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RESPITE CLINIC - AFTERNOON
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Maybelline steps through the clinic carrying a small box. After exchanging a few words with the still very busy Plume, she walks towards where they told May that Nesseth would be recovering.
Nesseth has been in bed, though the curtains are currently pulled back, showing the lizard to be sitting up and reading a book, his good hand flipping the pages slowly as he finishes each passage. He seems to be in good spirits, if perhaps a little bored at the moment. His bad arm and his chest remain exposed, showing the electrical burns tracing along his arm and across his chest, though it looks... better than what it probably should be, thanks to Tarbin and Melia's efforts at accelerating his body's healing process.
Maybelline grins as she spots the lizard, keeping her voice even to not quite shout, "Nesseth! Oh, it's a relief to see you're doing alright. I brought you some snacks!" She holds up the box from the bakery. "Plume said maybe not the best choice to bring you in the hospital, but um, one or two won't hurt and I'll just leave the rest to share?" She gives a somewhat guilty grin.
Nesseth looks up and around upon hearing May calling to him. He smiles and waves before marking his page, closing the book and setting it aside. "Hey there, May! I'm doing fine, aside from the burns. I should be able to get out of bed regularly enough that I can go back home for the rest of my recovery." He chuckles and grins at the bakery box, "And I won't say no to snacks. Just be sure to bribe Plume with one or two, and they won't mind."
Maybelline smirks, "Already done. That's how I got in here. Well, I mean, I got in here cause things are finally slowing down enough back to uh, 'normal'. Normal enough, at least, that you're able to get visitors, and things around town are operating well enough that I can drop by."
Nesseth chuckles. "Ahead of the game, I see. But yeah... with everyone coming back into town, it's already calming down a lot compared to before. Still, with the wounded and some of the kidnapped folks still recovering, I think the clinic will be one of the busier places around town for a while still." He smiles at May, "Draw up a chair, have a seat! I've not been able to get around town as quickly as usual, so I only really hear whatever Plume, Tarbin, Melia and Vix tell me. Anything interesting happening as of late?"
Maybelline sets down the box of cookies on the table besides Nesseth, then climbs up onto the chair and makes herself comfortable. "Well, yeah... but nothing you don't know about I guess. A lot of street celebrations. I mean, it's not quite like the spring festivals in Policaster, a lot less drinking, but there's a weird air to things. But, I've not gotten to participate in it too much. That... dragon did a bunch of damage to my generator's infrastructure, so I've been busy replacing all the blown out repeaters and making sure the power grid is solid... Louma's finally relaxing after all the worry and fear about you all."
Nesseth hums quietly as he scoots a bit on his bed and gets comfortable as well, sitting up a bit more to better chat with May. "Yeah, Vix put together a lot of the celebrations that are going on right now, though I heard that the town leaders decided to make it something a bit bigger than what she was originally planning. I think it's more just relief that things are over with, compared to something like classes being done with for a while." He sighs and shakes his head a bit, "I'm glad to know your shield worked beautifully at stopping that dragon, but I still wish that thing flew off in another direction, or just never woke up in the first place. That thing's trouble."
Maybelline chuckles nervously, "I uh... I haven't talked to anyone about it but Louma, but it came way... way too close to overloading the whole thing... it's why I've been so busy the last week with all the little repairs. I had to draw in everything to keep it stable..." She takes a deep breath, "But... it's gone now. Louma's sent a report about it off to Bairnell, and they're going to forward alerts out and... hopefully other folks bigger than us will know how to deal with it. I still don't know what to think about these... Saur though."
Nesseth nods. "Call it lucky, or really damn good engineering, but your generator survived the ordeal, and the town's safe because of it. That thing's gone off elsewhere, but best as I can tell, it's not anywhere near Aephix anymore." He sighs and leans back against his pillow, "The ones that joined the town are... nice. The ones that didn't trust us went elsewhere with someone else after the Prominence fell. Those that are camped outside the walls are hoping things will be better here."
Maybelline nods, "It's been the source of uh, some debate. But with caravan traffic back to normal, and the farms producing a pretty big yield... I guess some of them are being put to work harvesting for the farmers that they captured... kinda poetic, I guess? I have to go through the reports about it to sign off on any 'power concerns' that get sent to Bairnell. Louma's none too happy with all the paperwork the refugees have caused, but still... it's not the worst case scenario. You all did good... I uh... thanks. For risking everything out there."
Nesseth hums, looking a little concerned about the news of the farms. "Let's just hope the farmers aren't taking advantage of the extra labor. I might have to check in with the Saurs later to see if they're being treated well enough. A lot of them are non-combatants, and didn't want the war in the first place." He falls silent for a moment, then shakes his head, "Almost feels bad that I'm kind of wanting a vacation, what with all the work others are putting in during the aftermath of all this."
