh?" the cat says with a bit of a leer. "You want to see?"

"You're 'round back so nobody should see." Lin chirps, "Pass me up the edge of the tarp and I'll pull up that side to let some light in." She reaches down towards Trilup.

As the otters try to lift the tarp up enough for light to hit the diving bell window, Dan calls down to a passing Rath'ani, "Big Yan, come spot me here while I shows our guest sumthin'."

"I can bet you wants to show her something all right," the burly raccoon says, but comes up to stand watch at the wheel. "Don't take ferever," he tells the Khatta.

"Follow me, miss," Dan says, bowing and flourishing his fancy had before leading the way toward the front of the boat.

The doe follows, giving a smile to the Rath'ani as she passes. Although she doesn't seem to be doing it on purpose, her hips do sway a bit more than absolutely necessary to walk.

With the tarp pulled up enough to get some light into it, the inside of the 'cauldron' is still dark.. and wooden. It looks like the inside of a barrel, only with a bench running all around it near the bottom, and something dangling down the center that looks like a knotted rope.

A tiny door is opened at the base of the figurehead's neck, but Dan doesn't head in right away. He turns and looks the doe up and down, and hmmms. "That corset won't do," he concludes. "You gots to be able to swim, jes' in case."

"Yeah, Tril, deffinitely not a stew pot." Lin snerks, dangling her head low enough to peer through the porthole. "If this is the diving bell, then I'm kinda glad it's so armoured looking. A place to retreat to seems like a good idea if there are too many monsters down there."

The Lapi frowns at that, then gestures back toward Scarlet's cabin. She makes a throat-cutting gesture, then mimes removing the corset. She thinks a moment, then points at herself, makes a swimming gesture, the water, and then gives Dan a thumbs-up and a winning smile, which fades when she realizes Scarlet probably also wouldn't enjoy her getting the outfit all soggy, either.

"We do fine in our skiffs against monsters," Trilup claims. But she does start looking the bell over more closely.. searching for claw or tooth marks, but nothing mars the smooth surface.

"Well, the box and apron gotta stay here, at least," Dan claims. "Gotta be on yer hands an' knees, since you ain't no skinny Kavi."

The doe nods, bits her lip, and gently sets the box down where she considers it safe, and starts carefully removing the outfit. She folds it nicely, and sticks the box inside the neat pile.

"Sure, but if Aviri on any of the non-Aquavi crew are comin' down too, we'll have to worry 'bout them being able to swim back up if things get fangy dowh there. Unless it's actually a really shallow lake and it's a really short temple..." Lin slides down the bell onto Waddles and hopps to the deck.

Once that's done, Dan points through the door. "Okay, you needs to shimmy on up the throat and out onto the tongue," he says, referring to the grotesque figurehead.

The doe nods slowly, a bit skeptical, but complies. She squeezes herself through the door, and crawls up through the little passageway toward the front of the figurehead

Wham! Apparently Pirates have disdain for doors in addition to grammar, because back up on deck Scarlet just kicked the door to her cabin open. "Righ, now that a proper, undisturbed mornin' is through, we can get down t' busi .... ey, where is everyone?" the pirate queen asks. She looks rather disappointed too; no one was close enough to startle with that entrance.

Lin peers at Waddles, opens the chest, takes out a spicy saussage, and munches it thoughtfully. "Well, if he floats, he'll just paddle around above me so you'll always know where I am at the bottom of the lake."

Once she's on the 'tongue' with all of its dangling ropes, chains and scraps of fabric, the doe can see right down in front of the ship. There are lines that go into the water, some of which hang from the figurehead's tusks, and something like long oars sticking forward and down as well. Then Dan starts banging on the side of the figurehead, until bubbles rise up from the water below.. followed by a broad, leathery back. Bandy is a serendip, just like Ol' Swampy, except clearly still alive and just as big. The neck rises up and the head looks around, turning until it looks back and sees the bunny.

Trilup jumps at the door slamming open. "Maybe we were supposed to be waiting for her!" she squeaks, and rushes around the bell without trying to put the tarp back into place. "Coming!" she calls.

The doe's eyes go wide at the sight of Bandy. Memories of meeting Ol Swampy in Stonebarrow flash into her mind, and she quickly pushes herself back down into the figurehead's throat, staying just high enough that her eyes and forehead poke up from behind the tongue.

