Kettenrad Workshop
Zahnrad's personal workshop. It's located near the Mint dam where Zahnrad spends a good deal of time working on the gearing that links the waterwheels to the various machines that are used in the Wingnut workshops and the Miller's paper mills. It's an unusual shop, even for a Wingnut. The door is, in fact, not really a door. It's a rather large wooden gear that's attached to a stabilizer bar. The bar has handles on it that allow visitors to pull and simply roll the gear out of the way on some makeshift wooden teeth that line the floor. Over the 'doorway' a plaque is mounted that reads "Kettenrad Workshop. If it's broken, we can fix it. If it's not broken, we can still fix it!"

If there's something more annoying than having a broken tooth, it's being made fun of for having a broken tooth. The frustration has finally hit Miranda's limit and she's gone off on a quest to find someone who can fix her tooth. Unfortunately, the most obvious place to go to get anything fixed has a bit of irony to it. It was due to a Wingnut invention that her tooth was broken … and now she's back in the Wingnut territory to find out if one of them can fix it.

The Wingnuts' territory can often be a madhouse of noise and chaos when they have a project going on. That, in itself, can often be terrifying to those who prefer quiet. But … as Miranda is finding out right now … a quiet day in the compound is even more terrifying. Who knows when something might explode … or the madness may commence. It's just a gut feeling, really … but there's always a hint in the air that something is always about to happen here. In any event, here Miranda is, in the middle of the compound. It's almost deathly quiet … even Zahn's nearby workshop is quiet.

The gray Lapi's ears twitch too and fro nervously as she looks about the Wingnut compound. Normally the stillness would have been soothing, but here it seems to be the contrary. The quiet puts Miranda on edge, grating on her with even the normal noises of birds and other small animals lacking. Taking a deep breath the Lapi resolutely plunges onwards, heading cautiously towards Zahn's workshop. It seems like the best place to start looking for someone.

Up close the gear shaped door seems absolutely huge. And even up close, there still isn't any sound coming from the shop. The place is quiet.

Blinking at the gear's huge size, Miranda sighs and raps her knuckles against the door. If Zahn wasn't here the Lapi girl would have to go looking for someone to help her… and the idea of wandering blindly around the inventors' compound was not a very appealing one.

Right as Miranda is knocking, there's an audible (especially to a Lapi!) sound of a twig snapping a few feet behind her.

Already tense and on edge, Miranda jumps at the noise and immediately spins around, practically shouting out, "Who's There?!?"

Standing not two feet away is … Gunther Kettenrad. His arms are outstretched and fingers splayed as if he was about to unleash a horrible fate upon the gray Lapi … ore more likely, he was about to tickle her. The evil grin on his face quickly drops to an 'Ut oh, I'm caught!'. So, he does the same thing anyone would do in such a situation … he jerks back upright and starts whistling as if nothing at all is amiss.

Putting a hand over her heart, Miranda visibly relaxes, heaving a sigh of relief. "My yu thhcared me Gunthher! Why ith it tho quiet awround here today anywayth?" she immediately asks.

"Who, me? I would never scare anyone!" Gunther lies and grins rather hugely. "As for everyone, well, they're off in a planning meeting for upcoming projects. The big topic is some swamp dredging. All clan members are at the meeting … sort of," he explains.

Miranda's ears perk as Gunther explains and then fall slightly in apparent disappointment at hearing that the Kettenrads in general are at a meeting. "Ah… I geuthh I came at a bad time thhen… maybe I thhould come back later. Why aren't yu at thha meeting Gunthher?" she asks curiously.

"Ah, but I am at the meeting," Gunther explains, "Or at least a very good replica with some clockwork movements built in is at the meeting. So, what brings a Lapi out this way? You folks usually avoid this place like it was plague infested."

"Well… ithh tha noithe tha uthually putth uth off. Thenthitive earth and all," Miranda admits honestly before continuing. "I want to get thomething… fickthed, my toothh thpethifically. But I'm not thure who to talk to about getting it done," she finishes, whistling through her tooth gap as she talks.

