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RESPITE BARRACKS - EARLY MORNING
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Louma lands outside the barracks, folding her wings back and straightening up. Her uniform is crisp and posture as stiff as ever, though the light smile she wears gives a generally different impression than straight authority. She enters the barracks, greeting the desk guard as she passes on the way to her office. Seeing the light on under the door, Louma pauses just outside before knocking sharply.
Nesseth glances up at the door, having only just arrived some fifteen minutes earlier. Though his exhaustion hasn't gotten any worse since about a week or so ago, undoubtedly, he's looking far worse than when Louma last saw him before she left. However, he's been expecting Louma's arrival since he saw her name on the list of arrivals the other day, so it's only a moment before he calls back. "Enter, the door's unlocked."
Louma turns the handle, slithering into the office and shutting the door before looking at Nesseth. She salutes him properly before speaking. "Good morning Nesseth, I... Hope you're better than those bags suggest."
Nesseth returns the salute, nice and crisp, though he doesn't get up from his seat for the moment. "Certainly been better, what with the nightmares, combat fatigue and such. I hope you had a good vacation, Louma."
Louma blinks, nodding a bit. "Yes, it was certainly a pleasant vacation. You... Didn't take the first week off, did you?"
Nesseth 's expression shifts a little at the question, something akin to a twinge of annoyance going across his face for the shortest of moments. "Of course I did. It was nice to have a bit of time to rest up."
Louma sighs quietly, shaking her head and half-muttering. "I knew I should have had Oikonny take the desk as an order..." She looks to the office, noting how well ordered everything seems at a glance. "Well you do have more time to look forward to, as per our discussion. Another week, if you want it."
Nesseth sniffs a bit. "I took over because Oikonny's organizational method was far different from yours. You'd have spent ages just re-sorting everything again even if he kept it all nice and clean otherwise." He pauses, "Not sure what all another week would accomplish, honestly."
Louma hums, settling into a coil on the other side of the desk from him, their positions reversed from how they'd sit 99% of the time. "You said you're having nightmares. I assume Plume isn't giving you anything to force calm sleep, then. What sort of nightmares?"
Nesseth shakes his head. "They offered, but I didn't want to do that, and they agreed." He sets his pen down and leans back in his seat after a moment, a bit of a shadow darkening his features, "Long, dark stone hallways, a terrifying presence deeper into the hall, evil laughter behind... then lightning when I turn around, blinding pain, and no way to fight back."
Louma grunts. "So Xeilrus." She sighs, shaking her head a little. "You should have taken more time off to recover, Nesseth."
Nesseth shifts at the mention of the Whisperer. "And Yzzayt itself." He fixes his gaze on Louma, "I intended to, remember? Take over for you at the start, then a vacation for two weeks straight afterwards?"
Louma shakes her head a bit. "Two weeks. Well, it's a start. Have you filled out the paperwork yet?"
Nesseth raises an eyebrow. "Hm. Pretty sure you were the one that negotiated it down to just one week back when we last spoke, Louma." He shakes his head again, "And no, the last time I filled out paperwork for vacation was before you left."
Louma gives Nesseth a look in turn. "I'm pretty sure I wanted someone else to take care of the office work so you could remain on patrol. You know, outside, where you like to be. I also had no way to know how heavily inflicted you were. That sort of trauma can take some time to fully manifest."
Nesseth hums. "Mmh, but you and I both know that where we want to be and where we have to be don't always align. I'm your lieutenant, Louma. It's my duty to make sure things are shipshape when you're unavailable for whatever reason."
Louma: "I appreciate that, Nesseth, trust me. I do. I don't appreciate that you'll go against my orders to do whatever you think is best, but that is a discussion for another time."
Nesseth tilts his head. "Orders? Last I remember, we discussed letting Oikonny do the desk work for the first week. I may be exhausted beyond belief and stressed to hell and back, but my memory is pretty crystal clear, still." He shakes his head, "Far as I can tell, I didn't disobey any orders we discussed."
Louma shrugs, sighing. "I don't know, perhaps I'm recalling something incorrectly. Honestly, my mind was far from work since returning. It doesn't matter now. Thank you for keeping the office in order, now take a vacation."
