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DOCTOR'S CLINIC - PATIENT ROOM - LATE AFTERNOON
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Maybelline mrphs slowly as she comes awake again, after Doc had taken a few readings, verified a few whatever's, and made sure she was more or less stable, May had fallen back asleep with a full belly. Waking up again, she blinks at the brightness, trying to roll over out of habit only for the sharp pain in her side to remind her that moving isn't much of a great idea yet. "Gah..."
Brunilda is sitting down on the floor, reading a book on magitech theory. She's not wearing anything on her upper body, for now not wanting to tolerate even a light wrap over her back. She glances at the stoat on the bed, smiling: "Oh. Glad to see you're up again."
Maybelline turns her head to spot the (rather hard to miss) elephant in the room, "Oh! Brun..."
Brunilda puts her book down and rests her hands in front of her, nodding at the stoat: "Doc told me you were up before, but I missed it by... well, not being."
Maybelline coughs out a laugh, "That's fine... I... Doc said I owe being here to you. Being alive to you... I... I don't know how I can repay you for that."
Brunilda shakes her head as sharply as she dares: "No need. I did what anyone would have done."
Maybelline 's ears drop, "But I couldn't have done it, even if I wanted... and you still got hurt because of me... Sorry."
Brunilda looks at Maybelline: "If I had been quicker to react, neither of us would need to be here."
Maybelline raises an eyebrow. "Quicker to react... to what? What could you have possibly done?"
Brunilda mentally traces her steps in that moment of action: "I could have... hesitated less, and only left the room when you were okay." She has a twinge of anger in her voice, though it's pretty obviously for herself.
Maybelline laughs again, breaking into a cough. She reaches out for glass of water left by Doc Plume at her bedside, drinking to clear her throat. "I was inside the generator, Brun... had you stayed in that room, we'd both be dead from the explosion."
Brunilda grunts, agreeing despite not wanting to: "Hmmh. Still, I should have... I don't know, something."
Maybelline hums, setting her head back down, "Should have gotten out of there without getting hurt, and left me behind." She snorts, "Add it all to the list of 'should haves'. I never checked the integrity of the containment, for one."
Brunilda sighs, shifting her sitting position: "Guess... we both messed up, then."
Maybelline snorts, "If not letting me die is messing up, yeah, you sure blew it."
Brunilda looks back up: "No I mean...!" Her expression then softens as she sighs again: "...point made and taken."
Maybelline hms, pausing to think. "More important question is... what next?"
Brunilda shrugs slightly: "Back to work when I can, I suppose."
Maybelline sighs, "Easier for you than for me... spare parts and makeshift repairs aren't gonna fix whatever mess that explosion left behind."
Brunilda nods, thinking: "Well... I have almost no skills with it all, but I'll be happy to help if I can."
Maybelline looks down at the bed, at her basically useless right side, "Gonna be awhile before we reach that point... but thank you. I don't even know how long it'll take before I can use my hand again, let alone start repairs to the generator."
Brunilda leans back on her hands, wincing only slightly at the strain it causes on her back: "Well, I'm..." She pauses, as the thought actually only now occurs to her: "...I can't wear anything on top, right now. Armor is SO out of the question. I didn't even... realize..." she trails off as the thought connects what this means towards doing any guard duty.
Maybelline frowns, "ICEE burns are nothing to fool around with."
Brunilda blinks a bit dumbly: "But... what will I do?"
Maybelline grins weakly. "Gonna need more books?"
Brunilda blinks again, then looks at May: "...probably."
Maybelline: And I'm... I don't know either.
Brunilda lets out a sigh: "This is gonna take some getting used to."
Maybelline sighs again, "Sorry..."
Brunilda glances at May: "I'm sorry too."
Maybelline turns her head to look at Brunilda and forces a smile. "Y-you... you're still my friend." She blinks away a few tears of doubt. "Right?"
Brunilda blinks, looking up at May in surprise: "O-of course! I m-mean, how could I not be?"
Maybelline shrinks a little in the bed, "I mean... I just... whoever's fault it is, you got hurt, and it was because of me. And I sorta... figured... maybe you wouldn't want to be around me anymore." She swallows, "Truth is... I've never really... had... friends. None who really wanted to stick around..."
Brunilda frowns slightly: "I... well, maybe I haven't had that many friends either. And... I got hurt because I did what needed to be done, May."
Maybelline smiles, sniffling a little, "Thank you."
Brunilda smiles softly: "It takes more than a little burn to be rid of me."
Maybelline: And it takes... I don't know. As long as you want me around, anyways, I'll be here.