"You have a broken tooth? I thought you talked like that to frustrate people," Gunther says, still grinning … and obviously teasing. "But anyway! You came to the right place. We can fix everything! You still have the broken piece, right?"

The Lapi cant help but smile a bit at the teasing replying in mock defense, "Hey hey! I dun thpray thpittle when I talk at leathht." But the smile turns to a slight frown at the Kadie's question. "Acktually, I don't know where tha brocken piethe ith anymore. I'm thorry if tha will make thingth more difficult?"

Gunther taps his chin. "Weeelll, it helps to always have the broken parts. Wingnut wisdom, that," he says, "Didn't you break it on one of Zahn's flying machine attempts?"

Miranda looks both nervous and embarrassed at the mention of the event that caused the loss of the chunk of her front tooth, "I'll keep that bit of withdom in mind in the future, Guntther. And Yethh, tha'th when I broke my toothh."

"Well, then maybe it's stuck in some of the wreckage! Never hurts to check. And believe me, you don't want to have to make a casting to make a new piece. The gel used to make molds tastes disgusting." Gunther proclaims. And without asking, he grabs Miranda's hand and drags her further into Wingnut territory. "Onward! Onward! And downward! Then a little bit sideways!"

"I'm not thuure I want to know how yu know thha' Guntther… " Miranda notes towards the Kadie boy's comment on casting gel, smiling all the while at his enthusiasm. Thankfully, after spending much of her time chasing after small bunnies, the gray Lapi doesn't find it too hard to keep up.

And indeed they do go on, and then down, as Gunther leads the Lapi into a passage that dips into a tunnel. It ends at a door. Gunther slides the door to the side and waves for Miranda to go through. Beyond it seems to be a small room, maybe no more than five feet by five feet. "In you go!" he says.

"Alright Guntther… Umm what ith thith?" Miranda asks as she carefully steps into the room, glad that she's used to spending time underground.

As Miranda steps into the small room, it sways slightly. Gunther soon joins her and closes the door. So, the two are left alone in a dimly lit (from a small oil lamp) room, that seems to be rocking a bit. "Oh, a sidavator," Gunther explains, then pulls a lever on the wall nearest to him. There's a clunk, then the room lurches sideways! Not only does it lurch, but Miranda can feel that they're moving sideways at a fairly fast pace.

The Lapi squeaks in surprise and almost looses her balance when the 'sidavator' lurches and begins to move. "Oh… Like an elevator thaa mooveth thidewayth, interethting," Miranda comments as she waits patiently., "Wath it hard to build do yu know?"

"Nah. Not after the first few exploded because they hit the catches a bit too hard," Gunther remarks dismissively. He rocks back and forth on his feet, whistling. The trip is rather short lived and the stop isn't terribly pleasant because, well, it just stops. Miranda finds herself plastered against the wall. Up close, she can tell the walls are actually padded … it's just hard to see such in the low light. Amazingly, Gunther did not splat against the wall when it stopped.

"OOF!" Miranda gasps as she hits one of the walls and then peels herself off of it, standing a little wobbly and asking Gunther plaintively, "Could yu maybe warn me necktht time thith thing ith about to thtop?"

"Oh, right, Lapi can't grab with their feet, sorry," Gunther realizes as he's sliding the door open. Beyond is darkness and … the faint smell of swamp gas. "Now, where was that other lever… "

"Ithh alright, Jutht warn me necktht time." Miranda sighs, wrinkling her nose at the smell of the swamp… But then, there were worse things to have up your nose, and chalk dust is certainly one of them. Trying to be helpful, the Lapi starts looking around herself for the other lever.

Miranda finds the lever before Gunther does. It's smooth and a bit damp. Not surprising given they're somewhere underground.

"Ith thith wha' you're looking for Gunther?" The Lapi asks, pointing the the lever and looking it over carefully.

