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RESPITE STREETS - LATE MORNING
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Louma slithers along over the familiar cobble, happy to be home, though somewhat exhausted. She had stayed up late into the night, compiling a lengthy report which she had delivered to the other captains, meeting up with Victoria at the barracks. After retrieving the leather parcel of flowers from her locked office, the two set off towards Plume's clinic. She glances down at Victoria as they go, the leopard getting curious looks from many passers-by. "How are you faring?"
Victoria has been staring back at any potential starers, knowing full well how recognizable her white-yellow-with-black-spots fur pattern is. She's been mildly miffed about the attention, and takes a second to realize Louma says something: "Oh. Fine. Probably." She continues walking forward with pride, clearly very accustomed to being on all fours.
Louma nods, watching her for a few moments longer before shifting her attention back to where they're heading. "Good. I know you haven't had one in a little while, but an examination might be wise. I'm no surgeon, and we need all the hints at a cure we can get anyways."
Victoria nods with a bit of a grunt: "Yeah, that's fair. I told you I'm fine, but you're not going to believe me anyway so I might as well meet this new Doc."
Louma chuckles, shifting the parcel under her arm. "I must say, I'm glad your challenge hasn't had an effect on your attitude."
Victoria looks at Louma, giving her a bit of a feline stare: "What attitude?" She fully well knows the answer, but that's not going to stop her from challenging Louma like this.
Louma gives Victoria an exaggerated sigh. "That one! Always challenging your captains. If it weren't for Respite being so remote, and your talents..." She trails off, grinning at Victoria.
Victoria gives a feline grin back as they near the Clinic's gate: "Someone's gotta keep you on your figurative toes, Louma. You'd get lazy if Garwin and Easer were the only types of Guard you had at your disposal."
Louma nearly laughs out loud as she pushes the gate open for Victoria. "If Easer was the only type of guard I had, I'd give up. Just... Don't tell him I said that."
Victoria laughs a bit, shaking her head: "I won't."
Louma smiles, turning to the door and catching a button out of the corner of her eye. She presses it, somewhat internally embarrassed that she's knocked on the past few visits.
Victoria sits down next to Louma, still bemused by the conversation though also really curious about the new Doc.
Doc Plume is sitting at their desk, reviewing the files of the expedition members who are all due for their followups now that they're back. They blink as the bell starts to ring up in their apartment. They get up and walk to the door. Seeing Louma, they give a smile and open the door. "You know that bell is only for after hours, right?"
Victoria blinks at the sight of Plume, genuinely a bit surprised. "Oh."
Doc Plume blinks back at Victoria, similarly surprised. "Oh. You must be Victoria... please come in, both of you..."
Louma blinks, feeling a new wave of embarrassment as she clears her throat. "Ah, that's good to know, thank you." She enters the clinic, looking around at the familiar room before setting the tightly wrapped parcel of flowers on an empty section of desk. "These are the apparently offending flowers. I suppose I don't need to ask you to be careful with them."
Victoria stalks into the room, looking around curiously before turning around to face Plume: "Nice to meet you, Doc. Sorry I can't give much of a handshake right now." She glances at the flowers, frowning slightly at them.
Doc Plume nods to the parcel. "I'll look at them a bit later. They'll need my full attention and caution, I'm sure." Their eyes stay focused on Victoria, though, looking her over. "I understand, Victoria... I'm Doc Plume, and I'm going to do my best to find a way to cure you and the others. But for now, I think giving you an examination might be for the best?"
Louma nods, finding a place to settle on her coil while the other two talk.
Victoria jumps onto the examination table with the grace of someone who's way too used to the body shape that she's not supposed to have right now: "Yeah, might as well get it over with. Garwin got a bit of a hit on my side, but I'm fine." She gives Louma a pointed look.
Louma chuckles quietly, shaking her head.
Doc Plume blinks at the graceful jump but nods. "Interesting. No trouble speaking, though? Unlike Erika..." They move to the sink to wash their hands before switching on the magitech powered lamp above the table and starting with a look at the cat's side.
