It ever so slightly became lighter outside as Blue quickly made his way around the forest for some minutes, finding the girl was his top priority at this point in time. He stopped in his tracks as he tried to think back to what the tree said about her that could help him figure out where she could possibly be at. The Tree mentioned "war", Blue could only guess it meant that she's in the military, which he wasn't so keen about. But, he'd give her a chance, considering The Tree's words, that the girl is stuck in the army, and if she'd try to leave, she'd be killed.
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"Damnit, where am I.... Shit, I'm not gonna find her if I'm lost..."
He tried to focus on his surroundings; feel the breeze and possibly figure out where he's currently located
in the Highlands. Then he huffed, his voice almost nonexistent.
"Ah, there's no use... just gotta stay vigilant."
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Blue had the feeling that if he stopped moving for even a mere second, a bullet would strike right through him; he's seen the Infiltrators skill with guns, and he just has his knife. He pushed away these thoughts once again, Blue knew it's never good for him to hyper focus on the chance of getting assassinated in the blink of an eye.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAEFgMEX6TI2
Suddenly the booming sound of a missile being launched caused Blue's head to ache and his ears felt as if they were bleeding. He wanted to make a comment but had the inability to speak a single thing, this made it more clear how the side effects from overdosing Vyvanse have started to show in Blue. As the missile flew over the forest, towards the 36th parallel, the forest was shaken by the force of the air. He needed to get going; to find the girl and rescue her from Hemlock's deceiving grasp.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAnVheR0SzT9
He ran and ran till he heard voices coming from somewhere in front of him, but all he could see were trees, bushes, and rocks. The voices paired with the hurry in their steps sounded oddly familiar to Blue, and not in a good way; it's the Infiltrators! His heart began to race, he wasn't fully prepared just yet... he needed to hide. Blue did so, almost diving into nearby tall grass and shrubs to take cover—with some trees helping block him even more—as he observed where the Infiltrators possibly could be coming from.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAOPEFJPcfeN
What soon came into their view was multiple Infiltrators stomping out of a tunnel that’d been partially hidden by the overgrowth of forest leaves. This was Hemlocks tunnel system which led under the Highlands and to the Infiltrator Base from here, Blue had no idea something like that existed… but he could possibly use it to his advantage.
168Please respect copyright.PENANApPHdCC6yik
All the Infiltrator's appeared to have come out of the tunnel, stopping simultaneously as they were ordered to. Then the general of the Infiltrators had ordered them again to split up with a partner.
"Everyone, split up with another person and scan all of the Highlands down to every. last. bit. And then record what you've found, if anything at all..."
As everyone grouped with another person there happened to be one Infiltrator without a partner who looked annoyed from this occurrence.
"Oh, it seems we're uneven today, guess you don't have a partner, Subject 0822. You'll do it on your own, and if you die, well, no one will miss you...."
The general chuckled at his words and this pissed off Blue; the higher up people would always take advantage of "lower" people's feelings whenever they could.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAe6sHpCw7km
All Blue badly wanted to do was to go out there and strangle the general till he couldn't breathe anymore, but doing so would be too risky. He saw the Infiltrator oblige to the man's degradation towards them, it disgusted Blue.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAu1eRAJoGXu
"Go on now, Subject 1116 could be anywhere by now, and it didn't leave much of a trace at all for us to follow.... We can't have a nuisance roaming around Hemlock freely, do you understand?"
Subject 0822 looked uninterested in what the general had to say to them, it was almost amusing for Blue himself to see happen.
"Helloo, I'm talking to you, jackass. Don't ever think you can look at me like that."
168Please respect copyright.PENANAzOPbMdUSoL
Blue's furiousness increased by how the general treats the Infiltrators or at least just this one, which made this moment considerably worse. This Infiltrator was unusual to Blue, he's never seen one like this, one who disobeys the general. Even if it's nothing too serious, none had the courage to do so, but this one does have that courage. Though, the behaviour of this one seemed to bite back at them when the general noticed their look of disinterest in what he's ordering them to do.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAi5LpmmDs3c
He couldn't let the general treat whoever this Subject 0822 happened to be under their Infiltrator uniform. Blue needed to think quickly on how to get the grizzled man to leave them alone. A possible solution could be throwing something in a direction he's not in; Blue liked that idea so he acted out on it, he then grabbed a rock light enough for him to throw but heavy enough to make some noise. Blue threw it hard past the general with it landing somewhat far behind him to make him think Blue is somewhere over in that area.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAMq9GF9fSfb
"Ah, you're useless. I'll go find the Subject, sounds like it's over there."