Maybelline chuckles, "I've been hinting at one for Louma too, but I think she feels bad she wasn't there alongside you in the end. But I wouldn't begrudge it to you, or to anyone who went with you, the time off."
Nesseth tilts his head curiously. "...Wow, really? I figured she'd have jumped at the chance for a vacation, considering what she went through, herself." He chuckles a bit, "Especially with how she was always complaining about all the paperwork and whatnot when she was stuck behind her desk before we set out to the west."
Maybelline grins, "Well, I haven't... exactly asked her, you know? But uh..." She blushes a bit, embarrassed. "Well, I sorta want to... ask her back to Sarn... meet the family and all and uh... well..."
Nesseth ahhs, understanding. "Something of a couple's trip out back home, hm? That could be fun." He grins a bit, "A nice vacation, plus a bit of a traditional "here's my partner!" visit at the same time."
Maybelline nods, stammering just a bit at the thought of it, "S-something like that, yeah. What about you? What were you thinking of doing for a vacation?"
Nesseth shrugs a little. "No idea, honestly... Might see if I can grab Vix and Plume for a trip to Orela, now that Tarbin and Melia are helping out around the clinic. Other than that... well... no idea if a long trip is even possible, since Plume's the only doctor in town."
Maybelline nods. "Yeah, Louma's just one of several Captain's... but I'm the only fully licensed engineer. But at least I could trust someone like Brunilda to watch things while I'm gone."
Nesseth shrugs again. "I'll probably figure something out. I know Plume doesn't want to head to Vamas, but I'd like to visit Orela again one day, after all of that craziness, just to see if everyone that way is doing alright." He chuckles again, "If Louma heads out, her lieutenant, that is... me, can head out as well without any issues."
Maybelline hums. "So really, it's practically her responsibility to take the time off to ensure her hard-working Lieutenant gets the rest he deserves!"
Nesseth laughs a bit. "If you want to try and persuade her that way, you could. Just don't tell her you got the idea from me, and she won't suspect any ulterior motives." He grins, "Such as us conspiring to make her take a break."
Maybelline sticks out her tongue, "Fair warning, I'm real bad at lying to her. But I'll see about forgetting we had this talk when I finally get up the courage to bring it up to her."
Nesseth laughs. "Well, hopefully by the time she figures out we were conspiring, you two will be on the ship out to Sarn. By the time she gets back, she'll probably have forgotten." He smirks, "And bravery? You took on a dragon with that shield and won. Asking Louma out should be easier after that."
Maybelline snorts, smirking, "Well sure. But I didn't care about how the dragon felt about me the next morning. I was also standing in probably the most secure building in the town 'fighting it' with levers and dials from quite a distance away. I didn't even see it until it was flying away."
Nesseth chuckles. "Maybe so, but you were basically the first line of defense, there." He shakes his head, smiling, "But I doubt Louma will say anything aside from "Yes", or at least something probably way more enthusiastic."
Maybelline: "Ahhh. You're probably right. Not like we'd be leaving right away anyways if she does agree." She sighs, looking down a bit awkwardly, "And, uh, I appreciate the whole 'first line of defense' stuff, but it's just a weather shield. It's only to deflect sandstorms and lightning bolts, and slow torrential downpour in monsoon season... assuming Respite even has that."
Nesseth shrugs. "It was also just the thing to stop that storm the thing brought with it. I heard from a couple others how the shield was strong enough to handle numerous lightning strikes in a row." He offers May a wry smile, "I'm not trying to be ingratiating. If I was, I'd be saying how the shield saved everyone from some kind of horrible, awful fate in some kind of super flowery language."
Maybelline sighs, breaking into a chuckle. "Well, I'm just doing my job... I didn't do it because I was brave or anything, so it feels a bit awkward to accept it anyways, but thanks, Nesseth. But I'm not the one in bed with injuries gotten while actually fighting to save everyone."
Nesseth scoffs a bit. "More like fighting to just stay alive... I doubt Louma told you the report, but I got these just trying to make sure the Whisperer was dead before the Prominence came down on our heads. I could have just let the mountain do the job for it, but I wasn't really thinking about it when I did it."
Maybelline grows a bit silent when the topic changes to the actual fighting. She nods at the end. "I don't... I mean... I never... well, whatever you did to them... after what they did to Louma, they deserved ever bit of it and more."
Nesseth nods. "Just Xeilzrus, the Whisperer. The others... they were just pawns, if they even participated in the fighting." He smiles softly at May, "I just hope folks that live here won't cause too many issues for the Saurs that joined us. A lot of them are like us, after all. Just... people trying to get by with what they know. They've also lost the only home they've known of for a very long time."