Victoria lies still to let Doc do their thing: "Yeah, kept myself busy talking to the stubborn bear. And myself I guess. Not that I really had trouble talking... that I recall. Hmm."
Doc Plume moves to look at Victoria's head. "From what I can see, your muzzle shape hasn't really changed, so that could be the major factor. Erika's did exaggerate itself in contrast."
Victoria huh's a bit: "Erika got it pretty bad I guess then. Poor girl."
Doc Plume nods. "She's coping as best she can." They step back and look Victoria over again. "Now then, any other injuries you acquired in your time away?"
Victoria rolls her shoulders in an approximation of a shrug, looking aside. "Nothing big. Few scratches." Her body is in fact rather bruised, scratched and hurt in several places, although none of it except the wound Garwin gave her side fresh. Tumbles with learning her new body and the local wildlife, if one had to give an educated guess.
Doc Plume gives a few testing prods at various points. "No signs of infection at least, which is good..." They walk back around to look Victoria in the eye. "Now then, any change in mental ability or acuity?"
Victoria stares at Doc, nonplussed: "How do I tell?"
Doc Plume shrugs. "Your record says you had some formal education. You know arithmetic?"
Victoria shrugs again: "What I recall of it."
Doc Plume nods. "All right then, a quick test: Thirteen plus twenty-nine."
Victoria tilts her head: "Fourty... ish? Fourty-three? No wait. Yes?"
Louma pauses her idle looking about, turning slowly to look at Victoria.
Doc Plume: "Forty-two. Close enough... hmm..." They look at Louma. "Captain, maybe something more in the line of her work before the incident? Any ideas? I just want to test recall and reasoning..."
Louma thinks on it for a moment, shaking her head. "She's an excellent tracker and hunter, and I doubt those have been negatively affected by the change. Her handwriting was also better than most other guards, but... Well, no hands."
Victoria chuckles a bit: "Not a high bar, that last one."
Doc Plume ponders. "All right, but is there some sort of standardized scouting report or the like?
Louma nods, then looks towards Plume. "You said recall, correct?" She turns to Victoria. "The bear that came after the three of us before I returned to town. Tell us everything you know about it."
Victoria blinks, musing: "That ugly scarred thing? Oof. Persistent bastard wouldn't give up until Garwin gave it a wrestle and even then just barely. Kind of a neat thing to witness, but boy was it mean. I'm still not sure what we did to piss it off like that - I'm not that mean until I miss three hunts in a row or something."
Louma nods, smiling. "That sounds right to me." She shifts her tail, the faint scars starting a few feet below her feathers still visible, though her scales had grown back very well. "Which direction did it run off?"
Doc Plume nods a bit. "I see..." They walk over to their desk and jot down a few notes in Victoria's file.
Victoria glances at Louma's tail, then at the window: "Stalked off to the north-ish, disappeared round that cliffside. Though I honestly thought we were gonna have to kill it."
Louma chuckles, looking to Plume. "Either she recalled all of that correctly, or I'm misremembering it the same way as her."
Doc Plume smiles. "Seems like there's no medium-risk term of degradation, at least with Victoria and Erika." They walk back over to the table and look at Victoria. "What about Garwin, though?"
Louma feels her smile slip, glancing towards Victoria. "That remains to be seen. He's far further into a feral state of mind than the others."
Victoria lies back down on the table: "He's way off. Like, I can smell a bit of him left in there - that's why he was hesitant to attack me much I guess - but he's way gone mostly."
Doc Plume frowns. "Was the change immediate or was it a slow descent?"
Victoria muses on this for a moment: "Was like over an afternoon. He made soup of the things, and I didn't think much of it until he was obviously losing it." She licks at her paw: "I only tasted the soup, but anyway. Had a nap, then a bit later I woke up to him being... well, mostly that."
