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GUARD TRAINING GRONDS - MORNING
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Kira is getting in some sword practice at the training grounds after her nightly rounds have finished. Today, she's dipping the tip of her blade in dye before each attack so that she can better track where she's hitting and where her form is off. The little moth is a flurry of activity, never stopping in one place for longer than a second as she focuses on her technique.
Ninell wanders through the area, having not much else to do but wait for Bracvar and whoever he's managed to scrounge up for an extra escort to ready up for their trip to the west. As such, he finds himself striding along in his armor, looking to maybe get a little practice in against some of the guards. While making his way through the training grounds, though, he spots a small figure flitting about in the air near a small cluster of dummies, and he finds himself curiously watching as they dart in and out, their small sword pricking the dummies in various spots.
Kira finally deigns to take a break after a particularly intricate pattern of attacks, landing on the table next to the small thimble of dye and another small jar of what looks to be some sort of nectar. She takes a sip of the nectar, only then noticing the newcomer to the grounds. After setting down the jar, she gives a friendly nod to the draconian as she dyes her blade yet again. "Good morning."
Ninell hums and waves in greeting, smiling a bit. "Good morning to you as well. I take it you are one of the guards of the town?" He looks towards the dummy Kira was just practicing on for a moment, "You make good use of your flight in attacking your targets."
Kira nods her head a bit and smiles. "Yes, well, one of the scouts more than a guard... and the town lamplighter... but thank you, sir. Are you one of the new guards?"
Ninell shakes his head. "No, I am not. I am simply spending a bit of time in town while seeing to some matters from my homeland. I am a knight from Eukune. Ninell, at your service." He dips his head courteously at that.
Kira cocks her head. "Ah, another far place, then, like Sarn or Vamas." She gives Ninell a little salute. "I'm Kira, and it's good to meet you." She flutters up from the table to hover more at Ninell's eye level.
Ninell hums and smiles again as he straightens up. "A pleasure to meet you as well, Kira. I will say, I was here to perhaps get a little sparring exercise with some guards, but I have not seen someone like you fight before."
Kira gives a quick little giggle before flourishing her sword again. "Neither have I, but I wanted to help my home... so I found a way..."
Ninell chuckles a bit. "Admirable. You do have quite the element of surprise against most opponents, I would imagine, with flight and speed."
Kira nods. "Yes, but I still lack strength, so I have to go disabling attacks, which I know some look down on..." She looks at her nimble blade and then up to the knight. "Not the most honorable way to fight, but it's what I can manage."
Ninell shakes his head a bit. "Honor only works in a proper duel. Honor anywhere else in combat will simply get you killed. To win in battle, you use everything at your disposal, while making sure your enemy cannot do the same."
Kira nods in agreement, though she's listening very keenly to everything the knight says. "Yes, I agree. When I fight for my home, there is nothing wrong I can do to defend it..."
Ninell nods at Kira's statement, his fingers drumming slightly against his gauntlet. "Some may scoff at the idea, "dishonorable" they might even say, but they often are the ones that have not been on the wrong end of a blade."
Kira smiles at Ninell as she finds a perch to rest on. "Yes, besides, how am I to honorably fight something so much larger than myself?"
Ninell hums in agreement. "Mmh, you are certainly one of the smallest beings I have met, so you would have to make use of your size to your advantage." He shakes his head a bit, "The only honorable match would be fighting against one's own kind, if not oneself in mirror form."
Kira flutters up again, practicing subtle movement from side to side, but not so much that it removes her from the conversation with Ninell. "And I know of no others of my kind to come and live in the towns as I do not, let alone learning to fight. It's not our usual nature to do more than try to escape the predators."
Ninell digs the butt of his halberd into the ground a little and props the weighty weapon against his shoulder. "That makes you brave, indeed, Kira. Respite Falls must mean a lot to you for you to take up arms like this."
Kira laughs a bit as she stills herself in the air again. "I don't know why the town and its folk enticed me like it did, but this is where I belong, and so I will do what I can to help the town." She gives a proud little smile. "Besides, most of the night lamps are automatic now, so there's not much to be done on that department anymore..."
Ninell chuckles quietly. "So instead of being just a lamplighter, you contribute in another, perhaps unorthodox manner, now." He nods at Kira, "In that case... perhaps I should let you get back to training? Though, if you do not mind, might I observe? I admit, I am curious to see how you fight."
Kira gives a firm nod to Ninell. "Of course... and then you could return the favour?" Before he can respond, she darts off toward the nearest dummy, aiming a piering strike at a vulnerable blood vessel below the ear.
Ninell blinks, but smiles a bit as he moves to rest at a spot where he can watch Kira practice without getting in anyone's way. He watches the moth practicing, noting her ability to hit lethal targets with good accuracy, for a while before the two switch out, and he starts to give Kira a demonstration of heavier combat methods in his armor and halberd.
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RESPITE MARKETPLACE - MIDDAY
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Rhask sits at the stall she's been sharing with Emmeline and Jennica, today wearing a rather daring (to her, anyway) outfit that exposes her arms up to her shoulders, showing off the beautiful scale designs Piper had done the other day. Her second set of arms are still concealed, though, partially because she's still nervous about showing them off, and also because she'd have to go topless until she modifies her clothing otherwise. So, she sits, knitting away as usual, content to show off a little thanks to that confidence boost.
Jennica walks towards the stall, just slightly nervous... well, nervous as usual. The cow is actually back to being a cow, dressed back in her comfy overalls as she makes her way across the marketplace. It has been a couple of days since was last down here... and last time she was, she was still a kobold. It's almost disorienting to be back to her normal height again.