"Yep, that's it!" Gunther declares. He doesn't even give a warning; he just reaches over and yanks the lever. What comes next … well, reminds the Lapi of some of the more festive holiday celebrations. There's a rapid series of popping sounds that ripple down and out into the room. Each time a pop rings out, a blue flame flares to life. As more and more come alight, the Lapi can make out what looks like some roughly carved stalagmites that have been fitted with glass housings on the top in which blue flame glows brightly. Snaking around on the floor and running to each of these devices appears to be some makeshift rubber hoses. "We're near enough to the swamp that we can siphon off some of the gas and make gas lights down here. Nifty, huh? Just pull the lever and a series of weights fall, which in turn strikes flint to flint and opens the gas valves. Poof, light!"

The Lapi squeaks at the noise and actually hops behind Gunther, rubbing her eyes to get rid of the sparks caused by the first few flames coming to life in the darkness. Once the Kadie boy explains the device however, Miranda creeps forwards and examines one of the lights with actual interest. "That'th amazthing Guntther. Ethpethially that yu can get a therieth to go all at once… "

Once lit, the Lapi finds herself in a large cavern. The temperature is cool and the air damp; very different from the chalk warren. Scattered around the cave are piles of broken and decaying machinery. "Welcome to the Hidden Cavern of the Wingnut Dead!" Gunther declares … which happens to also echo for the next half minute. "Neat echo, eh?" he asks, grinning. "Most machines that break end up down here. We scavenge parts from them, or just let them rot. Depends. Several of Zahn's experiments are down here. I bet we can find the one that hit you. Do you remember much about it?"

"Wow… thaa'th alot of broken thhtuff!" Miranda comments, jaw dropping for a moment before recovering herself. "Ahh. Alot of it wath made out of canvathh to be light I thhink, and it had many thmall… umm… pinwheelth?… What were they called… Popularth… Propalarth… Err… Propellerth. I think tha'th it."

"Hmm, hmm, that would be a later one, which would probably be at the far end," Gunther muses and then leads Miranda through the maze of broken machinery, tubing, and lighting. Along the way, he stops in front of what almost looks like a coffin, except it has a series of bellows attached all over it. "Hey, I forgot about this, heh! Something your clan commissioned. This was the first prototype," he notes.

The Lapi blinks and crouches down to take a look at the odd contraption curiously, almost reaching her hand out to move some of the parts, but just as quickly drawing it back, "Really? I dun thhink I've ever theen thomething like thith before. What wathh it thuppothed to do?"

"Well, this is the first prototype of the 'Lapi Demoisterization System'. We called it 'The Hare Dryer'," Gunther explains, now grinning like a madman. "It was to help deal with the time it takes for fur to dry after washing out the chalk dust."

"Interethting, but I'll jutht thhtick with towelth mythelf." Miranda says with a quiet smile of her own.

"It was ultimately abandoned after the first few users ended up up so puffy they looked like snowdrifts," Gunther adds, then continues on. As they reach the far end, the machines start taking on a more 'airshiplike' appearance. The Kadie boy points to a cracked pile of wood and canvas strips, commenting, "It was probably that one."

Looking curiously from pile to pile as Gunther leads her along, Miranda stops in front of the noted cluster of debris and starts carefully shifting things around, looking for what might be the remains of her tooth.

"Was it one of the propellers that hit you?" Gunther asks as he clambers over thwe wreckage.

"Yethh, it came flying off uneckthpectedly and I was a bit too clothhe… " Miranda notes sheepishly, not looking up as she continues moving pieces here and there, digging through the pile.

It's Miranda's day for finding things, it seems. After about a half-hour of digging through the remains of one of the airships, Miranda finds a few of the propellers. Embedded in one is a white fragment of a tooth. It glints in the firelight.

"Found it!!" The Lapi cries out triumphantly, picking up the propeller and checking how deeply wedged in the tooth is, and if she can get the fragment out without breaking it further.

