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RESPITE FALLS CLINIC - AFTERNOON
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Brunilda is sitting on the floor of the side room, still topless and reading a book of magical technology only almost incomprehensible to her. Her book has a lot of bookmarks here and there, but her occasionally squinting at the book and pausing to think does not seem deter the pachyderm.
Nesseth opens the door to Plume's office, having just gotten off from an afternoon patrol. He glances around a bit as he enters, noticing that the main room seems empty at the moment. "Plume? You here? I just got off of work."
Doc Plume comes down the stairs, having just popped up to grab one of the pastries that Nesseth brought over yesterday. "Ah... sorry to keep you waiting..."
Nesseth chuckles and shakes his head. "I only just got here, so I've only been waiting like... ten seconds."
Brunilda cocks her head slightly at the conversation from the other room, but keeps on reading.
Doc Plume leans in to give Ness a gentle hug a peck on the cheek. "Anything dangerous out there today?"
Nesseth shakes his head as he hugs Plume back. "Nah, though we did have a sand gator sighting a ways out from the walls. It wandered off pretty fast, so I think it was just hunting something in the sand."
Brunilda hums, mostly to herself: "Glad to hear they're still keeping away."
Nesseth blinks and looks over towards the side room. "Oh, Brun's awake?"
Doc Plume nods. "Seems so. She's just under observation until the burns heal a bit more." They turn and move toward the next room. "I'm sure she'd love to see you."
Nesseth follows after Plume with a small smile. "It'll be nice to see how she's holding. She's been asleep every time I've come by since the explosion."
Brunilda shifts her position on the floor, looking towards the doorway: "I have?"
Nesseth laughs a bit and nods. "Either that, or you've just been super quiet. Hey there, Br--" He blinks, then turns his eyes off towards the book upon seeing that the pachyderm's currently topless, "Oh, uh, sorry... How're you holding up, though?"
Brunilda leans back on one hand, smiling weakly: "Well, in one piece. Mostly."
Doc Plume looks between Nesseth and Brun and giggles. "She really doesn't mind, you know. Seems odd that you'd be so touchy about nudity." They walk over next to Brun and give her back a quick visual examination. "Ah, looking better every day. Ready for lunch soon, Brun? The usual or something different today?"
Nesseth shakes his head and shifts his eyes back to Brun again. "Well, no, I just wasn't sure about modesty and all that, you know? Not everyone's as relaxed about it as us." He nods after a moment, "Glad to hear you've been recovering well, though."
Brunilda looks at Plume and shrugs: "Anything works. I feel fine... well, fine given the circumstances, anyway." She turns to Nesseth and smiles: "Yeah, I getcha. I've just... I dunno, grown up in big city Guard circles. Don't care about nudity when I can just whack anyone trying anything funny, you know?"
Nesseth laughs and nods. "Yeah, I getcha. Not exactly easy to stay covered when the entire shift is changing at once." He shakes his head in amusement, "I bet you've left at least a couple of idiots unconscious with a single hit for being dumb."
Brunilda gives a wry grin: "Size benefits." Her smile wanes for a second: "There was this one pangolin who thought he could get away with groping me. Didn't try again."
Nesseth smirks. "I guess his scales didn't do much to protect against blunt force trauma." He pauses as a thought occurs to him, causing him to chuckle a bit, "Heh... pangolin bowling..."
Brunilda chuckles at the thought, shaking her head. "Something like that. Though in the Guard the others tended to have my back. White-knighting is more common than you think."
Doc Plume smirks. "Pangolin scales provide more protection against claws and bites than blunt force, though they do provide some." They take a seat on a stool in the patient area and begin in on their pastry.
Nesseth chuckles a bit more. "Well, better white-knighting than not, I guess. At least then, being stupid and crass is discouraged, right?"
Brunilda smirks: "With blunt force if necessary. Bruises are better reminders of proper behaviour than a stern talking to, my officer would always say."
Nesseth nods. "I've heard similar. If someone's stubborn, a talking to won't necessarily do anything, especially in a profession like city guards."
