the poet, not just the muse
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 6 - Strg: 23 - Dext: 20 - Endr: 22 - Luck: 14 - Int:
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#1
And hung from the rafters
The stratagem swings
Having spent most of the night tossing and turning as she thought over her conversation with Deimos a hundred different ways, Morgan had decided she had to come and see Hotaru. He'd mentioned that his bizarre actions were inspired by her, by what Sunjata 'had done' to her. From what she knew of the woman, the soft spoken spa owner, Morgan assumed that Deimos had to have acted independently; that she would be horrified too if she knew the things that had been done in her name.

She could at the very least find out what Sunjata's crimes were, before she made further judgements. There were very few things that would justify what Deimos had done, though; Morgan struggled to think of anything she could say permitted sudden arson without any consideration for his position or consequences.

Coming to the spa in the early morning, dressed in her usual heavy cloak and leathers and her hair back, she knocked on the door and opened it, peeking in. "Hotaru? Are you here? I would like to speak with you."
Born from the ashes
Of counterfeit kings
MORGAN
Base Code by Sky!
Hotaru Kaito
the Valkyrie
Masseuse / Headmistress

Age: 33 | Height: 5'2 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: King's End
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#2
Darling please, just give us some time, and I swear we'll be alright
Her spa is her solace in the time after her return to Halo. Sleep comes in fits and starts, usually found only when wrapped in the new fur of the form Frey had given her. Without Atlas she feels hollow, and she vacillates between blaming herself and the dark-haired woman who’d forsaken stopping the flames to instead kill her bonded. Most nights she has nightmares, though she hasn’t spent many back home. So when Morgan comes to her door, she is already up with the faint rays of morning sunshine, alone by the fire where she curls with her tea.

It’s not entirely an unexpected visit. Deimos had told her already how it had gone, and while her allegiance and devotion would always remain firmly with him, it was a challenge to the respect she holds for the Warden nonetheless. Rising, Ru sets her cup down and gestures Morgan deeper into the spa while moving to meet her. “Yes, of course. Come in, I have tea already made.” The Glacier already knows the space well enough to know where to hang her cloak, so Ru returns to her seat to bush herself with making a second cup for her visitor. “What can I do for you? Is this business or pleasure?” Though her exhaustion is intentionally clear and the twinkle of mischief dulled, she manages a slightly playful smile through it all.
HOTARU
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 6 - Strg: 23 - Dext: 20 - Endr: 22 - Luck: 14 - Int:
EUNIKE - Mythical - Unicorn (Healing)
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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#3
And hung from the rafters
The stratagem swings
Hotaru seemed like she was almost expecting the visit, which was odd, though Morgan suspected nothing of her. With a short-lived smile she stepped into the spa and went to sit, folding her hands neatly in her lap as she lowered herself down into the chair. "...Neither, really. A matter I need to speak to you about." She certainly wasn't here for a massage, but discussing matters of sudden acts of arson was hardly business.

Diving right into it, not one to beat around the bush, Morgan swallowed and began where she thought was best: "A couple of days ago, Deimos came to see me. He told me he'd set fire to a building in Torchline." A pause then, to see if this was a surprise - if Hotaru was as baffled as she had been. She supposed it wasn't impossible that the masseuse knew already; news travelled quickly.

"He told me that his main motivation for this was to make Sunjata pay for what he had done 'to you'." She further explained, gesturing with a turn of her hand towards Hotaru. "I don't want to pry. But this is now a matter of international importance and I need to know all the facts before I address Torchline. Could you tell me what it is Sunjata has done to you?"
Born from the ashes
Of counterfeit kings
MORGAN
Base Code by Sky!
Hotaru Kaito
the Valkyrie
Masseuse / Headmistress

Age: 33 | Height: 5'2 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: King's End
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#4
Darling please, just give us some time, and I swear we'll be alright
For all her awake and alertness, she is still clothed in her robe, and it’s a relief that it’s Morgan at the door in some ways. It’s certainly not a very professional appearance. Then again, these aren’t business hours, as apparent by Morgan’s convoluted answer. Hotaru sips her tea while the woman sits in the opposite chair, feeling peculiarly ill in a way she can’t pin to nerves. The tea at least seems to help in that aspect.

“I’d heard. There was another at the same time - the Wren Society. I...I didn’t know...but he only set the one?” Her voice wavers, confusion clear in the furrow of her golden brow as she sets her cup down in order to brush her fingertips over her lips. A mystery that still stumps her, and which she draws on to lend sincerity to her disturbed expression.