"Here, let me get that," Gunther offers once he reaches the spot the Lapi is at. He extends his left hand to Miranda. In his right … he's holding a metal knife.

Handing over broken propeller and its embedded prize, Miranda can't help but openly stare at the knife in Gunther's hand, "Where did you get thaa' Gunthher?" she wonders out loud, ears flicking.

Gunther starts digging at the wood around the tooth. "That strange visiting Khatta woman. You looked after her daughter didn't you?" he asks. His work grows a bit more 'intent'; which is obvious by how he's sticking out his tongue and biting down on it a bit.

"Ah, yeth, yeth I did. I had heard thaa' thhome metal weaponth were given away, but I thought it wath only to the Malithia," the Lapi comments, watching Gunther as he works. "Ithh there anything I can do to help?"

"Nah, I got it," Gunther says. And indeed he does. The fragment of tooth finally pops loose. He picks it up between two clawtips, then offers it to the Lapi. "Now, reattaching that will be the trick," he notes.

Miranda carefully accepts the bit of tooth, holding it in a cupped hand so as not to lose it. "Umm… And how do we do thaa'?" She asks, without a clue as to how that might be done.

"Well, I don't think we can nail it," Gunther comments after a bit of thought. "Aha! I know," he declares, "You go to that freak Skreek, Igor! He's attached all sorts of bits to himself. Surely he can reattach a tooth bit!"

Miranda goes positively wide-eyed at the mention of looking for Igor's help on the subject… reluctantly she does admit that its probably the best bet at the moment, "Well… Okay. Would you mind coming with me?" She asks quietly, not really wanting to be at the castle by herself, harmless though the doctor might be.

"Hehehehehh," goes Gunther, "And get a chance to swipe that deranged Doctor's evil plans? You bet I'd go!"

"Well, no time to wathte then! Onwardth!" Miranda immediately chimes in, with a sidelong glance at Gunther. "Jutht try not to get me in trouble, okay?" she finishes with a sigh and a small smile.

"Trouble? Trouble? When do I ever get into trouble?" Gunther asks and bats his eyelashes at Miranda. If he's trying to convince anyone that he's an innocent, well, that look isn't it. "I promise I won't do anything any other self-respecting Wingnut wouldn't do!"

---

At first glance, the crumbling facade of Dontgointhe Castle can be intimidating. The broken curtain wall, missing towers and ominously overgrown garden with its mysterious vegetation tend to build up a sense of dread – at least until one actually reaches the door. Made of heavy ironwood and a sturdy frame, the door is imposing. It's the doorknocker that deflates the ominous atmosphere: a cartoonish Eeee with an oversized, smiling head that hangs upside down on a hinge.

"Well… that'th a bit… odd… " Miranda mumbles, ears skewing slightly when she gets sight of the castle door, but she quickly reaches forwards to grab the doorknocker and… well… knocks!

After a moment or two, the door opens a crack with an impressive squeal of rusty hinges (even though they appear to made of polished wood). A shadowed figure peers out, and inquires, "Yeth? If thith is about the Otter Thcout cookie drive, we're frethh out of cookieth at the moment."

The gray Lapi can't help but cringe at the high pitched creak of the door "Uh… no, acktually, were not here for cookieth. We were wondering iff we could talk to mithter Igor?" Miranda asks politely.

Gunther, for his part, has actually been pretty quiet and calm on the trip over. Either that, or he's been just watching everything around them so they don't get 'ambushed'. When the door is knocked upon, he stays behind Miranda. After all, Lapis are usually eaten first by monsters. "Yeah! This Lapi needs her tooth fixed and supposedly Igor is good at fixing people!" he says.

"Really?" the figure says, and opens the door further to reveal a somewhat patchwork-looking, hunchbacked Skreek wearing a concealing, sack-robe like a monk. "Well, that would be me, Mith Chalk, Mithter Kettenrad. It ith a pleathure to be called on by thomeone who ithn't already guthhing fluidth all over the plathe. Do come in."