Brunilda chuckles wryly: "Stubborn is never in short supply around those circles. Kind of a requirement, almost."
Doc Plume laughs. "Mmhm. A surprising number of off-duty concussions in the Westport city guards too, you know. If one were prone to paranoia, they might call it suspicious."
Nesseth smirks. "Stubbornness, headstrong attitudes, and a drive to act first and think later. That seems to be a lot of what drives a good chunk of guards in most areas." He nods at Brun, "Present company excluded, of course."
Brunilda lifts a hand to her chest: "Are you implying I lack in those attributes? You wound me, Nesseth."
Nesseth chuckles and shakes his head. "Well, I was trying to be nice about it, Brun. But, hey, if you're admitting it, I'll concede the point."
Brunilda shrugs with a lopsided smile: "Acting first is what has me in this situation."
Nesseth hums. "Fair enough, and acting first is also what saved May, right?"
Doc Plume shakes their head. "If you hadn't have acted first, May wouldn't be with us right now. They're not all bad things, you know. Best case we would be shipping her to Ondonga for more specialized care and prosthesis fitting..."
Brunilda nods: "Yes... although I could have reacted better. Be faster."
Doc Plume nods. "Sure, and then you would have caught the brunt of the explosion just like May did and we'd probably be digging two graves outside of town."
Nesseth shakes his head again. "You did the best with what you were dealt in that moment. Both you and May are alive; I can't think of any better outcome."
Brunilda winces at Plume's words, looking down. "Yes, but..." The objection seems to die on her lips.
Nesseth tilts his head. "But...?"
Brunilda sighs, shaking her head silently.
Doc Plume finishes their pastry and gets up to wash their hands. "But you still think you should have been able to stop it from happening in the first place. Just like a doctor should have given better advice to keep patients from getting into accidents..."
Brunilda glances at Plume and nods: "...mmmh."
Nesseth scratches one of the frills on his head. "How do you figure you could have stopped the generator from exploding? If I'm not mistaken, even May wasn't aware of the condition being that bad, and she spent years studying upon the tech..."
Brunilda whispers: "It's not that, it's that... I should not have ran before making sure she was also running. I turned back too late."
Doc Plume looks at Brunilda. "You ran?"
Brunilda nods: "For too many seconds. I thought she was coming too. I... hesitated, before turning back."
Nesseth raises an eyebrow and tilts his head the other way. "So... what happened in those moments, both before and after the explosion?"
Brunilda glances at Nesseth: "May, she was... showing her workspace, and the generator. The generator started... leaking, some kind of murky steam. May told me to run, and I did... too late I realized to look back. The explosion hit me, but... well." She glances towards the door and where the currenly-sleeping stoat is: "...I should have done better."
Doc Plume just listens for the moment, resisting the urge to grab a notepad and pen to write this all down.
Nesseth hums softly as he likewise glances over at May. "So she told you to run. Obviously, she wanted to get you out of the danger zone..." He glances over at Plume after a moment, "And if you didn't listen, well... neither of you would be in here, right now."
Brunilda sighs and looks down, not feeling like arguing. "...yeah, I guess."
Doc Plume walks over to Brun and gently rests a hand on her shoulder. "We can't change what happened. All things considered, it could have turned out a lot worse."
Nesseth nods at Plume's words. "Exactly. Maybe there's a chance you could have done better, but it could have definitely gone a lot worse."
Brunilda glances at Plume, then at Nesseth, managing a small smile: "...y-yeah." She glances at her book: "Should manage to look forward."
Doc Plume nods. "As we all should."
Nesseth smiles. "Kind of an unofficial motto of the Explorers Guild, that, and a good way to approach just about anything."
Brunilda nods, thinking: "...just gotta figure what that 'forward' now is."
Doc Plume stands up and walks back out to their desk. All they say on the way is "Tea." It's a statement, not a question.
Nesseth tilts his head a little again as he finally draws up a chair to let his legs relax. "What do you want that 'forward' to be?"
