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Sephos and Maku were patrolling the edges of their territory, looking for further damage from that spaceship. And there was a lot of damage... burns, radiation, defoliation... This part wasn't so bad though. Sephos looked it over from one of Maku's boughs. It still had some good vegetation – he might be able to get some cuttings here to grow or transplant to other parts of the forest. That was the first step to repairing, after all.

”Put me down, Maku.” Sephos said, moving down Maku's arm. The treebeast moved slowly, to his charge's great annoyance – unvoiced but definitely there. ”Theres some good understory plants here. I want 'em.” Finally, the treebeast set him down, and Sephos kicked his feet impatiently until he could reach the ground.

His bare feet sank into the -currently dry – leaf litter of the forest floor. This part of the forest was still healthy – he could smell it in the air. He had to get some samples, so he could make the rest of the forest healthy too – not just because his lusus wanted it. He didn't care about his lusus's mission, reason for being, whatever.

He did it for the plants, because he liked how they grew, and seeing barren scorched land hurt him deeply.

He went over to a nearby tree and investigated it, hoping to find something to bring back to his nursery. He had no idea that any other trolls were in the area...

Sephos soon figured out that there were other trolls nearby, and to his dismay, he found out from the shouting. He grumbled something, but resumed his investigating – he didn't particularly care what they were shouting about, and hopefully he could get his sample and deal with it before they noticed and made some sort of stupid fuss about territory or blood color or whatever.

That thought went completely out of the metaphorical window when some kind of cat lusus decided to rub its face all over a nearby tree. Sephos watched it for a moment, briefly, but soon lost interest – what the ******** did he care what some lusus did in the woods? Wasn't any of his business.

Maku hummed a greeting, bending over with ponderous creaking towards the feline, his beard tendrils brushing just above the ground. ”Hello there, creature” he said, curious. In Maku's experience, catbeasts rubbed on trees, but not usually... so much.... ”Hooooommm, hooom...” Maku took a closer look, holding his white, bark-scaled hand out to the creature...

… And it wasn't any of his business if his lusus was interested either. Sephos couldn't be arsed.

But... anti-itch cream?

Finally, Sephos bothered to glance at the shouting, unhappy troll. He squinted. ”Hey.” he said, reluctantly addressing the other troll, ”Is that poison ivy?”

”Nice cat. Soft cat.” Maku hummed, boughs creaking as he petted the cat with his fingers. Not that the tree could feel much in the way of softness, given his thick bark armor, but he was used to feeling little. What he felt was nice enough, and he appreciated the sentiment. He also got a very good look at the reddening sores on the flesh beneath the white fur. ”Sephos, my sprout, this lusus has a terrible rash. I believe it is...”

”Poison Ivy, yes, I get it, I can ******** see it...” Sephos called back, annoyed. He pulled his gloves out of a pocket in his overalls and slipped them on. He approached the other troll, barely registering that said troll was a purpleblood – he didn't care, really, he was just observing – and held out his gloved hands abruptly. ”Give it to me.” he said flatly.

He had been, however, listening to what the other troll was saying – give him credit, he didn't like them, but he couldn't help but listen to other trolls. Too much effort to block them out. ”How do you even think that this is tea?” he muttered, not really a question and not really to the other troll. ”That's just stupid. You can't make tea out of it when it's this grown.” That was when it's irritating oils and such came out. The young leaves... maybe, if you really were out of options and felt like testing fate, but the older ones... no. Just no. That wasn't why Sephos needed the sample.

Sephos rolled his eyes. Well Obviously he hadn't meant him. Hadn't he just said that he grew the stuff himself? Sephos had been listening. ”Give it to me.” Sephos demanded, gesturing for the purpleblood to give him the poison ivy specimen, ”I need it for things.”

Maku thought this was adorable. It was nice to not be attacked by other lusii, not that the treebeast got attacked often, but still... Maku was appreciative. Always appreciative. ”Good kitty.” Maku gently pet the large creature, ”Sephos, we should help this creature with it's rash.” Yes, that would make his troll a friend, possibly, and friends were always nice.