As for Sunjata, that is not a reaction she has to fake. Her skin pales, going white around the nose and mouth as she instinctively tightens her robe around herself, body language closed off and hurt. Ru is silent for a long moment, clearly reluctant. “If I must,” she finally whispers, and reaches for her cup anew though she doesn’t drink from it. Merely holding it, leeching the supportive warmth. “I will try to be concise about the emotional bits,” she affords with a tight smile that’s more of a grimace.

“We were quite close before we were ever together. I told him things nobody but Deimos had ever been privy to before, and he shared the same. We had...confessed, of sorts. And then days later his marriage announcement to a young girl was on the Notice Board. I attended, and kissed him - a petty, hurtful moment for the both of us, though neither party seemed particularly inclined to be married at all. She had her own suitor present as well.” Truly Hotaru had been surprised when Phoebe had not gone off with the man in that moment. In some ways it would have spared all of them pain if she had. “Then he came to me and gave me a gift, alongside his apologies. But he stayed with her all the same, even in our shared misery.” Her long fingers tighten around the cup, grimacing as she takes a slow sip from it. Such old memories that still hurt, and they are not even the worst. “When they divorced I thought...but then he was with another, twice over. In that time I met Nate, and Nate met Sunjata, and they fell in love while I...” fell in love with both of them. Her eyes squeeze shut.

A shaky breath is taken before she can continue. “Then it was the three of us, for some time. Until the sickness came and I was lost to them for seasons. When I returned, Sunjata’s father had been tormenting him, and he tried to get me to leave and visit Deimos here while he took care of it - he did not trust my abilities, and saw me as a weakness he couldn’t risk having. But we didn’t know he’d kidnapped and tortured Nate, and so he issued a challenge before I ever left to stay with Deimos as he’d asked.” And then her husband had been whisked away from her after Sunjata had been pulled over the cliff, and she’d been left standing alone, having been torn from both of them all over again. “Sunjata won his challenge, but disappeared over the cliff with his father. He returned home days later, and we...we...” Her emotions rise in an uncontrolled swell, and her mind blared red alarms all over when it escapes her perfectly trained grasp to end in a broken noise. What the hell is happening to her? One shaking hand rises to cover her face for a moment, refusing to let Morgan see her so clearly until she can get a grip on her own reaction.

“I had many children before Caido. I lost them - all of them - in varying horrific ways. My only son made it here before me, and died a season before my arrival.” It is spoken from beneath her hand, raw and vulnerable, information she has shared with only one man who hadn’t been there to live it alongside her. “Only Sunjata knew of this outside of Deimos and Kiada. He knew how important motherhood was to me, and how scared I was of it. But he had never wanted kids, and I respected that.” Until Nate. Nate who also wanted children. And apparently his desires had been enough to sway Sunjata where her own could not. “He told me Nate wanted them, and that he felt he was ready. We planned a little - Nate being Ascended, we knew we’d have to seek out a God if he were to have a biological child with me. And I made Sunjata swear we would not ask Safrin - because of her hatred of Nate, and her attachment to Sunjata. He agreed, and said the price would be too high.” Ru’s hand drops, and her eyes are red, vessels broken in the whites from restraining unexpected tears as she sips listlessly at the remnants in her cup. “That same night he went to her. She placed a tattoo on his chest, a living one that we now fear she can spy through, and he bargained Nate’s survival in the war for a child. With her.” Her smile is full of teeth, eyes bruised and haunted as they finally turn to Morgan. “And that same night Nate became a Demigod of The Voice, and that agreement was nullified.”

Her cup clinks when it touches the saucer on the table between them, empty and abandoned. She curls into her chair, legs coming up onto the cushion. “I left him first. Tried to convince Nate to be with me, and he left me for Sunjata instead. I came home to Halo, and straight to Deimos.” And that is that. The end of the story - or the one that Morgan needs to hear. “We went to Torchline together, as a vacation of sorts. I couldn’t bear to go alone but I had promised to help rebuild a friend’s business. Then I visited Frey, and came back.” Her shoulder shrugs listlessly, and her expression is lost and unmoored as it lifts to Morgan’s face. Laid bare - conveniently and intentionally so. A necessary sacrifice of her privacy.
HOTARU
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 6 - Strg: 23 - Dext: 20 - Endr: 22 - Luck: 14 - Int:
EUNIKE - Mythical - Unicorn (Healing)
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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Posts: 1,025 | Total: 8,707
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#5
And hung from the rafters
The stratagem swings
That there was another fire at the same time was news to Morgan, who only had Deimos' account of the events. "He only confessed to setting one fire. I do not know anymore than what he has told me. Where have you found further details?" With the council in a period of uncertainty, she didn't want to leave to Torchline to find out; if someone in Halo knew what had happened, she wanted to speak to them.

