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RESPITE CLINIC - MORNING
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Louma slithers through the front door, her tail nudging it closed behind her a couple seconds later as Louma finds a spot in the waiting room to coil up and well... Wait. The small scars on her exposed tail have vanished under fresh scales, leaving only the worst gashes peeking through as narrow marks, and in a few months all evidence of damage will be completely gone post-shed anyhow. Despite feeling no pain, the captain wants to do her diligence and let Plume close the file. She glances about the waiting room, silently wondering if Baldwin's been discharged already.
Baldwin comes wandering into the clinic not too long later, his wounded arm still in a sling. He notices Louma pretty quickly, since her iridescent coils are pretty hard to miss when in any amount of light, and gives her a salute. "Morning, Captain! Here for a check-up, I take it?"
Louma turns to Baldwin, returning the salute automatically despite having not needed to in, what feels to her, a long time. "Good morning Baldwin, I was just thinking about you. Yes, want to get cleared to return to my post. Sitting around home isn't terribly helpful, when I could be sitting around my office." She looks down at his sling. "I do hope your recovery goes so well, Baldwin."
Baldwin rotates his arm a bit in the sling as Louma's eyes wander towards it. While his range of motion is still somewhat limited, it doesn't seem to be causing him any uncomfortable pain anymore. He smiles and nods. "It is, thankfully. The Doc was worried that my arm wouldn't have its full range of motion again, but they did a great job of patching me up when we first got back." He looks at Louma's lower half curiously, for a moment, "How about you?"
Louma pats her tail near the feather transition, where the two worst knife wounds had been, now arguably only a bit of discoloration among her scales. "I'm feeling top, actually. Haven't needed pain medicine in a couple weeks." She settles in her coils, sighing. "It's almost all back to normal. Honestly I can't wait to read their reports, when the rescue returns."
Baldwin nods in agreement. "Should be interesting to see what all they had to contend with out there." He chuckles and gives Louma a cheeky, lopsided grin, "Those reports are probably going to be more interesting than the usual "nothing to report, all clear" stuff from wall patrols and the like, huh?"
Louma chuckles as well. "I would prefer their reports be about as interesting as those, actually. Maybe more boring, if anything." She doesn't want to be the first to admit that if any combat is reported, she's hoping deep down that she sees Nyzai's name among the casualties.
Baldwin hums quietly. "It'd be nice if all that resulted from the trip was a peaceful handing over of the kidnapped folks, and we all go on our merry way, yeah..." He sighs quietly, "If only we could be so lucky, though."
Louma nods, glancing at Baldwin's shoulder. "We'll persevere, though. And beyond the office, I haven't been to the training grounds in months, and a gift from a travelling friend is burning to meet some training dummies."
Baldwin nods and smiles. "The town's lasted this long. It'll keep going for a long while yet, easily." He tilts his head after a moment, though, "And... what, you've got a shiny new weapon to test out, or something?"
Louma chuckles, nodding. "Well, not to test. It's as familiar to me as my own tail, but I haven't had my hands on a stalspear since leaving Orela. Was hard to hand it off to quartermaster Felt, but she promised to have a couple blunted training versions made for me before I got back into my office."
Baldwin looks a bit more curious. "A... stalspear? I don't think I've ever seen one of those before. I'm guessing it's some kind of military-only weapon from your home?"
Louma: "Yes, a preferred weapon for the snake military. It's a spear with paired hooks, with a martial style to go along with it. If I'd had it on the day that we looked for that caravan, they never would have taken me."
Baldwin hums and nods as he gets a pretty good (if perhaps slightly less elegant) visual of the spear in his head. A hand drifts up to scratch at his jaw for a moment as he thinks, however. "Hmm... sounds like a pretty formidable thing, especially if it's standard issue with its own fighting style. How'd your friend get their hands on one, though, if it's military?"
Louma hums, shrugging. "I never did get around to asking. I was a little excited to just be holding one again." She blushes a little, it showing in the orange of her bill. "I'll ah... Have to follow up on that, I suppose. He's out with the rescue group, though." She gives Baldwin a pointed look. "Conveniently."
