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Teislyn hoped she wasn't going to be late getting to board the ship. The muddy streets and kids splashing in the puddles didn't help with her travels, so making her way to the docks wasn't easy.

Upon making onto the ship, she looked around for Chat and Frieda. They had said they'd be there early. She saw them at a table, waved, and went to join them.

Lion rises from his chair with delight as Teislyn approaches the table, hugging her and kissing her resoundingly on both cheeks as he would a long-lost sister. Pouring a flute of champagne for her he raises his own in toast to his friends "Ladies, each time I see you, you are more and more radiant. Pour t' sante!" touching his flute to each of theirs

Nutsy and Francine were spinning slowly in place as they showed off their outfits. "Looks great!" Nicsy said, perched overlooking the pair as they added finishing touches - a lapel flower for Nutsy, a lovely necklace for Francine. They would fit right in at the Captain's table. Outfit Not Found Outfit Not Found Nicsy waved one black wing, gesturing. A spiderweb floated gently down and lodged on Francine's antlers. "Oooh, pretty," the mynah said, liking how the lacy touch decorated the reindeer's crowning glory.

Pika's eyes widened, "oh pretty, I have just the thing." In her bag she pulls out her little jumping spider friend. "Can you help us out?" The little spider squeaks as it weaves the bits of old web neatly in place adding bits of spidery dew that shined like jewels.

Sorn leant back in his chair. Sure, he could dress up and preen at the captain's table. He certainly belonged in the higher classes, so he thought. But it all seemed overly frivolous. Why exert the effort when the food was the same? He'd let the others on the team have their little "reindeer games" whilst he supped in luxury. His little sprite, Zhah sat beside him eating some nuts. Sorn scanned and watched as they dolled the deer up with a spider on her. "Funny," he mused out loud, "I would have used some basil and thyme to garnish her before I cooked the reindeer..." He sipped the wine and said, "Weirdos."

Jeice, Webby, And Galaxia heard Sorn's comments and chuckle this not being their first adventure.... They know everything is a bit weird when your on a adventure! Finally Nutsy and Francine are released from the inspection as perfect for dinner with the captain.

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"One of us has to dress as a deer or squirrel?" Terrena looks confused.

"I don't think I have any of those types of costumes," Springjoy adds.

Paisleyann shrugs, "Yea especially a squirrel....do those outfits exist?"

Lovecraft emerges from the bar area with a tequila shot in her hands, grinning, "Squirrel, squirrel shake your bushy tail! Squirrel, squirrel shake your bushy tail! Wrinkle up your little nose, Hold a nut between your toes. Squirrel, squirrel shake your bushy tail!

They all look at her with mouths open except Witchy. She looks as if she is thinking hard (or hardly thinking, since it IS Witchy we're talking about). Without a word, she turns and Witchy runs down to her cabin.

"My singing wasn't that bad!" Lovecraft yells after her.

"Guess that is a cue to turn in for the night and think about it," Terrena suggest.

Springjoy and Paisley nod in agreement. Lovecraft just simply turns and goes back into the bar.

"Should we stop her?" Paisley asks looking at Terrena.

"Anyone know if made it off the ship?" Springjoy adds.

"Im amazed Lovecraft is still standing," Terrena point blank states. "I say leave her...we can turn in and rest...she can pass out here."

Not long afterwards, Witchy is knocking on the Loyal Peppers doors.

As they open their doors, and look out (all but Lovecraft, she must still be in the bar) Witchy twirls around, and says "How do I look? Do you think this will get me an invitation to the Captains table? If ANY one can get information, I just KNOW I can do it!" and she strikes a dramatic pose

Dressing up as a reindeer or a squirrel proved to be very difficult. Ilaera saw how her friends were trying really hard to come up with pieces of clothing that would fit in a costume. Eventually though they managed to come up with a perfect outfit that would fit any reindeer trying to get into a formal dinner party.

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(OOC: Thank you for making the wonderful HA for our team <3 )

Nova looked Francine up and down, "Must dress ye it seems, you're in no condition to dine as ye are." Nova's 'r's rolled softly as she spoke, half to herself. Without an idea in mind, the Necromancer looked to her teammates who were already to work on the perfect outfit for the beautiful reindeer.