The general pointed in the direction of the sound before running off.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAkDjV3jhGRG
His plan worked out better than he thought it would as the Infiltrator in question noticed the rock that flew through the air from the right of them, but they could not see Blue when they fixed their gaze over there. The Infiltrator started to wearily walk towards the shrub covered area where they guessed the rock came from.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAAEuZOHgxwJ
As Blue was about to come out of hiding the general came back already, furious as ever.
"The little shits not over there, I must have been hearing things. Now for you... you're coming with me, don't want a fugitive plaguing your mind if it's hiding somewhere near."
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"What— no, I can be fine on my own!"
The girl yanked her arm away from the man with defensive body language as the Infiltrator uniform covered most of the face.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAevdOHASl8k
"Ha—don't you fight back with me missy... you're coming with me 0822, whether you like it or not."
He violently grabbed her arm again and yanked her along with him.
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"Hey—stop, asshole!"
168Please respect copyright.PENANAEuhyUthyMQ
Blue was in a daze, particularly one where he was hallucinating the two people as uncanny amalgamations representing the emotions and thoughts given off from the both of them. Luckily he caught himself and snapped out ofhis trance. 'Ugh—stop imagining shit! I should help her, I'll just follow them both....' The general dragged her along with him to the Northeast of the Highlands as she tried to pull herself out of his grip. It was sickening to Blue, there was an ache in his heart due to seeing someone treated how he has been treated by everyone else. He silently followed behind the two as they traversed farther through the dense forest.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAGt8WrFZhnM
Blue peered from a new bush which was a fair amount away from the Infiltrator and general who had happened to stop in his tracks, not letting go of his grip on her.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAZQAVGbkQHa
As the masked Infiltrator kept persisting with trying to get out of the man's grip Blue was amazed by her fierceness, it was incredibly unusual.
"Come... on! You're making this harder than it has to be you fucking piece of shit..."
168Please respect copyright.PENANAMUEwYCaaDv
The general was pushed to the edge and tired of her shit so he used his free arm to take off the Infiltrator helmet she wore, her bright red hair looking like flames. Blue couldn't believe he'd been looking at the girl the whole time, he was pleasantly surprised by this, but also devastated by the treatment she's been getting too. Then, by the looks of it, the burly man got ready to punch her right in the face and this sent a dramatic increase of potency through Blue. From in the bush still, his hand instinctively grabbed for his knife, flipped the blade open, and threw it at the general's face which ended in one of his eyes being sliced open.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAmsUvVqACOz
"AGH—WHAT THE F- FUCK?!"
He cried out, letting go of the girl in place of holding his rapidly bleeding eye. Unable to see a single thing out of it now, he looked around with his other eye frantically to see what hit him.
168Please respect copyright.PENANA8PKmVKH8lb
The girl looked taken back by what happened, also completely unaware that it was Blue's knife as he threw it extremely vigorously with skill. Even Blue was surprised by the outcome; he didn't expect himself to throw it that well, he kind of just... went for it.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAZSyCBv7f63
As the general squirmed around in immense pain Blue took this as his chance to get the girl in his hands, to protect her from the harsh treatment which came from the higher up people who give not a single care for anyone but themselves. He leaped towards the now unmasked Infiltrator, taking her down with him as he hid from the horrible man once again. The red haired girl was completely nonplussed by Blue's deed as her back slammed against the ground. She noticed the person on top of her was the guy she'd seen on the train. The girl was about to speak but he quickly covered her mouth without thought, shushing her.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAAUrc8zQUXb
He realised his actions were not the best at this moment in time so Blue quickly murmured an apology as he took his hand off her mouth, moving off of her.
"Ah- sorry, I just hate seeing those pigs mistreat people..."
His voice was awkward now as he was about to whisper some more but the girl looked frightened to her core as she looked at something behind Blue.
168Please respect copyright.PENANA6t0NJxf8Uj
The clocking of a gun and a malicious laughter sent chills down his spine; Blue knew exactly who it was behind him. He let out a small, nervous laugh
"You're not making it out of this alive, nor will you escape me, 1116..."
168Please respect copyright.PENANAiHmwyREaM2
Blue didn't care one bit about what that man had to say, he knew his place which happens to be where he'll never die. He may be self-absorbed with himself, but for most of his life he's been the only person he can trust in this entire world so it only came naturally for him.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAhwN0ICaZw0
He wasn't going to let his life end here, or ever; his first instinct was to run, so he pulled the girl along with him and ran as fast as possible. The general ran after the both of them at an incredibly high speed so Blue could not spare a second to look back. He mentally felt horrible for dragging the Infiltrator with him but he needed to get alone with her, and to keep the both of them alive.