Brunilda shrugs, looking aside: "Don't really know."
Nesseth gestures at the book in front of the pachyderm. "So I guess that's just a bit of 'light' reading, then?"
Brunilda blinks: "Er... well it interests me, I guess."
Nesseth smiles. "Could always dive a little deeper into that."
Doc Plume returns with a tray loaded with a teapot and three cups. They set it down on a shelf and pour tea for the three of them. "Interests you in that you find it curious or interests you in that you want to know as much as you can about it?"
Brunilda nods, finding a small smile. She looks at Plume, blinking: "I... I want to know. It... fascinates me, I suppose." She gestures at her body: "Dangerous as it can be."
Nesseth shrugs a bit. "There isn't much in the world that isn't dangerous in some manner to learn. Hunting, medicine, guard duty... all three of us know that our professions are dangerous in some manner, but we still go through with it."
Doc Plume distributes the tea to the other two before sitting down with their own tea. "Indeed. Plenty in that ingredient cabinet in the other room that could kill me or you or the whole town if I applied it correctly."
Brunilda winces, but nods: "I guess you have a point..."
Nesseth accepts his tea with a smile and a word of thanks, then settles back into his seat. "And I could easily place a bolt in numerous places that would result in a kill unless the wound's treated immediately. Folks could get seriously hurt if I wasn't careful about things."
Brunilda frowns: "...but is combat really the same kind of danger?"
Doc Plume laughs. "How do you think this town got here? It wasn't just peaceful exploration. Things lived here before us. People, likely. Combat is dangerous for lots of folks. It's how the 'civilized' world grows and companies can expand their mercantile empires. The explorer's guild is all well and good, but those explorers wouldn't get very far without swords and spears backing them up."
Nesseth nods. "Exactly as Plume says. There's a reason that the Explorers Guild supplies their ranks with weapons. We're not as well-geared as a dedicated army, but we're definitely going to encounter trouble while trailblazing. Thankfully, I've not had to ever fire my crossbow at any person, civilized or otherwise, but I know of a good number of Explorers that had to draw weapons in self-defense while out beyond settled lands."
Brunilda nods slowly: "...I guess so, but like... I know what a sand alligator might do. Magitech is... complicated, and unknown. I want to learn, but... it scares me, I guess."
Doc Plume takes a long sip of tea as they hold their tongue before they go off on a rant about the shitty way their family makes money.
Nesseth hums as he sips his tea for a moment. "Mmh, I can see that. But put it this way... If you're scared of what magitech can do, because you don't know what it can do... if you study it like you are now, you'd eventually acquire the same knowledge of magitech that you do about various creatures you fight."
Narrator: Meanwhile, out in the center of the city, Strix continues to tinker with his machine that makes lightning strikes. If asked how it worked, he wouldn't really be able to tell you.
Brunilda nods, thinking: "Perhaps..." She sighs a bit: "Well, time to study is what I now seem to have. Might as well use it."
Doc Plume sets down their teacup and looks at Brun. "That's why I started studying biology and then medicine. I wanted to understand it. Understand myself... and it made my family leave me alone."
Brunilda winces and looks away at the mention of family: "...I hope none of mine ever come to Respite."
Nesseth taps a finger against the side of his teacup as he thinks for a moment. "Judging by that, it sounds like they wouldn't approve of you looking for something to do aside from being a guard."
Brunilda shakes her head: "They wouldn't. Tradition is everything that matters."
Doc Plume shakes their head. "Tradition? Tradition is humors and pointless bloodletting. Tradition is tying a dead rabbit to someone to try to drive off an illness. To hell with tradition. The future is more knowledge and better technology. Magictech is going to change everything, even something as mundane as guard duty."
Nesseth chuckles a little, even as Plume rants a bit. "Tradition is quaint, but it's only fine if it's not being jammed down people's throats. If folks want to keep doing their traditions, let them, so long as they don't affect others that don't want it." He gives Brun a bit of a look, "Would I be wrong in guessing you don't really want to be a guard in the long-term?"
