Milk Run Road
This road clearly gets it name from the river it parallels, running from the castle at the northern edge of Stonebarrow to the swamp in the south. There are patches of bare white chalk where the dirt has worn or washed away, and plenty of extra lines and diagrams for games children like to play along the road. Nearer the castle, the forest borders to the east, before giving way to the Rootrunner croplands south of the Dam Road.
With the visit to Buffy at an end and Natasha deciding to remain behind at the castle for a time to do a bit more research on the runes in the cellar, Parlsey stopping to check on her sister, and Qing being pulled aside by the mad scientist to talk, Olivia finds herself walking home alone. Or at least she thinks she's alone. She feels like she's being watched. Strange thing is … the feeling is coming from both sides of the road.
Olivia glances to either side of her as she walks, scratching her ears nervously. When both of my ears itch at once, it's never a good thing, she thinks. I wonder what's going on?
"Help! Help!" comes a squeaky, feminine bark from the woods.
Olivia stops dead in the middle of the road, not daring to come any closer to the sound for now. "Who's that?" she calls back. "What's wrong?"
"It's Nene Oggton!" comes the reply. "I'm caught in a snare and all the blood is rushing to my head!"
Hearing this, Olivia takes a few tentative steps forward. "Are you upsidedown?" she asks, incredulous. "Because that's what it sounds like… "
"No, I'm being squeezed really hard," Nene barks. "Of course I'm upsidedown! I stepped in a noose thing and got yanked into the air!"
Olivia grins hugely at this. "Hey, for all I know, something could've been squeezing you really hard. You and your sister hang out with Gunther, remember?" Then she starts heading towards her voice – although very carefully, just in case there are other traps around. "Hang on, I'll see if I can get you down!"
"Please hurry!" Nene cries. "My toes are going numb and I don't want Gunther to see me like this – I'm pretty sure he set the trap."
"I'll do my best!" Olivia replies, picking her way carefully through the weeds and shrubs at the side of the road.
Something squirms and dangles a dozen feet off the ground ahead of Olivia, like some gigantic brown fishing lure.
Olivia heads towards the very unhappy otter, taking out one of her throwing knives to cut Nene down with, once she reaches her.
Moments after Olivia reaches the rope that appears to be holding Nene … the otter drops. The ground beneath Olivia suddenly sweeps up and Olivia finds herself being pulled into the trees in some sort of bag or net. Hard to say since she can't see out of it. Outside, though, she can hear Gunther say, "Mwahah! That was perfect. Now let's get her back to the dungeon!" The bag she's in bounces and jostles around. She certainly feels like she's moving. She also finds out her knife is sticking through the side of the bag … and as cramped as the Skeek is inside the bag, well, she can't exactly cur herself free for the moment.
"I could have been bait too!" Bebe's voice complains. "No way, you like had that huge breakfast. I'm surprised you didn't break Gunther's bed this morning!" Nene counters.
Olivia growls and yells, "GUNTHER! Let me out of this thing right now! There is no way I am going to set foot in any dungeon that you designed!"
"She's funny when she complains isn't she?" Gunther apparently tells the otters as the bag continues to move. "She'll be even more fun in the dungeon… "
Dungeon of Extreme Discomfort
There's a huge sign hanging down from the ceiling in this dark place. In the low light, it is hard to read but it seems to say: 'Welcome to the Dungeon of Extreme Discomfort! Enjoy your stay.' The dungeon, for the most part, appears to be empty, save for a single chair mounted under what might be a skylight.
"You need some beanbags," Nene suggests. "Beanbags make everyplace better."
The trip was thankfully brief. Olivia feels like she's being set down into something. It grows quiet for a moment, then the bag finally falls away. The light that spills down on her is momentarily blinding. Long enough that by the time Olivia hears the 'clicks', her arms and legs have already been secured to the chair. "Beanbags would make this the Dungeon of Reasonable Comfort, and we can't have that," Gunther is seen to be telling Nene. Olivia's wayward throwing knife is now sitting on the floor by the chair.
Squeezing her eyes shut against the glare of the light, Olivia says in a tight voice, "You'd better have a good reason for this, Gunther. Hell, it had better be a great reason because if it's not, I'm going to murder you when you let me out of this… thing."
"Brave words from a Skeek strapped in a chair," Gunther gloats as he leans in and smiles to Olivia. "I guess that tells me what happened … this uncontrollable violence you seem to have… So, where's the body?"
"Yeah!" Bebe adds from behind Gunther. "Where's the body? Wait… what body? Why'd we kidnap her again?"