Lin flicks the tarp back into place and sits on Waddles, riding the chest to meet the captain, though mostly to get to slide down the stairs to the main deck. "Ahoy Cap'n!" She chirps as she and Waddles caroom down the stairs. She leaps off the lid as they reach the bottom and lands with a flourish of her hat.

Bandy bites at the mouth of the figurehead, but can't get its jaws inside of it. Still, it's a unique view down the throat of a serendip, and Aviri notices that it has three tongues.

With Handsome Dan laughing so hard, and everything else, the doe might have missed Scarlet's call.. but she hears it anyway.

The doe, for the moment, is too busy cowering from the biting serendip, slinking a bit lower until her pawfoot looses traction on the passage and she slides back to the door. She wriggles butt-first out of the door, shaking slightly, and starts re-donning the maid outfit, doing a bit of a rush job now that Scarlet's back in the world, fearing what repercussions may happen if she wasn't supposed to take it off.

"Aha! Dere you are. Wuz wonderin' if someone on de crew might have grabbed ya for some bump and tumble," Scarlet remarks to the approaching otters. Dressed a little differently today, she's in a tight all-leather suit with her gun strapped to one thigh and a short cutlass strapped to the other. Instead of her hat, she's got a bandana reining in the unruly shock of red hair. "Where be spotbun?" she asks next.

"Dan took her," Big Yan claims from the wheel above. "Wanted to show 'er something, he said."

"She can't talk," Trilup notes. "That's not permiable.. uh.. perm.. forever is it?"

The lapi doe managed to don the maid outfit pretty efficiently, either by memory from the night before, or from being possessed. In either case she plucks up the box and makes toward Scarelt's cabin at a paced rush. She smiles, her cheeks a bit rosy from the fright, and then gestures with the box toward the cabin itself.

That gets answered by a shrug. "Got me, I no witch or mage," Scarlet admits. "Didn' even know dat would happen, buy hey, when you get spots, you, uh ... hm. Connect de dots? Eh. It be too early t' make a good joke."

"It was so hard to get him to talk in the first place though," Trilup notes, then spots the rushing rabbit and waves.

"Y'wan t' put it back?" Scarlet guesses from the gesturing. "Sure, go ahead. Jus' mind de Monkey Statue, eh? It be having a bit of a snit dis morning."

"Maybe he'll start easier next time?" Lin offers, watching Aviri bounce up. "We're going to be pros at this whole ghost business by the time we get home. First Silver, then that guy in the tree- I wonder how those brothers are doing-, and now this savanite." She cocks her head and pauses. "Wait, you didn't know the collar would do that?" She asks Scarlet, "Then why'd you put it on him in the first place?"

The doe nods and 'bumps' into Lin on her way to the cabin, in payback for the snide remark. She's only gone a few moments, putting the trinket back where Scarlet had it the night before. When she returned she tried to think of a way to tell Scarlet that Dan had tried to get her eaten, but couldn't, and thus decided to just let the point slide.

"Well, I was planning to ... eh, I don't haf to explain m'self to you," Scarlet begins then ends with waggling a finger at Lin's nose. "Mostly I jus' be messin' wit him t' get him t' relax. Boy wound tighter den a Chronotopian's mechanical butt-scratcher. Haf to admit, 'e makes a pretty girl, eh?"

Silv is there as well, standing behind Scarlet and mimicking her gestures.. but only Aviri can see her.

"Yeah, he does." Lin giggles, "An' I'd appreciate if your... Playing does get him to relax a little around magic stuff. He's always eyein' Waddles like it's gonna eat him or summat."

Waddles is also there of course.. since Lin is sitting on him. He does not try to take a bite out of the Lapi just yet though.

"Hmm. I knew a lapi once dat had dis thing about bein' eaten. Got all excited an ... eh, wait, yer too young," Scarlet mutters.

The doe does still keep a wide berth of Waddles. She looks like she's ready to bolt at any time, but then again she is a Lapi, and digitigrade at that. She stays on the side of Scarelet opposite the demon-chest, and a bit behind, as though she really were the captain's maid, or slave. Probably just the ghost, though. She smiles when she sees Silv, and tries to hid the smile behind her hand.

