After the early morning excitement involving Gunther, the day ended up extremely dull. The Weavers shop was positively boring, which is strange given Loom #4 was being used by one of the apprentices that day. No one got so much as a splinter … which likely just means it's saving it up. The working day came to a close when Olivia delivered a completed order of freshly dyed fabric. Though, why anyone would want puke green and olive material is anyone's guess. Hopefully its just in preparation for making stuffed frogs. So … Olivia finds herself walking through town. The sky overhead is a ruddy hue as fading sunlight illuminates the clouds.

Olivia takes a few breaths of the cool, late-afternoon air and strolls idly through the streets. It feels good to be walking and moving around instead stuck behind her loom, weaving (to her mind, anyway) boring patterns. Watching the dyeing of the green fabrics was about as interesting as things got all during the working day so it's nice to be out and about.

Bonk! Something light, but noticeable, bounces off Olivia's head. Judging from the side it hit on, it came from a nearby alleyway.

Olivia rubs her temple and looks around for the object that smacked her head. "Well, someone seems to have a weird sense of humor today, tossing things at random strangers in the streets," she mutters.

At Olivia's feet is, well, a nut. Nothing out of the ordinary, really. A moment later, another one lands near her feet.

Olivia frowns as the second nut is tossed at her and growls, "Okay, whoever you are, you've had your fun. Why don't you go bother someone else for a while?" Then she steps into the entrance of the alleyway to see if she can catch a glimpse of the joker.

Olivia sees it a split second before it grabs her shirt and tries to tug her into the alleyway! A black-furred, clawed, hand. And oddly, it has swirling stripes of red along the forearm attached to it.

"Hey!" Olivia squeaks, trying to wrench the cloth of her shirt back out of the grasp of whoever it is that's trying to pull her into the alley. "Hands off! You don't go around grabbing people like that!"

"Shhhhh!" comes an oddly familiar, and feminine, voice. "Just come in here!" says the high pitched voice. "Come on, before people notice!"

Olivia takes a good look at the red stripes running through the black of the fur and recognition finally clicks in her mind. Moving forward without any further resistance, she says softly, "Liliana, is that you?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" comes the amazingly quick reply. In the shadows, Olivia can now make out the scantily clad Eeee. "Sorry 'bout the nut. I wasn' tryin' to hit vou. Jus' wanted vour attenion," she apologizes. Hard to tell, but she might be ear-blushing.

Olivia makes sure that she is well-hidden next to the Eee before replying. "Well, now that I know it's you and not some rude kid, it's okay, don't worry about it! But why are you skulking around town? If you wanted to visit, you should've gone by the inn first like I told you to do."

Liliana shakes her head. Her ears make an odd flapping sound as she does. "I'm scouting. Can't be seen," she insists. "Vou know, dis town is hard to find! And is full of short people! An' … " The Eee sighs. "An' I've had a lot of bad experiences goin' into a town alone," she says and makes a face. "People t'ink the wrong t'ings often when dey see me."

Olivia makes a silent 'oh' with her mouth at this. Then she asks hesitantly, "Is it because… well, because you can only drink blood to survive? I know we have a lot of superstitions about that, but it's not like you're undead or anything! And you didn't hurt me or Gunther, and he even invaded your privacy twice!" she says with a defiant tone in her voice.

"Oh, no, not usually that. Let'sjus' say som' of the guys try to get overly friendly," Liliana says and sticks out her tongue. " … without being invited," she adds as an afterthought. She then claps her hands together and says, "So … I vant you to give me a tour. I need ta speak with th' mayor."

Olivia blushes a little too and inwardly kicks herself for not thinking of that explanation first. A barely-clad Eee would attract a lot of unwanted attention… "All right!" she answers cheerfully, after getting over her embarrassment. "It'll be a quick tour, of course, since Stonebarrow isn't all that big, anyway. And I can take you to meet the mayor, too. I really think he'd be okay with you and your tribe staying in the area for a few days – you'd be positively calm and collected compared to our otter clans!"

"Heh, Djivan would be pleased to stay in ze area," Liliana mutters, then grins fangily. "Great, vou are my protector!" she declares, then slips her arm around Olivia's. "Onvard!" she says, then squeaks a little trumpet (sorta) sound.

