The Oakhaven Hot Spring was no longer just a puddle in the woods. It was a construction site.
Taylor stood knee-deep in the steaming water, holding a roll of measuring tape. She was wearing her "work clothes"—a white linen shirt and trousers rolled up to her thighs.
"Ren!" she shouted over the hiss of the steam. "Secure the perimeter! We're laying the bamboo pipes today!"
"Understood!" Ren's deep voice boomed from somewhere to her left.
"Ren, that's a tree," Taylor sighed. "The perimeter is *that* way."
"I see," Ren grunted, turning 180 degrees and walking confidently into a bush. "This jungle is a maze. It shifts when I blink."
"He is broken," Violet whispered, sitting on a dry rock nearby. She was watching Taylor's legs in the water with unblinking intensity. "Can I break him more?"
"No breaking the security guard," Taylor ordered. "Luna, bring the bamboo!"
***
[The Wet Shirt Incident]
Laying bamboo pipes to channel geothermal water required precision. It also required Taylor to be in the water.
The heat was intense. Taylor's shirt was already clinging to her skin, soaked with sweat and condensation. The white linen turned translucent, outlining the dark shape of her corset (which she was forced to wear again by Luna) and the curve of her waist.
"My Lady!" Luna squealed, splashing into the water with a bundle of bamboo. "You are glistening! Like a glazed ham! A beautiful, expensive ham!"
Luna tripped.
*SPLASH.*
She landed face-first in the water, sending a massive wave crashing into Taylor.
"Gah!" Taylor sputtered, wiping hot water from her eyes.
She was soaked. Completely. Her shirt was now essentially a second skin, plastered to her body. The cold mountain air hit her wet chest, making her shiver and inadvertently highlighting... certain anatomical reactions to the temperature change.
"Oh my," Luna gasped, standing up and staring at Taylor's chest. " The structural integrity of the shirt has failed! The view is... high definition!"
"Don't look!" Taylor crossed her arms, turning beet red. "It's just thermal contraction! Physics!"
"Let me dry you," Violet purred.
Suddenly, Violet was there. She hadn't splashed. She had simply appeared in the water like a shark.
She wrapped her arms around Taylor from behind. Her hands slid down Taylor's wet stomach, resting dangerously close to her hips.
"You're cold," Violet whispered against Taylor's wet neck. She licked a drop of water from Taylor's earlobe. "I'm warm. Let's transfer heat. Conduction, right?"
"That's... that's not how we do engineering!" Taylor stammered, trying to pry Violet's hands off. But Violet was strong. She pulled Taylor's back flush against her chest.
"Your heart is fast again," Violet murmured, her hand drifting up to cover Taylor's racing heart—and significantly more than just the heart. "Are you scared of the water? Or of me?"
"I'm scared of pneumonia!" Taylor yelled. "Ren! Help! I'm being assaulted by affection!"
Ren stopped hacking at a bush. He turned around, squinting through the steam.
He saw Taylor soaked in a see-through shirt, being groped by her sister and a maid.
"Training," Ren nodded solemnly. "Endurance training. Very good, Captain. Strengthen the spirit against distractions."
He turned back to the bush. "Die, green demon."
"He is useless!" Taylor cried.
***
[The Piping System]
An hour later, after a very awkward drying session (where Luna tried to use her own skirt as a towel), the pipes were laid.
Taylor pointed to the bamboo line running down the hill toward the castle.
"Gravity feed," she explained, shivering slightly in her drying clothes. "The hot water flows down. We insulate the pipes with moss and clay to retain thermal energy. It enters the castle walls. Radiant heating."
"And the bathhouse?" Violet asked. She was braiding Taylor's damp hair, her fingers lingering on Taylor's neck.
"We divert a secondary line to the East Wing," Taylor said. "We build a spa. We charge admission. We get rich."
"And we wash each other," Violet added.
"We charge *others* to wash," Taylor corrected.
Suddenly, a bird landed on Ren's shoulder. He looked at it, confused.
"Are we in the North?" Ren asked the bird.
The bird flew away.
"Damn," Ren cursed. "I lost the guide."
Taylor looked at her ragtag team. A lost samurai. A perverted maid. A yandere sister.
And somewhere in the shadows, Alison DiLaurentis—"A"—was watching.
"We have heat," Taylor said, looking at the steam rising from the new pipes. "Now we need food. Luna, tell me about that Kicking Chef again."
"She is in the village of Riverwood," Luna said, wringing out her wet dress. "Fighting over a cabbage, probably."
"Then we go to Riverwood," Taylor said. "If I'm going to fight a war, I need an army that marches on a full stomach."
She looked down at her chest.
"And a thicker shirt."
[Ding!]
[Quest Updated: The Culinary Recruit]
[Target: The Kicking Chef]
[Warning: High Probability of Ecchi Misunderstandings]