Morgan did not yet know that Hotaru had had a very close view of the events, of course.

It was immediately visibly obvious that whatever had happened with Sunjata, it was real and very painful to Hotaru. With that in mind, Morgan listened carefully throughout the whole story, nodding when necessary to indicate understanding but otherwise mostly keeping still in thought. It was a long, personal tale; it began in messy but mostly unspectacular relationship woes but did build up to a larger conflict, one involving Gods and children and deaths.

The first thing she had to say was: "I am...sorry to hear all of it. You deserve better, Hotaru; every time I have met you you seem an intelligent, caring woman. If I were in your position, I would not be fond of the Governor either." Not that she was really anyway, as it was; Sunjata was professionally important to her, another leader she wished to be an ally to in her official capacity, but she didn't particularly like or dislike him.

"When you and Deimos went on this trip to Torchline...were you aware of what he was going to do? Please, answer honestly - I will not resent you for the answer, whatever it is." Emotions ran high with such problems, and Hotaru could be excused for fantasising about revenge; Deimos had had a position, responsibilities, and should have known better.
Born from the ashes
Of counterfeit kings
MORGAN
Base Code by Sky!
Hotaru Kaito
the Valkyrie
Masseuse / Headmistress

Age: 33 | Height: 5'2 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: King's End
Level: 3 - Strg: 38 - Dext: 38 - Endr: 54 - Luck: 40 - Int:
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#6
Darling please, just give us some time, and I swear we'll be alright
Atlas, whispers in her mind, and her breath stutters. It is well-hidden beneath her general tearful demeanor, but a cold certainty clenches in her gut. The story she has spun has one fatal flaw that she must stitch over with careful words - the fact that Atlas is gone, and Morgan had known him, ever present in her spa as he had been. Her mind spins and whirls for threads to pull, though her lips are already parting. "I wasn't near the second fire, it didn't manage to spread very far from what I understand, but it was spoken of in tandem with the destruction of the Advocates." She worries at bitten lips, curling tighter into her chair. It's a mystery that bothers her endlessly, even as it aids her alibi.

Morgan's empathy both burns and soothes, and a small kernel of regret lodges in her withered heart at having to pull the wool over the woman's eyes the way she does. "Deimos and I have known each other for so long, I can scarcely recall life without him," she says softly instead, seemingly at odds with the woman's apologetic tone for a moment. "I know I can't speak on his behalf, or excuse him, but his hatred of Sunjata must make sense to you then if you can imagine it at all." A plea for mercy to be extended, or perhaps even the barest dredges of understanding.

Tears spill over her lashes at last despite her desires, wavering grip on her emotions failing at Morgan's assurances. "I...I'm..." swallowing hard, she brings the heels of her palms to press into her eyes. "I'm sorry, Morgan, I wasn't entirely truthful. I was there. I was too late, and I never saw Deimos visually - I didn't know, but I suspected." Her vagueness about her last two stops before returning to Halo a chip she must rely on to have been evidence of concealment, scared of Morgan's retribution. "I had been a member of the Advocates, I had told him of where it was and what we did because I was so angry. When I realized what he might do I thought I could stop him, but I couldn't even find him when the fire began." Grief is very real now, almost uncontrollable as she hiccups into her palms and digs her nails into her brows. "I had Atlas guard the door, to try and prevent anyone from playing hero while I tried to find Deimos. And then - there was a woman, and she killed him." Her voice goes slightly hysterical with the weight of her loss, and the tears spill messily over her palms where they try in vain to contain them against her cheeks.

Removing her hands she stares imploringly at Morgan, the dark shadows of exhaustion and grief like smudges of ash beneath her eyes. "S-She killed him with fire. So I tried to kill her, I admit. I was out of my mind - I know it doesn't help with our relations to Torchline...I didn't mean to make things worse, I swear," she begs, and her face crumples as Hotaru tries to fight back further tears at the memory of Atlas' last moments of pain. Placing the blame for the Wren fire on the mystery woman is payback she hopes viciously will work. "I don't know if she set the other fire, or why she went after Atlas. If it was an accident. But I'm so sorry. I didn't do enough."
HOTARU
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 6 - Strg: 23 - Dext: 20 - Endr: 22 - Luck: 14 - Int:
EUNIKE - Mythical - Unicorn (Healing)
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#7
And hung from the rafters
The stratagem swings
The other fire...possibly (though it seemed unlikely) a coincidence, but potentially another attack by Deimos, the council man she had respected for his level head...it was another blow to what Morgan had known. "I see. Do you know what building this fire affected? Did it seem targeted?" An ember passing on the wind could alight many things, but she thought it unlikely that two important buildings would burn on the same flames just through nature.

