One ordinary day, with elephants

SUMMARY Acedia and Yelrona get to know each other better after a shift at the Soldier's Defense. Also, poetry and elephants.

A long, hard day inside the Soldier's Defense slowly comes to a close. The pain and suffering doesn't end with the sunset, but much of it can at least be alleviated with sleep. Fitful for some, deep and noisy for others. With many towels fetched and returned, washed and dried and fetched once more, along with the occasional healing spell, the Gobbo slumbers noisily, curled up in a chair. The snoring noises she makes can give even the larger humanoids a run for their money, and the wee woman has gotten more than her share of odd looks. Not that she notices.

An hour ago, when Rona passed through this hallway guiding a confused patient back to their room, she noticed the sleeping Goblin and was amused... and, to be honest, a bit jealous. Ten minutes ago, when she passed through it again in the other direction bringing a container of blood to another room -- and truthfully she isn't exactly sure what they _do_ with the blood, but by this point she's just going where she's told and doing whatever she can to help -- she noticed that someone had tucked Acedia in underneath a thin blanket. Right now, though, she's carrying a stack of linens taller than she is, and she doesn't notice Acedia at all.

Which is unfortunate. Had she noticed the Gobber she probably wouldn't have tripped over her.

"What?" Not the most articulate response to falling flat on her face into a pile of dirty linen, which ends up all over the floor.

The Gobbo squeaks, coming awake almost in an instant, and struggles with the person stumbling over her, and the clean? linens that follow a moment later. A dagger comes out of nowhere, followed momentarily by a dragonspitter, labouriously pulled from under the white smock she's got over her homespun clothing. To anyone looking in from outside, it's as if the pile of linen's had tripped Yelrona and then one of them has pulled weapons on her.

The weapons are unexpected, although her extensive experience with the adventurer lifestyle means Rona is never _entirely_ unprepared for sudden hostilities. Unfortunately, fatigue makes what would ordinarily have been a graceful duck behind cover something decidedly less-than-graceful, as a sheet tangles around her ankle and knocks over a metal stand which someone had left here for reasons that will forever remain a mystery. Two silk pouches filled with a clear fluid, which were hanging from the stand, burst when they hit the ground, spilling something unidentifiable that smells strongly of coal tar and pine needles all over the spilled linens.

Almost instantly, the pair is joined by angry hospital staff.

"What on EARTH do the two of you think you're doing?" the night nurse demands.

"Defending the hospital against a clothed intruder?", the Gobbo says matter-of-factly after a few moments. Still buried under so many towels. "What...", she gasps. "Is that smell." Squirming, she manages to surface, panting. "Oh.", she says, looking at the mess. "Don't look at me, I was sleeping."

"Bringing these linens to..." Rona starts, then trails off at the expression on the nurse's face. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. I'll take these to the laundry," she says, starting to restack the now-soaked foul-smelling linens.

"You'll do no such thing," the woman announces, removing the stack from Rona's hands. "Neither of you. Go home. Get some rest. You don't do anyone any good stumbling around like a zombie, we've had QUITE ENOUGH of those already. Keep on like this and you'll end up killing someone."

"But --" Rona begins to object, to no avail, as she and Acedia are bundled efficiently out the door.

There's a smack along the way, and muttering, the Gobbo sporting a hand-shaped welt and a toothy grin. She huffs and leans against the Elf's leg. "So uh did you hear the one about the graceful Elf and the towels?", Acedia says with a giggle.

"It's a myth," Rona replies mournfully. "A legend from the ancient past, when elves didn't have trouble staying on their feet. A better time, a golden age the likes of which we may never see again." She puts her palm against her forehead dramatically and strikes a pose. "Oh, how will we ever regain those days of glory and power," she cries out, gathering some puzzled glances from passersby, "of splendor in the grass and beauty in the flower?"

The Gobbo snorts and shakes her head, swatting Yelrona's thigh. "Show off. Splendor in the grass and beauty in the flower? Is that what you called a roll in the hay back then?" Acedia laughs and shakes her head once more. "Well you got us kicked out, so you gotta get us somewhere comfortable to eat and sleep. Tis only fair. I was having the best dream too. All the bacon I could eat. Then these towels broke into the place..."

Yelrona shrugs. "You're welcome to crash at my place, if you like," she offers, heading in the general direction of the Warehouse District. "And... well, yes, now that you mention it! I was butchering a famous llyranesi poet's work, I had to memorize it as a child, but that was some time ago. Um..." She thinks for a bit as she walks, trying to remember. "The passage is something like:Though nothing can bring back the hour

Yelrona shrugs. "You're welcome to crash at my place, if you like," she offers, heading in the general direction of the Warehouse District. "And... well, yes, now that you mention it! I was butchering a famous llyranesi poet's work, I had to memorize it as a child, but that was some time ago. Um..." She thinks for a bit as she walks, trying to remember. "The passage is something like:

Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower,
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering."

She shrugs and continues walking. "Or something like that. It flows better in Sildanyari, to be honest."

