The Boathouse
Once upon a time, before the swamp rot attacked the wood, this was a good-sized boathouse at the end of the main pier. Then it was a warehouse for awhile, used to store some of the stinkier components of the tanning trade. Once the walls started to fall apart, however, it was simply taken over by the Oggtons as a spot to party, with easy access (via holes in the walls and floor) to the water, and far enough out that nobody would complain about the noise. A basic stage sits at one end for musicians, and at the opposite end a board over two standing barrels serves as a sort of bar.

Near the nominal entrance, two otters sit on the edge of the old pier. They'd be identical, except that they're wearing differently colored sarongs and bandeaus, although they both have a big pink flower tucked behind their right ears. The one in blue says, "Can you imagine it, Bebe, that guy just gave us these Gigi clothes?". The one in orange replies, "Yeah, but what was with those cloth flower necklaces, Nene? He seemed about to burst into giggles whenever he mentioned them."

A shadow glides through the water with moderate grace as it approaches the boathouse, only a nosetip and two round ears peaking out from the water as it slides quietly under the peer, looking for the world like a log. Only … the head surfaces a bit further and some goggles glint in the low light. Gunther steadies himself in the water by lifting a gloved (now web-fingered), hand out of the water and hooking his small clawtips into the wood above him. At the mention of gifts, his ears flick back and the Kadie just twitches. "Someone is giving them gifts," he thinks while glowering.

Nene leans forward, resting her elbows on her knees and letting her feet swing free. "Sylvania Jack," she says, almost sighing. "A real Akwavi adventurer. From the Old Country no less!" "Yeah, we're lucky, eh?" Bebe says. "And all we had to do was change in front of him!"

Gunther twitches even more, to the point of practically vibrating. "Why he, them, you, grr," he thinks. His tail would explode in a puff if it wasn't encased in a socklike sack to keep it from soaking up the water from the swamp and weighing him down. "I'll kill him… "

"Still, think he's legit?" Bebe asks. "I mean, he's staying on Granny's barge tonight and all, but he's a treasure hunter. What if he finds out about our dives to the old town?"

"We can go snoop at the cottage he rented," Nene notes. "See if he's got half the stuff he claims he has."

"Except he's rigged up traps around his cottage to keep, ahem, me, out," Gunther mutters, possibly loud enough for the two to hear. "Like I can't dismantle a trap. I practically invented traps in this town."

Two sleek brown heads peek under the pier, between their own feet. Amazingly, the flowers don't fall from behind their ears. "Who's down there?" Nene asks.

Gunther eases forward in the water until he can be seen in the low light. "The town watchman. Someone has to be with that stranger running around and being all … friendly," he grumbles.

"Gunther!" Nene squeaks, then vanishes. Bebe just blinks, and asks, "Wow, is that the otter suit?"

"The start of it. It needs more work. I was testing it and I heard … talking," Gunther explains, though it's not entirely true. He could have easily tested it at the dam. "Where is she going?"

"Dagh-blast it!" Nene curses from right above. "I can't get this wet, and if I take it off he won't be able to tell that I have hips," she complains to Bebe.

"Like… here's just a wild thought, but we could, you know, walk to shore and meet him there," Bebe notes.

That gets a blink out of Gunther. "Uhm, why does that matter?" he has to ask, "I already know you do from the measurements for the suit, remember?" He eases forward a bit further and spreads the web-glove for Bebe to see, saying, "And see, it is coming along. Once I dealt with the tail issue, the rest came along a bit easier."

Nene pokes her head back down, and chuffs so her whiskers stick out. "I'm surprised you can float, you're so dense sometimes Gunther. What did you do to your tail?"

"Oh, I can show you. Er, wait, I'd have to get out of the water," Gunther realizes. "Uhm, is there a safe place around here?"

"Can you climb into a rowboat?" Bebe asks, and points to one tied up at the end of the pier.

"I'm a Kadie. We're born to climb," Gunther points out and he pushes off of the pier post, gliding towards the rowboat. Hooking one clawed hand into the peer and the other on the boat, he pulls himself slowly up until he practically slides into the boat at a low angle. With as little as the boat moved, he probably put most of his weight initially on the pier post.

As gentle as that was, it goes to waste as Nene and Bebe jump down on either end of the small boat, causing it to yaw and bob wildly.