As the Skeek steers Liliana toward the Frog and Peach, she takes the time to point out some of the more interesting shops and town businesses clustered around the square. There are few folk out and about at this time, as most are indoors preparing their dinners, but the few they do pass stare at the pair as they stroll by. The men, in particular and true to Liliana's word, gaze at them the longest and in a somewhat pointed fashion. "I'm beginning to see what you meant," Olivia whispers to her as the third Kadie male in a row does a quick double-take in their direction.

The Eeee flicks her ears and they jangle. "Aye vhey have no manners," Liliana comments. "But at least dey keep dere hands to demselves." She chirps a bit as they walk, getting a sound picture of the place as well. As they reach the inn, Liliana slows down. "How loud is it in dere?"

Olivia considers the question for a moment. "It might be a bit noisy - some folks do come to the inn for dinner so they don't have to cook for themselves. But I don't think it will be very crowded."

Liliana considers this, then nods slightly. A moment later, she lets out a squeak and jumps! The Eee then glares and hisses menacingly at a passing otter. "Vatch yer hands," she says, annoyed. The Eee then rubs her butt.

Olivia sighs and says to Liliana, "You see? I told you the otters here can't seem to keep themselves out of trouble!"

"Dey gonna find some trouble if dey keep that up!" Liliana grumbles, her glowing eyes narrowed. "Let'sgo in, yes?"

Olivia grins at the Eee's disgruntled tone, then holds the door open for her and makes a sweeping gesture with the other hand. "After you," she says grandly.

The Frog and Peach While the ceiling is high enough to accommodate taller folk, just about everything else in the tavern section of the Frog and Peach is scaled to the comfort of those of shorter stature. The sole exceptions are two tables against the back wall, one long and one short, which are standard sized. The inn is fairly empty tonight. There are just a few otters at the bar and Mandy is talking with them. However, when Liliana walks in, everyone stops talking.

"Ooo, don' everyone stop on my accoun'," the Eee says cheerily.

Olivia, by contrast, grimaces. "Great, a bar with nothing but otters in it. I can see this is gonna go well," she mutters to herself. However, she strides forward and says politely, "Hullo, Mandy. Is Johan around? I need to introduce him to someone who would like to stop here in Stonebarrow for a while."

Mandy is staring at the Eee. She reaches up and rubs the side of her neck absently. She blinks after a minute, realizing she's being addressed. "The mayor?" she manages to say. "No, I haven't seen him since lunch. He may be meeting with Erik."

The Eee looks at Mandy, eyebrow raised. She then turns and looks at Olivia. Then so only Olivia can see, she makes a 'booga-booga!' fangy grimace, trying to imitate a monster. the Eeee the waves her hand over her eyes in the imitation of eyerolling again.

Olivia tries not to laugh at Liliana's antics as she says to the barmaid, "Oh, I see. Hmm, and if he is meeting with Erik, then he won't be back for a while. I think the Richebeau estate is a fair walk from town. Perhaps I could leave a message with Apella, then, if she's available?"

Liliana's expression is bemused and she taps her chin. "I'll haf to try harder nex' time." she says with a playful grin, then a wink. She then spins around to face the bar, rocking up and down on her toes. One of the otters slips off his chair and heads towards them.

Olivia's eyes follow the otter but she does nothing more than mutter, "Incoming, Lili. Be on your guard."

Mandy takes one of the glasses from the bar and cleans it with a rag. "Haven't seen her either, Olivia," she says apologetically. "It's been pretty quiet in here today. Is there any message I can pass on if I see them?"

Liliana is about to reply, but is interrupted by the otter. "Koooiee, what brings someone as pretty as you in here?" he drawls as he oggles the Eee. Liliana … well, she does an amazing job of not laughing.

"Yes, please," Olivia tells the barmaid. "There's a small tribe of gypsies that are just passing through this area and would like to stay nearby before they move on. Liliana here is from that tribe," she explains, gesturing to the Eee. "I told her that it would be best to talk to Johan first before letting the whole group come into town. Just so everyone knows that they aren't sneaking around or trying to cause trouble. Could you ask him when would be a good time to meet?"

Mandy frowns slightly. "Gypsies, here? Well … well, they can't be worse than the Oggtons," she admits. The Lapi nods slightly, then says, "I'll ask him when I see him next."

Olivia gives Mandy a reassuring smile. "Hey, if Gunther Kettenrad can spy on them twice and accuse them to their faces of being an invading horde and they still didn't try to gut him, I think they must be all right. But thank you for passing along the message."