"Err… thhank you Mithter Igor, glad to know were not intruding or… well… guthhing… " Miranda stammers before stepping inside, slowly, in case Gunther decides he wants to stay hiding behind her.

Gunther follows after Miranda. He's still looking around rapidly, an expression of concern on his face.

The main hall of the castle is… cluttered. There are bookcases, stacks of caged critters, mismatched and overstuffed furniture – often covered in stacks of books and pink taffeta – along with looming, stuffed effigies of various animals and monsters. The big fireplace is unlit at the moment, leaving the room a bit cool.

"I don't thuppose you have the broken piethe of tooth?" Igor asks Miranda.

Miranda can't help but peer curiously into one of the nearby cages before catching herself and returning her attention to the odd looking Skreek. "Umm… Yeth… yethh I do." she says, pulling the broken shard of tooth out of a pocket and holding it out. "I wathen't thure who to athk about thith: Gunther wath the one who thuggethted athking you."

Igor takes the fragment and looks closely at it. Then he sniffs it… and bites it. "Hmmm… I think it can be themented back, if there'th not too much wear on the expothed surfathe of the tooth itthelf. Pleathe follow me to the bone lab," the Skreek says, and then starts shambling towards the hallway.

Gunther looks to Miranda and shrugs a small bit, then follows on after Igor. "Just don't let him inject you with anything," the Kadie warns Miranda.

"b-bone lab?" Miranda has to wonder about having a lab just for bones and has an immediate involuntary thought back to Buffy's 'lair' in the chalk catacombs. Well, hopefully this 'lab' wouldn't be quite like that. The Lapi dutifully follows after Gunther, nodding, "Err… ok."

The hall goes past the kitchen and some closed doors, until it crosses another hall that leads to the back door. An alcove to one side reveals a narrow spiraling staircase that Igor leads them down to another basement hallway. It's rather chilly here, and the next room is even colder. Narrow shelves cover the walls here, filled with row upon row of tiny sealed jars and large bottles of odd fluids. There's a table and some chairs, along with a few closed cabinets as well.

Igor takes a ladder over to one of the shelves, and climbs up about midway to look at the little vials. "Miranda, yeth?" he asks the Lapi. "Ith your middle name 'Whithper' or 'Thaffron'?"

So many bottle and jars… Miranda blinks and tries not to look too closely at anything, this place tending to be creepy enough as it was. "Um, my middle name ith Whithper thir. I don't uthe it often. Do you know much about Chalk naming?" she asks, curious as to how he narrowed her name down so easily.

"Not particularly," Igor admits, and rustles his fingers through various vials until he plucks up the one he wants. "Ah, here it ith," he announces, and climbs back down the ladder. He sets the vial on the table while he goes to gets some things from the cabinet. A label on the glass tube reads 'Miranda Whisper Chalk' and has a few dates listed, all from when the Lapi was just a child. Several teeth can be seen suspended in clear fluid within the container.

"So, you go around stealing teeth, do you?" Gunther asks, suddenly piping up from where he's been lurking. He eyes the Skreek rather coldly. "I'm certain the town witch will want to know this."

If there's anything more disturbing than someone you've only met once or twice before having a 'sample' with your name on it, Miranda isn't sure what it could be, "Uhh… Thothe… look like my baby teethh. Where did you get thothe?" the Lapi asks nervously before turning to the Kadie boy, "Well… thhey are jutht lotht baby teeth Gunther… I would have lotht them anywayth."

"Tsk," Igor says to Gunther. "The witcheth have thome too you know. We get them from the Tooth Fairy."

"No such thing," Gunther snaps.

The Skreek sets out a mortar and pestle on the table, along with some bottles of milky-looking liquid. "Did you ever put your baby teeth under your pillow, and find a treat in itth plathe come morning?" he asks.

"Never. Well, not after the first time where I found a pile of fur in place of the tooth. You see, I trapped all the teeth I left out," Gunther explains.