Lin patts Waddles' side affectionately. "Riiight. Well, so long as 'Viri isn't secretly an enchanted artifact or a necromancer, I think he's safe from Waddles."

"Not safe from the compass though," Trilup remarks with a grin. "None of us Arrrrrrr!"

"An oh 'ey, iffin yer goin' down, I do haf some better swimmin' clothing. While de dress is nice and all, it be a right boat anchor when it comes to the float and flit," Scarlet comments and looks over her shoulder at the quietly giggling lapi-spot-thing. And after Trilup's joke, her right eye twitches. "I coul' make ya walk de plank fer dat. Wow, bad," she remarks.

"Ah heh... Right." Lin looks at Trilup for a moment then shrugs. "On that note, I think we found the diving bell." She waves up at the tarp-covered contraption, "Do you wanna come with us into the temple?"

Another silent giggle-fit from the lapi, at the thought of the point of making an akwavi 'walk the plank'. She nods to Scarlet's suggestion, though, smiling, pleased mostly to be able to get out of the damned corset.

"An don' worry! It be all tight and sleek t' show off yer curves," Scarlet adds with an evil smile. "An of course I comin' down. Dis be my treasure hunt after all."

A light comes over the spotted-lapi's face, and she makes a gesture at her finger, like a ring.

Silv pats Aviri's shoulder, and tells him, "Going down like that, or do you wanna be able to talk?"

"Hey, yer cute an all, but I no' be marrying kind," Scarlet tells the spotted lapi.

"Good!" Lin chirps, "On both accounts. He's really heavy when wet an' I don't want to haul his soggy butt all over the place underwater." She leans over and stage-whispers to Scarlet, "He swims really slowly."

The doe shakes her head and makes the gesture again, and mimes using a compass. She looks to the otters for help, for the moment ignoring the cold that spread from her shoulder. This, she thought, was more important than being able to talk just yet.

"Y' think a lapi is bad, try an Eeee. Those wings make fer horrible swimmers," Scarlet comments to Lin.

The doe nods to Lin, obviously relieved. The ring does point toward the artifact, after all. Then she turns to Silv and makes a shrugging gesture.

"Right, so what is wit the pokey gesture? Did Dan do sumpthin? Yeah, sure I know he can be a little quick in dat department..." Scarlet starts to say.

The doe frowns, then shakes her head. She pauses, then bobbles it, and then uses her arm to simulate Bandy's neck, her hand its mouth, then points to the figurehead and shrugs.

Scarlet laughs! "Ah, he gave ya de crew initiation!" she croons. "Welcome ta de family!"

"Why don't we get the welcome?" Trilup asks and pouts. "Is it because we didn't dance?"

"Initiation?" Lin asks, miming the arm gesture and trying to figure it out. "There's something noodley pinch on the figurehead..." She shrugs, "I guess we're just consulting pirates, Tril."

Scarlet rolls her eyes. "Oh come on all of you. Lets get spotted-butt here kitted t' swim. Then we can go huntin for loot. If de ol' mage was a musician, I wonder if we'll find lute loot," she comments, then waves it all off. "To the wardrobe!" The captain declares then sashays back towards her cabin.

"Do you have any more outfits like you're wearing?" Trilup asks as she follows, but hugs herself to avoid touching anything, especially after she sees the wind up monkey.

Spottbutt rolls her eyes at the 'lute loot' comment and follows the captain back into that cabin. Though, as she'd stayed away from Waddles, she keeps a very wide berth of the Monkey.

"Or maybe something a little darker? Midnight blue would be nice. All my leather stuff is brown." Lin chirps as she follows after Scarlet.

"What? Dis? Yeah, I have some, but doubt dey fit you very well," Scarlet notes as she flops back on her bed and gestures to a cabinet that takes up most of a wall. "Should be all in dere. I know at least one of dem will fit de lapi, cuz it came from one."

"You had another doe here before?" Trilup asks, and likes at Aviri. "Which one was cuter?"

The spotted doe beams again at that, starting once again to take off the maid outfit. She's getting quite good at it, now!

"Y' will have to get completely naked to fit in the other stuff," Scarlet remarks. The good side of that, the corset can come off! The bad side, naked in front of the other otters.

