Midsummer 15(morning) 6107 RTR (Mar 21, 2008) Olivia is up early so she can meet with Parsley Chalk, and then check in on a few others.
(The Legend of Buffy) (Gunther) (Madame Natasha) (Olivia) (Stonebarrow) (Sylvania)
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Parsley Chalk is not that hard to find, if you know when and where to look. The milk maid is up before dawn every day, collecting milk from the Chalk Rughrats and delivering it to various customers in town. Since her sister Clover has been out of commission, though, the lone doe is doing double duty. One of her delivery spots is the Weaver kitchen, and she looks a bit stooped under the double-load of milk she carries on a sturdy pole across her shoulders.

The one person Parsley doesn't expect to see at this time of the morning is Olivia, who is standing by one of the ovens and loading pans of unbaked bread into it. When she sees the Lapi, she closes the oven door gently and approaches her. "Good morning, Parsley. D'you need some help with your delivery?"

"Please," the doe replies, sounding tired already. "If you could take a bucket from each end of the pole it would help me a lot."

Olivia hurries to remove the buckets and place them nearby, where one of the other Skeeks in the kitchen can take them to their cool house for safe storage. "That better?"

Parsley sets the rest of her load down for a moment and stretches her back. "Oooog, thanks. If Clover doesn't get better soon, I'm going to have to borrow a cart… "

"How is your sister recovering, anyway?" the Skeek asks. "Is she starting to remember anything that happened to her?"

"Oh she's coming along, but her memory isn't," Parsley notes. "And it's probably for the best, I think."

Olivia ahs and eyes the platters of breakfast foods already being carried out into the Weaver's dining hall. "Well, I'm glad I got this chance to talk to you – and to be honest, I asked for kitchen duty this morning specifically so I could run into you. I have a favor to ask for Madame Natasha. If your schedule could handle it, we could eat a little something here while we discuss it. Either that or I could walk with you on your route?"

Nose twitching at the smells of breakfast, Parsley says, "Welll… maybe a bit of bread. But I need to keep moving. You could always help carry some of the milk though if you really want to help," the Lapi suggests, sounding hopeful. The jugs of milk look pretty heavy.

Olivia smiles at this and says gently, "Give me a minute to grab us two pieces of buttered nut bread and some apple slices and we can eat and talk as we walk, all right?"

"You'll have to hold it to my mouth," Parsley says apologetically as she hefts her load back onto her shoulders. "It'll be easier after the rest of this gets to the Bakers'."

Olivia wraps up the aforementioned foods into a cloth kitchen towel and grins at the Lapi while she works. "Not to worry, I've had experience in feeding people! Djivan thinks it's fun to have me feed him every once in a while, like when we're having a picnic." Then she gestures to the kitchen door and says, "After you?"

Parsley goes through the door sideways, noting, "Does he ever bite your fingers though?"

One of Olivia's eyebrows raises as she says, "Yes, and that's a good guess! He will when he feels like being frisky… but that's probably more than you wanted to know… " Then she follows the Lapi out the door.

"Really? I figured him for the shy type in private," Parsley notes as she heads for the road. The Bakers aren't far, at least. "So what was the favor you wanted to ask me about?"

Olivia checks to make sure that none of the other Weavers are within earshot before saying, "Well, it has to do with… er… Buffy. She contacted Natasha the other day through some sort of spirit world connection. Now she wants to meet with Natasha in person… but she says Natasha needs a Chalk to guide her through the tunnels."

Parsley's face twitches more than usual, and she almost trips on a cobblestone. "Th-that's silly, Olivia," the doe says quietly. "Buffy is just a story, not… real."

Olivia sighs as she digs into the kitchen towel for a bit of bread to feed to Parsley. "Oh boy, here we go," she mutters. Then in a slightly louder voice she adds, "Don't worry, I haven't told anyone else that I know about her. The only people who do know are the ones Buffy wants to know. And I've met her spirit once before this, anyway."

The doe continues to twitch nervously. "You can't make me believe in the bogey bunny, Olivia," Parsley declares, as much to herself as to the Skeek though. "She can't be real. Miranda cut herself on a rock or something. Clover… Clover doesn't remember, so… so there."

Olivia reaches up and pops the bit of bread into the Lapi's mouth, to give her something else to chew over while she replies to this. "Now that you mention Miranda, I could always get her to lead Natasha to Buffy. But I did tell them that I was going to ask you first… and if it ends up being Miranda, well, there could be… questions. From both parties, I'd imagine."

Parsley pauses in the middle of street now, and swallows the bread. "What… what exactly do you want me to do, Olivia?" she asks. "I'm not going to end up like Clover, am I?"