"Yeth, when I wath little, I thometimeth did that mythelf… if I didn't loothe tha tooth firtht." Miranda slowly replies, "I thought it wath jutht my aunt leaving treatth. But why would yu want the teeth yourthelf Mithter Igor?"

"For the thame reathon the witcheth have bitth of everyone'th fur," Igor notes. "In cathe I need to make bone-glue. I uthed up all of Zahnrad'th teeth to fix hith recent injurieth." The Skreek opens the vial and pours out one of the teeth into the bowl, which he then starts mushing up with the pestle.

"Really? I geuth tha' maketh thenthe. What better to thtick two boneth together than thomething that already hath a bit of your bone in it… " Not knowing much about such things herself, it certainly made as much sense as anything else to Miranda.

"Your parentth uthually bring me the teeth," Igor notes, allaying thoughts that he's actually sneaking into children's bedrooms at night. "You thould give me any teeth you've kept, Gunther, jutht in cathe. They're better freth though. Have you thtill got thome baby teeth in your mouth?"

"That's just disturbed," Gunther grumbles. "And no, I don't have any baby teeth still, I'm fourteen afterall."

"Ah well, try not to break any boneth then," Igor suggests. He adds some of the white liquid to the bowl and stirs it up until it starts to fizz a bit. "Anything elthe you'd liked fixed while you're here?" he asks casually.

"Um, no. Jutht my tooth. I don't know of anything elthe I really want to get fickthed right now. Tho, I thuppothe this 'bone-glue' ith perthon thpethific right? Thinthe you theem to need teeth thpethific to that perthon. What would happen iff you uthed a baby tooth from a different perthon?" the gray Lapi asks curiously.

"I'm perfect. I don't need anything fixed," Gunther asserts.

"It may make them thick," Igor says. "If I don't have a match for them, I have to boil down regular boneth and treat the collagen to uthe inthtead. It taketh time." He drops the broken bit of tooth into the bowl, and use some wooden tweezers to swirl it around. "Perfect, eh?" he comments to the Kadie. "Gueth you wouldn't want extra thumbth then… "

"No," Gunther notes and glares at the Skreek.

"I'm all out of thumbth anyway," Igor says, then wheezes out his 'hehn hehn hehn' chuckle. He lifts the now dripping tooth fragment from the bowl, and says, "Thay 'Ahhhhh' pleathe, Miranda."

Miranda can't help but chuckle lightly at the Kadies emphatic declaration that he is 'perfect'. "Well, you theem fine to me Gunther, if a bit on edge… " The Lapi breaks off what she was saying in order to open her mouth and say "Ahhhh." as requested.

Igor holds the fragment with the tweezers and sees how well it still fits back in the gap. "Clothe enough fit," he declares, and sets the fragment back down in a separate bowl. He takes out a toothbrush with very stiff looking bristles, dunks it into a different bottle, and leans in close to Miranda to brush it over the rest of the tooth. "Try not to lick this thtuff," he warns. "It's for eating away the outer layer of your tooth."

"Don't you snog her while she's going 'ahhh'," Gunther warns the Skreek. He's eyeballing the 'rat' intently.

Miranda almost squeaks but manages to hold it in, looking between Igor and Gunther. She doesn't try to talk for fear of accidentally touching her tongue to the now coated tooth. Instead, she just sighs and waits patiently.

Miranda can hear her tooth… fizz. It also feels like it's being attacked by bees. It doesn't help that Igor's fingers are in there as well, with some sort of cloth, and that in his other hand he's replaced the brush with something like a miniature scythe.

Miranda makes every effort to stay very… very still, and keep her tongue out of the way, silently praying, oh please don't let anything go wrong. I would be ever so grateful if I could get through this without having my tooth fall out… Or my tongue cut off for that matter, she mentally adds, thinking about the tool the Skreek is currently using in her mouth.

Gunther looks torn between waiting patiently for this to finish … and jumping on Igor's back, screaming and yelling. So, to release any nervous energy he has right now, his toes rap on the floorboards.