Lin glances back at the monkey statue and waves at it. She looks as Waddles as well to see if the chest is reacting at all.

Captain Scarlet's Quarters
The Bloody Bandersnatch is a fairly large ship, compared to the usual barges that operate in Sylvania. She's got an actual hull, and even a keel and special adjustable outriggers for use in shallower water. The captains cabin is at the top rear, and has a few sturdy (and thick-glassed) windows which seem more for letting in natural light than providing a view. Like on any ship, the space is cramped and optimized, but Scarlet seems to live in a junk shop. Every shelf is packed with baubles and nick-knacks and keepsakes and books, instead of weapons or maps that one might expect to find in a pirate's lair. She's even got statuettes and idols that are probably taken from a shrine or church.

The lapi carefully folds the outfit again, and seems to have a look of pure bliss as she reaches her hands back and starts unlacing the corset. The sound of her lungs once again expanding to their fullest potential is almost visceral. She takes a few truly deep breaths, then tosses the corset with much less respect and care onto the folded outfit. Then, still in undies which is enough to show she is fully female, she starts perusing the swimsuits.

The doe jumps at the poke and bats Trilup's hand away, shaking her head at the otter.

Lin frowns at Waddles, shrugs, then turns back to help pick out a bathing suit for Aviri. "Make sure to get one what covers your arms too. If your fur's all poofy, you'll just soak up piles of water and slow us down." She flips through a couple of swimsuits.

"Undies off," Scarlet remarks. She smile is almost feline in its amusement. And true to the otter's word, she does have a variety of outfits geared towards swimming. Several similar to what she wears now, and yes, there is one with a lot more curves that looks distinctly lapine; it even has a cute little hole for the puff-tail. Unfortunately, it is bright pink.

"At least we won't lose sight of you," Trilup notes to the bunny at the sight of the suit.

Spots spots the suit, mostly due to the puff-tail hole, and pulls it out. She doesn't seem at all phased by the color. She was, after all, just in a maid outfit. She frowns, and straightens up. With a warning glance to Trilup, she strips out of her undies, cheeks blushing mostly due to Scarlet's smile, and wriggles into the suit.

"So.. much.. butt.." Trilup comments, and looks back at her own streamlined behind.

Blush still strong, the doe can't help but wriggle her booty as she pulls the swimsuit up around her. Especially in trying to fit her cottontail in the hole. The show only lasts so long before she does up the front, though she does give a last hip-check toward the pirate captain.

The suit is snug and does cover arms and legs almost completely. With all the fur nicely held down, the lapi looks even more curvaceous. Also, it is very supporting of her backside and chest; they don't jiggle much in the suit. "Why, if I didn' know better, I think y' want me to whistle," Scarlet remarks, amused.

Lin looks the suit over for practicality. "Yeah, looks good." Lin notes. "You might actually be an 'asset' on the treasure hunt."

The tightness of the suit also provides a good reminder of what is missing now, too.

"Do you even have a suit that'd fit a buck?" Trilup asks, glancing into the closet. She's not looking for a suit for herself though.. she'd rather stick to what's already comfortable.

"No? Why would I? It be more fun t' make em were somethin' like dat," Scarlet comments. "Tends to check dere ego."

The now-sleek doe slides her hands along the suit, feeling how weird it was to be strealined. And so tight, but not in the corset squeeze-the-air-out-of-your-ribs tight. She grinned and winked at Scarlet, then stepped aside from the wardrobe. She hesitated a moment, then went to where her old clothes, her Aviri clothes, were, rummaged through them until she found the magical compass.

Lin giggles and goes back to check on Waddles. "Now you're gonna probably want to wait for me up here." She whispers to the trunk and pulls out some cord from the chest, "Take care of Silver's hat for me while I'm exploring. Don't want it getting lost underwater, okay?" She ties the hat to Waddles' lid and rejoins the group.

At the mention of Silver's hat the lapi doe turns to Scarlet and nods energetically.

Scarlet slips herself off of her bed and stretches, making her outfit creak. "Righ, now I haf to say dis. If we do find de castle, expect it to be dangerous. Mages like privacy and traps," she warns. "Sometimes dere traps are what kills em, in fact. So, no runnin' off, grabbin' stuff, or opening a door without checking it a lot first."

