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RESPITE PARK... OR ABOVE IT, ANYWAYS - AFTERNOON
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Leana lets out a rather unladylike shriek-honk as she flails against and then through the weather barrier, fumbling into an equally undignified attempt at not-falling into the park below. She was perfectly fine flying down from the airship just moments earlier, but then everything went all sideways. Kind of like her flying at the moment. The swan-snake attempts to straighten up from the not-quite-hit of the magic barrier on her, but her lack of experience with this kind of stuff means she's at best slowing down the inevitable meeting with the ground not all that far blow.
Nesseth is currently walking along the main path of the park, just to help stretch his legs out a bit from the ongoing muscle burn he's been dealing with ever since he started practicing dancing with Vix instructing him. It's nowhere near as bad as when he first started, but it can get a little uncomfortable due to the movements requiring muscles he doesn't use all too often. He glances up curiously upon hearing an odd sound from somewhere up above.
Leana flails in her descent, seeing someone down below: "H-help! O-or watch out" The swan-snake attempts to straighten up one more time, but it's shaky at best.
Nesseth furrows his brow a bit as he notices a familiar shadowy form flailing and tumbling down towards him. Momentary confusion leaves him rooted to the spot, however, as he tries to process what he's seeing. "Louma...? W-wait, oh sh--" He braces and prepares for impact, though uncertain if he should even try catching the lesser coatl, or shield himself.
Leana swooshes just barely above Nesseth with another unholy shriek, and lands into a crumpled mess of feathers and scales somewhere right beyond. As the dust settles, the tip of her tail swishes in pained annoyance while from the other end of the lesser coatl a pained groan escapes to announce her rather displeased opinion of the current circumstances.
Nesseth ducks out of the way as Leana flies straight past him, the barest hint of a feather brushing over his head. Once Leana's landed, he turns towards the impact site and hurries over. "L-Louma, are you--?" He draws up short, noting Leana's black feathers... and rainbow wings, "...Wait, no... not Louma. M-ma'am? Are you hurt?"
Leana turns her head enough to look at the onlooker of her unfortunate landing, groaning slightly: "H-hello. I am unsure if I am..." She shifts her coils around, glad that she's not feeling anything broken at least. Leaning on her hands, she gives Nesseth an apologetic look: "I am sorry for my unfortunate entrance." Perhaps a bit stunned from the hit, but the swan-snake seems to be fine... if extremely ruffled.
Nesseth strides closer and kneels to look at Leana carefully. "Falling out of the sky like that can't have been nice... Do you think you need to get to the clinic to get looked at? It's not too far from here, if you think you can make the trip. If not, I can get the doctor for you."
Leana cranes her neck this way and that in an attempt to get her bearings. She doesn't dare get upright quite yet, though. "I am unsure. Maybe? I will say maybe. Is this Respite Falls?"
Nesseth nods as he offers Leana a hand up. "Yeah, this is Respite Falls. I'm guessing you're a new arrival, then?" He sighs a bit, "Normally, the skies are safe to fly through, but I guess May's been testing the weather shield since it's almost that time of year for sandstorms to start up."
Leana blinks dumbly: "Weather shield?" She looks up: "Huh. So that is what I bumped into..."
Nesseth nods. "Yeah, it deflects sandstorms and rain, and keeps the wind from getting too blustery. It's even pretty good at stopping lightning, in a pinch."
Leana frowns as she keeps looking up, trying to see the shield: "Or dignified landings, it would seem."
Nesseth hums as he looks up towards the center of town at a floating disc high above. "Normally, folks get notified of any testing, but since you're new in town... well..." He pauses, then shifts his eyes back to Leana, "...By the way, since you're new in town, you're supposed to enter through the gates."
Leana blinks as she turns back to Nesseth: "I am? Oh. My, er, apologies?" She gives a sheepish smile, feeling still a bit stunned.
Nesseth sighs and shakes his head. "We can get that sorted later. First... are you able to stand up?"
Leana chuckles slightly, then coils upwards mostly unshaken: "For a given value of 'standing', yes." She sways slightly: "...mostly. Yes."
Nesseth rests a hand on Leana's shoulder to help steady her. "If you can move, we should get you to the clinic for a quick check-up."
Leana frowns inwardly at Nesseth's touch, but lets it go for the moment. "It is probably for the best, yes. I am not very used to crashing like that."
Nesseth hums and nods, then nods down the lane in the direction he'd been coming from. "I don't think anyone would be, really. That was a pretty hard landing you took. Come on, let's make sure you're okay." He smiles after a moment, "I'm Nesseth, by the way, one of the town's guards, though I'm off-duty at the moment."
Leana nods slowly as she glances around to get her bearings... for all the good it does since she is unfamiliar with the town as it is. "Pleased to meet you. My name is Leana." She gives Nesseth a mostly-warm smile.
Nesseth starts to lead Leana out of the park at whatever pace she's able to follow at. "Good to meet you, too, Leana. I'd say 'Welcome to Respite Falls', but... I think you'd probably prefer a less... painful welcome than what the park gave you."
Leana slithers forward slowly: "I think the park is fine. That landing though, less so. But yes, the Clinic might be good, in case said landing rearranged my scales or something."