Brunilda chuckles, shifting her position again, this time enough to show some of her back to Maybelline: "I don't think I'll be going anywhere from Respite, now."
Brunilda blinks upon realizing she actually meant that.
Maybelline frowns as she looks at Brun's scar. "And I... don't know. I guess I might be here too, if the town still wants me here too."
Brunilda shrugs: "Why shouldn't they? It's not like you actively sabotaged the thing."
Maybelline nods, "Doc said the same thing... that everyone knows I tried my hardest... I just... well, it's my job to get it fixed, and I'm not going to give up on that."
Brunilda pauses, then glances up: "Then don't."
Maybelline blinks at Brun, then nods. "Well... guess I won't then. I think... I'm here in Respite to stay."
Brunilda nods, musing: "We both are, it seems."
Maybelline takes another sip of water, then lies back and hums. "Yeah. So it seems."
Brunilda is quiet for a moment, thinking: "...I guess I will have a lot more time to learn magitech now."
Maybelline chuckles, "By the time I can work on things again, you might be more help then you think."
Brunilda gives a smile as she shifts her position again, clearly not able to find a perfectly comfortable position with her burns: "Well, I hope so." She gestures at her book: "Some of these texts are really thick to read..."
Maybelline chuckles, "Yeah, that's certainly true. I've read the whole lot of them."
Brunilda blushes a bit: "I might yet need your help understanding."
Maybelline grins, "Well, not doing much for awhile... I can do my best to help if you have any questions."
Brunilda nods, lifting up her book as she opens a bookmark: "Well... in here, it says to 'properly wire-proof the ley line', but... it doesn't explain how to do that?"
Maybelline thinks a moment, "Well... it works like this. The ley line has to be properly set first, and to do that..." She goes on to do her best to explain the basics of a rather difficult engineering concept to Brun, letting their discussion help pass the time.
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NESSETH'S HOUSE - LATE AFTERNOON
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Nesseth is lounging comfortably on the roof of his house again, the selfsame jug of iced water close at hand as he soaks up some of the warmth from the last bits of the sun's rays before nightfall. He's actually awake at the moment for once, but is currently inattentive enough that he might as well be asleep anyway.
Vix quietly hoists herself up onto Nesseth's roof from street level, having already checked through the windows for him. Upon spotting him, she begin approaching stealthily on all fours.
Nesseth is just listening to the soft rustle of the wind as it blows past over the rooftops, bringing with it the sounds of the leaves from the stand of trees a ways out from the edge of the town. He seems fully at ease at the moment.
Vix gets close enough to touch Nesseth and lightly taps him on the shoulder. "Hey, Ness?"
Nesseth jumps upon being tapped on the shoulder, and he sits up with a bit of flailling and a shout of surprise. "Gah!"
Vix giggles as Nesseth jolts to attention. "Gotcha again~"
Nesseth groans quietly as he leans forward and rests his head against his knees for a moment, trying to calm himself back down. "You'd think... I'd be used to that by now..."
Vix gently hugs Nesseth to help get his heart rate down. "I found some neat stuff this morning. Wanna see~?"
Nesseth hums as he leans into the hug a bit, and it does help to calm him down again. Once he's settled, he sighs and tilts his head a bit. "Some neat stuff? What kinda neat stuff?"
Vix opens up her satchel and shows it to Nesseth, revealing a fine assortment of herbs. "Some healing stuff for uh...for May. Damina helped me find them!"
Nesseth leans in a bit to get a closer look at the herbs. "Neat. So the two of you went out herb-hunting for a bit earlier today, then?"
Vix nods. "She's a really good shot."
Nesseth chuckles as he shifts and makes a bit of space on the chair for Vix. "Yeah, she's a good hunter. I take it you two didn't run into any big trouble while out and about?"
Vix shakes her head. "Just a bit of small fry. Would have been a bother if I was on my own."
Nesseth hums and smiles. "I'm glad you two were able to stay safe, then."
Vix scratches her head. "There is...one little thing about these herbs, though. Could you do me a favor and um...deliver them for me?
Nesseth tilts his head. "Deliver them for you? Uh... to where, May?"
Vix looks away a bit. "Yeah. Just bring them to Doc. They'll know what to do..."
Nesseth gives Vix a curious look. "I can, definitely, but... why don't you want to deliver them yourself?"
Vix: I'm not quite ready to see May yet, and...I don't think Doc would want to see me either...
Nesseth looks Vix over with a raised eyebrow. "What makes you think Plume wouldn't want to see you?"
Vix points alternately between herself and Nesseth. "Y-you know, because we...you knoooow..."