Maybelline sighs, "I guess I sorta know that feeling. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, Nesseth. Still glad you're back... Louma, Vandal, Brunilda, all of you."
Nesseth hums quietly. "It feels good to be back after so long out west. The town feels like a giant manor after a month and a half with nothing but tents, rations, wild game and scrub plants to eat."
Maybelline blahs. "Yeah... Guess in part it's what to expect from 'frontier town', but... I'm just too much of a city girl, I guess."
Nesseth smiles in amusement. "Nothing wrong with that. It'll help you get settled in a lot better as Respite grows, I bet. Not to mention, you'll already know what to do and what not to do when you and Louma head out to Sarn."
Maybelline chuckles, "Raised in Glaushire my whole childhood. And then spent time in Policaster on my internship. And then... Respite. That's it. I'm uh... not that worldly."
Nesseth reaches over to the plate and snags himself a cookie, which he starts to nibble on. Unprompted, he holds his cookie in his teeth and passes May one, too. "Well, hey, just means there's a lot you can see together with Louma! I don't really know how well-traveled she is, but things are a lot more fun when with a partner."
Maybelline reaches up to take the cookie and smiles. "Yeah... yeah, it's pretty great. She shows me things I never even imagined. Do you know how beautiful this town is from the air? It's... something else."
Nesseth winds up chuckling heartily at that. "I've seen it from up in the air a couple of times, but the view gets a bit spoiled by the fact that I'm typically caught in Louma's bind and hauled up into the air during a sparring match." He sighs, "Having wings must be pretty nice, though."
Maybelline nods. "I'd never even dreamed of such a thing and then..." she sighs, clearly a bit caught up in the memory. "Feathers are great... so soft and..." She stops, then smirks at Nesseth, "Well, you know too, don't you?"
Nesseth can't help but nod along as May talks about feathers. "That I would. Plume doesn't have as many feathers as Louma, but they're still wonderfully soft and fun to snuggle. It's also really fun playing with Plume's wings."
Maybelline blushes just a shade, giggling, "Yeah. I'm not so good with the preening yet, but I've always been a quick learner."
Nesseth chuckles. "I've gotten a fair bit of practice thanks to Plume. It's a little easier with a long snout like mine, but not by much. A lot of it comes down to really gentle nibbles on the feathers."
Maybelline reaches up to rub her (realitively short) snout. "I gotta really dig in there and I'm still afraid to do something wrong."
Nesseth shakes his head with a slightly sheepish smile. "The worst thing you could do is accidentally pull out a feather, and it takes a fair bit of force to do that, too. I, uh... may have learned that the hard way, back when Plume and I first started really committing to things."
Maybelline chuckles, "I really shouldn't be asking you for help in finding Louma's weaknesses~, but here we are, I suppose. Our conspiracy deepens." She grins, "...she really is the best thing to happen to me. I..." She hesitates. "You don't happen to know anything about uh, Orelan ceremonies do you? L-like, for snakes?"
Nesseth tilts his head curiously. "Ceremonies? You mean... like, religious ones, or weddings, or...?" He hums thoughtfully, "I do know a couple of religious ones just from my travels, praying for safe winds on travels or a prayer for safety in a conflict, but I'm sure the town's Loremaster could help with any others you might have in mind."
Maybelline reddens, "N-no not necessarily religious ones... the um... well, n-never mind! Loremaster! That sounds like a good place to start, haha!" She takes a bite of the cookie she'd been holding to quickly occupy her mouth.
Nesseth watches May's face flush, and he chuckles as he gives her a few seconds to compose herself, nibbling on his own cookie in the mean time. "Well... that's about the extent of my knowledge, at the moment. I could ask the Loremaster myself if you like, since I need to head that way with Xochi once I'm recovered."
Maybelline shakes her head, "N-no! That's alright. I'll figure it out myself for this, but thanks, Nesseth."
Nesseth nods. "Sure thing, May. Sorry I didn't have more info, but Aurelius should be able to help."
Maybelline shrugs, "Ahh, no worries, uh, just me being a bit foolish. Thinking about... things. That's all."
Nesseth hums and nods. "I know the feeling... Sometimes, it just helps to talk a bit, about whatever. Easier to think things through relaxed than when tense, I figure."
Maybelline takes a deep breath, then continues to talk with Nesseth on her thoughts living in Respite, and living with Louma. While she doesn't exactly address her thoughts towards a future with Louma, it's clearly very prominent in her mind as the two speak through May's lunch hour, until the stoat excuses herself to return to work.