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AEPHIX - SOUTHWEST BAY - MID-MORNING
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Shirley lies on her back at the edge of the water, numerous scrapes and scratches having pulled feathers off of her limbs, neck and face. Her clothing, a rather techie-looking ensemble that evokes a sense of machinery and tinkering, is likewise ripped and torn from whatever trouble befell her before her "arrival" in Aephix.
Shirley remains motionless for a while, the warm sun beating down on her as the waves try to sap the warmth just as quickly. The waves occasionally also wash up fragments of pitch-stained wood, the only remnants of her invention that made it this far from her home.
Shirley eventually starts to stir, slowly at first, then more fitfully as consciousness seems to return. However, the moment she tries to draw her first conscious breath, her eyes shoot open as she chokes and rolls over, a massive coughing fit bringing up the water she'd inhaled during her aimless drifting. The desire to draw a full breath overriding any and all pain that might be wracking her body at the moment as she reflexively does her best to clear her lungs.
Shirley finishes her coughing fit after some agonizingly slow seconds pass, and she manages to draw a ragged, wonderful breath of air. The exertions so soon after waking up leave her panting with the occasional cough, her head bowed and staring blankly at the sand beneath her.
Shirley catches her breath and goes to stand up, only to gasp as a lance of pain shoots through her left arm. She lets out a wordless shout as she instead flops onto her rear, her good hand grasping at her clearly broken arm. The pain brings her fuzzy mind into crisp focus, and she quickly makes to stand up.
Shirley blinks her eyes open again as the pain in her arm fades to a dull throb for the time being and looks around. She ruffles her wings, her blue feathers rustling slightly as they shake off the water clinging to them. "...Where the bloody hell am I...? Ugh, damn it all...!" She sighs sharply, kicking at the sand in front of her before she starts to walk around a bit agitatedly, searching for a path or some sign of civilization, "Of all the times for a storm to spring up! Saved the blueprints, at least..."
Shirley crouches a little to try and take to the air, but spares her wings a glance as they fan open behind her, revealing her flight feathers to be more than a bit damaged, many of them bent in strange directions, or else completely missing. With another sigh, she slowly untenses and folds her wings again. "Wonderful. Just brilliant..."
Shirley looks around a bit more, then spots what looks like a footpath leading into the treeline. "...I need to get to the road and to... somewhere not here. Got to get my arm looked at, too..." She grunts as she lightly rubs at the wounded arm, the motions as she starts making her way up the path jolting her with a bit of pain, "Right pain in the arse, I swear..."
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RESPITE FALLS - NESSETH'S HOME ADDRESS - AFTERNOON
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Phoebe looks down at the scrap of paper, listing the address of the soldier who's been leading the investigation on the Elementals. She sighs, still unsure of this whole thing, but with Ninell's encouragement in her head, she glances around at first before knocking sharply at the door.
Nesseth takes a few minutes to answer, but answers once he's climbed down from the rooftop and walked from the backyard to the door. He opens it up and tilts his head curiously, wearing nothing at the moment except for the shorts he usually wears while catching some sun. "Uh... hi, can I help you with something?"
Phoebe blinks, coughing slightly and turning her head, "Am I... interrupting something?"
Nesseth blinks, then looks down at what he's wearing, only to shrug and shake his head. "Hm? No, just a bit of sunning is all."
Phoebe sighs, rolling her eyes, body language a bit stand-offish to hide her nerves about this admission, "Well, whatever. You're that lizard from the bar right? They said you were a Sergeant or something? That you've been investigating the whole 'Elemental' thing, yeah?"
Nesseth nods at the question, standing a little straighter at the mention of the investigation. "Lieutenant, but yes. The whole thing was on hold for the most part due to the issues with the Saurs. There was someone else assigned to it during that time, but it was more to just keep tabs on the situation until I got back."
Phoebe turns back to look Nesseth in the eyes, "Ah, well, if you want it, I got news about it? They said you'd probably want to hear it."
Nesseth does seem interested, the way he shifts his stance a little and nods. "News? Sure, if there's been a development, I'll hear it. What's happened?"
Phoebe takes a deep breath, reaching up a moment the rub her muzzle before she begins. "I spoke with Cavro about things. He's just been watching and waiting, right? But he promised to-" She stops herself, shaking her head, "He said he might do some work for me if I could help him, maybe talk to this elemental thing? But he didn't want to confront it, right?"