Nesseth shakes his head a bit with a sigh. "I can imagine your mind's been far from work for the entire month you've been away." He grunts as he slowly stands up from his seat, and he gives Louma a curious look, "How long?"
Louma chuckles dryly, watching Nesseth get up. I actually meant before the trip. That time away from Respite was necessary to get back to my duties." She rises shortly after he does, straightening her uniform. "Two weeks to start, as discussed. I will talk with the other Captains to see if I can leverage paid leave for longer than that. We'll know within a few days from now, and you can decide if you want to apply for more time once we know."
Nesseth shakes his head again. "I meant 'how long of a vacation can I take?', not how long your mind's been wandering." He pauses, looking down at his scarred arm in contemplation, "Two weeks, along with whatever the captains are willing to give to someone who almost died dealing with Xeilzrus, then." He stands up straighter, then salutes, "By your leave, Captain, I'll return to my normal duties for the day, then start the two weeks tomorrow."
Louma gives Nesseth a look, holding up a hand. "Two steps back, if you please. You were given three months to recover from your injuries and undercut that time thanks to your friends in the clinic. You didn't have to return to duty just because your arm could bend again."
Nesseth blinks and gives Louma a quizzical tilt of his head as he crosses his arms. "Three months, sure, but I recovered quickly thanks to Plume, Tarbin and Melia's efforts. Without that nature magic, I'd have been out the entire three months, if not longer." He shrugs, "Besides, all these nightmares and whatnot only started happening within the last couple of weeks or so. It probably wouldn't have been any different."
Louma shakes her head a bit. "No way to know one way or the other, but sitting behind that desk with nothing to properly give your mind other things to focus on probably didn't help. You were given that time to recover more than just your body, but what does complaining about my time off after you cut yours short do for anything? If you want to take your patrol this afternoon, I wont stop you, but I want you to finish whatever was left of that three months off. Okay?" She sighs, looking to the lizard. "Trust me, rest is absolutely part of getting some of yourself back. We can talk more, when you want."
Nesseth laughs a little, though it rings a bit hollow. "Sitting behind this desk reading reports certainly gave me more to focus on than if I was standing idle at the gate or on the wall for hours on end with nothing to look at but the plains. I went out there because it was the right thing to do. I got lucky that I survived." He gives Louma a sharp look, "I'm 'complaining' about your vacation time because we both know our time off before our respective vacations and return to work were spent recovering and being able to do essentially nothing."
Louma gives an exasperated sigh, tapping her fingertip against her side. "That time in the clinic, you probably started feeling like a dead weight on Plume and those healers, right? You weren't. You were there because you did what you had to do, and they were doing what they had to do. You saved lives, Nesseth. I'm sorry that your duties got in the way of your recovery. I'm sorry that my vacation got in the way, as well."
Nesseth notes the exasperation, and it doesn't seem to make him any less annoyed. "Nothing to apologize for. Probably would have been better overall if I came back unscathed both in mind and body, or just dead like the rest." He chuckles, "I wouldn't be causing so many petty problems if those were the outcomes, eh?"
Louma gives him a sharp look. Don't talk like that. You have so many loved ones here that would miss you terribly if you had never returned. I'd rather you be a thorn in my side than a-a-a corpse in the ground."
Nesseth hums quietly, not really commenting on that, though it's the sort of hum that shows he's not all too convinced the current situation is any better. "Mmh, well, anyway... The desk is yours for the day, Louma. You'll find most everything in order the way you like it. I'll conduct a normal patrol for the day, then start the vacation tomorrow." He shrugs a bit, "Then I'll stop by later in the week to see what all the Captains have planned."
Louma slithers around to the back of the desk, moving Nesseth's chair out of the way and starting to settle in. "That sounds fine, Nesseth. I may make a round of the patrols later today, perhaps we'll have another chance to talk then." She moves her inkwell slightly, opening a drawer for a quill and setting it next to the inkwell... Then moving the well over a bit again. Her eyes narrow slightly.
Nesseth steps aside to give Louma the space to take her spot behind the desk, then makes his way to the door. "Then you'll probably see me around on my usual routes. See you around, Louma." He steps through the door, only to lean back in with a shadow of a smirk on his face, "Oh, by the way, I hope you like the aesthetic changes I did."
Nesseth quickly shuts the door behind him and goes on his way.