Get Well Soon?

Log Info

• Title: Get Well Soon?

• Emitter: Eztli

• Characters: Eztli, Nemori

• Place: Soldier's Defence

• Summary: Whether of her own volition, or being gently forced to by Robert, Nemori visits the soldier's defence to see Eztli, who is recovering from the plague rot she contracted when they fought plague zombies recently. Eztli is happy to see the mul'niessa, but Nemori is more than a bit uncomfortable with things, despite, or because of Eztli's insistences. Eztli apologizes for not telling the cleric of her sickness, and they talk of various matters, before Eztli reveals that she was not always a sith-makar, which causes Nemori some distress. Apologies are given, and friendships are reaffirmed, before Nemori leaves Eztli to her rest.

Nemori is a new face at the Soldier's defence. For many reasons. The relatively short time she has lived here is one. Her general avoidance of offering anything resembling charity work is another. And she's not exactly a comforting sight. Decades of cruel indulgences have left their mark, from the way her eyes usually seem cold and hard, when not filled with indignant rage.. to the way her mouth sometimes forms a mocking smirk when misfortune befalls someone she might care nothing for. And even sometimes for those she considers friends. Many things that make being a friend of hers difficult.

Nemori is self-aware to realize this, as well, so she takes efforts to mute what might otherwise be her natural reactions to things, particularly on this visit. The mission that had led to Eztli's convalescence here in the Defense was a shared one, and she'd witnessed the event that had caust it. Being caught in the explosion of a plague zombie isn't something for the weak of stomach nor faint of heart. And she felt she should check in on her friend's progress.

Well, more accurately, Robert had suggested she should check in on her friend's progress. Still, she's here, and that counts for something, right? When she inquires, she is given directions on how to find Eztli's bed...

The soldier's defence was busy, so many people being refugees in the city meant that there were more people to deal with, and more crimes leading to injury from people who had fled with nothing to their names. But thankfully, it was still within a manageable range for the defence to handle, though they did bring in aid from the temple district temporarily.

An older gnome propped up on a stool behind one of the desks in the building is quick to offer directions and advice when asked. While not necessarily contagious, Eztli had been set up in an isolated rooms off in one of the wings of the building. It was a small room, big enough for a bed, nightstand, and small station for the healers inside. The curtains were drawn for the window, and Eztli was asleep under the blanket provided. It was obvious that she was not as well as before, as the sith-makar was looking much thinner than before.

Nemori is no expert on makari biology, of course, but though the blanket hides much even she can see the small woman has definitely lost some substance. She doesn't make a secret of entering; deft elven steps may be inclined towards stealth, but the hardened heels of her boots don't do anything to mask her approach. Nor does she dropping herself to sit on the bottom edge of Eztli's bed.

The loud sound of footfalls was enough to stir Eztli, but it still took some time for her to wake proper. Her eyes blinked open, looking for whoever entered, until she found the culprit at the foot of her bed. She blinks again, and coughs, which sounded somewhat unpleasant. Her eyes too were sunken, further lending to the air of unwellness.

"Oh, hello Nemori." She greets, her voice sounding a bit hoarse. but she does her best to smile. "It's good to see you, did the temples send you over here? I wasn't expecting you to be doing work like that."

"No, I simple wished to learn how you were," Nemori replies. Which is technically the truth. Even if it was a truth she had to be reminded of and pushed towards. "I am not doing any work of the sort.. but I could lend you some comfort if you wish. I am not... with any of the temples," she explains. Her eyes give Eztli's face a rather critical examination, and the elf is not entirely happy with what she sees. "You should have come to see me immediately when you started to feel ill."

Eztli sighs, and pushes herself up in the bed so she can look up and over to the Mul'niessa. Though having a tail made it so she needed to remain on her side, and only watching the Mul'niessa with one eye. She was probably used to that, anyways. The weak grin only grew stronger, if a bit unsettling with all the teeth.

"You came to see me? Well, I'm glad you did, so thank you." She replies. "You stopping by is, a surprise, I'll be honest, but I'm not unhappy about it."

When Nemori mentions seeing her about illness, the small makari sighs. "That's, I wouldn't have thought to see you, Nemori, or I would have, and figured I'd just be a bother. You've got plenty on your mind, and I know you don't really like helping people sometimes."

"You are correct. I do not like helping people... who have done nothing to deserve it. You do not fall in that group," Nemori tells Eztli matter-of-factly. "And imagining you wasting away to a preventable disease only adds to the things weighing on my mind. So perhaps next time consider that."

"And I have done something to deserve it?" Eztli asks with one brow raised, before she chuckles weakly again. "I suppose I did help you out in that basement."