"I suppose I shall do the honour of presenting you and your tiny squirrel friend then."

Galaxia, lost in her thoughts, bumped into Nutsy on the way out from the meeting with Webby's Watsons. She shook her head and offered an apology, helping him straighten his tie.

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The whispered with each other while paper with elaborate pictures of costumes flew back and forth. They decided to pick the best outfit for the squirrel and Francine then offer their choices to both hoping at least one would be chosen to attend the coveted table.

Finally they had two pictures to show and wondered if any would like. Willow held out the first picture of Nutsy and stopped to see his reaction: Private Outfit

As she began to hold out Francine's costume, her glasses fell off hitting her lap then landing under the table. Unable to see her hand in front of her, Willow excused herself to climb underneath to retrieve them leaving the last picture laying on the table. Chook picked it up to present to Francine as the other members of the team attempted to help Willow yet avoid stepping on her glasses. Outfit Not Found By the time Willow had found and put on her glasses Nutsy had taken the paper happily to leave hoping to be called to the table. Francine giggled (as much as a reindeer could sound like giggling) and winked.

"I think Nutsy wants the table..but I'll take this in case we are both called"

"Which do you think, ma douce chatte? The tuxedo or the dinner jacket?" Lion asked his companion. Given his own preference it would be a black tux with tails , a little dated but it would turn some caribou heads. Unfortunately it was more important to blend in as far as fashion and the dress code for a gentleman seeking a place at the Captain's Table in 1918 is a Dinner jacket. Eh, bien!

Noel's eyes flickered open, she chittered to herself, puzzling out the giant squirrel that smelled and sounded like papa, jumped from the bed and headed for her feeding station.

"Wish me luck, ma petite! While I am away, remember to take a nap, drink lots of water and don't make any long distance calls. I should be back around midnight maybe with some oysters or abalone. A bientot."

He would have loved to have his friends with him, but calling at their staterooms met with unanswered knocks. The dining room was sufficiently splendid, "Monsieur..." the Maitre D asked deferentially

"Delacroix. Achille Delacroix," he supplied with a smile. The Maitre D may not be a native French speaker but his French was excellent, he thinks.

The Maitre D' took in the pressed dinner jacket and smiled approval "Will you be dining with the Captain, Monsieur?"

"To be frank, Monsieur, I am not certain, usually an invitation is slipped under the door, but I was so excited to begin our journey I may have overlooked it," he smiled apologetically

"Allow me to consult the list, Monsieur. Will you have a sherry in the lounge?"

Posting for Rebel Peppers

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Posting for

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As Lion waited in the lounge, he felt someone behind him "Won't you have a seat" he invited.

"Thank you! The heels are killing me, Lion," Teislyn murmurs, taking the seat next to him.

His smile is genuine when he sees his friend, squeezing her fingers fondly he adds "Being fabulous sometimes carries a terrible price, ma amie and you do look fabulous."

Teislyn touches her cheek self consciously "Are you trying to make me blush?"

"Maybe a little bit," he laughs. "I knocked on your stateroom door but there was no answer."

She shrugged. "I was getting dressed, it wouldn't do to answer the door in nothing but a dressing gown, would it?" she giggles

Francine finds herself wedged between Carrie and Ermentine, who is there without Nikkel, who arrives too late to sit next to his wife. Fortunately, Benjamin, Alexis, Jels, and Aubrie are also late arrivals, so Francine notices Nutsy has managed to slide into the chair on Ermentine's other side. Francine ignores a barb from Carrie about "looking presentable for once," smiles at the very drunk captain's compliments that she is a "lovely caribou," and engages Ermentine in conversation. The matron seems very glad of the attention of both Francine and Nutsy, and the influence of the third glass of champange leads her to whisper in their ears.

The news is quite fascinating, as well as troubling, and delivered just in time, since an alarm rings and the first mail uses the megaphone: "Deer Overboard. I repeat, deer overboard!"

"Don't worry, they'll fish him out," the capatin assures them. "There's a clumsy crew member on every voyage."