Brunilda blinks at Plume's words: "...I guess that's... a point..." She sighs, glancing at Nesseth: "I... I feel awful for saying it, but... no, I don't."
Nesseth shrugs again. "So there's no shame in wanting to find something you feel would be better for you. My family's a group of marksmen, markswomen and hunters. I didn't want to join the military, and I didn't feel like hunting for a town that's already well-supplied. Some years later, here I am, former Explorer, part-time town guard and hunter for Respite Falls."
Brunilda shifts her sitting position: "Yeah... I need to... I dunno, decide something I guess." She sighs, looking away.
Doc Plume nods. "And I decided to help people rather than caring about moving crates around..."
Nesseth hums. "It's probably a decision you'll have to think a lot on before committing. Good news is that you'll at least have a good position in the town guard to fall back on if things don't work out."
Brunilda starts to nod, then pauses, glancing at her sides: "...well, assuming I still have that position after this."
Nesseth shrugs. "I don't see why you wouldn't. Of course... you'd have to hear it from the captain before it becomes official." He pauses, "That is... whenever she gets her scaly tail back from whatever job she's been on the past few months..."
Brunilda raises an eyebrow: "The... captain. I heard of her, but... well, guess I'll see."
Doc Plume cocks their head. "Oh. Captain of the guard? I guess I haven't met one yet..."
Nesseth hums. "Yeah, she's been away for the past few months, since just before the shield went down, in fact. Trust me... once she comes back, you'll have no trouble picking her out from the crowd."
Brunilda shrugs: "Well, it's not like I am hard to locate either."
Doc Plume nods. "Seems like the important folks don't spend much time here. Still only corresponded with the town administrator so far..."
Nesseth looks Brunilda up and down for a moment. "Actually... yeah, now that you mention it, I think she's a little shorter than you. She's got an extremely long tail, though. It's hard to miss thirty feet of scaly noodle slithering through the street..."
Brunilda raises an eyebrow: "Noodle?"
Nesseth blinks, then sighs as he awkwardly scratches one of his head frills. "Did I say that...? Crap, sorry... The captain of the guard's a sort of... hybrid like you, Plume. Bird upper half, but a snake's lower half... well, more like lower three-quarters."
Doc Plume ponders. "Interesting. Never heard of such a thing..."
Brunilda blinks: "I... have, but not... seen many. Huh. How'd she end up here of all places?"
Nesseth shrugs again. "No idea. She's been the captain of the guard for the past... two... three years or something like that? Before that, she was already a guard when I first arrived, but just a regular one like the two of us."
Brunilda shrugs: "Fair enough. Guess I'll ask her when we meet." She winces: "...not that I'm exactly in the best form right now."
Nesseth shakes his head. "If you aren't recovered yet when she returns, I can always see if she can drop by to talk with you a bit."
Doc Plume finishes their tea and stands up. "Well, I should get back to work. Have an appointment coming in soon."
Brunilda nods at Plume, then to Nesseth: "Yeah... it's a lot to think about, this all."
Nesseth smiles at Plume as they stand up. "Give me a shout if you need any help, Plume. And thanks again for the tea, by the way." He nods towards Brun, "Definitely. If you need some quiet for it, just let me know."
Brunilda nods slowly, thinking. She then looks at Nesseth: "So... anything interesting happen in the last week while I've been here?"
Doc Plume gives Nesseth a kiss on the cheek before heading to their desk to prepare the file for the next patient. "Keeping Brun company is good for now."
Nesseth smiles a little more warmly at the kiss, then shakes his head at Brun's question. "No... well, yes, if you count some stupidity at the gate leading out to Bairnell as something interesting... You remember that..." He quickly launches off into a bit of a story involving a small incident that happened earlier in the week involving one of the smaller merchant caravans, a story that turns out to be equal parts stupid and hilariously absurd.