"I never got to the checking for traps part of Otter Scouts," Trilup admits. "I can make plenty of them though! I almost got a Gunther badge in traps!" she says proudly.

The spotted doe nods at these instructions, looking at Scarlet and makes a motion toward Lin. Then she resumes shuffling through her equipment until she finds the frog-lamps. Then she stands, still feeling weird moving in the suit.

And while the doe is bent over, Scarlet rubs her backside. That feels even odder.

The doe starts at the touch, standing bolt upright and turns to glare at the perpetrator. The glare quickly vanishes when she sees it's Scarlet.

"Nobody ever rubs our butts though," Trilup points out. "We barely have butts."

"Well.. you've got more than us," Trilup points out, crossing her arms. "You're like a Sniffler."

Lin giggles at Scarlet's antics and nods, "I've been taught a bit about checking for traps. Where they're likely to be hidden an' stuff like that. Aparently there are even some locks that are trapped with little poison needles that shoot out if you screw up picking them." She buttons up her vest and makes sure Waddles' key is snug around her neck. "An' you're older an' kinda make a bigger deal about it." Lin notes.

"Y' might want t' leave yer chest key here. You don'y want t' lose it on the lake bed or have it eaten by a monster," Scarlet suggests. "You can hang it on me monkey, no one would dare take it. No one ever wants t' touch my monkey."

"But I think Waddles is scared of the monkey, or somethin'." Lin pouts and points at the chest that's obstinately not following her into the room. "Maybe just under your pillow?"

After having gathered all the stuff from her pile of clothes, the lapi doe remains near the foot of Scarlet's bed, about as far away from both Waddles and Monkey as she can be.

Scarlet sighs. "Fine, under the pillow. Why does no one want to touch the monkey!? He be cute," the otter claims.

"The magical chest that eats necromancers is affraid of it." Lin deadpans as she stashes Waddles' key under Scarlet's pillow. Waddles retracts all of his little legs and clunks down right in the doorway.

Scarlet rolls her eyes. "Come on, swabs, treasure be a'callin and we be answering. Before dat Jack shows up outa nowhere and absconds with it ... again," Scarlet says. The last bit has a tinge of a growl associated.

The doe remains by the foot of the bed, glancing between Waddles blocking the door, the monkey, and Scarlet's pillow.

"We kin give him a hard time on yer behalf when we get home." Lin offers, "He's kind of annoying... And pompous. Uhh, Aviri, can you climb over Waddles? He's heavy and I don't want to move him."

"Isn' he tho? Gah, iffin he didn't have a cute butt an was so bloody good in bed ... " Scarlet grouses as she climbs over Waddles.

"Sounds like you've got a kinda lust/hate relationship going on there." Lin chirps as she vaults Waddles and gives the chest a reassuring pat.

The doe bites her lip, takes a deep breath, and makes for the pillow. With one fluid motion she snatches the key, then darts, eyes closed, toward the Monkey, arm reaching up to hook the lanyard over the evil thing's neck.

It may help or not to locate it.. but the Monkey starts banging its cymbals as soon as Aviri is close enough to reach it.

A keening crawwwing sound manages to scrape from the spotted lapi's throat as she peeks her eyes open and, trying not to touch the thing, hoping it can't actually move beyond those cymbols, hooks the key over it, and falls to the floor in shakes.

The monkey's eyes light up and it smiles briefly, then goes silent and still again.

"If you hurt Waddles!.." Lin screeches at the lapi, hugging the poor enchanted chest.

"I'm not touching that, EVER!" Trilup notes, and clutching her chest and running outside.

The Lapi manages to scramble away from the shelf, looking toward Waddles. The disappointment that the chest didn't vanish in a puff of smoke is evident on her face. She slowly picks herself back to her feet, still inside the room, still trapped by the chest.

"Oh come on, it doesn' bite," Scarlet says impatiently. She extends her hand over the chest towards the lapi.

"If you can deal with your own magical mystery chest, you can deal with Waddles," Trilup calls from outside.

The lapi takes a few breaths, looking as though she'd just narrowly escaped death. She hugs her own body for a moment, nodding at Scarlet. She takes a step forward, eyeing the chest, ensuring it wouldn't move. Another, and then she reaches out and grabs tentatively onto Scarlet's hand.