Olivia nudges Parsley gently to get her moving again so no one will have cause to notice them. "Not if you have Madame Natasha with you," she says in encouragement, pulling out a slice of apple now and feeding that to her, as well. "She's a very skilled and powerful magic-user, so she'd be able to protect you if you ran into trouble. All we're asking is for you to accompany Natasha into the tunnels to meet with Buffy. That way, Buffy won't feel threatened and will be able to talk to her. She said specifically that she needs a Chalk to do this."

"She… she's not going to eat me then?" Parsley says, nearly missing the Bakers in her distraction.

Olivia steers the Lapi back in the right direction. "No, she's not going to eat you," the Skeek repeats. "Buffy just wants to meet Natasha so that she can ask her for help. It's something only a mage of spirit can do, and since we can't locate Master Qing at the moment, Natasha agreed to come, instead."

"I… suppose that makes sense," Parsley says, sounding defeated. "And I do owe her for helping Clover. Where do I need to meet you both for this? You're coming too, right?"

Olivia blinks in surprise at the request, but softens when she sees the look of fear and uncertainty on the Lapi's face. "If it will make you feel better, then I'll come," she agrees.

"Thank you, Olivia!" Parsley says, and would probably hug the Skeek if her hands weren't full. "If you ever get tired of Djivan just let me know, and I'll fix you up with a nice Lapi boy!"

"Errr… okay," Olivia says, fighting back a smile. Boy, is Djivan gonna be miffed when I tell him about this! she thinks. Then she adds, "As for where we should meet you – you'd have to lead us through Chalk territory to get to the tunnels, right? So should we just meet you somewhere on your border?"

Parsley nearly trips again at that request, and swings around (with milk jugs nearly flying off her pole). "Now… wait just there!" she says. "I can't take you through the Warren! That's… that's just impossible! Don't you have some other way to reach Bu-… to reach her?"

Olivia thinks about this for a minute (while sidestepping Parsley's swinging milk pails), then smacks her forehead. "Oh yeah, that's right! I forgot about the secret passage under Dr. Pike's castle!" she exclaims. "Sorry for the scare, Parsley. I've had a lot on my mind lately, which makes me slow on the uptake sometimes."

"Mmmm," the doe whimpers. "Please… don't scare me like that though. I'm really twitchy about certain things," Parsley explains, then takes a few calming breaths before heading to the Bakers' back door. "I can meet you later at the Castle then, down in the room with the funny squiggles where Mage Natasha put me and Zahn into Clover's head."

Olivia quickly tucks the kitchen towel with half of the remaining food inside into one of the pockets of Parsley's skirt. "All right, I know exactly which room you mean!" she says, then starts off in the direction of the gypsy camp. "Thanks very much, Parsley! I'll take the news to Madame Natasha now."

"Thank you for the snack," Parsley calls after Olivia.


The trip through the town is largely uneventful given the early hour. Only a few shops show signs of life as the merchants prepare for the day. Soon enough, Olivia is making her way across the bridge into the Gypsy camp.

And … Olivia hears it in the nick of time. A blur of gray fur shoots by her and lands with a thud in front of the Skeek. "No fair, you moved," Gunther complains as he leans backwards and peers upside-down at Olivia.

Olivia sighs and looks heavenward for a few moments, with a 'why me?' expression on her face. Then she stares down at the pile of flattened Gunther and says, "Stop trying to tackle me! D'you want to break every bone in my body? Heck, d'you want to break every bone in your body? Sheesh!"

Gunther spins on his toes and turns to face Olivia. "Bah, that wouldn't have broken anything," he asserts, "And it's good for your training."

Olivia just shakes her head and stalks past him, towards the gypsy camp once more. "In case you haven't noticed, I am not training to be a crazy, paranoid Kadie," she informs him.

"No, you're training to be my minion," Gunther asserts as he takes up walking beside the Skeek. "Don't worry, you'll be well rewarded once I rule the world."

"Okay, make that crazy, paranoid, and delusional," Olivia mutters as she keeps right on walking. Then she turns her head slightly to glance at the Kadie boy. "What're you doing out here at this time of the morning, anyway?"

"Following Parsley and by proxy, following you," Gunther notes. "She left Zahn's room this morning. I have to know why she was there. Well, I have a theory, given her Lapi nature, but … Amelia was there too, so … hmm."

"You're on your own there, Gunther," the Skeek tells him. "I don't get involved in Amy and Zahn's private affairs. And before you ask – no, she didn't tell me why she was there."

"Well, either Amy and Zahn have gone weird, or they're helping her with something," Gunther muses, "And not telling me! They're supposed to tell me everything. After all I've done for Amelia she owes me."

"What have you done for Amelia lately that she should owe you so much?" Olivia demands to know.

"Helped her answer something. And that's all I'll say on that, cuz Natasha told me not to talk about it," Gunther notes. Up ahead is Natasha's wagon.

