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Milieu clutched the edges of her recoupracoon. Nightmares continued to permeate her think-pan. Twisted images of fallen friends and foes. Shouts. Bullets. Odette dead in the arms of Vremea. Vremea, morphed into some sort of glowing create with bright yellow eyes. Teal Hulk, just a shell in front of a ruthless woman. Right? Wrong? Nothing made sense anymore and Milieu felt like a part of her had died when it ended.

No, feeling was wrong. She knew all too well that something was gone and different.

Sleeping was no longer an option. Shuffling to her respite block, the little troll washed and dressed. Her sullen nature had taken a darker turn this evening. Outside, the sounds of NHC were beginning. Others were stirring. Milieu left the respite block and stepped onto the large balcony. Tall homes and beautiful land melded together as the moons hung heavy in the sky. Leaning against the railing, Milieu chewed her lower lip. Staying here wasn't an option. There was a drive inside that said it was time to go.

She turned first to her PC and flipped it on. News channels were filtering in about the wonderful, glorious triumphant win that the Military gained. Of course, OHC had been flattened, but that was beyond the point. One source even blithely stated that the decrepit buildings would have to be destroyed regardless. It just saved them time! Milieu had to look away as anger rose higher and made her pump biscuit burn. When she looked back, she scrolled down and saw a banner. Chittentown needed help, as the surge of displaced low bloods was beyond their control.

There. Something that could be done. Taking a pen and paper, she wrote a message to Odette and Vremmy:

Quote:

My Dearest Friends,
I hope the day finds you well. Chittentown is in need of help. I will be going there post haste to offer my abilities. If you are willing, I would very much like to meet you. I miss you dearly and wish to make sure you are well.

- Milieu c3<

Sealing each letter, she sent them off in the mail and got ready. A trip to Chitten town would take a bit of time.

Of course Vremea realized Chittentown needed help.

However, she was a little reluctant to help, not because she didn't want to, but because it must've been... Something like a riot. From her hive she could hear the mumbling crowd— which was saying something, as her hive was quite far from the city... She'd see the crowds from afar, wanting to help, but not knowing anyone she could accompany.

It was now that she received the letter from Milieu.

The first thing she did was read it over. Again and again. Gosh, she adored her handwriting... It was so loopy and nice... Vremea pursed her lips. Stop thinking about the handwriting and read what it actually says, Vremea, She chided herself, reading it over and smiling at the paper. Oh, Milieu. Of course she would help! She didn't know where Odette was right now though. She would have to check up on her... Wait, if she was arriving post haste, that must've meant she was going now, which meant Vremea had to go... now. She stood up and changed into her normal clothes, feeling a little self conscious with her bruised appearance— but better, as she managed to clean herself up pretty well. She'd trimmed her hair and cleaned it... But it was so hard to manage. Now, when she went to help, none of the wigglers would pull her hair.

Chaos.

As soon as Vremea arrived, the lolita was pushed and shoved— unintentionally, of course, but still. The simple fact that she could've fallen really affected her. So, she skirted around the edges, avoiding conflict and managing to avoid the battleground. As soon as she reached the front, she could already feel her nerves begin to start, seeing the overly stressed greenblood and beginning to push into the crowd. Before the yellowblood could arrive, a troll with a small bun appeared out of nowhere showing a white-board to the woman, an irregular birthmark below her eye...

Milieu!

Her first thought was to push through the crowd and scream for them to let her through, but once she thought it over rationally, she saw should could get through with enough calculated effort. Alright... Stick a hand there, bend down, up, left, avoid the push... Aha! She managed to reach it! She stumbled forward, hearing the greenblood about to respond before she walked forward and quickly skimmed the words.

...Talk? "Oh, miss. You can let some of your burden fall onto my shoulders. We understand that you are the head of this effort, and are thankful you are doing this, but you seem very stressed..." she murmured, trying to make her words convincing, giving Milieu a smile. "We can help you." She insisted, intending that to be for the adult, but giving Milieu a small hug instead. She seemed fine, but seemed a little bit... Off. Tired. The bags under her eyes were more apparent. Then again, she couldn't blame her— the things that happened that day were terrifying and nightmare inducing...

She hoped the greenblood wouldn't say no. Giving the woman a... Convincing smile, the girl slid a hand onto her friends shoulder, supporting her all the way.