Rhask 's needles flash in the sunlight as she knits with practiced ease, though the rhythm gets interrupted when she notices Jennica approaching. It does take her a moment to recognize the cow, but having heard Jennica planned to take the cure, she realizes who she is moments later. "Oh, Jennica! Looks like you're back to normal, then? How are you feeling?"
Jennica steps closer and swifly behind the counter: "O-oh. F-fine, I think. Back to... well, normal." She pauses, glancing aside: "...mostly."
Rhask sets her knitting aside to hug Jennica once she steps behind the counter, only to blink and lean back a bit to curiously tilt her head. "Mostly? Something didn't quite change back?"
Jennica blushes fiercely as her only reply, quickly glances around... then turns to show her backside to Rhask. Her backside, and very much still kobold-scaled tail, thick, short and flexible, with a darker color to Jennica's lighter brown fur, lightly covered in thin fur inbetween the scales. The cow closes her eyes, swallowing: "I-it's, w'well... this." Her overalls have an inexpertly crafted hole for the much bigger tail.
Rhask hums as she steps back to let Jennica turn. She blinks in bemusement at the tail, only to smile and stifle a small chuckle. "Your tail didn't change back completely? It looks cute, though!"
Jennica twitches her tail nervously: "Y-yeah, when I woke up after taking the cure in the evening..." She turns around, facing Rhask again: "T-that bit sort of stayed. Em thinks it's odd but lovable, a-and like... it's not really anything harmful I guess. Just weird." The cow looks down, unsure on how to still take this.
Rhask hums quietly as she looks at the tail for a few moments, then looks back up at Jennica once she turns back around. "I agree with Emmeline, really. It's a cute look!" She turns a little and wiggles her own tail about for a moment, "And if you need any help getting your clothes set up, I can modify them for you."
Jennica blushes, but then nods: "Y-yeah, I probably could use help... not all that good with that stuff, as you know."
Rhask nods happily. "Then just let me know when, and I can get some of your overalls tailored pretty quickly."
Jennica sighs a bit and sits down on her usual spot on the sidetable... frowns and re-seats herself, adjusting for the bulky tail. She sighs, giving Rhask a look: "This doesn't bother you at all? My tail is just... just, well. I guess it's only my tail, but still."
Rhask tilts her head. "Bother me? Not at all! I mean, it's out of the ordinary, but like you said, it's not harmful or anything like that."
Jennica sighs, nodding... then finally finding a small smile. "Yeah... y-yeah. At least I am mostly me again." She gives Rhask a smile: "Thank you."
Rhask hums quietly. "You've always been you, even if you just looked different." She meets the smile with one of her own, "But I'm glad to see you're feeling better now that you're back to how you were before."
Jennica hums as well: "Sort of what Emmeline said too. A lot has happened lately, but we're still here." She looks at the lizard, considering: "How about you? Anything new?"
Rhask shakes her head a bit at the question, though she does stick her arms out to the sides a bit, letting the sunlight catch the paint on the scales. "Not much new, no. I decided to not wear my coat today, though, because a friend did such a lovely job painting my scales the other day. What do you think?"
Jennica seems to notice the scales: "Ooh, that's pretty. I guess that's a thing you can do with scales better than fur."
Rhask nods happily. "Mmhm! She does some wonderful work! If you like, you could talk to her, and see if she might have an idea for your tail, too! She really likes painting."
Jennica blinks, then twitches her tail thoughtfully: "Mm... m-maybe later. Not sure I want that... maybe?"
Rhask giggles a bit. "It might make you feel a bit more confident about having your tail like that. I certainly wouldn't have thought to remove my coat if not for her painting." She smiles at the designs tracing up her arms for a moment, "But, if you want to talk to her, her name is Piper. She's a big crocodile, so it should be pretty easy to spot her around town."
Jennica tilts her head as she listens, then nods slowly: "I will... keep that in mind. Not sure, but I think I've seen her around?" She pauses, looking Rhask over: "You know... I have sort of wondered how much clothing you want to wear in all this heat..." Not asking the question, but... well, kinda asking the question anyway.
Rhask chuckles at the implied question. "It's really not too bad. My clothing is heavy, but it insulates nicely against the sun and heat. They also do really well at keeping me warm during the colder nights."
Jennica nods: "Makes sense... it was kind of weird trying to keep just the right feeling, right temperature, when I was scaled... well, fully scaled."
Rhask smiles a bit. "Trying to regulate temperature can be hard for scaled folks. That's why I layer so much most of the time." She nods at the pile of clothing for sale, "It's easier to regulate temperature when outside changes can't get through the clothes."
Jennica hums, thinking on this: "I guess it's just never really... occurred to me, before I got to experience it myself. F-funny how that works, right?"
Rhask nods. "Some things are just too hard to explain without experience, I think."
Jennica glances at her pile of unfinished trinkets, then chuckles: "Yeah... very much so, probably. I've always found it hard to explain what it is that I actually, uh... do."
Rhask hums in agreement. "Yup! I wouldn't understand an explanation unless I could do what you do, or if I even had any kind of magic."
Jennica chuckles: "That's probably true... it's kinda tricky explaining emotion-based magic to begin with, when most what I do is just sorta... what I feel."
Rhask chuckles quietly. "I remember you said as much when I asked back when we'd first met." She goes to retrieve her knitting stuff and takes a seat again, settling in to chat with Jennica about odds and ends, wherever conversation takes them as they work together in running the stall for the day.