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ERIKA'S GARDEN - AFTERNOON
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Erika is going back and forth in her garden, attempting to work, but... it's not really working out. No hands so she can't really use any tools or effectively prune much, and she has to constantly stop herself from instinctually eating things she knows aren't too good to add to the situation. She stops to have a break, lying down in the middle of it with a frustrated sigh.
Louma had arrived to her office early, feeling better about recent events, but now... Nesseth had brought her something that seemed so unreal and ridiculous, it couldn't be true. She could barely focus on the rest of her mundane morning tasks before leaving the barracks. This warranted personal investigation, and now Louma found herself slithering down the alley next to Erika's house, gliding carefully through the underbrush. She spots the okapi wandering about through the foliage, making sure to announce her presence before emerging. "Hello? Erika? It's Louma can you... Understand me?" She didn't really know what else to ask as she entered the clearing.
Erika twitches at the sudden sound in the relatively quiet, but manages to stop herself from bolting (and where would she bolt to, anyway?). She looks to the direction of the sound, and after a few failed attempts of getting her mouth to agree on whole 'forming of words' thing, she manages to answer: "Y-yes. Here."
Louma automatically puts a hand over her own beak as she sees the okapi in front of her move it's mouth in sync with the words she was hearing. "So Nesseth wasn't having a fever dream. I was really hoping he and Plume were having a shared hallucination of some sort." She doesn't try to approach Erika, settling a bit in place. "I'm not even sure how to proceed here. Well... Does your new body hurt?"
Erika winces slightly at Louma's first reaction, but then shakes her head (and her long neck): "N-no. It... kind of what bothers me." She swallows, looking aside as she works her mouth to cooperate: "That this... s-should feel more 'wrong."
Louma nods, paying close attention as Erika speaks, trying her best to make sure she understands her before replying. "Strange, so it feels... Natural? I understand why that would cause you concern... Nesseth tells me that Plume is going to work hard researching your... ah... ailment."
Erika nods with a sigh, lowering her head down to the ground: "It... it is, yes. Like... my body, still. Not weird, just different." She pauses to work her mouth again, the shape of it definitely not agreeing to longer words and sentences: "...but not right."
Louma nods, sighing. "I see." She looks around the garden, noticing scuffs on the dirt near her plants, as well as a knocked over watering can. "Were you trying to work your garden when I arrived?"
Erika lifts her head to look around, then turns back to Louma, nodding: "...yes. It don't work too well with no..." She attempts to shift for a second, but after her forelegs simply don't bend that way, nods to them with her head. "...hands."
Louma smiles gently. "At least you're trying, some would have just given up. Ah, thinking of it, Xochi mentioned you were helping her establish her own garden. Does she know about your predicament?"
Erika blinks, then shakes her head. She opens her mouth, then just closes it and snorts in slight frustration as her mouth's shape once again betrays her. Taking a couple of breaths, she finally answers: "No."
Louma watches Erika's struggle, nodding encouragement when she gets the word to manifest. "Alright. If you would like, I could see if she'll help you with your garden until we find some solution. That's up to you, of course. If you'd rather she not see you this way, that's up to you."
Erika considers this, then shakes her head. "She... I do not know how... how long I am like this. I can not... avoid people." She pauses, scuffing a forehoof on the ground: "She is welcome. Here."
Louma smiles gently again, nodding. "Sure, I'll make sure she knows." She settles into her coils, hoping her assessment of Erika's mental state is correct. "I need to ask you a number of questions now, hopefully we'll reveal what caused this. Are you alright with that?"
Erika is quiet for a second, before nodding and looking at Louma. "Yes. I... I realize I can not actually... smile, like this. It's weird." She pauses again for a moment before adding: "...ask away."
Louma fully settles, her wings twitching as she relaxes a bit, though her attention is clearly fully set on Erika. "To start with, give me a rundown of your trip back from the mountain., before you reached Respite."
Erika muses quietly for a moment, looking aside. "Was at the top of the ravine. Near Mean Peak. It was..." She shakes her head, snorting: "...hard. But just..." She shakes her head again as she attempts to get her thoughts together: "...always been good at dodging predators. No different now."
