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RESPITE CLINIC - AFTERNOON
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Xochi slithers outside of the clinic, glancing up towards the sun. Doctor Plume has declared her fit to return home, no lingering physical effects, her mind seems sharp, even if she cannot explain much of where she has been or what happened to her. It's all a muddied, fuzzy jumble in her mind, the last thing she remembers is heading out that morning to perform that ritual with Sammi.
Nesseth makes his way back to the clinic after wrapping things up at the barracks for the day. He's been routinely stopping by since he, Erika and Louma brought Xochi to the clinic after the ritual. He was there with the others when Xochi woke up initially, but they all still had their jobs to take care of.
Xochi extends her wings out, the biggest mystery of this whole thing to her, but stops herself from lifting off as she spots the familiar lizard walking towards her, chuckling to herself, "Ah, hello again, Nesseth. Come to see me home?"
Nesseth perks up when he sees Xochi out in front of the clinic and cheerfully waves as he picks up the pace a bit. He's smiling brightly as he approaches. "Hey there, Xochi! I'm guessing Plume gave you the all clear to return home?"
Xochi nods, "I am healthy, and Plume finds nothing wrong with my thinking. Whatever has happened to cause this..." She waves a hand down across her body to indicate it, spreading her wings as well, "it seems it has no other impact? None that Plume or I can see, at least."
Nesseth tilts his head a bit as he looks at Xochi's slightly different stature, as well as her now-functioning wings. "Then... you've no memory still about what all happened after you did that ritual with Sammi?" He thinks for a moment with a thoughtful hum, "Mmh... then I guess the ritual worked, in a way?"
Xochi shakes her head, "No memory, no. The ritual certainly did... something? It is all rather fuzzy..." She pauses a moment, thinking, but ultimately she sighs, shrugging it off. "Plume asked me to refrain until they had checked, but my wings appear quite strong. And... I know how to fly, Nesseth."
Nesseth smiles again and gives Xochi's wings another look. "You looked like you were ready to take off just a minute ago. You've had a chance to test them out already, or just... a gut feeling?"
Xochi hums, "Just... a gut feeling, I suppose? I feel as though I learned long ago... even when I was never taught, never was given the chance. If this is what the ritual did, then... yes, a success."
Nesseth nods. "Must've been a muscle memory thing, then. It's hard to forget something like that once you learn it the first time around." He sighs a bit, but his smile remains in place, "I'm glad you've got the use of your wings now, though. If Plume cleared you for flight, then... maybe I'll meet you at your house to talk some more? I don't want to keep you from experiencing that first flight."
Xochi covers her mouth as she laughs, "Ah, best we walk together if you wish to talk. I feel that once I am in the air, I may not come down for some time."
Nesseth chuckles and nods as he gestures down the street. "Sounds reasonable enough. If I had wings, I'd just join you in the air for a while, but... well, no such luck, I'm afraid." He starts to walk along the street with the coatl, "It's good to have you back, Xochi."
Xochi slithers alongside Nesseth, hands folded in front of her. "I would say it is good to be back, but to me it feels as if I simply slept in? The time loss is... strange. I have heard they have already been building permanent structures for the Saur? It is good that things have progressed so well."
Nesseth nods at that. "Yeah, they've brought in a construction crew from... Sarn, I think, to get the houses up. They're all being built out near the west side of town, since we've got the farms to the north and east." He gives Xochi a curious look, "And... yeah, you've been gone for a few months."
Xochi frowns, but shakes her head again. "So strange, but I am glad the town has been at peace in the meantime. I am sorry that I have missed our talks upon the wall at night."
Nesseth reaches over and pats Xochi on the shoulder. "Well, the last while has been a little quiet, but at least we can get back to those chats whenever you feel like it." He drops his hand after a moment and gives Xochi a teasing, friendly nudge, "And I'm sure you'll make me jealous when you talk about all the things you see from up in the sky."]
Xochi chuckles, "I shall do my best to describe it all in detail, so that you can experience it to the highest degree!"
Nesseth smiles. "It'll be better hearing it from you than Louma's method of carrying me bodily into the air mid-spar."
Xochi tilts her head at that, thinking. "Though I do wonder if Captain Louma is longer than I am now? That shall be strange. It is going to take some getting used to."
Erika walks from behind the pair, or rather, bounces forward quite rapidly. She all but pounces to hug Nesseth from behind, grinning at Xochi: "Hi, you! Plume let you go?"