Olivia merely shrugs and keeps walking. "Fine by me. Well, I need to visit Natasha this morning, so unless you have something else you need to discuss with her, this is where I'll have to leave you. If you want to follow Parsley some more, I left her at the Bakers'… "

"I know. Mwahaha. I wasn't able to get the trap in place in time, but there's always tomorrow," Gunther cackles and rubs his hands together. The Kadie spins around again and bounds off back towards town.

Olivia stares after Gunther for a while and shakes her head again. "That boy needs some serious help," she mutters. "Maybe Erik knows of a doctor somewhere who specializes in this sort of thing… ?" Then she turns back to Natasha's wagon and taps lightly on the door, not wishing to frighten the woman if she's still asleep.

There's a long silence and the door finally creeks open. A rather disheveled-looking Natasha peeks out. "Olivia?" she murmurs tiredly, "It is early. I do not normally get visitors at this hour; most the tribe isn't awake before noon."

Olivia nods quickly to the Khatta and doesn't even bother to ask for entrance. "I'm very sorry to disturb you at this time, Natasha, I know it's very early. So I'll just tell you this and be on my way: I was able to talk to Parsley Chalk this morning, and she's agreed to accompany us to meet Buffy. We're to meet her later at Dr. Pike's castle, in the ritual room."

There's movement somewhere behind Natasha. The gravelly voice of Bravil is then heard to mutter, "Who is it?"

Olivia is very, very careful not to smile when she hears the Jupani's voice. She also pretends not to have heard anything, either.

Natasha just rubs over her face as if she's either wiping away embarrassment or tiredness. "It is Olivia, Viktor," she says. Returning her attention to Olivia, she hen nods and steps outside, closing the door behind her. Pulling her robe around herself, she says, "I see. Did she offer any resistance to the idea?"

"She didn't want to go because she's frightened of Buffy," the Skeek replies, "but when I told her that you'd be able to protect her with your magic should any trouble arise, that seemed to calm her down. It, um, also helped when I agreed to go with you both." Peering anxiously at the mage now, Olivia asks, "Will that be all right? I promise not to get in the way. I think Parsley just needs someone she really knows with her to make her feel a little more at ease. And it's not an easy thing we're asking her to do, anyway."

"Why would it not be? You have dealt with far worse creatures with far less protection. I am not concerned that you would be in any danger," Natasha notes as she now sits down on the steps of her wagon. "When are we to meet up with her?"

Olivia sits down one step below Natasha. "I'm guessing we'd meet right after lunchtime," she answers. "Parsley would be done with her milk route by then and had time to eat something other than the little breakfast I gave her. That would give you time to prepare, too."

"Good. I had a tiring day and a late night," Natasha notes as she leans against the door to her wagon. "And preparing some defensive spells will take time; if my estimate of her power is correct."

"Is there anything I can do to help you?" the Skeek asks.

"Not unless you can attend a few years of magic training within the next few hours," Natasha notes with a wry grin. "But thank you for the offer."

Olivia returns the older woman's smile. "Ah well, I had to ask! All right, I said I would only bother you for as long as it took to deliver my message, so I'll get going. Just one question – um, you don't get seasick, do you?"

"Not from what I can remember, thankfully. But it has been many a year since I've ridden upon a ship," Natasha offers. She blinks a few more times as she tries to finish waking up.

"Good, because part of our trip to visit Buffy will involve riding in a boat through an underground canal," Olivia says, rising. "I just had to be sure. I sure hope Parsley doesn't hate the water, either – I forgot to ask her, darn it!"

"She seemed fine with water; she went swimming one night," Natasha notes. The Khatta then looks to the north for a moment. "And … on an unrelated subject, I have an announcement to make to the tribe in a few days. I hope you will be there."

Olivia gives the Khatta a considering look for a moment, then simply nods. "Just let me know when to come," she says.

"Good. I think you will find the announcement pleasing," the Khatta comments. Now her head rolls to look over the camp for a moment. "Now that I am awake, I should see if Liliana has returned," she comments.

Olivia's face pulls into a worried frown. "Still no sign of her?" she asks.

"I was occupied last night. I do not know," Natasha admits, then coughs.

Olivia once again pretends that she has heard nothing out of the ordinary. "I could check her wagon for you, so you'd have a little more time to wake up?" she offers.

"That would be appreciated," Natasha admits, "I … need some tea."

"Then I will," Olivia says as she climbs down the steps of Natasha's wagon. "If I find Lili there, I'll tell her to check in with you in a few hours. If she isn't, I'll just let you know that when I see you at the castle. All right?"

"That will do," Natasha agrees as she stands. "Now, if you will please excuse me, I have some tea to make. Yes, tea," she mutters as she opens the door to her wagon. "Good day, Olivia."

"See you later," the Skeek replies, then hurries off towards Liliana's wagon.