"There isn't one yet," the Skeek growls. "I don't have my hands around your throat, now do I?"
"We captured her, because we know she killed the bat, that's what. Now, I didn't exactly like having that gypsy around, but … killing her behind my back is inexcusable!" Gunther explains to Bebe. "My theory is she must have killed her in a violent bout of snogging… "
"Skeeks don't snog that hard though," Nene notes.
"Wait – is that what all this is about? Liliana?" Olivia asks, slowly easing her eyes open. "I didn't kill her off, Gunther. In fact, I was trying to find her before I was called away to the castle again!"
"Oh sure. That's a great story. What, did you sell her body parts to Igor?" Gunther counters and lightly pokes Olivia's nose tip.
"Wasn't she snogging Emmett the other night?" Bebe whispers to Nene, who nods vigorously. "Yeah, he made all sorts of funny noises," Nene agrees.
"Ask Madame Natasha if you like," Olivia retorts. "I offered to go looking for Lili when Natasha told me that she'd disappeared. That was the first I'd heard of it."
"I'm not sure I believe her," Gunther tells the two otters. "Please fetch the instruments of persuasion… "
"You mean the big feathers?" Bebe asks, while Nene knows to get one already. "Hey, did you make these out of lots of littler feathers, Gunther?" she asks.
Olivia just leans back in the chair and sighs. "Fine. Just keep digging that hole for yourself, Gunther… "
"Yes," Gunther says to Bebe. To Nene, the Kadie claims, "It's a family secret," He then crouches down by the chair. There's this clicking sound and suddenly finds her feet sticking straight out before her. Bright pink and bare.
Olivia's fingers curl around the arms of the chair. "What do I do to deserve these things?" she mutters to no one in particular.
"Isolde thinks you're a troublemaker, Olivia," Nene notes, whiskers twitching.
"I bet it's bad luck from the rat!" Bebe counters.
"She is! Look at her ears. They have holes in them," Gunther points out as he takes the large feather from Nene. Brandishing it menacingly at Olivia's bare feet, he says, "Are you going to talk … or do I have to use this?"
Bebe sticks a finger into one of Gunther's ears. "Hey, you have a hole too! Like… we all do, right? It's how we hear stuff and do wet-willies."
"Ack!" Gunther grumbles and pulls his head away from Bebe's finger. "You're not helping with intimidating the prisoner," he complains.
Olivia looks at Gunther through narrowed eyes. "Beside the fact that I just told you the truth… you'd use it on me, anyway. Simply because you can."
There is probably some truth to that, because Olivia suddenly finds her feet under a terrible tickle assault from the large feather! She is in dire danger of losing her sole…
Olivia gasps and jerks in the chair, her hands clamping down around the armrests again. "Cut… it out… Gunther!" she says in between breaths. "Sensitive feet… tickling kinda hurts!"
"You can relieve the torment if you just tell me the truth! Where did you hide the bat? I can't have people being kidnapped from the town! It violates town ordinance 23443.5: Gunther must know everything that goes on!" the Kadie claims while he continues the tickle torment!
"Hey, when do we get a turn?" Nene asks. "Our feet aren't ticklish though, just our noses," Bebe points out. "It still looks fun!" Nene counters with a glare.
"I am… telling… the truth!" Olivia says, her eyes watering now. "And… this isn't… funny!"
The tickling stops for the moment. "It can't be the truth! It's too boring," Gunther complains. "Are you sure you didn't kill her?"
"Wait!" Nene says, grabbing onto Gunther's shoulder. "Before you start again… can I sit in her lap?"
"Uhm, why?" Gunther has to ask.
"It looks like fun when she shakes and twitches like that," Nene admits. "Like riding a giant swamp trout."
Olivia blinks rapidly to get the remaining tears out of her eyes. "That is… the weirdest thing I have heard in a long while," is all she can say.
"Okay, she's playing tough. Hop into her lap," Gunther tells Nene. He readies the feather again…
"Yay!" Nene cheers and climbs into Olivia's lap, touching noses. She has fish breath.
Olivia gahs and turns her head away. "Great, now I'm a fun-faire ride for otters," she grumbles.
"Giddyup!" Nene says, and Bebe tries to see if Skeek tails are ticklish too.
"Mwahaha," goes Gunther and the tickling resumes in earnest! "Confess! Tell us what you did with the bat!" he cackles.
"Arrrggghhh! I didn't… do anything… to her!" the Skeek gasps, wriggling around in the chair once more.
