#hey. villoh. girlie. you're dumb but at least you're getting better.

[nihils-trolls]

Pep Talk (Or Something)

Villoh lies sprawled on the floor once again, staring up at the vaulted ceiling of her hive. Exhausted already, and the night’s barely begun.

It didn’t matter what she did for ‘self-care,’ barely anything made a dent in that wall of fatigue. Before, she was at least able to at least keep up her training regiment to get her arm back into shape. But now, it was hard enough just getting out of bed. She’d turned a few visitors away, even.

She ponders this all with a headache, wondering when the last time she actually felt energetic was. Somewhere in the middle of her thoughts buzzing like television static, a knock at the door disturbs them.

… Villoh wasn’t expecting anyone to come over. But, she guesses she’ll just have to tell them to go away. Hauling herself up, she shuffles over to the front door to open it. Slowly peeking her head out, she sees… someone familiar- and yet she doesn’t recognize her.

Her visitor is another jade that looks a hell of a lot like her. Curved pointy horns on her forehead, short fluffy and wild green hair. The only other real difference between the two of them was her nose and the scar covering the right side of her face. The stranger smiles warmly at her in a way she can’t really describe.

“Hey there. It’s… Villoh, right? Boy, you would not believe how hard it was to find you.”

Vee nods, a look of confusion making its way to her face. “Are… do I know you? I feel like I should.”

The stranger wavers her hand back and forth. “Eh, maybe. I doubt Delvah would’ve said anything about me. Grumpy old cunt that she is.” She then smiles again, introducing herself. “Havadi Marqis-- like you, the only other good one out of the bunch.”

Villoh doesn’t know what to say to that. She opens the door the rest of the way, standing up straight and getting a good look at Havadi again. That would explain why she looked so familiar, she’s related. Something in her memory stirs, recalling that name.

“What, don’t believe me?” She starts again. “Hm. That’s understandable actually. Lemme think of somethin’ real quick.”

“No, I believe you.” Villoh says, interrupting her thought. “It’d be dumb of me not to with the, uh, everything.” She then vaguely gestures at Havadi, which elicits a laugh.

“That so, love? Makes things a little easier for me.”

Villoh then sighs lightly, getting right to the point. “What are you doing here? You get asked to take me back to the caverns kicking and screaming or something? Cause I’m not going.”

Havadi scoffs. “No, fucking hell, no. I’ll have you know I left the caverns too. Long time ago, that. I came to have a lil chat with you. Real nice fellow came and asked me to, though I’ve been looking for ya’ for a bit already.”

“Really now?”

“Yeah. Some tall punk by the name of Geonni. Ring a bell?”

… In fact, that does. Why was he searching her out of all people? Couldn’t just come to talk to her directly like he normally does? Villoh puts a hand to her forehead, standing aside so that her visitor can enter. “Come on in, I guess. What did you want to talk about?”

Havadi hums before answering, following Villoh inside. “Came to ask how you’ve been holdin’ up. For one, I imagine you didn’t get the rundown on our lineage, but also… you’re the second one to walk away from the caverns, sweetie. I’m curious- what drove ya’ to it?”

Rundown? Villoh thinks to herself before replying. “Miss Head Matron said that I was ‘a disgrace’ and that the caverns would be better off with me leaving. So I did.”

“Aw, c’mon. There’s more to it than that.” The older jade rubs the back of her neck and looks away briefly. “I would know.”

Sighing, Vee sits down at the dining room table. “I was sick of it. I’m not good at any cavern work besides the dirty stuff. Lusii hate me, grubs do too. And on top of all of that, Delvah’s ‘sword training’ was the worst fucking time of my life,” she grumbles, beginning to talk expressively with her hands.

“She cut my arm off. Like, completely off! I didn’t know I could fucking regenerate, and I was 5 sweeps old. Who does that to a kid?”