Still, as soon as they can, the guests wander to the upper deck and find the crew has indeed retrieved the body. And it is a body, as the young steward is very, very dead.

Nutsy goes closer to the young buck, and looks at him carefully. Then he rushes off to send a telegraph. Ermentine leans against Francine and looks sorrowful. "He was such a nice buck, too. He gave me such a good tour!"

Nutsy returns and whispers to Francine. "He didn't hit his head on the rail at all. He couldn't have. He was coshed from behind, and I suspect he was tossed overboard. I telegraphed LeBrie, even though the first mate tried to stop me. Now, I think we should talk to those late dinner arrivals!"

(OOC: You may now interview the suspects. You will only have time to question three with three questions each, unless you wish to spend clues for an additional suspect or an additional question. You have until March 1 at 11:59 pm Subeta time to smail your choices and questions to me.)

Calie and Sky were tired. They'd been running late all day. After finally reaching the ship, they found they were too late to try to make it to the captains table, and honestly, they were too tired to care.

They found their assigned cabin (after much back and forth, getting lost, asking for directions, getting lost again before FINALLY finding their quarters), and laid their luggage down in the corner before flopping down on their respective beds.

"Lord I'm exhausted!" Calie sighed, "I could fall asleep right here..." Sky absently nodded in agreement as she looked out the window of their cabin quietly humming a tune to herself.

Suddenly a loud sound came through the room followed by an announcement, "Deer overboard. I repeat, deer overboard!"

They both sighed. "I suppose we should check that out, huh?" Sky said. Calie nodded and they both got up and shuffled out the door.

They made it to the upper deck just in time to catch a rather fancily dressed group come out of the dining hall. They all solomly watched at the crew retreived the body. They listened in as the others talked amongst themselves.

"We should go around and ask some questions." Calie whispered to Sky. "I'll take those two and you find someone else." They went their separate ways to gather clues.

Lovecraft stumbles out from the bar into her fellow loyal jalapenos. "Shhhh," she holds her finger up to her lips and fails to whisper at them. "Be careful how and where we talk. SPIES are out there."

"We are suppose to begin interviewing suspects," TerrenaAnimula addresses everyone ignoring Lovecraft. "Has anyone seen Witchy?"

"Not since she dressed up and went to dinner," Springjoy says.

"I am not sure what happened with her," Paisleyann agrees.

"PORKCHOPS!" Lovecraft declares. "Witchy found herself some porkchops!"

"Seems plausible," Terrena nods.

"Porkchops?" Paisley and Spring ask confused.

"Men," Terrena answers. "That is what Witchy calls men."

"I need another drink! Anyone else?" Love looks at them all waiting for a response.

"Are you going to be at the bar this entire trip?" Spring asks.

"Where else are you to find loose lips while on vacation?" Love replies nonchalantly.

"Is Reaper still with you?" Paisley asks, but Lovecraft turns and walks away without a response.

"I am going to go find Witchy," Terrena remarks. "She can't be up to any good either. I am not sure she slipped any rainbow pass the crew when boarding." She turns and walks off.

"Guess that leaves you and I to do the interviews," Paisley turns to Spring and says.

"This shall be fun," Spring says pulling out a clipboard and pen. "Where to begin?"

(Occ) Paisley sent the questions to you.

"We should decide who we're going to talk to. The Captain's behavior was very suspicious, don't you agree?" Frieda murmurs, pausing to dip a fish finger in custard and pop it in her mouth.

"Do you think it could have been a ploy, his drunkenness, I mean?" Ebelle asks.

Lion nods "It is possible, ma petite, but if you had to deal with something very, very unpleasant, a murder and questions that could prove to be most awkward and embarrassing to answer, wouldn't you want a drink or three to steady yourself? If you were of age. Let's make him the first on our list of people to talk with-"

"Interrogate," Cat corrected with a grin, "I've always wanted to grill a suspect."

"Innocent until proven guilty, Cat," Teislyn reminds her. "His actions were pretty suspicious, but maybe, as Lion pointed out, it was stress, knowing things were about to get very ugly, very soon."