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RESPITE FALLS CLINIC - EVENING
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Narrator: Respite Falls was awash in shadows as the sun hid away behind the Western peaks, not a whisper of wind through the town as the air cooled. If it weren't for the streetlights apparently failing in their one job, then nothing more than a heavy rhythmic flapping would have been heard. Instead, the flapping was inconsistent and somewhat panicked, followed by a series of light thuds and grumbled curses as an odd form settled in the street outside of the clinic. Huge white wings shook in frustration before folding behind Louma as she turned toward the clinic, tugging at her plain cotton shirt before sliding up to the door and announcing herself with three sharp knocks.
Doc Plume is sitting at their desk reading over a recent treatise on new surgical techniques as they enjoy an evening snack of jerky and dried fruit. They look up at the knock and call out "It's open!" out of instinct before standing up and moving to greet whoever is there.
Louma takes the handle, pushing the door open and slithering inside, keeping her wings tucked carefully to her back as she enters the clinic, one hand on the leather chest armor hanging at her side. Her feathers are a wild mess, the cotton shirt is muddy, and about two feet after her tail starts Louma has a blanket wrapped around her like a large tourniquet. She brings her whole body in, using the tip of her tail to snap the door shut as she looks toward Plume. "Ah! Good evening. You're the new doctor then?" She not-so-subtly looks up and down Plume with a 'hmm'.
Brunilda is sleeping on her belly in the other room, as is starting to become routine. She shifts slightly upon the new voice, but doesn't wake up.
Doc Plume looks the odd creature over as she walks in. They nod to Louma as their eyes focus on the tourniqueted tail. "Yes. Doctor Plume, at you service. Guard Captain Louma, I presume?"
Louma puts a hand over her chest, giving a slight bow to Plume with a wry smile. "My reputation precedes me, I suppose. Who gave me away, and were they at least kind about it?" Her long tail writhes back and forth as she slithers closer to Plume, making her torso appear to elegantly glide across the space between them.
Doc Plume offers a bow in return. "It was Nesseth, but it looks like you're in need of more than just chitchat. What happened to your tail?"
Louma stops her approach at the mention of Nesseth, chuckling slightly to herself, then turning to glance at her makeshift bandage. "Hm, straight to the point, I like that." She swings the scaly portion around to be between them, stripping the bandage off as she speaks. "Nothing too serious, just a few tooth marks." The cloth drops away revealing a series of scratches that had stripped away scales, but only a few actual cuts into her flesh.
Doc Plume inspects the wounds and nods. "Fair enough. What did this? Any risk of venom?" They walk over to their sink and wash their hands before beckoning Louma over to the examination table.
Louma follows Plume with her eyes, then moves to the table as instructed. "No, just some hungry beast trying to make a snack out of my subordinates." She lays the injured section of tail over the table, resting her tourniquet next to it. "Happened a few days ago, we found some aloe and bitterthorn for a quick salve."
Doc Plume prods at the areas around the bites, checking for signs of infection. "It seems clean enough." They head to the medicine cabinet and fetch a few things before moving to the corner and putting the kettle on. "Bitterthorn makes a fine stopgap, but if used for too long it can cause scarring and even necrosis..."
Louma smiles, crossing her arms under her chest. "Oh, well brilliant and gorgeous, maybe we should call off the search for Hooktail after all."
Doc Plume takes the boiling kettle and pours the water into a bowl with some clean cloths. One cloth is taken and used to wipe off and clean the wounds. "I thought Hooktail had gone out with a Guild expedition?"
Louma drops her smile a bit, shaking her head slightly. "The whole group has failed to send a messenger back for months. That's what I've been doing for the last few moons."
Doc Plume uses a second cloth to make sure the wounds are clean and open before setting the used cloths in a dish. "Ah, unfortunate..." Once the water has evaporated from Louma's scales, a final inspection of the wounds is taken before the pot of iodine paste is taken in hand and precisely applied to each wound. "This will sting a bit..."