Sephos was about to retort with something snide when it hit him that that might be the way to get the poison ivy sample and the tree sample without any stupid territorial stupidness. ”I'll, uh, trade you some of my tea for, uh...” he gestured to the poison ivy, ”That. And a cutting from this tree. And a cutting from the tea plant in your garden. And, uh...” Sephos understood bartering, somewhat, and somehow... it wasn't enough? What else did he need?

He pretended to ignore the meaningful and patient look that his lusus gave him. ”And maybe I'll throw in some itch remedy...” he said, almost grudgingly. Not because he didn't want to help – helping out with something like poison ivy wasn't bad – but it was also a lot of work, and he'd have to go back to his hive, and blah. But there. He'd offered.

Sephos took the irritating plant before Rastin could somehow refuse to give it to him. Why he would want such a plant, Sephos didn't know. Other trolls could get so weird about their property, especially when it was something they shouldn't even bother with. What a lot of wasted effort. Sephos didn't care. He had anti itch and neutralizing cream to spare, he needed a sample to grow and breed and mess with, and now he had one. Good. He wrapped it in a damp, dirty cloth and put it away in his pocket. He squinted at Rastin.

”It's barren?!” he said, squinting, ”What?” Why would a tea plant be barren of leaves? It had to be sick, or... ”Did you ********... overharvest it or something?” he asked, incredulously. Some trolls were just dumb like that – they picked everything off their plants and then expected them to just grow back, pop, just like that. He saw it with fancy rosebushes in Four Fronds, when he was earning beetles helping stupid trolls with their gardens. Those Idioten.

”It eats with it's leaves. Thats how it grows. That's why you've got no tea.” he explained slowly. Well, if it was barren and stressed, he shouldn't take a cutting from it – the other troll was at least right on that count. ”Fine. Uh... I'll just take something from this tree over here, then.”

Maku was enjoying this interaction very much.

”... So you gotta come by my hive for the itching cream.” he said reluctantly as he took his cutting of the tree, ”It's best when you apply it frische... and stuff.”

”Okay.” Sephos said, shrugging. So what if it wasn't the other troll's fault? It still involved idiots messing with plants, and honestly, Sephos didn't care about the specifics. The point was that their tea plant was not happy, and probably wouldn't survive without tending. Sephos took his cuttings, wrapping them in cloth to protect them. ”Follow me.” he said. It was really up to the other troll to follow him if he wanted – Sephos didn't want to wait, not when his new cuttings needed water and treatment to grow.

Maku was, of course, a little more considerate. Gently, he picked up the lusus and held it gently in his woody arms, petting it to keep it calm. Large meowbeasts often didn't like to be picked up, but it was so much easier for them to move around this way, or so the treebeast felt!

Sephos's hive was a ways into the deeper parts of the woods, where few other trolls lived, and it took a while to get there. He felt his hands begin to itch... but he wasn't worried. He was used to all manner of pokes and prods and pricks and poisons, and he had the materials to deal with them. So he dealt with them.

Finally, the scorched clearing and the raised dirt mound of his hive – surrounded by small, viney ground cover plants for the time being – came into view. Without even so much as a 'hey, here we are', Sephos opened the door to his hive and went in. He was just courteous enough to leave it open, if the purpleblood wanted to come inside...

Not that Sephos cared.

He went into the tunnels that made up his real hive, sifting through his toolshed and his apothecary before he found the cream. He cleaned off his hands, applied the cream, and put on his gloves. There. All better... now for the other person...

Poor poor meowbeast! Maku tried his best to comfort the poor thing, petting it very gently with his masive, gnarled, wooden fingers. So much fluff!

Sephos didn't bother to answer the first question - it wasn't any of the other troll's business and, besides he liked his hive. It was safe.

"Oats." he said, "with aloe gel and lemon juice and water." The oats were ground to a powder, the aloe gel soothed the burn, the lemon disrupted the poison, and the water kept it from drying out. He listed a few other herbs too, things that helped support the other ingredients. Either way, it smelled sweet and oily, with a tang of medicinal...