"I already know who bopped buck boy on the head and dumped him in the ocean. It was him" Tea_Roll stabs an accusing finger at the Frenchman. "Anyone who would take a perfectly good poking stick and throw it away is capable of anything, especially murder!"

"He was sitting on my left during dinner and told us an absolutely delightful story about his school days," Frieda pointed out

"HA! That's what he wants you to think. I'm watching you, Frenchie! Every single stick stealing move you make, my eyes'll be on you :

"But, you were sitting right across from him and Teislyn was sitting with him in the lounge, so when did he have time to commit the crime?" Ebelle asks.

"Ma Chere, you'll never convince her that I didn't murder the Steward. The first mate may prove helpful. Maybe it wasn't a matter of him showing the engine room that got him killed, a handsome young buck, perhaps he had an eye for the ladies. Perhaps he was a cheat at cards or dice. We must rule out all possibilities regardless of how unlikely

After the fiasco of the quick "burial at sea" of the poor steward, which prevented an autopsy, and for which no one has taken the responsibility, Inspector Brie and Nutsy are both disgusted by the turn of events. "Of course I believe what you saw, Nutsy. It's murder, but we can't prove it," Brie tells him. "I can't commit my men to it with no evidence, so I'll fly back to land and let you know what I can discover there. You and Francine keep digging. There's trouble afoot here, for sure."

After Brie departs, Nutsy turns to Francine. "You have any thoughts on this?" "Not much, but I did pick up a few things. Evidently Alexis thought it would be 'charming' to try to recreate a Titanic feel to this voyage, although her definition of charming leaves me cold." "We're going to hit an iceberg??" Nutsy gasps. "We can't. Eros has too warm a climate, and besides, no one would benefit from the ship sinking to my knowledge. except maybe Perry Peary. He's an inknown cipher in all of this. At any rate, the others have fortunes to lose if this voyage isn't successful, so I doubt anything is going to happen. No, this murder must be about something else. But what?" "I know, Fran. That's the hardest thing. Figuring the motive." "Oh, and Carrie passed me a note earlier. She seemed on edge and a little scared, but the note is gibberish as it is. It seems to be in some sort of code..." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small piece of paper:

(OOC: Can you solve this note? You have until Sunday, at 11;59 PM to solve this and send it to me for a clue. More info on the OOC thread.)

Nicsy wondered whether the note was really from Carrie at all, or if it was something she'd found and passed on to Francine to figure it out. She didn't wonder this out of her own thoughts, though - when they'd figured out what the note meant, one of her new friends had suggested this, though in her own stressed out state she couldn't remember which one. But the fox shapeshifter couldn't get the thought out of her head.

Because what it said didn't seem to have anything to do with what Carrie would be telling Francine. Unless the modest bit of encouragement was meant to be self-help, for Carrie to reassure herself, and having written it not realizing how jumbled it had come out she had passed the note on to Francine with a hope it would also encourage her too? She wished she could talk it over with Gish, but Gish had flown off somewhere, Nicsy was not sure where. With at least one killer aboard, Nicsy wished her friend would be more careful.

Maybe it was the fox-elf lady, Pika, who had made the suggestion. Nicsy had been attempting to take a shape like hers, because it was so odd and yet familiar at the same time - without success yet, though she'd keep trying. The reindeer shape might be more useful on this voyage, though a reindeer-elf would be even more difficult than a fox-elf, she suspected. Combining forms like that was not even something she'd considered doing before this trip. Now it was almost more important to her than finding a killer...

Nutsy brow knits as he looks at the decoded note in front of him. "Is she playing with us or not? 'Great job! You got it!" What kind of a message is that?"

"It's Carriesque. She's congratulating herself on finding out something valuable. It's very typical, really," Francine answers.

"I'll take your word for it. I suppose we'd better go talk to her in case she's willing to help."

The two make their way to Carrie's stateroom, but she doesn't answer the knock. Francine tries the door and it opens. She gives Nutsy a puzzled look and both of them enter cautiously.