The Eeee's wagon windows are dark. But … that's not unusual.

Olivia does the polite thing first by going to the door and knocking loudly. "Liliana, are you in there? It's Olivia!" she calls.

No answer.

Olivia does the not-quite-as-polite thing next by wandering over to the side of the wagon and trying to peer inside the windows.

Right now Olivia really finds herself hating curtains…

Having failed to see inside the wagon, Olivia walks back up to the door and tries the handle to see if she can go right in.

Great, now would be a day Liliana actually locked her door. Well, probably wise, really. Otherwise Djivan might dump swamp-slime in her clothing like he's threatened to do.

Now Olivia does the totally-and-completely-not-polite thing by pulling a slender little lockpick out of the hidden pocket inside her flowered hat. "Looks like Gunther tried to teach me something useful after all," she murmurs as she inserts the instrument into the lock on Liliana's door. "Let's see how much I learned, shall we?"

It takes a bit of work, but thanks to those large ears Olivia can hear when the final tumbler falls into place and the lock gives way. Perhaps the claim by Isolde of Olivia getting into trouble was a prediction of the future. Such disreputable behavior lately…

Olivia grins as she replaces her lockpick inside the pocket of her hat. "Never thought I'd say this, but thank you, Gunther." Then she puts her hand on the doorknob and turns it quietly, opening the door.

The doorknob turns quietly and the door opens. Given Eeee are of sensitive ears, she also keeps the hinges oiled … so no squeaks. The door opens into a dark wagon.

Olivia keeps the door open so that sunlight can fill the space as much as possible, while she searches around for a lantern or anything else that would create some light.

There are a few candles on a nearby table that could be lit.

Olivia walks carefully over to that table and lights all of the candles there. Then she tiptoes back to the door and closes it, so she won't be disturbed while she takes a look around.

So far, so good. she's snuck into the wagon. Frilly things abound. On the far side is Liliana's passion-pit-pile-of-pillows. Many have fallen victim to the Eeee amongst those fluffy tubes of doom.

Olivia makes a slow circuit of the wagon, looking for anything unusual or out of place. She also keeps an eye out to see if anything has been ransacked or is possibly missing.

Most everything looks as she remembers it, right down to the skimpy underthings. The pillows look … oddly lumpier than she remembers, though.

Olivia carefully approaches the mass of pillows, then puts a hand out to feel through them. "What's making them look so strange?" she murmurs, drawing closer.

"Rar! I gots vou now, vou vinged twit!" comes a loud shout and a ratlike hand pushes up through them. It grabs onto Olivia's wrist and yanks her into the mass. Suddenly, Olivia finds herself nose to nose with Djivan underneath the pillows. "Ey, vou no Liliana," he complains, "I wasted dat good scare."

Olivia screeches in fright as she is forced down into the pile of pillows! As soon as she realizes who's got a hold of her, however, she relaxes and buries her face in Djivan's neck for a few moments. Then she begins pounding him on the chest with her fists! "Curse it, Djivan, are you trying to scare the life outta me?!?" she demands, furious and relieved all at once.

"No, I tryin' the scare de crap outa de bat!" Djivan retorts between oofs. "I been vaitin' all nigh for her to show up, too. She so annoyin'! She even ruin me sneaky plans!"

Olivia finally gives up on pounding the Skreek's chest and shakes him one last time before going limp in his arms. "She's not the only annoying one around here," she grouses, almost breathless. "Anyway… you've been here all night and still no sign of Lili? Do you have any idea of where she might've gone? I know Natasha's pretty worried about her, so I offered to check and see if she'd returned yet."

"No idea. She doesn' tell me vhen she goes off on dis and dat conquest," Djivan notes as he wraps his arms around her. "I shoul' go check her huntin' spots, then. Dis is a little odd."

Now that's she's completely over her scare, Olivia is content to lean into the gypsy's embrace and turn her face against his neck again. "Uh… how many hunting spots does she have?" she asks, sounding slightly worried. "If it's as many as I think, you'll be gone for weeks."

"Oh, jus a few she uses a lot. Wouldn't take too long t' check em," the rat notes. "Course, given ve are in her vagon and she has all dis nice clothing an vou are here an… Hmm."

Olivia tries to look scandalized by this suggestion but merely ends up grinning, instead. "None of her frillies would fit me, you know," she reminds him. "She's a lot taller and thinner than I am. But I do have an hour or two before I have to go back into town… "

"Her little clip on jewelry fer sensitive areas would fit va," Djivan notes with a waggle of his brow. "Now, let's see vhat ve kin get up to. After yas leave, I'll go on de hunt fer de bat."

Olivia's own eyebrows travel up her forehead before she kisses the Skreek on the side of his throat. "Lili never told me you can put jewelry there!" she whispers into this ear. "Do tell… "


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GMed by BoingDragon & Jared

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