lostcarnival | (no subject)

Who: Zecora and everyone else
Where: The medical tent and in the carnival
When: Soon after the Agent battle
What: Zecora does her job. And is tired.
Warnings: None?

A.

[The medical tent is a dark and shadowy place in the aftermath of the Agent attacks, but those shadows are not unwelcoming. The very essence of the air seems permeated with Zecora's personality, warm and exotic and welcoming if you can get past how mysterious and occasionally creepy it is. In the depths of the tent, Zecora herself stalks from tables to seats to cauldrons bubbling in the back, seeming everywhere and nowhere at once, as if she's less a being and more a force of nature.]

[Given how the carnival is, this is probably a little alarming.]

[Those who are already here, she has instructed already -- whether they're awaiting minor treatments or major. But for those just arriving? Even in the middle of her exams, she lifts her voice to greet them, a faint rasp at the very depths of her rhymes.]

Please enter. Have a seat.
I'll be with you soon to treat
Whatever ailment is your trouble.
Call if I'm needed on the double.

B.

[Late at night, when the businesses of medicine in specific and the carnival in general are done, those keen of eye or sharp of ear -- or who just happen to be walking past the food stands -- will find a zebra half-sitting, half-lying on a bench, a partly-eaten funnelcake lying next to her muzzle. She'd tried to get some food, the first she'd had all day, once she'd single-hoofedly seen to every patient and ailment in the carnival's numbers... but exhaustion had won the day.]

[On the upside, she's looking properly solid now -- but beneath her fur, her fae marks glow a faint grey, apparently unable to stop even out of the presence of active magic.]

[Wait a moment and the observer gets to spot one hoof twitching violently, proof that her sleep isn't quite as restful as she needs it to be.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's an excellent try, Joker, but her sleep is not particularly deep or restful out here on the bench. At the touch of the blanket, she jerks awake with an equine snort that sounds oddly animalistic from an otherwise eloquent person who just happens to be a zebra.]

Where am I? [She blinks blearily at the funnel cake, all dazed confusion.]
Here... Why?

Ah-

[And he pulls away, a little startled, but lets her have a moment to get her bearings again. Waking up from sleep is never fun.]

Sorry, Zecora. Came across ya and thought I could at least make ya a little comfortable.

[He would have carried her, but…. That’s just not something that was going to happen, okay?]

[Her foggy attention turns to Joker, slowly, trying to process this through a haze of exhaustion and weariness. A moment later, realization hits, and she struggles to slide off the bench as best she can when her body isn't responding quite properly.]

Dear me! There is no defense
For leaving my patients!

Oh no ya don’t-

[Dropping the blanket onto the table, Joker tries to push Zecora back onto the seat.]

Zecora, when’s the last time ya had a break?

[That shouldn't work, but it does; Zecora doesn't have a lot of strength at the moment.]

Obviously a minute ago. [So sardonic.]
How long that was I do not know.

Then it sounds like ya need a bit more.

[You can tell he’s serious- he’s not using up the usual effort he’d expend to happily rhyme along with her.]

Just for a while. Ya can’t help folks if yer so tired that you’ll doze off anywhere, can ya?

I should leave others in pain
For my own selfish gain?

[Oh, she knows he's right, she knows he means well, but -- that has to wait until her patients are all well enough that she CAN take a break. Which is some distance off.]

Then I’ll look after ‘em.

[...Goddammit, Joker.]

I mean, it’s just makin’ sure that the ones that are hurt don’t get worse, right? And if they do, then I can wake ya up.

And can you use
My potions and brews?
Can you recognize
Symptoms with your eyes?

[No offense, Joker, but people just got infested with programs that reshaped their bodies. This isn't something she can leave to good intentions alone.]

And can ya with yers, when yer eyes are threatenin’ ta close half the time?

[Raising an eyebrow, he puts a hand on his hip.]

So you now think
I am the weak link?

[Zecora is faintly hurt by this, even as she recognizes he's not entirely wrong to think that at this point.]

Zecora… [And his voice softens, becomes a touch gentler, because he knows his words won’t really be.] Ya can’t be asleep at the wheel when yer patchin’ people up.

[Uncharacteristically, and further demonstrating her frustrated exhaustion, Zecora snaps back.]

A half-asleep doctor is better than none!
And as it happens, I am the only one!

[Well, he would be lying if he said he wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction. Joker doesn’t take it too badly, just shakes his head.]

Zecora, the carnival ain’t gonna fall apart if ya go ta sleep for a couple of hours.

And if someone is growing worse or in pain
How can I let that loss be my gain?

Because it’s their gain in the end too.

Not if they suffer more
From what I shouldn't ignore.

[People had been infested with other beings, somehow. This isn't something she's familiar with, it isn't something she can safely leave to chance...]

It’s not ignorin’ them, Zecora. Listen ta yerself- is it really ignorin’ them when yer just tendin’ ta what the body needs?

While there is wisdom in your voice
It is not much of a choice.
SOMEpony must do the work.
There is only me, I cannot shirk.

[There’s really no making her budge, is there? Wings ruffling in frustration, Joker taps his fingers along his hip and shifts his weight to his other foot.]

...What about the cinder spirits?

[Maybe she's just tired, but all Zecora can do is blink at him, trying to rearrange his words into a shape that makes sense in her foggy mind.]

[...yeah, Zecora needs more sleep. Joker tries again.]

Y’know…. The things that help keep the carnival clean, or who run the front gates and let folks come on through. Those things.

[Ohhhh those things. Zecora blinks hard, then shakes her head.]

In medicine I could not trust
Them no matter how I must.
The argument I can't beat
Is somepony who can treat.

And do ya know for a fact that they can’t?

If one alone was no slob
I would have no job.

(no subject)

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