Havadi winces, sucking air in through her teeth. “Ah. Yeah, I can see that bein’ your limit.” She then sighs and sits in turn, muttering a curse under her breath. “Again, I’m not here to drag you back to that mess. I’m here because I know for a fact some things that you don’t.”

“Care to elaborate on that?” Villoh says, unamused.

“How’ve you been feeling? Just in general? By any chance… lethargic, lightheaded and generally uncaring? Maybe even noticed your healing slow down? Losing weight?”

Villoh’s brow then furrows slightly. That was surprisingly dead on.

“Ah, hit the nail on the head, did I?” Havadi chuckles. “You’ve even got bags under your eyes, love.”

Vee scrubs at her face, rubbing an eye. “Okay, yeah. What of it, though? Nothin’ I’ve been doin’ seems to help. Just a stupid hurdle I apparently can’t throw myself over.”

“Ah- no, that’s not what it is.” Havadi’s tone turns slightly scolding in nature. “You seem like a good lass, and I’ll bet you’ve been feeling like this for a long time. She really got to you with that whole ‘personal failing’ bullshit, didn’t she?”

Rolling her eyes, Villoh looks away. She doesn’t want to answer that last question. “Clearly I can’t fix it. I’ve always been fucking tired. Just… now it’s been worse.”

“Well, lemme ask. You been eating enough?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? Sometimes I forget, but like. It’s not often I do.”

Havadi now returns an unamused look. “I mean it. Have you actually eaten until you stopped feeling hungry?”

Villoh’s expression turns genuinely puzzled. “No? Am I… supposed to?”

With a facepalm, Havadi then mutters something else under her breath. “It’s worse than I thought, dear messiahs. Yes, you’re supposed to. What the hell did you do to your head?”

“Nothing, it’s not like I got injured-”

“Villoh, dear, listen to me.” Havadi interrupts her. “You’re starving yourself! Sure you may eat, but it’s not enough to keep you thriving. And if you’re not getting enough normal troll food, I fear you’ve not been getting enough blood either.”

For a moment, Villoh just stares at her elder, unsure of what even to say. How she knows, because Havadi wouldn’t have brought it up otherwise. But then, it clicks- She’s a rainbow drinker too. Huh.

Havadi continues, realizing her moment of confusion. “Yes, I know you’re a drinker. I can tell just by lookin’. Somethin’ about takin’ one to know one.” she says with a smile. “Forget all that hubbub you heard from Delvah. Every criticism, nitpick, and insult she threw at you while you were stuck in that cavern.

It… won’t be easy. Sure wasn’t for me, kept hearing that old bag in my head for what felt like ages. But I can tell she got to you considerin’ what you said about why you left.”

Villoh looks away again, thinking hard on it. Havadi isn’t wrong, either. That constant, nagging voice in her head, criticizing everything she’s ever done since leaving it all behind- it wasn’t herself. She’s tried to ignore or spite it, for sure. However…

She looks back at Havadi. “Yeah, whatever. You can just say that, but-”

“-Doing it’s another thing entirely? Yeah. I know.” she interrupts. “And I might be wrong! You could be totally fine in that regard. But seriously girlie, you have got to start eating right. That metabolism will kill ya’ at this rate.”

Vee sighs again, propping her head up on her hand. She still finds it a little difficult that her problem could be solved so easily, but at this point there’s not really a lot of options besides seeing a doctor. And she does not want to do that again. “Surely you didn’t come here just to prod me about my issues. What do you want, family bonding or something?”

Havadi laughs hard at that. “If you want that. This is the surface world, you can do what you want- as I’m sure you know. But like I said, I’ve heard a lot about’cha. Think you’re neat. Wanna know how someone else who got away lives. Don’t gotta talk, though. You can tell me to leave and I’ll fuck right off.”

Villoh shakes her head, making a face. “No, god. It’s not like I hate you for showing up or anything. I… I don’t mind talking.”

“Great then. I thought, since you look exhausted, maybe we could get lunch and do that? I’ll even pay.”

That gets Vee to smile. “Sure. I’m liking you already.”