Doc Plume listens intently and makes more notes. "And you? Was it just the soup as well?"
Victoria winces a bit: "Well... probably not. I think I slept in those things that day, and after."
Louma sighs quietly. "It's not your fault, there was no way to know. And, from experience, they have a strange appeal to them."
Doc Plume makes even more notes. "Do either of you have any idea why Garwin has 'lost himself' as it were?"
Victoria looks at Plume: "You mean besides him being a bit dumb to begin with? Probably his appetite if I had to guess. He eats a lot. That soup included."
Doc Plume thinks on this. "So perhaps it has something to do with strength of intellect then?" They look to Victoria. "Is there any active struggle to stay yourself?"
Victoria shrugs: "I'm just as me as I ever was."
Louma chuckles at this, nodding. "That's accurate."
Doc Plume nods some. "As mysterious as ever, then..." They stand up again and walk back to the table. "I think that's all I can glean for the moment. Thank you both for your time." They look to Louma. "Please let me know when would be a good time to come examine Garwin."
Louma looks to Plume, humming. "Considering his mental state, it might be dangerous to bring him in here. Would it be alright to examine him at the barracks where he's currently being held?"
Victoria jumps down from the table, her part done. "Probably best if you came to the barracks, yeah."
Doc Plume nods. "That was my thought." They move to the sink to wash a few drops of ink off their hands. They look to Victoria again. "I think it would be good for you and Erika to talk. Having someone to comiserate with is likely to helpful to both of you..."
Victoria cracks her neck a bit: "Maybe. I'll see her, anyway."
Louma nods, rising from her coil. "Well, if that's all Plume, I have a certain obligation to fulfill."
Victoria nods, walking to the door: "An' I'm hungry."
Doc Plume returns to her desk. "Perhaps arrange it ahead of time. Her prey instincts seem to be heightened by the change." They nod to Louma. "Take care, both of you."
Louma gives a shallow bow to Plume, smiling. "Take care of yourself, Doctor." She slithers to the door, holding it open for Victoria.
Victoria slinks out of the door, her mind clearly already on whatever unfortunate avian (present company excluded) she comes across outside the gates.
Doc Plume sees the other two out and then ponders the package of flowers on their desk, not yet ready to delve into that part of the mystery.
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TRAINING GROUNDS - LATE AFTERNOON
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Fiora stretches as she and Brunilda conclude another sparring session. She's been fighting without armor for the past few times, treating the sparring matches more like training sessions, coaching the elephant as they fight, though ultimately she lets her competitive nature get the better of her, resulting in Brun on the ground. Fiora reaches a hand down to help the elephant back up, "I gotta admit, it's really hard to knock you off balance like that, but you do still overcommit when you think you're going to win. Nice match though."
Brunilda takes the offered hand with a bit of a blush: "It's hard not to. How do you judge that?"
Fiora braces herself and helps pull the elephant upright. "Heh. Experience. Or just luck. I mean, if you'd connected, you'd be the one helping me up for sure! It's a gamble, though. Maybe just do that on big slow targets that don't know how to dodge."
Brunilda chuckles softly as she gets up. "Soon as I find someone bigger than myself, I'll keep that in mind."
Fiora shrugs, turning to step out of the sparring arena and picking up a towel. She tosses it to Brun then grabs another for herself. "Heh. That works. If you're in a real fight for your life, well, you either gotta be really sure of what you're doing, or just really hopeful that things will work out."
Brunilda grabs the towel, taking it to her forehead: "Admittedly, my experience with fighting for my life is limited. Least ones without backup."
Fiora nods, wiping off her sweat with the wet towel. "Eh. I've thrown my life away more then once, only to have it all work out. Backup certainly helps. But I'd be a super hypocrite if I said 'don't go picking fights if you can help it!', cause I've started a lot of fights." She smirks. "I usually win, too."
Brunilda sits down on a stone slab working as a makeshift bench for the training grounds: "Not me. I don't want to cause trouble."