"Oh, not to see vou, and not for long," Liliana tells the otter. The otter, not to be dissuaded, tries to put his arm around her. With a dancer's grace, Liliana sidesteps, pirouettes, grabs the otter's shin with her foot, then yanks!

Promptly, the otter starts to topple. Unfortunately … toward Olivia!

Liliana squeaks when she realizes where … too late! Olivia finds herself on her back and under an otter. The otter just waggles his eyebrows at her and says, "Hey, you're kind of cute too… " He makes no move to get up.

Mandy starts to giggle, and Liliana just covers her face with her hands, embarrassed.

Olivia mmmmphs and struggles to shove the otter away just enough so she can roll out from under him. "Why, oh why can't you guys just keep your hands to yourselves?" she says in disgust. Then she looks up at the Eee. "A little help, here?" she asks in a pleading voice.

Liliana reaches down with her foot and grips onto the otter's shorts. She tugs while Olivia is pushing and slowly the otter rolls off. He rests his chin on his palms and says, "Where's the fun in that? Life's meant to be played with … ow!" Liliana smiles sweetly, her toe claws digging into his rump.

Olivia does laugh at that and pulls herself into a standing position. "It's no more than you deserve!" she scolds the otter, who is now massaging his own butt after Liliana's gentle treatment.

Liliana is polishing her claws proudly on her chest. She turns and waves lightly to Mandy. "T'anks for bein' willing ta deliver ze message. Ve won' be any problem, really. Ve'll out ze edge of town for a bit."

Olivia dusts off her shirt and re-adjusts her hat before adding, "Yeah, maybe we should leave right now, before anyone else gets any more bright ideas about putting their hands where they shouldn't." She turns to Liliana and says, "I could walk you to the outskirts of town, if you like?"

Liliana walks over and wraps her arm (and a wing), partially around Olivia. "Yes, yes," she says cheerily. "An'! You can come stay wif us for the nigh' righ'? It'll be fun!"

Olivia ers at this request, completely taken aback. "Well, uh, I suppose I could, as long as I went into work on time the next morning," she muses aloud. "I'd have to make a quick stop by the Weavers' to get a few things for the night, though." She brightens a bit as she adds, "And I could do some more sketching! It'd be nice to have some pictures of the whole camp!"

"Good!" Liliana says and leads Olivia towards the door. "Means I don' have ta kidnap ya," she teases and winks. "An, I'm gonna get yas dyed yet. Or maybe a few earrings, no? Vou know vant to. And oh, no vorries. Vou can stay in my wagon. Djivan won bother vou there."

Olivia twitches her whiskers at the Eee as they walk out of the inn. "Good," she says mischieviously. "Djivan is nice enough but I have to make sure that he won't try to lead me anywhere I don't want to go!"

"Oooh, he isn' dat bad, thankfully. Jus' playful. And he liiiiiikes vou," Liliana teases and walks with Olivia towards the Weavers compound. "Jus' wai' till he starts singin'."

Olivia cuts her eyes across to the Eee and grins. "He sings, huh? Is he any good?"

"Vell … define good?" Liliana asks. "He is … ernest?"

Olivia sighs and laughs in the same breath. "I suppose earnest will have to do," she replies. "As long as he doesn't sound like Emmett Oggton tuning up his jug band, I think I'll be able to stand it!"

Liliana looks horrified. "A jug ban'? Olivia, dat's terrible! Vou all must suffer so!" she says and looks sympathetic. "Is … is yer town cursed? A jug ban' is a horror to wish only on th' wors' enemies."

Olivia truly laughs at this, loud and long. When she finally stops, she clutches Liliana's shoulder for support and gasps, "Emmett's from one of our otter clans. He's a lot of fun to be around, but he's also kinda tone-deaf. And he's the band leader! So maybe he just curses us with his music? I really don't think the whole town has a curse on it or else we'd have lots of worse things happening here!"

"I don' know. Seems like havin' lots of otters woul' be a curse, no?" Liliana asks as they reach the outskirts of the Weaver compound.

"Hey, all I know is they just tried to curse you with some of their, ah, 'affection,'" Olivia parries lightly.

"No' my type," Liliana remarks absently. "Too … squirmy and fishy."

"To say the least," Olivia replies, then turns to Liliana. "Would you like to wait here while I pack? It shouldn't take long for me to put my things in a bag and let my aunt know I'll be out tonight. Then we can get going!"

"I'll be as quiet as a mou … er, well, vou know," Liliana says, then grins fangily. "Off wit you."