Scarlet's fingers close with a firm grip. "Jus' close yer eyes and step slowly forward. When ya feel the chest, just lift yer leg and step on its top," she says.

The doe nods again. She takes a deep breath, looks at the chest, then tries to vault over it.

And the doe leaps into Scarlet's arms! She's a strong one, that otter. "Good girl," Scarlet says, licks the doe's many-pierced ears, then sets her down outside of the room.

"Good job!" Lin chirps once Aviri is safely over Waddles. She calmly walks up to Aviri, smiles faintly at her for a moment, then punches her square in the gut. "Never. Touch. Waddles'. Key. Without. My. Permission." She intones, threat dripping from every sylable.

The doe seems to melt into Scarlet's arms, for once not even seeming to notice the licks. She shakes gently, obviously crying into the queen's shoulder. She still holds onto Scarlet for a few moments after being set down, eyes still closed. The punch takes her completely by surprise, and she just collapses onto the ground. Despite those long ears, she doesn't even seem to have heard Linyala's warning.

"Ey, de key is fine an plenty safe. Leave de lapi alone, eh?" Scarlet warns Linyala while she's crouching down besides the collapsed lapi. "Ain' no treasure worth de life of a friend," the pirate adds, "Baubles kin be replaced, people cannot. Even us pirates know dat."

The beligerent otter glares down at Aviri. "Some friend. And I am not going to kill her... Even if she had broken Waddles." Her bumpkin accent mysteriously absent. She goes to check on the chest and tell it that it'll be okay.

The doe remains where she fell, although she does move a little in response to Scarlet's presence. She still shakes, but it seems the crying is starting to come to an end. She holds her hands at her belly, and finally opens her eyes, wet with tears. A warm, almost hopeful smile, crosses her face when she sees Scarlet, and she wipes at her cheeks.

"Says de friend dat traded 'er to a pirate," Scarlet reminds the otter, "Don' pretend t' be so morally greater. Dat sort o' lie does tend to piss me off." The pirate then wipes the doe's wet eyes and cheeks. "C'mon, she didn' mean it, jus caught her by surprise I'm sure," she claims as she tries to help the spotted one up.

The lapi accepts Scarlet's help and gets to her feet, albeit shakily. She hugs the pirate captain, and kisses her on the cheek, sniffling. Then she's on her own two feet once more. She checks to ensure she still has the compass and frog-lights, and with another sniff gives a smile to Trilup as well.

"When did I ever say she was my friend. I ain't taking the moral high-ground here." Lin growls under her breath, though the accent seems to have found its way back.

Scarlet looks to Lin. "Ten seconds," the pirate queen says, voice cool and calm. "You have ten seconds to get smart."

Lin takes a deep breath, and then another. "The sucker-punch mightn't have been fair." She concedes.

The lapi steps over to Trilup and gives her a hug, lifting her up from the ground a few inches and squeezing her tight before setting her back down. Just in case the smile wasn't enough.

"Better. And point number two," Scarlet says, "Anyone who goes with you on a trip halfway across a country, stated or not, is a friend. Ya each have to depend on each other an trust each other. I know de lapi here thought of you as a frien'. What you jus' did was way worse den a punch."

"An' we're not going to talk about how, at the very first opportunity, she tried to do... Something to Waddles?" Lin asks, incredulous. "The instant she's alone with the key, she tries to..." She trails off as it isn't actually obvious exactly what Aviri expected to accomplish by moving the key to the monkey.

"Protect it better? You don't know either. Ask," Scarlet says. "Don't assume."

"Well, then, what were you trying to do, Aviri?" Lin asks quietly, sitting down on the edge of the chest.

The lapi stands there awkwardly for a moment, sniffles again. She shakes her head while making a walking gesture with one hand, then points in the direction of the monkey. She takes a deep breath, then turns and walks toward the wheel of the ship.

"Come on then, we have a hunt to undertake," Scarlet says and heads after Aviri.

"Aah..." Lin opens Waddles and pulls out her journal, the one she'd been chronicling their adventures in, and opens it to the next blank page. She watches Aviri walk off and holds the journal out, half open, with the pencil between the pages.

The doe spies the book out of the corner of her eye, turns, and simply writes "Nobody touches the Monkey" before pushing the paper back.