Scree scree scree goes the little scythe as it scrapes at Miranda's tooth. Noting Gunther's fidgeting, Igor asks him, "Gunther, could you pleathe open the lower drawer of that cabinet and fetch me a thighbone?"

Giving Igor another wary look, he goes to the cabinet and opens the lower door very slowly. Afterall, half the doors in the Wingnut compound are boobytrapped. Nevermind he did the trapping… "No funny business," the Kadie warns.

Miranda just occupies herself with fidgeting her hands while she waits.

"I jutht need thomething for Miranda to hold in her mouth to keep her from biting down," Igor explains.

"And you want her to bite on someone's bone?" Gunther asks. "Ew!" Eventually, he does get a bone from the lower cabinet and bring it back. He offers it to Igor.

"Open wide," Igor asks Miranda after taking the bone.

The Lapi herself almost gags at the thought of having someone else's leg bone in her mouth, uttering a strangled "Mmmrph!" before reluctantly opening her mouth as wide as she can… Now what did I do to deserve this?… she mentally asks herself.

Gunther returns to his fidgeting. It's a good thing he left his knife at home, really.

With no chance of Miranda biting down now, Igor starts applying the bone-glue to where the enamel has been scraped free, and then holds the fragment in place. He uses something like a paintbrush to apply the coating of mushed up tooth over the reconstructed incisor. "It will take a bit to dry and harden, but thhould be ath if you never broke the tooth afterwardth."

"Well … she didn't exactly break it. She just stuck her head too close to one of Zahn's experiments and was whacked by it. That's what broke it," Gunther explains.

Miranda just makes a muffled noise as Igor explains that sounds like a very garbled 'thankyou'.

"The point ith that you couldn't tell the tooth had been broken," Igor notes, and puts a few last dabs of glue onto the tooth. He lets go of the fragment now, and it stays in place as he adds some more touch-ups where the tweezers were holding it.

"And just where did you learn how to do this?" Gunther inquires.

The Lapi looks like she can't wait for Igor to be finished, and especially to get that nasty tasting bone out of her mouth.

"Family recipe," Igor tells the Kadie. "You don't expect me to actually tell you thecretth, now do you?"

"Yes," Gunther says flatly.

"Well, I'm not telling then," Igor notes, and takes out another fresh cloth to start polishing Miranda's tooth with.

"Aww," goes Gunther.

Even with Igor's fingers in her mouth, Miranda can still manage a humorous sigh at Gunther's reactions.

"So … what else did you stick in my brother?" Gunther asks curiously. "Any non-kadie parts?"

"Ath I mentioned, I uthed Zahn'th own baby teeth to fix hith injurieth," Igor says.

"And what else?" Gunther asks…

"Jutht thome blood," Igor notes. "It wath from your father though." He gives the fixed tooth a tap with his claw to check if it's hardened yet, and then takes the bone out of Miranda's mouth. "I think it'th done."

The look of relief on Miranda's face when the bone is removed from her mouth surely transcends all boundaries of speech. The Lapi rolls her jaws for a moment to get the stiffness out and then turns to Gunther with a nervous smile, "Well, how doess it look Gunther?"

"Normal," Gunther says with a sound of disappointment. "And hey! You're talking normally."

"Thee wathn't before?" Igor asks, looking surprised. Well, one of his eyes looks surprised.

"No, she wasn't," Gunther asserts.

"Thounded fine to me," Igor mutters, and starts cleaning up the used cloths and various other implements and bowls.

Miranda frowns slightly at the Kadies apparent disappointment saying, "What? Were you exsspecting it to look worse?" The Lapi no longer lisps badly, though her s's are a bit drawn out… probably from not being used to having her full tooth.

The Lapi's eyes seem to light up when she hears herself, exclaiming "Thank you very much Misster Igor! You really do excellent work." And so excited is she that Miranda actually hugs the odd Skreek! And then HUGS Gunther as well!

