004 ✞ (AUDIO)

[unetrustworthy]

[The morning everything first went crazy, Midii was unaffected.  She checked, just to be sure.  There were no bodily changes, no strange new abilities, and she felt like herself.  But there were Network posts advertising those less fortunate, and from the sounds of things, it wasn't going well for many.  So she decided to stay put.]

[Today, however, she wasn't so lucky.  From the moment she woke up, she knew something was wrong.  The kind of wrong that actually required her to ask for help:]

I need clothes.  Please.  I have money, and can pay you back.

[There was a momentary pause, and a low groan could be heard in the background.]

...is my stomach supposed to hurt like this?

[Her voice might sound familiar to the select few who were around her enough.  Only deeper.  Older.  By nearly ten years.  And if that wasn't enough to hint as to who this was over the Network, she didn't block her address.]

Comments

[unetrustworthy]

I'm not sorry I missed that.

[Understatement of the century.]

[demon_brat]

[Damian's face was completely serious.]

Your wisdom is far beyond your years.

[unetrustworthy]

[As was hers.]

You wouldn't be the first person to tell me that.

Back home...sometimes, the adults had a habit of forgetting that a lot of us are still just kids.

[demon_brat]

[Damian tilts his head to one side. Then.]

Of course.

Only in the areas where you lived, or do you think that was global?

[unetrustworthy]

Only in the areas too poor for some of us to have a childhood.

[The areas most devastated by war. She tried not to sound bitter about it, but the distain of social inequality was something even a girl her age could all too well understand.]

[demon_brat]

War.

[He heard the word, anyway, especially since he'd been thinking it mere moments ago.]

[After a moment, he looked back at her.]

Does it make you prefer to stay away from... what is happening here, or do you want to get involved?

[unetrustworthy]

[She nodded in confirmation, falling silent for a long moment as she contemplated his question.]

I don't want to fight. [That much, she knew for certain. Fighting only led to Loss, and she had suffered enough of that already. Though her choice of words was deliberate, fully aware of how what somebody wanted was different from what may be needed.] But...I don't want to sit by and do nothing, either.

[demon_brat]

[Oddly enough, Damian found that understandable. Not everybody should have to fight - and, despite her current appearance, he knew Midii's actual age.]

There are always other ways to help. Gathering information, to begin with. There are people who have been here for a long time, but we do not know everything there is to know.

[He refused to believe there wasn't enough information to defeat the problems here.]

What is known changes.

[unetrustworthy]

[She smiled faintly. Suddenly more comfortable with the topic at hand. Information, she understood. Knowledge had always been her greatest source of power back home.]

I can do that.

[demon_brat]

[Damian blinked, then nodded, his own eyes lightening slightly.]

Yes. I believe you can.

I do not doubt that you will be able to see what many would miss.

[unetrustworthy]

[It was rare for somebody to acknowledge her abilities as more than just clever for her age. She knew Damian well enough by now to know they were mere words, either.]

Thank you. Really.

I know this is probably going to sound ridiculous...but it means a lot to hear you say that.

[demon_brat]

[That, in turn, took him by surprise.]

... Less ridiculous and more - unexpected.

[It wasn't something that people often said to him. After considering it for a moment, Damian nodded.]

I am... glad.