Baldwin smiles cheekily. "Convenient, for sure. Well, at least you get to use a piece of gear you're extremely familiar with again, right? I'm not one for a drawn-out fight, but if you want a hard-to-hit sparring partner, I could volunteer once we both heal up."
Louma chuckles, nodding. "I'll keep it in mind, though I wouldn't want to hurt that shoulder again."
Baldwin reaches his free hand up again and rubs at his shoulder. "I guess it wouldn't do to strain it right after it's just finished healing, huh? The Doc would probably never let me hear the end of it if I did injure it so soon after."
Louma shakes her head. "There is always time later on. Once you can heft a shield on that arm for half an hour without getting stiff, we'll consider it."
Baldwin laughs in good cheer. "A shield, Captain? You think I'd actually just stand there and take the hits? You're hurting my feelings, talking like that!" He nods, still smiling, after a short bit, "But yeah, that sounds like a deal, then. I'll have to work my arm's strength back up again."
Louma chuckles, grinning at Baldwin. "I know you're nimble, maybe even enough to avoid it, but I refuse to say I'll hold back much with that particular weapon in hand." She tilts her head slightly. "I don't recall, did you have any formal training outside of Respite?"
Baldwin tilts his head again at the question. "Well, I trained as a guide around the town I'm from, which made use of my sharp eyes a fair bit. But, uh... as for military training...? Just a bit of militia training, is all, you know, "stick pointy end of spear into angry thing" and all that."
Louma hums. "That is a very important thing to keep in mind, after all."
Baldwin nods. "That it is. But I guess I didn't really learn much about actual combat before coming here. I remember being surprised when I first got hired on, with how often people liked to spar at the training grounds."
Louma adjusts on her coil a bit, "Having an active opponent is important. A wooden dummy doesn't counter or dodge, or advance. Even if the usual problems used to be wild creatures, that edge is important." She chuckles quietly before continuing. "And as kind as they may be here, some of our rank are from questionable backgrounds, after all. Many of them simply love a good fight."
Baldwin chuckles. "True enough. I've heard some of them talking about where they've come from, and it's all... pretty interesting stuff, really. Kind of unexpected, too, sometimes." He shrugs with an easy smile, "A rag-tag bunch of misfits like us... you'd almost think we're supposed to be part of a tale, huh? Don't those stories always start with a weird crew like that?"
Louma gives Baldwin a flat look, shaking her head. "Don't you dare start to put a jinx on us, things have become too... interesting, as it is."
Baldwin waves his hand and chuckles again. "Don't worry, I'm not going to say more than that. But yeah... considering some of the others' questionable backgrounds, I guess Respite fulfills that whole "place of second chances" thing, doesn't it?"
Louma nods, leaning back to relax on her coil a bit. "For better or worse, yes. You are right in that such a gathering attracts..." She sighs a little dramatically, "Adventure."
Baldwin lets out an amused laugh as he leans against the wall of the waiting room. "I think we can both agree that this town's seen enough adventure to last for a good while, after all of this stuff with those Saurs."
Louma hums, her smile slipping. "I hope to never see one of their warriors again. At least, not in such bloody context. If things go right, there might be something there in the end."
Baldwin shrugs again, giving Louma another supportive little smile. "Once all is said and done, who knows? I doubt all of those Saurs are straight-up evil, but I could easily be wrong about that."
Louma sighs. "I know they aren't. But that is... Not a discussion I'd like to hold right now, if that is alright."
Baldwin nods. "Of course, Captain. Maybe you'd like to tell me some more about that spear you got, then?"
Louma chuckles quietly, shrugging. "I could, sure. They're typically worked on by each soldier, changing the shaft for personal balance most of the time." She begins going into detail about the spear, though it quickly diverts into a general discussion about the snake military service. She gladly answers any of Baldwins questions while the two wait on their respective appointments, the conversation only fuelling Louma's desire to get back to her duties after so long.