168Please respect copyright.PENANACyhM8kqo0Z
Blue was heading the way he reckoned would take them back to his hideout where the Tree is at, he couldn't wait to show her the tree and do so much more; to heal her wings back to normal, and make them stronger than ever.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAdzdyFIlFC9
His daydreaming was interrupted with the most pain Blue's ever felt in his body, which caused a rush of adrenaline to flow through him, as he let out a short yelp, tripping up while running.
"Sh-shit..."
168Please respect copyright.PENANADLB78HGYv3
The general could be heard celebrating and quite frankly glorifying himself but also not taking a pause with the chase. There was a slim chance he wouldn't make it out of this alive, and Blue struggled to keep it that way as he ran as fast as he could while the girl struggled to keep up with him.
168Please respect copyright.PENANA6TczWy4lfn
"Where are you taking me??"
The girl didn't enjoy being dragged around at all, she wasn't sure if this guy she had seen earlier in the train is any better than the general.
"I- you'll see, just stay with me. I know what I'm doing...."
She rolled her eyes while groaning with the lack of information being told to her.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAGsrjaFAADS
Some seconds later Blue noticed a spot where he could take cover with the girl so they could get off the generals trail. He slid down into a slightly closed off and small hidden area in the forest, bringing her down with him. As Blue sat down in the spot, he started to have trouble breathing due to the bullet lodged in the backside of his torso. In effect, he accidentally ended up causing the Infiltrator to fall onto the ground, a pill bottle of hers falling out of her pocket.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAjJzOXDdSkx
Blue looked at the pills in a daze due to the pain he was facing; he needed that medicine, Vyvanse, it's all he knew that could fix this pain. But the truth was that those weren't Vyvanse pills at all, they were anti-depressants. The girl groaned as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, quickly realising "1116" was looking at her medicine. She quickly swiped it from the ground and put it back in her pocket.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAH6LlIbBwBL
"That's my medicine— you, uh... shouldn't take someone else's at all." She had a soft tone to her voice that was also ridden with anxiety as Blue continued holding his side. The girl felt remorse for the fugitive but also indifferent as Hemlock order continued to plague her mind against her will. Even with the conflicting thoughts, she tried her best to be nice.
"I know it sounds crazy, but it's best to leave the bullet in you. If I tried removing it... you could die."
168Please respect copyright.PENANA0BvljT8vuE
"But it hurts... so much..."
Blue became suddenly aggressive, aiming for the medicine in the girl's pocket. He wanted this pain gone, so he tried grabbing it out of her pocket which only made her move away from Blue with worry.
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"Dude...! I just said it's unsafe to take mine, don't you have your own??"
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He froze, thinking for a bit before lying back where he was beforehand.
"I... it got taken from me before I... ran away."
168Please respect copyright.PENANACwAs8d623n
The red haired girl sighed, trying to think of what to do for him so he feels better; all the scars on him made his character appear severely damaged as if his soul had been mangled by forces of evil.
"Well, where are we going to go now?"
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Blue knew exactly where.
"The hideout... the Tree. It might... help me."
He was out of breath but he still needed to push through the pain.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAJ7g5Jpe6TO
"A... tree? There's hundreds of trees in the Highlands... I think you just need to rest. I can take you to your hideout, but then I have to... um... go back to what I was doing earlier."
Blue looked at the girl with a confused expression, but also one of knowing what she meant. Back to hunting for him, "Subject 1116."
Nonetheless, the damaged man nodded tirelessly a few seconds after processing her words. The girl lifted him onto his legs and made sure he was supported enough to walk with ease.
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After about 15 minutes they found their way to the hideout Blue mentioned, she then let go of them and made sure he could stand on his own.
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"I gotta go... I hope your... tree, or whatever, can help you more than what I'm capable of doing for you."
Even if his feelings were now complicated towards the girl, or more so have been since the Tree told him the truth of her through its poem-like words, he didn't want her to go at all so Blue grabbed her by the arm.
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The two of them exchanged glances at each other with deep sorrow ridden in both of their eyes.
"I'll look for you... every day. Please... be safe, I worry that the general will hurt you terribly..."
After he spoke his words he let go of her arm and coughed up a bit of blood before hesitantly turning around, walking back to his new wooden home.
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She thought of something while continuing to look at Blue before eventually speaking up.