She nodded when it came to Deimos and his feelings towards Sunjata, though she had to qualify her sympathy in that regard. "I do understand, but he no longer acts just as himself. As a member of my council and well respected here, his actions are seen as an extension of Halo, and we are allies of Torchline." Morgan spoke softly, not wanting to seem like she was lecturing Hotaru, who she genuinely did feel sympathy for in this event.

Then before she could delve into more of the consequences and situations surrounding Deimos' position and what he had done, Hotaru had a confession. Once again she was baffled by this account of Deimos as such a determined bull, so angry and acting on only an instinct and feeling, but did not counter it, assuming Hotaru had to know him better. Once Atlas was mentioned, Morgan's eyes scanned the room and she realised that was why it had felt empty, a subtle unease that had been in her since she'd entered. "Oh, Hotaru."

With a companion of her own, she knew how the pain of separation would burn, especially through such sudden and violent ends. Daring to reach forward and place a gentle hand on Hotaru's knee, she offered a sad smile. "Your actions against an individual that wronged you are not my concern. If Sunjata wishes to try you for that crime, I would be more than willing to commit to your defense; it sounds as if you were in great distress and who wouldn't act to defend their companion?" It was a world apart from what Deimos had done and Hotaru had no title, no reputation to throw away with her actions.

"I would not have expected you to do anything. This is a...difficult, complicated situation and if you were not the one to set the flames, you are not culpable." Taking her hand back but keeping her eyes on Hotaru, she sighed. "I wish I did not have to punish Deimos, but...this kind of impulsivity, an act so serious and violent...then that he would lie to me about it. I cannot allow that."
Born from the ashes
Of counterfeit kings
MORGAN
Base Code by Sky!
Hotaru Kaito
the Valkyrie
Masseuse / Headmistress

Age: 33 | Height: 5'2 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: King's End
Level: 3 - Strg: 38 - Dext: 38 - Endr: 54 - Luck: 40 - Int:
Played by: Brit Offline
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MP: 9427
#8
Darling please, just give us some time, and I swear we'll be alright
"The Wren Society," is scarcely audible off her tongue. Gods, she knows how it looks and sounds. "Nate's guild, a society of healers. From what I understand it happened at the same time, but nobody was harmed." Something she's grateful for; Maeve's people had been in there, and Hotaru still intends to investigate who had done it - hypocritical perhaps, but Ru has never been so easy to define.

"I understand. Ruling isn't easy," she allows softly, even if her own methods had been both harsher and more lax in Helovia. Her disagreement is biased and she knows it. Biting her tongue to keep from disagreeing outwardly, it's a pain that she must focus on as the fresh wound of Atlas' loss is ripped open for inspection. The tears that finally crest over her pale lashes are silent, but Hotaru places her hand over Morgan's when it touches her knee, fingers curling helplessly around the edges of the woman's hand to hang on as if it's an anchor. Her lips tremble where they press together, bloodless and pained, incapable of speech. Thankfully Morgan does so in her place, and her support is like a soothing balm over the scorched flesh of her entire being.

"Thank you," finally croaks from her throat, hoarse and wounded. "Nobody was harmed; for all his actions, Deimos must have ensured that. I would help fix the building but - the only one who lost anything was me." As far as she knows. Documents, material items, none of that means anything when measured against Atlas' life. It's what ensures her regret, makes her certain that none of it had been fucking worth it. As if either of them could experience a consequence in their lives; it would always be her, even when seeking her own revenge.

Reluctantly releasing her hand, Hotaru's breath goes shallow in her lungs, suddenly questioning if Morgan's words have any ulterior meaning. "You won't exile him, will you? He told me he had informed you of what he did. Being General was everything to him, is his punishment to be more than that?" There's a level of fear she can't conceal from her words. What would Halo be without him? What would she be? Hotaru is certain that if he is to be forced to leave, she would have to abandon everything to go with him.
HOTARU
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 6 - Strg: 23 - Dext: 20 - Endr: 22 - Luck: 14 - Int:
EUNIKE - Mythical - Unicorn (Healing)
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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Posts: 1,025 | Total: 8,707
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#9
And hung from the rafters
The stratagem swings
"...A society of healers. Let's hope that fire was not intentional. I will have to find out more about this incident." If Deimos had set that fire too (and she had to keep in mind he was a possible suspect), Morgan really would have to wrestle with her preconceived notions of her General.