She grunts once, shifting on the bed till she could sit cross legged facing the mul'niessa wearing a gray shirt. "But, that's not something to joke about. I was worried about anything happening to you down there, and, I guess I didn't stop to consider you being worried about things like that. So, I'm sorry. I've been doing my best to get better though, but I'll remember that in the future. I'm glad I'm worth helping though, at least."

Nemori closes her eyes, pressing two fingertips to her forehead for a few moments as if she is deliberating with herself. When she allows the fingers to drop, her eyes are open once more and fixed upon Eztli. "Are we not friends, Eztli?" she presses the makari. "Is being friends not enough to wish to help? To be concerned about? I understand I am adjusting somewhat to these notions.. friends back home were the kind you expected to turn on you as soon as they would profit from it. I had thought here it was different?"

Eztli's smile vanished when Nemori was closing her eyes in thought, and the small makari waited for any sort of response, stifling a cough once. After hearing what was said, her gaze turned downwards, and Eztli sighed.

"Nemori, I'm sorry." She states after a minute, returning to looking up. "Of course I'd be your friend if you wanted, and, I'm happy you would even consider me one. I wanted to help you adjust to Alexandria, and be happy here, really. So if I am your friend, I'm sorry for making you worry. I promise I'll do better about it."

"It is different here, I just did a bad job showing it."

Nemori gives a nod, and this time it is her turn to assume a smile. Though, like always, there just seems like an element of.. not truly dishonesty about it. But something about it seems put on. It simply be that that's how she spent over a century learning how to smile. "Good, good. I would have hated to learn otherwise," she admits. And not ominously at all. "For friends I am available to help. So if there is anything I can do for you now, I would be happy to offer it."

"Thank you, Nemori." Eztli sighs, the smile returning as the apology seemed to be accepted. She attempted to scoot closer, but clearly was still unseady, and she needed to brace with one hand to steady herself a few times as she moved to the foot of the bed. "You're getting there, Nemori, just need to spend more time with smiling people in Alexandria to get it right. So, working with Robert is a safe bet." She chuckles. "Honestly, having you visit now is a good thing, so that's something. I'm always happy to talk and listen to you, Nemori."

"Perhaps," Nemori allows herself to admit, letting the smile drop as she shrugs her shoulders. "Perhaps I will find my place here." Another shrug. "Or perhaps I will not fit and will have to find it elsewhere. Only time will tell. And speaking of time, you appear to need more rest... if there is little I can do to help, I should not keep you from that."

"I think you'll manage it, Nemori. I really hope you will." Eztli attempts to reassure, the small makari reaching to pat the mul'niessa on the shoulder reassuringly, but she stops at the moment, her arm hanging awkardly and unsteadily until it fell to her lap.

"No, it's good that you're here, but, I won't keep you if you want to go." Eztli sighs. "It's nice to have a friend to talk to though, and I want to get to know you better. I don't even know your last name, if you have one, even!"

Nemori does want to go. It's easy enough to read in her body language, the way she keeps glancing at the curtained entrance. The way she shifts, not quite fidgeting on the egde of the bed. Eztli's brief reach of contact, aborted, either goes unnoticed.. or unremarked. "No," she says, finally. "I do not have to leave. There is little I wish to share about myself, however. If I am truly meant to leave my past behind, there is little reason to ressurect it. My name included. It is a house name, and one better left unmentioned."

Eztli sighs, and looks back down to her lap. "You can go if you want to, I don't want to keep you here. I just like your company, but not if you're wanting to leave." She offers quietly. "And I just want to get to know you better, that's all. You can always let me know if you don't want to share things, too."

"Are there any books that you enjoy reading? Or flowers that you like? I could tell you more about myself too, if you'd rather that. My past is, kind of disjointed, but it's not bad, at least not entirely."

Nemori makes a gesture with her hand, her fingers trailing as she makes a few slight sweeping motions away from herself. "The me I wish you.. I wish everyone.. to know, is the me that is now. Does that make sense? I do not wish anyone to know who I was. What I enjoyed then, how I passed my time then.. it is over. My past, I am erasing. And as such.. it would be improper for me to ask anyone else of theirs." Nemori doesn't look happy, but nor does she look sad. It's more the look of someone who has simply done something, and is moving on from it. "I did finish reading a treatise on working rare metals last week that I intend to put into practice, as as soon as I can afford the raw materials. And I suppose I like... dandelions."

"No, that makes sense, Nemori. It makes a lot of sense, really." The small makari nods, flashing a smile to the mul'niessa. "But, I don't mind you asking about me, even if you don't want to talk about yourself. My past is okay, and I'm okay sharing most of it."

Eztli pauses, and stretches, which makes her cough quietly from the movement she wasn't currently used to.