"Wait, I suppose you'd need a map of Hemlock. I only have one but you can have it, I can also mark where your hideout is on here."
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Blue didn't want to take her only map so he pulled out his journal and pencil then stood next to her to copy down the map into his book himself.
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"Or that works too, yeah."
The girl watched as Blue replicated the map into his journal the best she can, then lastly he marked the spot where his hideout is located before looking back up at Red as they stood close. Both met eyes but the girl moved away from him, looking off to the side to avoid prolonged eye contact.
168Please respect copyright.PENANA7iY5COKPkV
Blue was deeply confused about her gestures, but he pushed off the feeling. "Thanks for letting me copy your map... I hope we can see each other again someday. Possibly we could plan days we meet, or at least a single day?"
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"Maybe; it's likely unsafe for the both of us if I left messages at this spot, Infiltrator Intelligence would be able to figure out why I'm going over here so much. Have you been to the Carolinas? It may be possible for us to safely send messages there, it's on the map I drew for you."
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"I've heard of it... also, please call me Blue."
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The girl could see why he calls himself that; blue hair, blue eyes and even a blue shirt that had tears scattered across it.
"I can guess why. It's not bad though, it... it's nice. Guess I'll go by Red then...?" She said while looking up towards her hair and gestured towards it too. "Okay—I really have to get going now..."
168Please respect copyright.PENANAyWtGWEKCFS
Red left before Blue could say anything to her at all, not even a goodbye. He stared at her as she ran away most likely to find the general again, and Blue wasn't sure how to feel about that. It felt like he needed her in his sight so he could protect her at all costs. Blue thought of himself as Red's saviour due to the Trees words, which made him wonder if he was being a little vain of his capabilities. Possibly he'd taken the wisdom lended to him to an extreme extent compared to what the Tree truly meant.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAw1aSRRRCeS
After a minute or so of zoning out, Blue remembered that he had forgotten to grab his knife back when he sliced open the general's left eye. This made him urgently retrace his steps back to where he threw the knife which happened to be a bit away from the tunnel system. He was in luck that she drew him a map of Hemlock, as finding the area his knife could be at was relatively easy now. Although he had to be extra careful since he could run into Infiltrators that are actually out to capture him, and the general.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAmOz7HH5o26
Eventually Blue reached the tunnel and went Northwest from there on, trying to remember what the spot looked like where it happened. He dug around for what felt like forever to him in bushes and twigs of the area he suspected was the one until he found it with a small amount of dried blood on its blade. Blue was ecstatic as he found his knife; it was incredibly special to him—his only defence against the Deceivers, Infiltrators, and the general.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAoaEJDVTHyn
Blue started to head back to his hideout as he considered what Red said was correct, he does need some majour rest to make up for all the lost hours from when he used to work at the factory. He was still worried about being without his meds but he could not go back to the city; he needed to stay undercover and hidden in the shadows of the forest. Working at that factory felt like history repeating itself back from the late 19th century due to the amount of labour and nonliveable wage that he earned. And the worst thing of all is that Hemlock has "destroyed" the past; none of the many "myths" happened, nothing bad at all, it was all in the head.
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Yet Blue could remember everything about the past... he couldn't allow the Deceivers to destroy his memory like they've done to everyone else.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAC8CbThAVub
Some time later after wandering around the forest, trying to find the hideout again but also mindlessly exploring what it had to offer, he found a vial half hidden in the mud. Hoping it contained Vyvanse, he grabbed it out of the ground and cleaned it off before drowsily inspecting it. There happened to be a blue, translucent liquid in the capsule and, due to it being unlabelled, he couldn't tell what the substance actually was. That missing information, which is vital to know, didn't matter to Blue; all that mattered was numbing his pain. Forever.
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Blue spun off its top then poured the liquid down his throat, he felt a burning sensation go down his throat in an instant along with chills throughout his entire body. This venomous feeling in him was intoxicating, he'd never felt this much relief in him before as the pain from the bullet became numb. The liquid was most definitely not Vyvanse, but he was too under the influence of it already to care about whatever it may be.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAIAVzdyKPEj
He wandered off in random directions of the forest, forgetting where he was originally heading—that being his hideout. Eventually he found a fallen tree trunk and lied down on it, thinking it was his bed at the hideout, and passed out immediately.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAxjjz8CAd9o
While passed out, his mind played tricks on him—ones that consisted of the worst of the worst happening like: Red getting hurt; him failing at defining Hemlock; and the most horrible one being Red ratting him out on where his hideout is located. From another person's view, if anyone were to be next to him at this exact moment in time, they could see him hyperventilating with his face full of dread from the nightmare.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAhtoMFjhCR2
The idea of the girl he instantly fell in love with and wanted to protect with his whole life betraying him like so had haunted his mind as he had those nightmarish visions. And these questions plagued his mind as he dreamt "Do I truly have a purpose...? Am I going to fail to save the girl from this Hell hole as well as fix Hemlock?" Constant visions tormented him for about six hours straight in real time, he felt high but in a way not pleasing and instead self-torture as these came from his own mind.