That Hotaru understood her decision was a comfort; Morgan never wanted to seem unfair or cruel to the people in her care. She had to make difficult choices, but she hoped her reasons for those choices would always be clear to the people living in Halo, that they would see she was working for their greater good above all else. "While I am glad no one else was hurt, it is an unfortunate irony. Is there anything I could do to help you recover some of what you lost? Not your companion, clearly, but anything more material?"

As Hotaru grew alarmed and the possibility of an exile dawned on her, Morgan shook her head. "No. I would not force him from Halo. If he wants to stay, he is welcome to. Honestly, I would still like to find a way for him to use his skills here, once the dust has settled from this event. Deimos is talented and more than that..." With a sad smile, she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I think he likes having something to do that he's good at. Truthfully, up until this moment, I thought he was the best councilman I had - this whole thing has completely taken me by surprise. I would not force such a skilled man from my region...I just hope he recovers from this lapse of judgement."
Born from the ashes
Of counterfeit kings
MORGAN
Base Code by Sky!
Hotaru Kaito
the Valkyrie
Masseuse / Headmistress

Age: 33 | Height: 5'2 | Race: Demi-god | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: King's End
Level: 3 - Strg: 38 - Dext: 38 - Endr: 54 - Luck: 40 - Int:
Played by: Brit Offline
Change author:
Posts: 2,242 | Total: 6,169
MP: 9427
#10
Darling please, just give us some time, and I swear we'll be alright
“If it was…I don’t know who could have done it or if they have any leads.” It is the extent of her knowledge, pitiful though it is Morgan is welcome to it. All she knows with any certainty is that Deimos had not done it.

Morgan’s support makes her entire chest ache and her eyes burn. Pregnancy does not allow her the iron grip on her emotions she is used to, and it makes her heart rabbit uncomfortably in her breast. “No, all I have need of is here. Anything I had before the sickness was lost when our house burned while I was away.” Whatever is in her spa is all she has left, but it’s a minor ache in comparison to all she has incurred lately. Hotaru had arrived here with nothing, returning to it doesn’t matter.

She relaxes back into her chair, feeling drained by the panic in a way she will come to terms with in time. “We were very different people in Helovia.” Her eyes and voice are both far away. “We had to be. I think we will always be those people in some way…even though those urges and drives are easier to control here with time. Lapse is a good word to use. For me, it wasn’t unexpected - but I have seen and done so much worse at his side for the sake of our people.” Sighing, she tucks her long hair back in mimicry of Morgan. “But I know he regrets it. And I can’t help but feel guilty, that he felt he had to do it on my behalf.” That he loved her enough to be at her side that night, and to suffer the consequences alongside her.
HOTARU
Hotaru has a passive magic that makes her glow with an internal golden light; it makes her appear youthful and her hair seems to look like moving sunlight. Can only subtly illuminate dark spaces.
Morgan Aristomache
the Glacier
Warden of Halo

Age: 42 | Height: 5' 9" | Race: Abandoned | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Halo
Level: 6 - Strg: 23 - Dext: 20 - Endr: 22 - Luck: 14 - Int:
EUNIKE - Mythical - Unicorn (Healing)
Played by: lancydulac Offline
Change author:
Posts: 1,025 | Total: 8,707
MP: 0
#11
And hung from the rafters
The stratagem swings
Morgan nodded solemnly; a lot of people in Halo made do with simple necessities, as the harsh landscape required them to. As long as Hotaru had enough to live and get by, she was sure she would recover. "Very well. Let me know if that changes."

At least she had been able to calm Hotaru's nerves about Deimos. Morgan was not a malicious leader, did not punish overzealously; exiling Deimos had never been on her mind and unless something extreme occurred, would not be her course of action. She had seen what had happened with exiles in the ruins of Whitebrim and did not want it to repeat.

"I see. I know it must be hard to adjust to a new world." She offered as comfort, but would not excuse what Deimos had done easily. After a few more reassurances and questions, Morgan stood and made her goodbyes, a million other matters spawning from this incident needing her attention. When she left, she asked that Hotaru come to the council hall if she needed anything and was happy, upon closing the door, that the masseuse was innocent.

{FIN}
Born from the ashes
Of counterfeit kings
MORGAN
Base Code by Sky!


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