Erika gives a small snort that could be construed as a laugh: "Perhaps better, now."
Louma tries not to chuckle, restraining herself to a smile. "Perhaps indeed. I can imagine you could learn to run quite fast like that. So you were pursued by a predator? Was this before or after you changed?"
Erika looks at Louma: "Before. I was..." She pauses for a much longer moment: "...d-distracted. More than usual. The bear got me by surprise. Ran to this cave, had to spend night."
Louma: "The bear wouldn't follow you into the cave?"
Erika shakes her head: "The cave, it was down cliff. It couldn't. Stayed on the edge, I waited it out."
Louma nods in understanding. "That was good thinking, Erika. I didn't know the bears around Mean Peak were so aggressive, though. Did it seem off in any way? Frothing around it's mouth, or perhaps starved?"
Erika shakes her again in lieu of more expressive body language, looking aside. "No. It..." She blinks, pausing as she remembers: "...armor. It had piece of armor on shoulder and neck."
Louma blinks, shaking her head. "Armor? Who would put armor on a feral bear?" She pauses, looking aside. "How would you put armor on a feral bear?"
Erika looks at Louma, tilting her head: "...carefully?"
Louma pauses, unable to stop herself from laughing this time. "I suppose you're right!"
Erika lets out a bit of a snort-laugh, then looks aside as though slightly ashamed at the sound she just made. "Um."
Louma smiles warmly. "That is a good sign, even if it's an unfamiliar sound. Don't let go of that laugh during all this, okay?"
Erika looks back, then slowly nods: "...yes. Won't."
Louma nods. "Alright, so you ran from the bear as yourself, scaled the cliffs to a cave, emerged the next day, changed? Is there anything I'm missing so far?"
Erika shifts her position, getting up to sitting: "No, that..." She pauses, looking aside: "...that flower." She runs her mouth a bit as she turns to Louma: "I was gathering this blue flower when... the bear. It had... an odd air to it I could not place." She sighs, disappointment clear in her voice: "...had to eat them."
Louma looks towards the flower in question, tilting her head. "Ah, so you were gathering herbs and had to eat them, I see. What is that flower normally used for?"
Erika shakes her head: "Don't know. It was new."
Louma freezes. "You... Ate a flower you've never researched?" She turns in slightly more than mild disbelief to Erika. "This one isn't a good joke, Erika."
Erika looks at Louma, hurt in her voice: "Cave. Trapped."
Louma sighs, shaking her head. "I... Well, yes, I understand you were desperate, it's not your fault. I find it hard to believe that a flower could cause someone to... Change so drastically."
Erika sighs, dropping down to lay on her belly again: "Hard or not, it... well it is what it is. 'Less it was something else."
Louma stretches her wings slightly, laying them down over the back of her tail coil. "There's one way to find out, but I don't think it would be fair to ask that of anyone before we find a cure. Or after we do." She stops to think for a while on the information Erika has given her so far.
Erika nods, sighing: "No, it would not. I... this is my trouble now. Hopefully... no one else's."
Louma nods, starting to get up. "Nor would I. Erika, you've been dealt an unfair card, but we all want to help you pull through this. I thank you for talking to me, and I'll be sure to let Xochi know the situation. Is there anyone else you would like me to speak to for you? Or anything I can do, myself?"
Erika muses for a moment, then shakes her head: "Not... not really." She pauses, then adds: "Dorri. If you see her."
Louma nods, smiling. "As you wish. I'll take my leave for now, so you take care, Erika. Have faith, this will be resolved as quickly as possible."
Erika looks at Louma with a glint of hope in her eyes: "Yes."
Louma bows to Erika before making her exit through the underbrush, her tail slipping out of sight seconds later. She has much to ponder, and a strange new concern on top of everything else. She spreads her wings, taking off into the air where she might be seen through the canopy of Erika's garden, turning in their towards the barracks, a multipage report to write up.
Erika looks at Louma go, then after a moment gets up with a sigh, to continue her somewhat-futile efforts of tending to the garden and distracting herself.