Nesseth gestures at Leana's wings. "Not to mention your wings. Your feathers got ruffled pretty badly, and Plume can at least make sure there's nothing especially injured."
Leana glances at her wings, the feathers definitely rather 'rearranged' by the fall. "Yes... that as well." She glances at Nesseth and something connects in her head. For the moment she opts to keep to herself that she somehow has a picture of him despite having never met.
Nesseth doesn't seem to think anything is off, other than the fact that another lesser coatl just crash-landed next to him. "So... what brings you to Respite, anyway?"
Leana hums: "You, apparently." She blinks, then hastily shakes her head: "Oh! I mean, meeting you, right now. But a sort of... soul-searching trip, I guess you could call it?"
Nesseth blinks, then raises an eyebrow at Leana, only to sigh and nod. "I guess that crash shook you up a bit, huh? Well, you'll likely run into others that have come here for similar reasons."
Leana nods absently: "So I have heard. A place of escape and finding oneself?"
Nesseth nods. "Something of the sort, yeah. Of course, break any laws here and it'll be the same sort of troubles as breaking laws elsewhere." He shrugs a little, "Respite's a good place for a new start, though."
Leana raises an eyebrow: "Breaking laws? What makes you say that to me, an innocent artist?"
Nesseth gives Leana a look. "You'd be surprised, really. Some less scrupulous folks think 'new start' means 'can do the same old thing in a new place without consequences'. We just try to head that sort of mentality off early."
Leana oh's. "I did not even think of that. But I suppose that does make sense."
Nesseth nods a bit as the two take a turn out of the park and onto the street. "Yeah, there are a lot of folks here that came here for a lot of reasons, but we're not lawless. You could probably make a good living here as an artist, though. The town's growing nicely, and we're starting to see more arts-focused folks showing up nowadays."
Leana nods slowly: "That is good to hear. I was somewhat unsure if a painter like me could... find a living, as it were." She looks around the town: "Respite Falls is a relatively recent town, yes?"
Nesseth hums in affirmation. "Mmh, recent in a way. I think it's older than I am, but only by a few years or so. Up until recently, it was mostly just the typical sort of frontier folks you'd find. Explorers, trappers, herbalists... and a bunch of the more essential trades."
Leana nods as she takes in the surroundings: "It would make sense, why I did not even know of this place until I had to look it up... most map books in Policaster library did not even have this place. It was confusing."
Nesseth hums. "Ah, you're from Sarn, then? Yeah... the town's pretty new, and also small enough that most folks don't even bother keeping track of it. Pretty sure folks in the major cities consider it a backwater."
Leana laughs softly: "If they even know it is here, like me not that long ago."
Nesseth chuckles. "Yeah, if they know it's here. The folks at the Sarn magitech college know about it, at least. The engineer in charge of the town's generator got her education there."
Leana shakes her head amusedly: "I am still uncertain why I found my way here, but I guess time will tell."
Nesseth smiles a bit. "You'll figure it out, I'm sure. In the mean time, though, the town's a nice and... usually quiet place. It probably isn't as lush as you're used to from Sarn, and a fair bit warmer, but it's a good place, nonetheless."
Leana gives a shrug with her wings, slightly wincing at the movement: "Well, you will not find me objecting to quiet. It is a rarity for a city girl."
Nesseth grins. "Well, you'll like it here, then. You'll find quiet in abundance on most days, and - crash-landing lesser coatls aside - the park is pretty serene most of the day."
Leana giggles: "Am I not the first crash-landed lesser coatl? Shame."
Nesseth chuckles. "Well, there's another here, but she's not crash-landed within the town walls in years."
Leana nods with a smirk: "Well, then I clearly must... yield the title." She's amused at her own silliness at this point, feeling somewhat delirious still.
Nesseth turns down another lane and guides Leana towards Plume's clinic. "I'd honestly say you were probably more graceful than she was, really, injuries aside."
Leana giggles: "We may have to compare notes, one day."
Nesseth hums. "You'll probably get a chance pretty quickly, really. She's not exactly easy to miss, and she's one of the town's guard captains. Just keep your eyes open for a lesser coatl with bright white feathers and black scales."
Leana blinks at the description, but then just nods: "Interesting. I will certainly keep that in mind, then."
Nesseth nods in turn. "Like I said, she's not easy to miss." He smiles a bit as he slows to a stop and gestures at the building they've walked up to. "That aside, though... here's the clinic. Plume's a wonderful doctor, and their two assistants - Tarbin and Melia - are great at what they do, too. They'll get you sorted out pretty quickly, I'm sure."
Leana gives Nesseth a bow: "In that case, I thank you for your help... Nesseth, was it? I hope the next time we meet, it is in better circumstances."
Nesseth hums as he steps up onto the porch and opens the door for Leana, stepping aside to let her through. "I'm glad to help, Leana. I'm sure we'll have a chance to meet under more normal circumstances soon enough, once you're settled in."
Leana lets out a soft laugh: "Still crazy to think about, settling in here... but yes."
Nesseth waves a bit with a smile. "Well, until you decide to head elsewhere, anyway. I'll let you go and check in with the doctor for now, though. See you around, Leana."
Leana waves at Nesseth, then heads inside to get herself checked. Maybe her head would need checking too, but too late to regret now.