Nesseth hums curiously. "Hmm? I noticed you seemed to carry yourself a little differently now. Didn't you mention something about tail length being tied to age or something? Might have been Louma that said th--" He oofs as he staggers forward a bit, but catches Erika nonetheless, "Ahh! H-hi, Erika!"
Xochi stops slithering as Nesseth staggers forward. She lifts her hand to cover her laugh, then turns it to a slight wave. "Hello, Erika. Yes, I have a clean bill of health. Though Plume said they can do nothing for my sense of humor."
Erika giggles, giving Nesseth's cheek a kiss before letting go and grinning at Xochi: "Well, they're unable to help mine either, so maybe we're just outside the reach of medical science! Glad to see you up and about after all that kerfluffle."
Nesseth smiles as he moves a bit to give Erika space to join them as they walk. "I think we're all beyond medical help with our humor, really." He looks at Erika, "Hopefully things were smooth today for you, Erika?"
Xochi laughs, "I am glad to see myself up as well, and to be able to actually stretch my wings. Though, the matter of it all is quite strange, as I was telling Nesseth."
Erika winks at Nesseth: "Plants rarely complain unless I do something awfully wrong, no matter what Melia says." She turns to Xochi: "Oh? Oh right, your wings are like... better, now?"
Nesseth nods. "Yeah, they look like they're fully capable of supporting her in the air, now."
Xochi stretches them out, the impressively colored feathers spreading out into a beautiful arc of a healthy wingspan. "I am already making plans for my first flight, yes."
Erika ooohs as she admires the wings: "That's impressive manymuchly! I guess that's part of the effect you, er, the other you, sort of had on the ritual."
Xochi lowers the wings back down, humming softly, "That part... I still do not truly understand. I have no memory of her... or of anything that happened in the past few months."
Nesseth rubs his neck a bit. "It was... an interesting time. Louma could probably explain more about that side of things, since the other you was living with her and May the whole time she was here."
Erika shrugs: "It was weird, but it worked out? She was... is... er, whichever, much like you but younger? More like, headstrong and perhaps a bit reckless and eager and all those sorts of things." She hums: "Liked gardening a lot, in the short time we were able to. It was weird teaching, er, you, some of the basics again though."
Xochi listens curiously, nodding. "That... does sound like me, yes. At least, like me at that age? I had many things I wished to do, and I did not think I had the time for any of them to happen." She shakes her head, "I would speak more of the folly of youth, but it sounds less... impactful coming from me now."
Erika giggles, waving a hand: "Don't worry, we've all been young and silly. You just did it more literally than most." She glances aside, giving a wistful look: "She was... adorable, in a way, in her being so lost. Some part of me wanted to adopt her."
Xochi giggles, "I never knew either of my parents, Erika. I am sure you would have raised me wonderfully. Provided you could put up with my demands and beliefs. Raising someone who believes themself to be a Queen is likely not easy, if you actually care for them."
Nesseth chuckles quietly. "Really, she wasn't too uptight. I think she was enjoying her freedom more than anything in the moment, though she did have thoughts about going back to Orela once she'd gotten settled into things."
Erika grins brightly: "No experience, but all the enthusiasm to make up for it! That works, right?" Her smile wanes slightly: "I hope she's fine, wherever all... that... ended up. If she is anywhere, or anytime, anymore. Unless she's just... you know, you."
Xochi pats her chest. "I cannot say. I still seem to be me? But would I know if I were me if I were also me? I seem to be... younger? But not that young."
Erika shrugs: "Honestly it's gonna give me a headache if I try to parse it too much. You're fine, she's hopefully fine, not much we can now do about it, or want to." She shakes her head: "Definitely not another ritual."
Nesseth nods as he looks at Xochi again. "Oh yeah, I was wondering about that right before Erika joined us. I think it was either you or Louma that mentioned Snakes grow longer the older they get?"]
Xochi nods at Nesseth's question, waving a hand towards her tail. "Snakes... and coatls, simply keep growing, yes. And so, it would seem I've lost a bit of length. Difficult to do through diet alone!"
Erika tilts her head, looking over Xochi's slightly lesser lenght: "I never thought about it that way, but it makes sense? Although imagine if I grew height as I grew older!"
Nesseth chuckles, looking up at the top of Erika's head. "You'd probably be twice your current height by the time you hit 60, Erika, and you're already plenty tall as it is." He smiles over at Xochi, "So... you're thinking you might be a bit younger than before, for some reason?"