Louma tenses up as the medicine is applied, the tip of her tail twitching but her expression remaining mostly unfazed. "Well, that certainly feels like it's going to work better than the bitterthorn. So, back to you, has anything interesting happened since you arrived?"
Louma: "I haven't had a chance to be debriefed by the other guards yet."
Doc Plume doesn't speak until the iodine has been set and the wounds covered with gauze pads. As they begin to wrap bandages over the wounds, they reply. "Well, the shield went down shortly before I arrived, and then the whole reactor exploded about a week ago. Beyond that, a mysterious 'accident' to a domestic servant, a crazed kobold, and what I assume is the normal spate of injuries and ailments around here."
Louma drops her smile entirely, not expecting so much news. Her expression becomes straight and her tone sharper and more abrupt. "Was the kobold involved in the reactor failure? Was anybody injured?"
Brunilda has stirred awake and is listening curiously from the other room, without actually moving though.
Doc Plume shakes her head. "Not that I know of. I don't know the full story, though. You'd be better off asking May and Brun yourself. They were the ones injured. May is the new town engineer and Brun is a town guard who was helping May with repairs at the time, I think."
Louma scowls slightly. "One of my guards was injured? Are they recovering here or have you sent them home?"
Doc Plume looks over to where the curtained divider cordons off space for May and Brun to recover. "She's still over there. She was sleeping last I knew, though. ICEE burns on the back of both thighs and normal burns over much of her back. Everything is healing nicely though. We would have lost the engineer without her quick action."
Brunilda decides it's time to pipe up. She clears her throat: "I am sound and awake, Doc."
Louma has been twitching her wings and the tip of tail during the conversation, but calms on hearing about why Brun was involved. "I see, well-" She turns to Brun's voice, looking back to Plume after a moment. "Is it alright if I go in there?"
Doc Plume looks to Louma, "If you like." They finish bandaging the wounds and tie and snip off the ends. "Just be careful with the bandaged areas. Come back if they get exposed or you experienced more pain."
Louma nods at the instructions, but her expression and focus on the other room clearly shows her concern lies elsewhere. As soon as she's clear to, Louma drops her tail back to the floor and slithers over to the curtain, composing herself and straightening up before entering the side room. She spots Brunilda and begins moving towards her. "Brunilda, is that right?"
Brunilda is clutching a pillow to her chest, laying on the mattress. She blinks at the sight of Louma, but recovers quickly: "Brunilda Ernst, at your service, Cap'n. You'll excuse me not getting up to salute."
Doc Plume follows Louma over, watching how her tail and bandage move, seeing if there will be any issues. They're also curious about the conversation, of course. "Do you need anything, Brun?"
Louma reaches Brunilda, coiling her tail and settling herself low enough to place a hand on Brunilda's shoulder and look her straight in the eye. "Nevermind formalities, how are you feeling? Are you in a lot of pain?"
Brunilda glances at Plume, but shakes her head: "I'm fine, Doc." She then turns to Louma, giving a wry smile: "Well, you see what my back looks like."
Doc Plume backs off a bit, giving the two space to talk while still remaining in earshot as they tidy up the exam table and supplies.
Louma raises herself up to examine Brun's injuries, keeping a hand on her shoulder as she takes in the extent of damage before settling back down to speak to Brunilda, her voice softer. "What possessed you to run into that room?"
Brunilda blinks, then looks at the coatl: "I couldn't leave May in there."
Louma nods silently, squeezing her shoulder slightly. "That's the best answer I could ask for."
Brunilda raises an eyebrow: "Wasn't an option to do anything else."
Doc Plume chimes in. "May would have likely died without immediate intervention. At the very least, she would have lost her dexter limbs."
Louma straightens up, shaking her wings slightly to relax from the awkward position and looking about, spotting the stoat sleeping nearby. She stares at May briefly before turning back to Plume, catching the books near Brunilda's mattress out of the corner of her eye on the way. "How long is Brunilda going to be laid up?"