"I guess what I'm trying to do is get to know you now, Nemori. You still have things you like, and if not,then we can find new things like that. Like you seem to have taken to blacksmithing, it seems like you have a real knack for it. Just make sure to double check your references, if multiple make sense with the material you're working with, then it's more likely to go well."

"Dandelions are nice, the flowers are pretty, the leaves taste good in a salad, and you can make the roots into tea, or the flowers into wine. It's a really practical flower, isn't it?"

"Me, I always liked tulips, even if they aren't nearly as useful. I just like all the colors they can grow in, and they remind me that winter is firmly behind us when they start to sprout."

"Tulips are... pretty," Nemori grants, offering a small tilt of her head as she stares at the wall across from Eztli's bed. "I have much to learn at the forge yet. It will be centurie, likely, before I have the proficiencty of the elves of eld. But it is a start." She makes another one of those lazy sweeping gestures. "If you wish to share some of your story, I would be happy to hear it. But only that which you are comfortable with. If am to focus on the me of the now, I can only do the same of you and the others."

"They are, but so are a lot of flowers. I used to have a nice garden, back in Dragonier." Eztli sighs. "But at least I can enjoy the gardens here when I feel like it, they're incredibly well kept. I can't help but wonder if there is a botanist's guild around here, or if it's just magic."

"And it's a good thing sith-makar live a long time, huh? You won't get rid of me that easily, and I'll probably be around to see you reach mastery of the forge like you're talking about. If you stick with it, that is." The small makari half teases, half laughs, before she flops onto her back. "Well, the problem is, a lot of it is stuck behind a particularly odd, or uncomfortable part. But you're my friend, so you deserve to know, and best to just get it out of the way. I wasn't always a sith-makar, you know? That's the long and short of it. So, I've caught a lot of your swearing you know Nemori, it's awfully colorful."

Nemori does raise an eyebrow at this. "You imply a lack of conviction?" A pause. "You may be correct. I have never found something that I felt I could call my own that I was so interested in.. but interests do fade. We shall see." The shadow elf's following shrug is non-committal. Then stiffens as Nemori turns her gaze upon Eztli, eyes narrowing. "It is not unheard of for the l... other people to know at least some of the elfish tongue."

"I don't imply a lack of conviction, just that, you've got a lot of life ahead of you, Nemori. Might stick with it, might find something you like even more. I'm sure whatever you pick up you'll be good at, though." The small makari chuckles. "I figured I'd even practice dancing again, myself. Figured I can't give Jay any tips if I don't know what I'm doing, and if there's ever a need for it for whatever reason, well, I'd rather it not be Carver."

The small makari meets the gaze, and sticks her tongue out at the elf. "now there's a thought, isn't it? Wether I count as a lesser race or not. Really? Not entirely sure. But anyways, sildanyari is my native tongue, and I know some of those expletives aren't commonly used. Llyranesi though, not mul'niessa. hopefully that won't make you think less of me."

"I did not say you were lesser," Nemori says with a sniff, looking away. "I was about to say little, but I remembered you disliked being teased about your height." Hey, it's plausible, right? Well, the part about her choosing not to say it might not be that plausible...

When the relevation of Eztli's elf origins are revealed, however, Nemori can't help herself. She recoils a little bit, and her hand goes to her hair, over her missing ear. Her expression is momentarily ugly, and her look towards Eztli... is a mix of emotions. Anger? She's made no secret of hating being fooled, or made a fool of. Fear? It was a Llyranesi who had nearly killed her, who had taken his souvenir, who had stolen her most valued posession. A sense of being betrayed? One of them, all of them, they are momentarily fixed upon her face as she stares at the sith makar.

"Yes, I'm sure you were. Because you've always shown such restraint in teasing me about my height." She chuckles. And then the mul'niessa's gaze turned to something harsh. Eztli stopped sticking their tongue out at the mul'niessa, and instead she frowned, before rolling onto her side, away from Nemori.

"I guess it's too late to ask you not to think of me differently, isn't it?" She offers with a small sniff. "I thought you'd be understanding, with everything you've been through."

Nemori is all but paralyzed. With fury, perhaps, judging by her expression. Or something else. She doesn't stop Eztli from pulling away, from looking away. A bigger person would probably immediately be reassuring the small makari. Promising that nothing had changed. That it was the Eztli of now that matterd.

If anything can be said of Nemori from the past few months, however much she may claim to be diverging from who she used to be, she has not established herself as a 'bigger person.' The amusement she felt pulling the would be dwarf thief from the edge of dying only to have his clockwork assailant put him back there again, and again, would be proof enough of that. The bed shifts as she, too, moves, sliding further to the edge, putting space between herself and the Sith she called a friend. Eztli no doubt feels the change when Nemori's weight leaves the bed, perhaps to leave. In fact, Nemori steps towards the space's exit.