Nesseth looks at Vix's hand as she points back and forth, then snorts in amusement. "Oh, right... What, you think I told Plume after they said to not tell them...?"
Vix shakes her head. "I'm sure you didn't, but...they know I asked you and it would be awkward and I'm not in a good space to deal with that, y'know?"
Nesseth hums after a moment and gives Vix a light, one-armed hug. "Fair enough. Sure, I'll go and drop them off at Plume's office now, if you want." He tilts his head a bit, "Are you sure you're okay, though?"
Vix nods. "Yeah. I'll um.../definitely/ not follow you just out of sight to see how it goes..."
Nesseth chuckles. "Well, now that you've told me, you can if you want. Or else, you could just wait here and I'll let you know how it went."
Vix hums. "You won't know unless you see me, I suppose~"
Nesseth smirks and shrugs. "Either way, I guess I'll probably come back just to tell you anyway, even if you're going to watch from afar."
Vix passes the satchel to Nesseth. "I'll make sure to pay you back the favor later~"
Nesseth accepts the satchel and hefts it onto his shoulder. He smiles as he stands up. "Sounds like a plan. I'll be back in a bit!"
Vix smiles. "Thanks a lot, Ness!"
Nesseth waves as he strides over to the ladder leading down into the back yard of his place. "No problem, Vix. I'm happy to help!"
Vix waves to Nesseth as he heads off, then takes a different route to Doc's place once he's out of sight.
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DOCTOR'S CLINIC - PATIENT ROOM - EVENING
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Maybelline sits awake in the relative quiet, not being much good for anything right now, having difficulty even keeping a book open with one arm, now that Brunilda has gone to bed, May's own sleep is still rather hard to come across after four days unconcious, leaving her rather bored at the moment.
Nesseth unlocks the door leading out to the lane in front of Plume's practice and steps inside, carrying Vix's satchel full of medicinal herbs. He shuts the door behind him and looks around for Plume, then waves and smiles upon seeing May sitting up on her cot. "Oh! You're awake, May? How are you feeling?"
Maybelline glances towards the noise, then gives a small smile at the lizard, "Oh, ...Nesseth? Yeah, been awake on and off all day, but feeling pretty full on awake right now." She sighs, "Don't feel much right now, but that's normal, I've been told. Hurts to move or put pressure on my right side, and I can't move my right arm or leg yet."
Nesseth hums and moves over to the side of the cot, pulling a chair with him so he can take a seat. He loops the strap of the satchel around one of the chair's arms and lets it hang in place. "You're in recovery at the moment... I wouldn't be surprised if you needed a bit of therapy to regain full use of them once you're better." He looks around for a moment, "I'm guessing Plume's not in right now?"
Maybelline sighs, glancing down her side, "You're probably right..." She shakes her head, "And nah, Doc went out to grab some food for the two of us."
Nesseth nods. "Well, I can hang around until they get back. I've got some good news for you, though!" He smiles as he gestures at the satchel, "Got some stuff in here that I think Plume can use to help you recover faster."
Maybelline tilts her head, "Oh? Well, that's good news, I'm already sick of this bed. What is it?"
Nesseth: "It's a bunch of medicinal herbs Vix gathered up earlier somewhere outside of town with Damina's help. From what Vix said, Plume could maybe use them to help get you back up on your feet a bit faster."
Maybelline blinks a few times, her expression dropping a little, "Crap... Vix. Right..."
Nesseth tilts his head a bit at May's change in expression. "Something wrong, May?"
Maybelline sighs, "No, no..." She's not selling it, and she knows it. "...okay, sorta. I... I don't know. I sorta yelled at her about stuff, before all this happened. And, I mean, I don't know if I approve of what she did, taking parts from the generator storeroom and all, but..."
Nesseth hums softly. "Mmh, she told me about all of that. Though... you don't sound as upset about it as she made it sound."
Maybelline shakes her head, "I... was. But you know, when that moment comes when you accept that you're going to die... sometimes that stuff seems sorta petty." She looks away from Nesseth and frowns. "I still don't approve of what she did. But... I still want to be friends. I need all the friends I can get, especially when I keep screwing things up like this."
Nesseth leans on his knees as he listens. "Well, it might be worthwhile to chat with Vix when you get a chance next. She seemed pretty convinced you just straight up hated her even though she did her best to try and make it all right."
Maybelline slumps back into bed, "Ugh... Well... I sorta... did..." She tilts her head towards Nesseth, glancing at the herb satchel. "If you see her, tell her I'm sorry, will you? I... want to speak with her again, please."
Nesseth nods. "I'll be sure to tell her when I see her. It shouldn't be too hard to find her."