Vremea! A surge of delight swelled in Milieu's heart as the two hugged quickly. Thankfully, the greenblood was not opposed to help and actually foisted more of the difficult patrons onto the duo. It was frustrating, but Milieu expected it was never meant to be easy. Everyone was suffering. Including Vremmy. As she settled at the table, her eyes wandered to her friends, noting the bags that sunk them down.

Sadly there could be no small talk. There was so much TO do that Mili was at a loss for where to begin. Fighting, a poor old hemisect resident who is about to break down, and some blue blood. It was the blue blood that tipped Mili back into action. It triggered memories of facing off with higher bloods in the wake of the city, fortifying structures as they faced life and limb. This... This... hemoscum didn't even have a scratch on him. Gritting her teeth, Milieu quickly scrawled a message on the whiteboard.

With a bit of effort, the young troll stood on the table and presented the message to the growing crowd. With one hand she grabbed into her bag and pulled out a whistle.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The shrillness of the whistle cut through the noise of the throng. Thrusting the sign out, she glared at the group that had gathered before the new table.

|I personally promise to help ALL of you, but you MUST be patient! We have ALL suffered. Even if I must stay until midnight, WE WILL HELP YOU.|

When it seemed like the crowd had gotten the message, Milieu clambered back down and quickly erased what she had written. A new message was in it's place towards the blue blood, | If you don't want to live near your fellow trolls then you need to go elsewhere for housing. I won't help you. Good day.|

It felt weird being so assertive and angry, but for the first time, she wasn't afraid to be so forceful. Looking to Vremea, she felt almost nervous and shy after the display of assertiveness. Would Vremmy look down on her? Or think poorly of her?

quite uneventful

The moment may have been lost if a crowd had not gathered to witness Milieu’s reaction – a sort of hush from the chaos emerged as the two faced off.

The blueblood seemed stunned. He looked Milieu up and down, and soon faltered under her forceful glare. She was resolute. He opened his mouth to speak and his shoulders dropped before shooting back up defensively. “Tch. Lowbloods…” And without further ado, the troll stalked off. Situation diffused.

There was suddenly a manner of gaiety in the crowd—scattered applause and guffaws filtered to the front of the line, originating from the just treatment of the blueblood minutes before. The greenblood even went so far as to nudge Milieu on the shoulder amicably as she shuffled through her own paperwork.

With the new volunteers at the head of the check-in operation, reinforcements arrived to find that the situation was under control. The greenblood, as frustrated as she was, seemed relieved to be out of debt to the ladies helping her with her task. She thanked the two, and no sooner than she did a heavyset yellowblood in a reflective construction vest rushed up to the check-in. The two conversed for a moment. First, the greenblood’s jaw tightened, her brow furrowing. Then, a realization accompanied by a sly, fangy smile. She shot up and ambled over to Vremea and Milieu, holding them both by the shoulders and speaking to them as though she was letting them in on a secret.

“Hey, so – you’ve been super helpful already and I thought I could help you out. You wanted to lead the construction, right? Well, turns out we got a sector that needs some organization. Lots of, uh, displaced Old Hemisect folk. Restless. Shellshocked. Some kinda…” She made a vague hand-gesture around her head and crossed her eyes. “Since the incident, yeah?”

She turned back to the construction troll and thrust a thumb at Milieu, announcing, “This one right here knows her stuff – I mean, if you can tell off someone without saying any words, you gotta be good with directions, right? And people?” With a whip of her head she conspired with Vremea and Milieu once again. “You’ve been promoted. You, uh, bows – you’re her number two. You may wanna cut that fancy talkin’ around the residents -- just read the cue cards, you know?”

Backing off from both of them, she gestured for the yellowblood. “Brukos will take you where you need to go. Glad I could count on you!”

And with that, they were off. Hives in various states were being constructed – huge teams of drones impressively building, first close to the city and then moving outward. But, some found their homes delayed in the farthest reaches of the construction zone, and this is where the party found themselves. The yellowblood was significantly less put together than his peer, and muttered the whole trek to the far ends of the construction lots.

“Glad you could help… Trouble with residents… Conflicts and…and… You said you’d help with the project too after, right? I mean, after the interpersonal, um… The issues. What you’ve got to do is sort out this one little, er… Kink. And then you can get back to leading construction. Here! Here we are. I’m sure Lourji explained to you the situation. We can’t exactly work like this.”