Bebe suggests, "Maybe we need to use honey." She abandons the tail and goes to stand next to Gunther. "Tell us the truth, and… I'll bite Gunther!"
"Hey! Who's side are you on," Gunther asks, stopping the tickling for now and glaring at Bebe.
"Justice?" Bebe offers. "I could threaten to snog you while she has to watch instead if you like."
Gunther blinks. "You could snog me any time, you know," the Kadie says … His ears suddenly splay as he then adds, "Uh, what did I just say?!?"
"She uses tongue too," Nene assures Olivia. "He'll have fish-breath too. All the best kissers do you know."
Olivia slumps back in the chair, breathing raggedly. "I'll just… take your word for that," she says weakly. "Not something I want to experience, myself… "
"Right! Time to use the most evil of all techniques," Gunther claims and tosses his feather to the side. "We'll just put Olivia outside, all tied up. Now, if the bat is indeed still alive, she'll just come and snog her. That'll solve the mystery nicely!"
"What if Djivan comes instead?" Nene asks, laying across Olivia now.
"We capture him too," Gunther comments offhandedly.
"You know," Olivia finally comments, "there's one thing you're all forgetting here."
"That is?" Gunther asks.
"Do we get to tie him up and tickle him too?" Bebe asks. "I hear Skreeks have weak bladders."
"The fact that my next shift at the Weavers' starts tomorrow morning," Olivia says. "If I don't show up… my aunt will come looking for me." She squints at Gunther and the two otters in the glare of the light. "You really want her to find me all tied up? Then I'd have to explain how I got that way… "
"Like she would believe you!" Gunther claims and puts his hands on his hips. "Besides, if she came to me, I'd just say the rat did it."
Olivia just smiles. "She does believe me. Always has… which is more than I can say for my own mother, really."
Looking rather disappointed, Gunther asks, "So, you really didn't kill the bat? What happened to her?"
"Curiosity killed the bat," Nene recites, "but satisfaction brought her back! Wait… is Lili ever satisfied though?"
Olivia shakes her head. "I really didn't kill her. I don't know what happened to her and I wish I could find her. Djivan said he'd go looking in all the spots she usually hangs out, but I haven't heard back from him yet."
"It got the rat too then!" Bebe barks, looking scared. "Some sort of… monster that feeds on perverts!"
"No way," Nene says, and sniffs one of Olivia's big ears, tickling it with her whiskers. "Emmett would have been eaten up years ago."
Frowning, Gunther kicks the side of the chair. There is several clicks and Olivia finds her arms and legs free. Now peering oddly at Bebe, Gunther asks, "Why do you look sacred of that? Are you a pervert?"
"I don't want to be left all alone is all," Bebe says defensively.
"It wouldn't eat me! I'm not a pervert," Gunther points out.
"You just strapped a girl into a chair and tickled her," Bebe points out.
"That doesn't make me a pervert. I did it for the good of the town," Gunther claims.
Olivia lifts her arms out of the restraints and rubs at her wrists. Quirking an eyebrow at Nene, she says, "You can get off me now. Ride's over."
The otter licks Olivia's ear before bounding off and hiding behind Gunther.
Gunther puts his arm around Bebe's shoulders and reaches behind himself to pat Nene. "No funny stuff," he warns Olivia.
Olivia sighs and rolls her eyes. "Otters," she mutters, then rises out of the chair.Throwing a dangerous glance at Gunther, she says, "Not yet, anyway." Then she goes to retrieve her lost knife.
"Ever," Gunther warns the Skeek, returning the glare briefly. He then breaks into a grin and adds, "See what you're missing out on?"
"Yeah… and I think I'll leave you to it. Djivan's plenty enough action for me," the Skeek says mildly.
"Well, it's for the best anyway. I have two minions instead of just one," Gunther declares.
"She thinks you were propostitching her," Bebe whispers to Gunther.
"Are you sure you're not their minion?" Olivia asks, grinning just a little. "Anyway, which is the way out of this place?"
The twins just wink back at Olivia.
"Of course I'm not their minion. I'm too smart for that," Gunther claims. He thumbs towards the darkness behind him, adding, "Exit's that way. You know where you are. This was the old warehouse used for the dam work, remember?"
Olivia taps her forehead. "Oh yeah. Right. All the bright light made it kinda hard to tell. Well, have fun with your masters – I mean minions!" Giving the Kadie boy an evil grin, she slips past the three of them and through the exit.
Bebe hops into the chair, and says, "Me next! Bring on the feathers!"