Nesseth nods again. "Sounds about right. Cavro's been out of his forge for several months by this point. The elemental has been operating it as normal, but that's besides the point anyway. Circumstances just kept the investigation going far slower than I would have liked."
Phoebe: "Sure, well... I did my own investigation, and went in to talk to this... whatever it was. I asked it... him? to forge me something, just wanted to see how he worked. Get a sense for him, you know? Maybe learn something more about it." She pauses, voice getting a bit quiet. "I wanted to help. But I guess me being there antagonized him? Cause something happened to him while he was working. He... cracked apart, turned all to ash."
Nesseth raises his eyebrow a bit, only for his expression to shift to confusion as he listens to Phoebe's explanation. At her conclusion, he thinks for a few seconds, his brow furrowing as he considers this development. After a short bit, he turns and steps into the house and waves Phoebe to follow. "I'm going to need to know more about this incident, I think. Let me get some paper to take notes on. Come on in."
Phoebe hesitates a moment, almost as if expecting entering the house to spring some kind of trap. Finally as Nesseth heads in deeper into the house, she follows after. Slightly tensed up. "Yeah, uh, there's a bit more to the story too... I honestly thought he was dead. I mean, he still might be for all I know."
Nesseth shakes his head a little as he rummages through a drawer at a cabinet set against one of the walls in the main room, quickly finding a pencil and a sheet of paper. "I doubt it, if he's anything like Melia was. She sort of "became" the plants in Erika's garden for a while when we aggravated her too much one time early on. I think this might be similar, in a way." He goes to the table and pulls a chair out for Phoebe, then takes a seat opposite that one, "If you could explain things in more detail, please?"
Phoebe pauses again, then slowly takes the offered seat. "Okay... not sure how much more to it there was. He seemed to just be working fine, and asked me questions about the work I wanted done. I arrived during the whole Saur thing too, so I figured, some good knives, right? I described what I wanted, but he scratched out the designs and made one of his own, so whatever. And then he got to work. And I just asked him questions in the meantime, right? Trying to suss out how much he knew about... himself, I guess?"
Nesseth hums in agreement as he starts to jot down notes while listening to Phoebe. "Mmhm, mostly just doing what you promised Cavro to do, yeah. What all did you two talk about while he was working, then?"
Phoebe shrugs, "Just his job, how long he'd worked there, a few questions about his apprenticeship. He had answers for it all, but he got more and more aggitated as I talked." She glances away, pointedly leaving out her own purposeful pushes to antagonize the elemental into his revelation. "He said stuff like 'the forge remembers the badger', and kept talking as if he could hear the flames. Maybe he didn't like what they said?"
Nesseth nods again, jotting more notes down to build a more complete picture of what happened. "Makes sense. He shares memories with Cavro right up until the point that he and Cavro... split or whatever happened. Melia is similar to Erika in that regard..." He hums quietly, thinking for a moment as he looks at Phoebe, "So he got more agitated as you two talked... and he seemed to start figuring out he wasn't actually Cavro?"
Vix peeks over the edge of the couch as she listens in. Her bare shoulders hint that she might not be completely presentable for guests.
Phoebe nods, eyes drifting towards Vix for a moment, then rolling again with a sigh, "Yeah, must have. Eventually he got so frustrated he smashed his fist, and it just broke apart, like I said. He looked at me, and then just... broke apart entirely." She glances away. "I uh... I ran. Not much proud to admit that. I thought he was dead. I ran into Melia, and she said she was gonna check on what was going on. She was worried about some skunk attacking her anyways."
Nesseth follows Phoebe's look over to the couch, only to smile when he sees Vix peering over the back of it at him. "Hey there, Vix. Had a good nap?" He grins, then redirects his attention to Phoebe again, his grin sliding away as he considers, "So he turned to ash. Could be that he went back to being a formless elemental, like Melia did..." He pause, then tilts his head, "A skunk might be trying to attack Melia?"
Phoebe shrugs, "She said the skunk had already attacked her, and might be going after Cavro too. Well, the elemental one. Formless or whatever it is."
Nesseth taps the pencil against the paper for a few moments, a frown on his face, then he makes a note separate from the ones he's currently jotting down to go and talk with Melia about this skunk. "Right, well... I'll look into that, as well. Anyway... after that, you left, and you came here to tell me about all of what happened since."
Vix glances between Nesseth and Phoebe as she takes in the gossip.