Doc Plume walks back over. "She's free to recuperate on her own as soon as her thighs are healed enough to allow for it independently. Given her size, it's prudent that she doesn't end up in a position where she's unable to move herself around. At least another week, perhaps two. The ICEE was successfully siphoned out early on, but the burns are deep..."
Brunilda nods, shifting her arms under her a bit: "Don't think I'll be wearing armor anytime soon, Cap'n."
Louma nods slowly, "Thank you for all your help, Plume. I'll make sure that Brunilda's account is settled quickly." She turns back to Brunilda, slithering over and coiling up next to her to rest, making sure to keep her fresh bandages out of the heap. "Don't worry about it, although the ranks will certainly miss having an excellent guard out of commission."
Brunilda blushes a bit, glancing at Louma: "Hardly excellent. Just there."
Doc Plume heads over to their desk and sits down again, returning to their treatise.
Louma shakes her head slightly, finally beginning to pat her scruffed up feathers back into place idly. "You're clearly selfless and courageous, don't lose sight of that, although..." She picks up one of the books with one hand, looking over it while still preening with the other. "The doctor mentioned it wasn't a coincidence you were there."
Brunilda looks at the book, then away slightly: "Well... no. I was there to... I mean, May is sort of... teaching me."
Louma opens the book to one of the bookmarks, glancing over the text within. After a few more minutes of browsing the pages, she mutters. "I don't understand a single wisp of this, do you?"
Brunilda looks at the book, then at Louma: "Well... some. I have, uh, some background learning on the topic." She's clearly a bit ashamed at admitting this.
Louma nods, closing the book carefully to not disturb the bookmarks and setting it back where it was. She looks straight at Brunilda, smiling slightly. "I suppose this means you're not entirely sold on getting blown up as a guard?"
Brunilda looks down, her voice going quieter: "It's... tradition. I should follow it. But... I don't think I want to."
Louma settles a hand on Brunilda's shoulder, frowning. "I would be a massive hypocrite to tell you to follow tradition for tradition sake. As much as you've already proven to be perfect for the position, if this engineering path makes you happy, then that is what you should pursue."
Brunilda blinks, looking back up at Louma: "Really? I mean, I don't want to abandon my post."
Louma chuckles a bit, shaking her head which dislodges a preened feather. "Just let me know when you've made up your mind. I wont be upset that you won't be a guard any more, but I might be a little upset if you don't show up and a sand gator comes in through your gate that day."
Brunilda gives a wry smile: "Duly noted. Not that I even will be at a gate anytime soon I think. Kinda works against any combat duty when I have a huge pink target on the entirety on my back."
Louma leans back into her curled up tail, beginning to absently preen again, though some of her feathers are being stubbornly curled right now. "Of course, I don't expect you to until your burns are healed correctly. Don't worry, there's money aside to keep you fed and looked after while you're healing."
Brunilda nods: "That's relieving to hear." She sighs a bit: "It's a predicament, but I guess I gotta look forward, hmm?"
Louma: "No other way to go, is there? Unless you get so good with magitech that you can manage to go backward." She ponders this for a moment, then leans in and whispers to Brun. "Hey, if you do figure that out, let me in on it, okay?"
Brunilda blinks, then lets out a small laughing snort: "Fair enough. Will do."
Louma straightens up, stretching a bit and glancing over to the other occupied bed. She stares for a short while, making a note to get a debriefing in the morning. She slithers to the center of the room, turning back to Brunilda. "Perhaps I should let you get back to your bedrest."
Brunilda nods, giving a small smile: "It was nice meeting you finally. Even if the circumstances aren't the best."
Louma smiles in return. "And you as well, Brunilda. Take care of yourself, I'll check in on you if the opportunity arises."
Brunilda smiles, holding the pillow to her chest once more: "Small town. I'll be around, though probably less at the barracks."
Louma chuckles. "I suppose both of us are a little hard to miss. Have a good night, Brunilda." She makes her way toward the door, looking about for Plume but not seeing them on the way out, and keeping the slightly injured section of her tail from dragging on the floor as she goes.