By the end of the trek, the three had found themselves in front of the skeleton of a hive – even less so, because after it had been constructed it had apparently been damaged. The area around this failed project had been stalled, with drones and volunteers scattered and shouting. In the epicenter of the drama was an enormous reptilian lusus and its charge – a single orangeblood, no older than a few sweeps. She cried and wailed at the top of her lungs, while the lusus roared back with proportionate volume. After a while, she broke down. The reptile circled her, growling and hissing for minutes and getting no response. Dissatisfied, the lusus stalked to the outside of the hive structure and watched her charge weep alone.

“We’ve been trying to get through, but the lusus is dangerous and the kid can’t be reasoned with. Doesn’t seem like the lusus is trying to help, actually… Well… Hard to say… Did I mention I was glad you’re here?”

Promoted? With pursed lips and a small nod after the greenblood gave her input on how she acted, Vremea followed after the other yellowblood-- Brukos, and Milieu who seemed as if she knew where she was going. When they arrived... her first sight was the small troll in the middle, surrounded by a large, protective lusus who seemed poised to attack should anyone come close to the troll. Vremea pursed her lips a little, feeling bad for the poor kid and wanting to help... when she heard that was what they were supposed to do. Looking over toward Milieu's board, she skimmed what she wrote and pursed her lips. "I honestly think we should calm the lusus, and then work on the young one. If you'd like, I could try calming the lusus, and you can handle the young one..." She said softly, then looked at both of them.

The reptile’s tongue flicked in and out. There was no physical cause of trauma for the beast, but as the two advanced she slid back and tasted them with tense curiousity. They hadn’t caused any trouble yet, but if they did they were dead meat.

The girl didn’t at first sense Milieu coming – her head was pressed to the ground, ears clasped to the sides of her head. Only when she felt the footsteps did the orangeblood start—she shot up and yelped loudly, her eyes filled with tears. Squirming across the ground, it took her a moment before her breathing resumed its normal rhythm. The girl was in a protective stance. Caked, dry blood had built up on the sides of her head, her hair matted and tinged with dull orange. Specks – blisters and cuts from shrapnel – sprayed out across her skin. There had been no rest for the girl. She stared, mouth agape and forming sounds she could not hear. The orangeblood looked Milieu up and down. There was a toy in her hand and a board with writing in her other.

After what seemed like sweeps, she took a step forward and grasped the doll before darting away. She tested Milieu – seeing if the toy was a gift before holding it to herself to affirm that it was now hers. Tears welled in her eyes. She looked straight through the board, then back up to Mileu and down at the owl. More time was spent judging the sign, staring it down as though the words were in ancient, long-destroyed hieroglyphics. She advanced and held out her hand for the pen, and receiving it began to wipe down Milieu’s meaningless words until they were a smudged teal on the board.

She began to draw. One vertical line. Then another, parallel to it. A roof. A window. She was crying now, but carried on. Below, she drew a circle and two dots – eyes. Two circles, now, with two eyes each. Sad faces filled with teeth, one with horns like hers. The orangeblood stopped and looked at her creation. And shakily, she began to destroy it. She scribbled on top until a thick black cloud of smoke covered the entirety of the board.

The girl dropped to the ground, shaking.

Vremea was following Milieu's directions as much as she could, being wary of the lusus before hearing the steps behind her. Turning over toward the sound, she saw Milieu walking closer-- only to feel her nuzzle into her bosom and sob. Vremea's eyebrows creased and she held her closer, bending down and rubbing her back affectionately, letting her cry as much as she wanted. Feeling her pull away, Vremea loosened her hold, watching her write down and glancing over toward the orangeblood.

Looking down again, Vremea saw the words and felt a deep sinking feeling in her chest. Oh no... The battle in OHC? Her eyes lowered and she felt her hand squeeze Milieu's hand softly, softly mumbling to the teal blood, telling her she was perfectly fine. Vremea nodded a little before walking slowly toward the little girl, being careful not to startle her. "Hello there...?" Vremea asked, keeping herself as nonlethal as possible. "My name is Vremea... I am a friend of this troll-- her name is Milieu." She said softly, soothingly-- Vremea hoped she understood what she was saying. "We will do anything in our power to help you... we promise. Please do not be afraid..." She explained, still slowly approaching and walking toward her. "I want to heal you. Would you let me do that?" She asked, tempted to reach out to her but instead of her hand, deciding to use the artifact-- it was as if she took its power or something. Or received power because of it. Ha ha no.