Acedia listens raptly, absorbing the passage. "You've never heard a good poem until you've heard it in the original Gobbo-talk.", she says with a snort. "Are all elves subjected to such torture, or were you an especially cranky child?" The Gobbo grins toothily and nods. "Er. You live in the warehouse district?", she wonders.

"I had an especially vicious mother," Rona explains with a smile. "She made me memorize Llyranesi poetry whenever I did something wrong. Not so much cranky as, well... I suppose you could say 'willful.' Which was, well, all the time." She nods. "Yes, I have an apartment above a leatherwork warehouse. The view sucks, but you can't beat the rent... the owner lets me live there for free, after I stopped the place from burning down."

"My parents were insane.", the Gobbo says quietly. "They regularly invented upgrades for things like this." She holds up the dragonspitter, which she then slips into the leather holster on her hip, the white smock and garments discard back at the hospital door. "Was all I could do to keep 'em from blowing the place up." Acedia snorts. "Ah, stopped it from burning down. That's a classic. Did you pay someone to light the fire or did ya do that yerself?"

Yelrona grins. "I like the way you think," she says approvingly. "But no, actually... this was during the attack on the Alexandria last year, I had nothing to do with it."

Acedia grins and shrugs. "Wasn't my fault either, I was on my way here, though. Took a while t'walk around the ocean." She rubs a cheek. "So what do ya do here? Yer one o'Tarien's and so am I. Is there a temple here?"

Yelrona nods eagerly. "Yes, of course! I'm sorry, I forgot how new you were to the city. In the Temple District... just past the fountain, the flat building with the green and orange silk tapestries. There's usually someone performing out in front, during the day at least." She stops short and asks "I'm sure the Luckbringers would be happy to put you up in the Temple, if you would rather."

The Gobbo yawns noisily and pats her mouth. "Boooooring. Then you get woken up early and have to do this and that and blah blah blah." She stares up at the Elf. "I don't mind crashing at your place, unless it's still burning down."

"Not last time I checked," Rona assures the goblin. "It doesn't burn down very often, honest. It was really more of a one-time thing," she explains with a grin. "You know, one of those things a building has to get out of its system while it's young, before it settles down to do more boring things like... well, like not burn down, for example."

"Sadly, boring is useful when you want to sleep in it. But... other buildings that you are not sleeping in? They could stand to not be boring." The Gobbo giggles and rubs her hands together. Then blinks and tries her best to look innocent. She grins toothily and looks up at Yelrona again. "So how often do youuu go into the temple?"

"Fairly often," Rona explains. "Have, for several years. I was a lay member when I came to Alexandria, mostly I performed out front, but when Tarien chose me for his service... well, I served as his Luckbringer for a time in the Temple, but pretty soon it became clear I'm not all that well suited to the clerical path." She grins. "So, I'm his Ruffian, now, and mostly my service is, well, not in the Temple. Still, I show up for services when I can. It's a fun time, you should join us!"

"I've only really gone to temples when I am in difficulty.", she says quietly. "I don't like asking for help, it's embarrassing. But I'm doing my best to be a story teller. And play my lovely violin." Acedia looks to the Elf. "Do you play any instruments? And uh, what do you do at the temple, then, thaaat's fun?"

Yelrona laughs. "It's Tarien's temple. What else would you expect? You really missed something at the festival a few days ago, though... I need to get Luckbringer Dalian to explain how they got the elephant to go along, one of these days." They've covered a fair bit of distance by now, and when they turn a corner the Leatherworks warehouse is visible a block or so away. "Please don't burn it," she requests, with the air of someone unsure if she's joking. "I play most percussion instruments somewhat less badly than I play anything else. Back when I was a performer it was mostly acrobatics, stage magic, that sort of thing. That was... a different lifetime, it feels sometimes."

The Gobbo blinks and stares at Yelrona. "What is an ellyfant?", she wonders. "And what did they get it to go along with?" Acedia eyes the building dubiously, and sniffs at the air, her nose wrinkling. "Do they do tanning there? And no, I won't burn it. While I'm there."

Yelrona nods. "They do," she admits. "But not this month. And elephants... well, they're like horses, but a lot bigger. And they have these trunks, you see... like very flexible arms, where their noses should go, and these huge ears... well, they're just very silly animals, is the point. And they are surprisingly good dancers." She crouches down at the back door to the warehouse and picks the lock.

Acedia cants her head slightly, observing as the lock is picked. "Are you taking the piss? Larger than a horse with.. trunks? Wot? Arms for noses? Yer having a laugh, ain't ya?" She sniffs. "Seems as though you've lost yer key."

"Oh, no, I have the key," Rona says cheerfully. "Or, well, I know where it is. I don't use it, though... keeps me in practice." The door opens readily, and she leads the way in up a rickety flight of stairs. "Step where I step," she instructs, skipping certain steps on her way up. "And, no, I'm being perfectly serious about the elephants. I thought it was an illusion at first, but no, he was real. Smart, too. Not as smart as us, but smart enough. We got along well. He liked carrots."