Hands and feet grip onto the boat ledge as Gunther anchors himself while the boat shakes. Now that he's out of the water the two can get a much better look at him. He's in some sort of near full-body jumpsuit that has the effect of keeping his fur flat and mostly dry. Instead of a hugely puffy tail, his is encased in a sock that makes it thinner and tapers more down to the tip. It also has what looks like built-in cables to 'assist' the Kadie in using the tail in a 'propulsive' way given how the cables feed up to his arms and legs. Over his eyes are domes of glass, presumably cut from bottles and help to shield his eyes while under water. "So much for stealth," he says when the boat settles.

"You're like a giant stuffed toy!" Nene croons, and grabs the sheathed tail to hug. Bebe pokes at various points as if to confirm that Gunther is really in there. "What do you if you have to make water?" she asks.

Gunther lets his tail get hugged and the rest of him get poked repeatedly with the expression of someone long-suffering. He pushes up his goggles and tries to explain, "Well, to do that I have to undo some of the suit, of course. It's waterproof. Mostly, anyway."

"Mostly?" Nene asks, shaking the tail-sock to see if it sloshes. "Which parts get wet then?"

"Around the upper parts, mainly. The tail I reinforced because if that gets wet, I sink," Gunther answers as Nene shakes on his tail. He sits up a bit more and peers at the two, then has to ask, "What are you wearing?"

Bebe stands up and poses. "They're traditional Gigi dancing sarongs, used in the … celebration of… something or other."

"Fertility and Spring and Big Waves, Jack said," Nene fills in.

"And where did you get them?" Gunther asks next … calmly. "And why are you hanging out with that … invader?"

"Right here," Bebe says, gesturing to the Boat House. "Sylvania Jack came 'round with Mr. Briar. He's been everywhere and stolen everything! Well, he didn't put it like that exactly, but… "

"He's an invader," Gunther says and crosses his arms. "There are better people you could visit with."

"He said we were the cutest babes in the club," Nene says, grinning.

Gunther twitches.

"You don't agree?" Nene asks cuttingly when she sees the twitch.

"He promised to teach us the dance before he leaves town," Bebe says.

"No, I don't agree with him saying that," Gunther says in a huff and looks towards the boathouse. "You are the cutest in the town. See? An invader doesn't appreciate things properly."

"He's an otter though," Nene says, grinning at the compliment. "A second or third or fourth cousin, like. So, he can't be an invader."

"He hasn't got an army, and Mr. Briar and Emmett are watching after him," Bebe adds, as if nothing could possibly be sneaked past those two adults.

"Yes, he can. He is most certainly invading on me," Gunther insists, arms still crossed. "And you also haven't seen what he has. I have."

"You mean the room full of treasure?" Nene asks, scooting around and leaning in close until she's nearly nose-to-nose with Gunther. "You've seen it?"

"Of course I have. When he left the cabin earlier to go do stuff in town, I snuck in," Gunther notes and for some reason looks really nervous with one of the otters practically nose-to-nose with him. "It's … full … of," he tries to manage out, but seems very distracted at the moment.

"You'll show us, right?" Bebe says, leaning in next to Nene and looking at Gunther like he's the biggest, shiniest fish ever.

"I suppose I could," Gunther says nervously, "But you can't take anything. Well, nothing noticeable, anyway. I mean, I sneak but I don't steal… "

"We wouldn't steal anything," Nene promises. Bebe nods, saying, "We have to be, like, pure and all so the dragons don't eat us."

"Wait, dragons?" Gunther asks, looking really confused and eyeing the two. "What dragons? There aren't any dragons. And if there were, I'd … I'd … wipe them out!"

"Silly, the river dragons," Nene says, giggling. "We get to appease them in the… Rite of Spring… thing. We're gonna be Shrine Maidens, on account of Amy being too old and probably making like a Lapi with your brother all the time now."

"She isn't, uh, being like a Lapi with him," Gunther points out, "I would know. And what, shrine maidens? I guess that means, oh, right. I guess I couldn't ask … eh, nevermind." The Kadie deflates somewhat and flops back into the boat. "Anyway, he has a few creepy things. Mr Briar will be watching the place at night, so it'll be tricky to get in."