It's not a pretty sight. Everything in trunks and drawers is thrown on the floor. The gramaphone on the table is playing a scrathy version of "They Didn't Believe Me," a duet where the female voice is strangely familiar. There is no sign of Carrie.

Francine moves further in to check the first-class only private bathroom, and gasps. Carrie is on the floor. Quickly, she kneels down and checks for a pulse.

"She's alive, but I think she's heavily drugged." She bends over. "Smells like skunk cabbage mixed with false hellebore root."

"Wouldn't that kill her?"

"Normally, no. Deer often eat poisonous leaves. But we don't usually eat the root part. It's a secret, but Carrie confided in me once that she had a trace of Sitka blood on her mother's side. That's what probably saved her, but how much she'll remember is dubious. I wonder how she got the stuff. It's not on the regular menu. I'll go get the doctor."

"We have a ship's doctor?" Nutsy wonders.

"We do now. Seems some of our other detectives found him. Just an intern, though, and subject to really bad mal-de-mer. That's why we never saw him."

After Francine dashes off, Nutsy wonders just what it was she was so proud of finding out. In his mind, he reviews everyone questioned: The Captain (multiple times, along with the First Mate,) Carrie, Benjamin, Aubrie, Ermentine and Nikkel (over and over); Jels and Alexis (dead ends there,) and the uncooperative Perry. Oh, and yes, they did do a doctor. He remembers now.

Nothing much came of all those questions except to establish the captain has an alcohol problem, the first mate will do anything to keep his position, a lot of money is invested in the ship, and nobody will admit to knowing anything about the fire, but it made the bigwigs mad.

"Time to get back to basics, and find out some real clues," he mutters to himself. "We should search the staterooms, and ask around again."

Carrie moans and twitches. Nutsy nods. "I see you agree with me."

(OOC: You may now question TWO suspects and search ONE stateroom. However, you may also exchange information with ONE other team, IF and only if BOTH teams are willing. Smail your chosen suspects and stateroom to me by Friday, March 16, at 11:59 pm Subeta time. Questions and comments on the OOC thread, please.)

Lovecraft stumbles out of the bar area into her teammates again. "That captain can sure put them away." She laughs, "He is almost drinking as much as I am."

TerrenaAnimula, Springjoy and Paisleyann all roll their eyes at her.

"He is a tasty piece," Witchy purrs.

"Either way we have this odd note with bizarre writing on it to solve," Terrena looks at them all.

"I studied a few languages," Spring says, "But I have never seen that one."

"I haven't either," Paisley says looking at the letters.

Lovecraft glances at it and whispers an answer to them.

"HOW do you see something in that?" Terrena asks astonished.

"I need another drink," Love states. "I feel like I am sobering up."

"Wait!" Sping yells. "Sorry I raised my voice, but how about this new riddle?!"

"Did your wife say anything to you?" Paisley asks hopefully,

"I haven't spoken to her since we left shore," Love responds. "The answer is easy tho." She whispers again and wanders back into the bar.

"I am going to go with her," Witchy says. "She hasn't killed anyone yet and well...we all know its bound to happen. Better to watch her then let her continue to run free."

"Plus their are some hot porkchops in there...right?" Terrena asks suspiciously.

"So Love hasn't talked to Reaper since we left...So that means she isn't on board right?" Spring asks as Witchy wanders after Love to the bar.

"Well with those two wandering off," Paisley suggests, "We can go search someones room and talk to another suspect."

"Who should we go after?" Spring asks.

"I don't know," Terrena responds. "But think I am going to keep an eye on Witchy and Love. Those two can cause more trouble then a murderer running around." She walks off towards the bar to babysit.

"Guess its up to us,' Paisley says. "Lets do it."

"And this time," Spring says "We will pick suspects!"

glares at

EDIT CUZ I THOUGHT THIS WAS OUR FORUM! hides

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Even though Laurie is later than late because she has missed this so much she scrambles to find her place amongst old friends who might still remember her. She does not expect to be part of any rewards, she and Hope just want to play along if that's allowed..

That means she's hoping she was surprised with an invitation to the captains table because it took hours to do just one avatar, theres not a chance she'll be able to piggyback the neighbors wifi long enough to create another.