Maybelline smiles sadly as she nods in return, "Thanks. First Vix, then Annika, then Brun..." She glances at the sleeping elephant. "I can't believe anyone in this town cares about me at all, let alone so many of you."
Nesseth chuckles and smiles. "One thing folks tend to learn is that, in a frontier town, everyone has to lean on everyone else in some manner to do well."
Maybelline: "So different from the city... in Glaushire, there's so many more people, but you're so alone. Family is all you've got, and everyone else... well, they just don't care about a stoat trying to make an honest living."
Nesseth shakes his head. "I never did enjoy larger cities for that reason, and I never liked staying in them for very long. Embercoast, where I'm from, is a lot more friendly."
Maybelline considers a moment and looks over Nesseth, "You're a hunter right? An adventurer? Guild member, whatever you call it?"
Nesseth nods. "Yup. Former Explorers Guild, somewhat decent hunter, and occasional town guard for Respite." He tilts his head after a moment, "Why do you ask?"
Maybelline hesitates, her left hand shaking slightly, "Has... this ever happened to you? I mean, not the generator part, but the... death part? I had a moment there, where... I knew I was going to die. No way to avoid it, no way to stop it. You've probably done some dangerous stuff..."
Nesseth hums and smiles lopsidedly for a moment. "Heh... hardly. Part of what it takes to be a good hunter is to know if what you're hunting even constitutes prey. But I suppose I'm still at least somewhat familiar with it in some manner."
Maybelline purses her lips and nods. "Just can't shake this feeling right now, that maybe I was supposed to die there. I was ready, in just that split second, it seemed okay." She shakes her head, "I've got too much to do though."
Nesseth glances over at Brunilda's slumbering form nearby, then turns his smile back on May. "You made peace with it, that's all." He pauses, "How's this for a bit of a turnaround, though? If you were supposed to die there, Brun wouldn't have been around to pull you out. Could be that you're supposed to build up something bigger from a pile of rubble."
Maybelline blinks at Nesseth a moment, then scratches her chin with her good hand, "Well, I need to do something to restore the generator... you mean bigger then that?"
Nesseth shrugs. "That's for you to figure out, I think. Would you be happy just putting it back into working order, or would you rather make it into something better, with all that knowledge you've got stored in your head?"
Maybelline forces a laugh, "I mean... I'd never be so full of myself as to say I've got some kinda... grand purpose in life..." She tries to make it a joke, but it's clear that something about Nesseth's words have shaken her a little.
Nesseth winks with a playful grin. "Hey, if we've got any grand purpose in life, it's to make things better for ourselves and others, right? We just do that however we can with whatever know-how we've got."
Maybelline chuckles again, "Y-yeah. That does make sense..."
Nesseth smiles. "Now, I don't necessarily believe in... I dunno, destiny or whatever you want to call it, but there's no shame in accepting that you might have been about to die in there when the generator blew up. We all have to die sooner or later."
Maybelline nods slowly. "Well... I'm hoping more for the later, now. And I don't know either, but... this town deserves the best I can give it, if just for how everyone has treated me."
Nesseth nods. "Not gonna lie, that already puts you way ahead of the town's previous engineer. Everyone in Respite has your back, May, and we'll all do whatever we can to help out."
Maybelline sighs, "I really wish I knew what they were thinking... but I already said this to Brun earlier. I'm not giving up on this generator, or this town, Nesseth. Respite Falls is... is my home now."
Nesseth: "From personal experience, they just kind of didn't care, I guess. They spent all their time reading up on AMP technology and not maintaining the ICEE tech right under their nose..." He shrugs, "No one else knew how to work the generator, so it's not like we could have given them the boot, either."
Maybelline hums. "Well... doesn't matter much now anyway. I'm not going to be fixing their mistakes anymore. I'm going to have to start from scratch and do things right."
Nesseth chuckles. "You get to build it up however you like it, now. It'll be nice to have a fully working generator for once... I don't even think it was fully operational even when I first arrived in Respite..."
Maybelline hums, her ears twitching as she hears some noise from deeper in the office, "Sounds like Doc is back... You've... given me a bit to think about, Nesseth. Thanks."
Nesseth nods and stands up, smiling at May. "Glad to chat with you, May. I'll be back later this evening, I think. I just need to check in at the guard barracks and see if they need me for a night patrol. Have a good dinner!"
Maybelline nods, "And thank Vix for the herbs, along with... everything else I said."
Nesseth nods again. "If I come across her before you do, I'll tell her. I'd best be off for now, though, May. See you and Plume in a bit."
Maybelline settles her head back down on her pillow and smiles. "Later, Nesseth. And thanks."