Fiora chuckles, taking a seat across from Brunilda. "Well, you're probably the smarter of us then."
Brunilda leans on her hands, looking at Fiora: "Eh. Maybe I am. Don't really feel it, I just do what I can."
Fiora shrugs, "Don't really feel what, smart? Eh, it's not all it's cracked up to be. I just trust my guts, you know?"
Brunilda looks aside: "I listen to my brain, trust my guts - and end up with an upset tummy because the two disagree."
Fiora chuckles. "What, eat too much sweets or something? I've been there. Don't much care for sea travel anymore, not after I got my nerves up this one time and ate a whole gallon of ice cream before a big trip out to Sarn. Gareth never lets me hear the end of that one. 'Arr, ye'd think a giraffe could keep it's lunch down, what with all that neck!'."
Brunilda gives Fiora an understanding look: "I... I feel you. I got pretty violently green on the way from Ondonga. Zero sea legs."
Fiora smirks, "Well, I had to get mine. I'm on a boat often enough. Mission to mission. Hunting down someone on the run." She shrugs. "There's a few secrets I could teach ya if you ever need to go sailing again though."
Brunilda smiles a bit wryly: "Perhaps. I hope not, though. Respite is rapidly becoming 'home' for me." She looks aside again, musing: "Didn't really think it would be, but I just have less and less reasons to want to go back to Ondonga."
Fiora hums, "Is that so? Never did much like Ondonga... That city is so... I don't know. Tight? Like, it doesn't know how to have fun. Now, there's places there to have fun, for sure, but you really gotta dig. Maybe that's just because I was an outsider."
Brunilda shrugs: "Growing up, it had the fun places for sure, and I sort of miss the big library and the bookstores and theater, but... let's just say I don't miss the 'tightness', as you put it. Things are way more laid back in here."
Fiora chuckles, "If you say those things are fun, I'll have to take your word for it. I'm talking more about the night life, though. Vamas has the best night life. Sarn's got some good places too if you know where too look. Dancing, drinking, brawling, all that fun stuff, you know?"
Brunilda shrugs again, glancing at Fiora: "Can't say I really... know much. Wasn't allowed that back home."
Fiora points a finger at Brunilda, "Exactly! That's why Ondonga is no fun! If I could take you to the Mudlark, then you'd know what I mean. Bar policy used to be if you knocked out someone's teeth, you had to buy them that many drinks. If you broke a bone, you had to pay for their bar tab." She chuckles, "Some folks just go there looking for fights to pay off their bills. It's a miracle anyone even went there with the swill on tap."
Brunilda looks at Fiora a bit incredulously: "That sounds... so weird to me."
Fiora nods, "Westport bars are wild, especially the ones right by the docks. If you ever go to Diermen, I can recommend a little place that brings in musicians and everyone just dances all night long. You ever heard a good Sarnian band play? Wild stuff."
Brunilda chuckles, looking at Fiora: "If I ever..." She shakes her head: "I don't think travel is for me much."
Fiora shrugs, "You'll just have to hope that Aephix makes the world tour then." Her smile fades slightly as she glances past Brunilda. "This town... is so strange to me. I worry it'll be a trap."
Brunilda blinks and looks back up at Fiora: "A trap? What do you mean?"
Fiora pauses to think, then shakes her head, "I don't know. I came here for a very specific reason, and now I don't really know if I can even fulfill it like I wanted. Find out my cousin is sick, transformed by a magic they don't know if they'll ever cure, and I've promised to stay here until they do. Haven't heard squat about what happened when they got back, but there's rumors all over town about the 'feral Cat' slinking around now."
Brunilda nods slowly: "I think I saw the big cat around the barracks. No idea who she is, though." She looks aside for a moment before glancing at Fiora: "I understand the frustration though. Want to help, unable to do anything."
Fiora nods, folding her arms in front of her. "Yeah... Glad they made it back, but I'm eager to hear what's happening." She pauses, eyeing Brunilda. "How good are you at keeping secrets?"