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He woke up, his eyes opening wide with panic as his back still laid on the fallen, hollow tree trunk. There was a mild amount of sweat dripping from his face while he pulled himself up and turned to sit more comfortably on the log. What he was doing earlier was vague to him, as if he forgotten entirely; as if there was a hole in his mind. Then it came to him, Blue remembered the feeling of relief he'd gotten from the unknown substance, and he desperately wanted more. His body was trembling, whatever this "medicine" is... he was addicted to it like he is with Vyvanse, numbing the pain never felt so good as of now. And it might just be the same medicine he's been taking since Hemlock came to be.
168Please respect copyright.PENANA8xwgNxLvdE
Stuffing his hand into the left pocket of his pants he quickly pulled out an empty vial he remembered was there as of just now. His hands jittered as he held it while processing that this is all he had of the liquid drug, and if it was anything like Vyvanse, whatever it may be, he needed to find more and more of it. He could barely stand up properly, having to use surrounding things of nature like trees to keep himself up as he started to search the ground for more vials.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAu7rn21v9NY
Eventually he hit a jackpot with three of the vials, all of them filled to the brim with the liquid he oh so desired. He didn't want to think about the possibility of Red being a nark for the Deceivers and general, yet she's the only thing on his mind, including the venomous liquid. In result to this dismay he wanted to drink his venomous, conflicting thoughts away. Drinking his first of the liquid after waking back up, he only felt more troubled than before.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAdPQViOtFoq
The million thoughts about Red going through his head made him restless, he felt as if his body was on a roller coaster of emotions and feelings and... he couldn't sit still. He needed to keep the girl with him, away from everyone and keep her for himself, but he was strung to his vices of drug abuse. And instead of running through the forest in search of her once again, Blue ran around the forest trying to find more vials containing the addictive medicine.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAsn4psPIxIK
As he ventured through paths and crevices of the woods as his body continued to tremble from time to time while becoming more agitated due to the medicine, although there was something keeping him alive and it's not his persistence doing so. Yes—he was trying his hardest to stay alive out of spite, but he should be dead. This overdosing of his has reached a deadly amount; one where he would normally collapse at any given moment.
168Please respect copyright.PENANABlg7BsfRoG
The benefactor for Blue was the Tree. As of earlier, it had lended him power from its ancient roots after he carved his name, Blue, into its bark. Although his body continued to ache worse the longer he didn't listen to its cries due to the self-neglect he inflicted upon himself. A weakness to the power from The Tree is that it couldn't numb the pain that came from being on the verge of death; a thin sheet of ice holding him up above icy cold water.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAoZ4qpeuQkN
Soon he began to envision Infiltrators and the general watching him— near him, around every corner at any given time. There was no telling for him to know if they're real or a figment of his imagination, or maybe it's just his nerves slowly getting to him. He looked around dazed and confused; worried and skeptical. Then his hearing expanded and became extremely sensitive, causing Blue to believe every little noise around him happened to be the people out to capture and possibly kill him.
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Since Blue didn't know better about the liquid contained in the small tubes, he itched to consume both of the two still in his pocket; to indulge himself. His thoughts became too venomous for him to handle, he was on the brink of insanity at this point. He didn't listen to the signs of his body telling him to rest even after having passed out for six hours straight.
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Blue wasn't sure where he was, and he certainly wasn't in the right mind to think straight and look at the map he had copied from Red. Soon he came to accept that he needed a lot of rest; even though he had two more of the vials, he could drink them later instead of chugging them down in one sitting. Blue had changed his course, instead seeking to find an area close by where he can sleep comfortably.
168Please respect copyright.PENANAc3M3rfyWSF
All this running became too much for his body to handle, resulting in him having to stop and take a breather; but even then the pain was unimaginable. His body had to get the venom out of his stomach, inevitably making him uncontrollably vomit onto the forest floor. There wasn't a spot he deemed good enough to sleep in, but he couldn't hold on any longer and began to stumble down a hill. Groaning in pain as he reached the end of the slope, he'd pass out once again.
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