Gunther acks and his arms stick straight out! He's not used to being hugged.

Igor is also a bit stunned by the gesture, and has to readjust his robe afterwards. "Well, you are quite welcome, Mith Chalk," he says. "We all therve the community ath betht we came."

"So … " Gunther says, "What do you expect to be paid?"

"Eh?" Igor says, then looks thoughtful. "Well, uthually the deal ith that if Miranda hath a fatal accident, I can uthe her thalvagable bitth to treat otherth."

"What cometh around, goeth around," the Skreek recites.

"That's disturbed," Gunther says, eyes a bit narrow.

Miranda's ears perk up as Gunther mentions payment, she'd almost forgotten about that, her ears skew out at Igor's suggestion, but she quickly recovers, smiling, "That's rather… odd… " but she seems to be taking a moment to seriously think about it. "Is there anything else you might want?"

"Would you rather thomeone went through life without a limb due to an accident?" Igor asks the Kadie. "You work in a very dangerouth job, Gunther. The loth of a hand could end the career of a Wingnut, much leth thomething more thevere."

"I could build a new hand," Gunther insists. "One with a crossbow built in, even!"

"Now that ith dithturbing," Igor notes, and looks to Miranda. "Hmmmm, what elthe do you offer? We could alwayth play together, like we did at that Khattah lady's party."

"Oh yes! That might be nice, I don't play music with other people often, and your instrument was really quite interesting!" Miranda admits with a smile, a now unbroken smile.

"Altho, if you happen upon any coneyth with loothe teeth, keep me in mind," Igor asks. "You never know when a little tooth will come in handy."

"I'll certianlly remember." Miranda agrees, while thinking quietly to herself, 'well, it looks like it's my turn to play tooth fairy.'

Igor looks to Gunther again, holding a pliers-like tool in his hand, and asks, "No more baby teeth, eh? Thure you don't want to make a depothit with an adult tooth then?" He snaps the jaws of the pliers together with a clack.

"Only if you want to be my next test dummy for my weapons research," Gunther threatens the Skreek back while he actually takes a few steps back. "So, I believe the answer is … no."

"Thuit yourthelf then," Igor says, putting the implement back into a drawer.

Miranda actually gets inbetween the Skreek and Kadie saying firmly, "Well, I suppose it's time we should be going, right Gunther?"

"Right, we should be going," Gunther agrees and nods his head rapidly. His manner of exit, though, is to walk backwards towards the doorway so he can keep an eye on Igor.

Miranda starts to follow but stops for a minute at the doorway, looking thoughtful. "I'll meet you upstairs in moment, okay?" she says abruptly to the Kadie boy.

"Take care then," Igor says cheerfully, as he goes to place the vial with Miranda's remaining teeth back onto the shelf. "Thee you thoon. Ethpecially you, Gunther, I'm thure. Hehn hehn hehn. Be careful with that thiny new knife of yourth."

"Er, okay. Just don't let him inject you with anything!" Gunther insists before he disappears from the room.

"Don't worry Gunther," Miranda calls up after the boy before looking back over to Igor. "He really is exciteable, sorry about that. And about the other thing, I suppose if the opportunity came for it it would be okay for you to have any salvageable parts that might be left. They wouldn't be of any use to me anymore, right?" The Lapi states with a polite smile; she did always like to be helpful… and well, that was another way to do so.

"That ith very noble of you, Miranda," Igor says, coming down from the ladder. "It ithn't thomething for you to worry about either, of courth."

"I like being helpful. You do to, right? And I'm not worried, I don't think you'd do anything before the appropriate time for it right?" the Lapi says and then gives the Skreek a small friendly peck on the cheek, "Thanks again for fixing my tooth! I'll be sure to come back some time and we can play music together!" And then Miranda is off up the stairs.

Igor rubs his cheek thoughtfully, and manages to actually smile a little, although with his mismatched cheeks it comes out lopsided. "Ah, youth," he mutters, and then goes about cleaning the rest of the lab.