But then she stops. When she speaks, her voice is hoarse. Not pleasant. Quiet, but rough. "This... this is why I wished the past to remain in the past, little makari. Because it does make one think differently." Her fingers clench into fists. "What am I supposed to make of the fact that my friend... MY FRIEND.. is in truth one of those who cast my people out? That she is one the ones to blame for the misfortunes mine have suffered?" She pulls back her hair angrily, revealing the ugly scarring on the side of her head, the hole where an ear used to be. "That she is kin to the one who did this?"

Eztli didn't make much of a move to look around or anywhere when Nemori shifted off of the bed. But unless she bothered to move, which she didn't, there was no missing Nemori when she was heading to the door, and turned around. She winced from the roughness of the words, and kept her arms wrapped around herself.

"But, I didn't do any of that. I just thought, you know, it'd be nice to know you're not the only one in a knew place, adapting to new behaviours and cultures."

She coughs once, and pulls herself to sit on the side of the bed, one hand pulling the blankets over herself, and the other wiping at one eye. "That's, that's horrible what they did to you Nemori, and I'm sorry to even consider someone who would do that kin, however distant. It doesn't change what they did to you, though. Or what the Lyranesi did to your people."

'But you benefitted from it'.. is on the tip of Nemori's tongue. It doesn't make it out. It is unclear if Eztli's regret, her defensive posture, her pain and sadness is reaching Nemori. Or affecting her. Cold hearts tend to resist. "Sorry?" she says in said, the tone verging on venemous. And this time Nemori winces; for a change, she's able to hear herself. It takes effort. So, so much effort. Once, she might have wondered why she bothered....

But as Nemori is reminded.. new place. New behaviours. New culture. And so very few allies. Whatever she feels, it is put aside for now. Shelved. She has to salvage this. And so audible steps bring her back to Eztli's beside, and then the shadow elf is kneeling. Reaching forth to put a hand on the makari's knee. "Sorry. I am sorry. I feel.. strongly about things. But it is not your fault. You are a friend, and you were only trying to be a good friend. And I should be... flattered... that you trusted me enough to tell me this. It is.. difficult to accept. But that is a... how the people here put it? A 'me problem.' It certainly sheds illumination on a handful of questions I had. And you did not deserve my outburst." Her words are very even, and while there might not be as much warmth to them as a person might like, the venom is gone. The words are still coarse, but that could be attributed to the powerful emotions that have been at play for the last several moments. "You are my friend, Eztli. Or.. I hope you are still my friend."

Eztli is small, and making herself even smaller than usual. There's a blink of recognition, and a look of hurt on their face, as well as could be seen on their features at the insincere sounding apology.

And then Nemori was attempting another apology shortly after. She sighs, and placed one hand on the one on her knee after a moment, either out of fear she would flee at a moment's notice, or just for some manner of support, even if it was from the one who caused it in the first place.

"Nemori, I kind of get it. I can't ever get what you went through, because I didn't live it." She finally responds after nearly a minute of silence. "If it helps, I never lived in the greatwood, and my family didn't for generations. And I don't feel any ill well towards the Mul'niessa, far from it."

"Yes, you're still my friend, Nemori." She affirms, squeezing the hand once. "I know you've been through a lot, and I just want to help you to get through it, if you'll let me. Even if I mess things up sometimes."

Nemori leaves her hand there a moment longer, turning it to clasp Eztli's in turn, then she rises and pulls away. Possibly at the limit of her tolerance of personal contact. "It is fine, Eztli. Behind me, as I said. I.. let myself overreact, but it will not happen again. There is only the now, and the future, yes? And if.. do not wish to share anymore, I will understand. But if you do.. I will listen. And promise not to get angry. Just... not today."

Eztli lets go of the hand, and tucks her own back into the blanket, unsure how to react for the moment, until Nemori spoke again. The small makari looked up, and shook her head, accompanied by another cough.

"No, Nemori, there's the present and the future, but the past, it doesn't stop existing." Eztli sighs. "Your reaction, it came from a place of genuine hurt, and it can't just go away from choosing to ignore it. So, I'll do my best to listen if you ever need me to, or help you through your feelings."

"I'll need to think about it, Nemori, another time, for certain." Eztli sighs. "And thank you for visiting me, I do still appreciate the effort. Maybe next time you show me what you look like, it won't be out of anger."

Nemori gives a firm shake of her head. "No, Eztli. You are wrong. Perhaps your past is a part of you, but I will bury mine. Beneath anvil and beaten steel if I must." Then she smiles. "Please get as much rest as you can. It would not do for me to be without my conscience for too long a time." And then she turns and slips out of the room.