The girls look each other in the eye for a moment, and their whiskers dance in some sort of complex semaphore. "Tricky for who?" Bebe asks, finally. "I mean, the three of us together should be able to get past anything, right?"

"Getting in is easy. Doing it unseen and unheard is another," Gunther notes weakly. "Easiest thing to do would be to slip some sleeping powder into his evening meal. Or lure him away. With how he looked at the stuff, there's no way he'll go to sleep willingly."

"What would lure him out then?" Bebe asks. Nene looks thoughtful, and says, "He makes wine. He must drink a lot of it. So… uh… better make it a lot of sleeping powder. But where do you get sleeping powder from? I thought only the witches had that."

"Hah, we don't need to lure him out," Bebe suddenly says, smacking fist into palm. "We can scare him out. He's high strung! It should be easy."

"And Amelia's room, most likely," Gunther points out, "Which is likely just as dangerous. The locks are no problem. Heck, my clan designed most of them in the town. I could practically pick the lock with my tongue if I had to."

Both of the girls suddenly stare at Gunther after that comment. "Better not let Maggie hear you can do that," Bebe says quietly, looking around to see if anyone's overheard.

"What, what? It's true. I mean, I know the tumblers by feel. It wouldn't be that hard," Gunther says, looking confused again.

"Right, just… ah, never mind. Keep it a secret though," Nene urges. "You don't want to be labeled a lock licker, light? Err, right?"

"Is it any worse than what I'm called now?" Gunther asks, completely oblivious. "But okay, I won't do that. Even if it is impressive. As for scaring him out, well, maybe. He sure seemed scared of some of the stuff in that room … hmmm."

"What was he scared of the most?" Bebe asks.

"Couldn't see at the time. Something in a box," Gunther admits. "Too far away to get a clear view."

"We could go ask him," Nene suggests.

"Bad idea. He would suspect something is up," Gunther says. "I would recognize the box … so if I could get close enough to see it again. Hm… "

"No he wouldn't, we'd just say we changed our minds from earlier," Bebe says. "And we'd come 'round to get leied, like Jack offered. He keeps a bunch in his cabin, he said."

"You'd go there to do what?" Gunther says loudly, bolting upright and frowning. "You most certainly will not! Not if you're going to be shrine maidens, anyway."

"Shrine Maidens get to wear flowers!" Bebe argues.

"Wait, wait, flowers?" Gunther asks and shakes his head. "Oh, nevermind. I don't understand you two at all," he admits and slumps.

"Of course you don't, you aren't supposed to," Nene says, and hugs Gunther from behind. "It's one of the reasons we like you!"

Grrrk! goes Gunther when he's hugged. His arms and legs stick straight out and forward. "And you make me feel weird!" he admits.

"But it's a good weird, right?" Nene asks.

"Well, yes. But it's like being stuck with a machine you can't see inside of. You want to do something with it, but you have no idea where to start or what to even do," Gunther admits, sounding completely flustered by this point. "It's like I'm missing something important that I should be doing for you."

"Well, I guess if we can't scare Mr. Briar out, we'll have to break into Amy's cabin in the middle of Blacktail territory and steal some sleeping powder that she might have stashed there," Bebe says. "We should wear hats!"

"I think I'd rather break into the witches' house," Gunther admits. "Maybe Amy would loan some to me?"

"We could always just bring him some tea with scumble in it," Nene notes. "He'd fall like an apple then."

Glancing back towards the boathouse, Gunther says, "I should be going. Come by the dam later tonight if you can. I'll unlock the core and we can plot in the more unused rooms. No one ever checks in those anyway. I've heard rumors they're haunted or something, but that's silly."

"Oooooo," Nene says, and squeezes Gunther again. "Sounds fun! We'll be there with bells on!"

"Not literally with bells on," Bebe clarifies.

"Good, bells are lousy to sneak with," Gunther points out as he pulls his goggles back down … and actually takes a moment to hug Nene back, then hug Bebe lest she feel left out. "I'll see you both later." The Kadie neatly oozes himself over the side of the rowboat and drops back into the water. Away he goes, not nearly as graceful as a real otter in the water as he goes, but it's not horrible either.

"He actually made the otter suit," Bebe marvels. "Is that insane or genius?"

"It's Guntherish," Nene explains.