Brunilda looks at Fiora: "How known are elephants for blabbering about? Or Guards, for that matter? Your words are safe with me."
Fiora shrugs, "Heck if I know. But eh... this is killing me." She sighs, glancing away as she gathers herself, narrowing her eyes as if angry at someone. "I'm all alone now. Got no more family. I can trust Gareth, but he's with me for work. We might be friends, but I can't trust him with crap like this. I don't have a job that lends itself to making friends, ya know?"
Brunilda looks at Fiora before nodding slowly: "I see... and yeah, I can figure that being a thing, being unable to find friends." She pauses as though wanting to add more on the topic, but refrains.
Fiora snorts. "So... Erika... isn't my cousin."
Brunilda raises an eyebrow: "Hmmh?"
Fiora glances back to Brunilda, closing her eyes. "She's... my sister. My half-sister. She doesn't know. I didn't know! Not until Mom was dead. Told me in a damn note that was delivered when I got back from a job." She clenches her fists, "Gareth doesn't know either. He just tagged along on a quick trip to visit my cousin."
Brunilda blinks a couple of times. "Oh. That's... one heck of a way to find out." She frowns, running the scenario in her head: "...what do you plan on doing?"
Fiora sighs, "I don't know... I planned on telling Erika right away, but how do you break that news on someone in the midst of this whole... transformation thing? She's got enough to worry about right now. She's... she's the only family I've got now. So I can't just abandon her. But the world still calls to me. So much to see and do! ...and that's the trap I'm caught in, Brun..."
Brunilda frowns, nodding again: "...yeah, that's not... easy. I don't know what I would do either."
Fiora nods, unfolding her arms. "Sorry... you don't need to worry about giving me answers, I just needed to vent on someone. Does feel good to say it someone I can trust not to talk about it."
Brunilda leans back on her arms: "I can see that. It's a sticky situation." She gives a small smile: "But as said, I won't talk."
Fiora returns the smile, "Thanks. It's been the main reason I take out all my stress on those poor target dummies. And maybe a little bit on you. But you're tough. You can take it."
Brunilda chuckles, shaking her head: "I'm good for that, at least."
Fiora laughs, "Well, if you ever end up in any of those bars in Vamas, you can say you fought the feared bounty hunter Fury. If anyone believes you they might even buy you a drink. Maybe two if you show off any scars, but hopefully I don't actually give you any scars."
Brunilda laughs a bit: "I'll keep that in mind, 'Fury'. Meanwhile you can say... well, not much, actually. I guess my family name - Ernst - is known in Ondonga."
Fiora chuckles, "Well, if I ever end up in jail there, maybe I can use the name to get out? Maybe I'll see Ondonga again someday."
Brunilda shakes her head, bemused: "Eh, maybe. Wouldn't count on it. My family is mostly on the side that would likely get you jailed in the first place, being guards and peacekeepers."
Fiora rolls her eyes, "Oh, yeah, I'm neither of those things. Me and guards usually don't get along at all, and I am deeeeeefinitely not a peacekeeper. I'm more of a disturbancecauser."
Brunilda laughs a bit: "Somehow I have gotten that idea, yes. But you're fine for one."
Fiora smiles. "So are you, Brun. Thanks for listening to me blab about whatever."
Brunilda gives a small smile as well: "Anytime." She idly flaps her ears: "Might as well use these for something for a change, and all that."
Fiora laughs, standing up from the bench and winding up her arm to stretch it. "So, one more round? I can show you how I did that trick to screw with your center of gravity. And how to prevent it, hopefully."
Brunilda gets up, stretching a bit: "Sure, let's go. Can always stand to learn more."
Fiora grins, "Well, I know smithing and I know fighting." She tosses her towel aside and walks back towards the sparring ring, feeling a little less stressed out about everything for the moment.
Brunilda tosses her towel aside as well, following Fiora into the ring with a smile.