Xochi laughs, straighting her posture a bit to make herself taller before letting her torso lower back down to her 'normal' height. "I can do something like that, but it feels a bit strange. But yes, it may be more difficult for others to tell, but my length, my wings... I simply feel... stronger? Does this make sense? Ah, I am kidding. No. It does not. The ritual was very strange..."
Erika giggles: "No kidding. Strange but... everything ended up fine? Probably? I kinda fell asleep during it... well, we all did I think."
Nesseth nods. "I think we did, yeah. We'd started it around... mid-afternoon or so, and we woke up when the sun was already partway down on the horizon." He pauses, then glances aside in a little embarrassment, "And I'm pretty sure I fell into the waterfall pool. If I was awake, I'd have remembered that happening."
Xochi: "Ah, one would hope... you are rather lucky you did not drown. Ah... part of me wishes I understood what all has happened to me. But..." She trails off, growing quiet. "I think it is perhaps best that I do not dwell on it."
Erika smiles: "It's usually best to not dwell! That stuff only gets all down and weird."
Nesseth gives Xochi an awkward look. "Yeah, I can't really remember what all happened with the ritual, but... the parts I do remember... yeah, let's not dwell on it."
Xochi does slither forward towards Erika and Nesseth, pulling them into a hug. "...I am simply glad that I am okay. That you are okay! You should not have done such a ritual without knowledge... I... probably should not have done such a ritual either."
Erika hugs both tightly: "Okay is good! Really good, actually!"
Nesseth hugs Erika and Xochi in turn. "We're all fine, and you're back, which is the main thing, right?"
Xochi folds her wings around the two, very much enjoying the newly useful limbs, before she pulls back from the hug, "It is, yes. Though it feels like I've just had a long sleep, seeing you both... it fills my heart."
Erika smiles: "Well, to us you were away for longer, so you get extra hug for that." She indeed reaches to hug Xochi again: "Always there for you!"
Nesseth laughs a bit as he likewise joins Erika in hugging Xochi a second time. "Yeah, on our end, you've been away for a while, so you get extra hugs." He grins, "You know we're always here for you."
Xochi is slightly taken aback by the extra showing of emotion, "Ahhh... you two... I... thank you. Thank you from deep down from the bottom of my heart. I am here for both of you as well."
Erika lets go of the hug after a moment: "Friends gotta stick together, otherwise none of this is gonna work."
Nesseth steps back from the hug as well, still smiling. "Exactly. Just like all the things we'd been through before now, it's a lot easier when we stick together for it all."
Xochi puts her arm across her chest and bows to the two. "Then I shall stick together as well. You are both my friends, and in my life they have been a precious and rare thing. I am glad that I have such an abundance here in Respite."
Erika grins brightly: "Definitely a thing Respite is good for! Friends! I mean, even if you aren't a social butterfly like me." She pauses: "Well, not like a literal butterfly, that'd just be weird."
Xochi chuckles, "I only know a moth, but her experience may be different? ...Oh, I do hope Kira has not worried overly much."
Nesseth hums. "I've checked in on her here and there. She's been concerned, but she's been handling it pretty well overall. I think she'll be really happy to see you again, though."
Erika nods with a bright smile: "Yup!" She looks at Xochi, humming: "So, first flight, kinda? You gotta let us know how it feels."
Xochi 's wings twitch in anticipation, "I shall. Nesseth says he shall be jealous, and of that I can relate. I have been jealous of Plume and Louma for some time now."
Erika giggles: "Well, unless I some day sport those butterfly wings, or someone un-crashes an airship into this town, I will not know what Respite looks from up there."
Nesseth looks over at Erika. "Or you could ask Louma to haul you into the air for a few seconds. She's pretty happy to do that to me since she knows it throws me off during sparring..."]
Xochi hums, "I would not let the dream of flight die, Erika. But... I think I must advise you to avoid ritualistic magic, if possible."
Erika laughs nervously: "I will keep that in mind for a long time, I think."
Nesseth chuckles again. "It's probably a lot more enjoyable when there's nothing to worry about with it all."]
Xochi 's stomach does rumble a bit. She tilts her head at Nesseth, "...I am guessing, if months have passed, I have no good food in my pantry yes? Maybe... we get some lunch before I return home?"
Erika smiles: "Lunch sounds delicious! Like lunches often are."
Nesseth nods at Xochi's question. "We did what we could to clear out the spoiled stuff, but yeah... your pantry's a little bare at the moment." He hitches up a smile as he starts to move along a new route towards food, "Lunch sounds like a plan, alright. Let's go!"