Phoebe slumps, this is a part of the story she can't exactly gloss over. "Ugh, no... I... I was scared. I ran... hid out away for the night. It was... disturbing, watching that. Been trying to forget it, but I've been having nightmares since then. I mean, it's only been a couple days, but... I only came because someone has promised to help me through some shit, encouraged me to get the elemental some help. ...late as it might be."
Nesseth hums quietly, giving Phoebe a sympathetic look. "It's a stressful situation, I know. It's not easy seeing something like that happen, especially when you think you might have had a hand in it." He gives Phoebe a smile after a moment, "Don't worry, I'll move this along and we'll get things figured out. Is there anything else you think I should know?"
Phoebe hesitates a moment, eyes darting towards Vix. She looks back at Nesseth, voice lowered, "I don't... do you trust her?"
Nesseth looks over at Vix again for a moment, then nods with a smile. "Yes, I do."
Vix smiles and waves innocently.
Phoebe looks back at Vix and sighs. She's already in too deep at this point, and the more help she can manage for Aelia... "I... might be an Elemental too. Or something like one, I don't even know. That's... that's what Cavro was going to help me with. Why I wanted to help him."
Nesseth blinks and gazes at Phoebe for a few moments, definitely not having expected that sort of extra detail. "You... think you're an elemental or something? So there's another wolf like you running around town, doing what you typically do?"
Phoebe shakes her head, "It's different for me... I'm... well, you've met Aelia, I know. The deer." She takes a deep breath. "That's the other half of me, or the 'real' part of whatever I am."
Nesseth gives Phoebe a strange look. "You seem plenty real to me, too. At least, you've not done that weird misty thing that Melia can do, so..." He shrugs, "Well, that aside... so you and Aelia... what, swap places or something?"
Phoebe: "Something like that, yeah. I don't know what I am, but whatever Melia is, whatever that other Cavro is, it's been the closest thing to whatever I am. Some kind of magic manifested in Aelia, and she transforms into me."
Nesseth hums quietly at that. "Mmh... an elemental or similar, unknown source of magic... and a whole second life of sorts. I can see it, yeah." He lets the revelation settle for a moment, then continues, "I'd say you could chat with Melia about things, but it seems you're already doing that, so I'll just hope you can figure things out. As for the situation with the elemental at the forge, I'll get folks to look into it more, and check in on things myself as well."
Phoebe nods, "Been trying to keep the whole thing secret... and that's kinda gotten me nowhere but alone with my own nightmares." She shudders, "I'm... trying to trust folks. It's new to me. But thank you..."
Nesseth sighs a little and nods at the mention of nightmares. "I know the feeling about nightmares. Been having some troubles of my own with those since the end of that war with the Saurs. Having someone or a group of someones to talk with and spend time with helps." He glances at Vix for a moment while talking, then smiles at Phoebe, "I hope things improve for you soon, and thank you for telling me about these developments with the elemental."
Phoebe: "I've a room at the Thirsty Minnow, if you need help. Or find anything out. I'll be there, or Aelia will be. I'll leave her a note that she can trust you." She glances at Vix as well.
Vix blinks. "Uh...I can help too! If you see me around..."
Nesseth chuckles a little and nods. "If anything comes up, I'll be sure to let you know. For now, though... is there anything else about the elemental you need me to know?"
Phoebe shakes her head, "Melia thinks they'll be fine... but I've not been brave enough to check. I've told you pretty much everything I know. I uh, guess I'll leave you two for now. Sorry for bothering you at your home."
Nesseth shakes his head and laughs a little. "Don't worry, it's fine. Thanks for the information, er..." He pauses, then tilts his head, "I don't think I caught your name, miss."
Phoebe stands from the chair, glancing around, before she's brought back to Nesseth's question, "Oh, I'm Phoebe. Named myself. Just felt right."
Nesseth nods as he stands up as well. "It's a nice name. Anyway, thanks for your time, Phoebe. I'll see you out."
Phoebe manages a smile, giving Vix a polite, if a bit nervous, wave as well, before she follows Nesseth back out to the door. "Thank you too, Nesseth."
Vix waves as Phoebe leaves.
Nesseth holds the door open for Phoebe and smiles. "Happy to help if I can. Have a good day."
Phoebe heads out of the house and gives out a sigh of relief, feeling a little bit better, but still hoping she can catch up with Cavro perhaps, or to catch back up with Ninell.
Nesseth shuts the door as Phoebe leaves, then goes to join Vix on the couch for some snuggles~