Episode 2: Ciel's Secret! Reading Between the Lies
You'd think the harpy would be more impressed.
But, nope, Lexa's transformation distracted the monster for roughly 2.6 seconds before he lunged at her once more. This time, she dodged deftly, spun around, and gave a kick at its stomach, right where man and bird intercepted. The harpy fell on its back and moved its wings feebly around in its struggle to get back up, like it was making a snow angel in the birdcage's rubble.
She wasn't sure who was more surprised at the kick: herself or the harpy. If anything, it bought her time to choke out, "What…is even going on right now?"
"You've used my old Sky Scepter to become a Pretty Cure," Odette explained, waddling over with Breezy not far behind. Pride lined her usual monotone like the silver lining the floor. "It's the only way you'll be able to break the spell on that monster. Usually it's fine to just trace a heart like you did earlier on a target with no Spellbind, but with harpies you'll have to subdue it first."
Before Lexa—or Cure Ciel, so said the words she barely remembered spouting from her mouth—could reply, the harpy had sprung back up. She clenched her Scepter tighter and looked back at her cousin. "Subdue that thing a bit, and then we can get Officer Reyes back?"
"Assuming that's who this harpy once was, yes. Your wand will begin blinking when the spell is ready to break. Until then, fight with everything you've got. You'll find doing so much easier in this form. And any damage done to this monster, luckily, will not affect the original human."
Breezy added, "Ooh, try pressing that egg-shaped button on the Scepter if you have the chance!"
Cure Ciel did not have the chance. The harpy was coming at her once more, with Officer Reyes' handsome features twisted into a beak-tipped scowl. She met its slashing wing with her Scepter, parrying it like a sword master.
Only she was no master; her newfound strength still crumbled beneath the weight of the wing and she had to drop her wand. She readied herself for the wing's impact…
But it never came.
Instead, she found herself floating. No joke. She was literally rising higher and higher every second, until her blonde hair brushed the ceiling and her feet was dangling at the harpy's beak below. On them were the slippers her socks had dissolved into, with the fluffy white wings on each side. Those very wings were what was keeping her in the air, albeit unsteadily, and what was keeping her away from the harpy's own, far more lethal wings.
Well, at least now I can brag to people that I have Hermès shoes. Kind of.
The harpy gave up on attacking her in the same record time it'd taken it to digest Cure Ciel's appearance. Instead, it bent over to pick the swan-tipped Sky Scepter up with its large beak, chewing experimentally.
Ciel's flying-induced giddiness gave way to horror. She didn't need Breezy and Odette's anguished screaming from below to know that the harpy gobbling up her Scepter would not be a stellar development.
Somehow, the sight of a crow (or crow-like creature, putting it generously) with something in its mouth reminded Ciel of an Aesop fable her father used to read to her. She recalled how the harpy had been able to speak before, with its startling cry of "intruder." An idea popped into her mind, pushing even the terrible thought of Dad's involvement in all of this out from her head.
"Oh, Mr. Harpy, you do look lovely today."
She leaned leisurely onto the top of a bookshelf and propped her cocked head with an elbow. "Just what are you using on your feathers that is making them so glossy? Whatever it is, it is working, let me tell you, just like that diet you must be on. What did it consist of again?"
The harpy didn't respond. It just fixed Cure Ciel with a quizzical, expectant look; similar to the one Odette was wearing. If she was getting a reaction out of anyone, it would be Breezy, who was burying her little birdbrain into her wings like the avian-equivalent of a facepalm.
She tried again. "Say, I heard only a select breed of harpies have the ability to talk. The elite of the elite. Is it true? Are you one of them?"
Now the harpy looked like it was short-circuiting.
Finally, it opened its mouth. "Intruder! Intruder intruder intruder. Intruder? Intruder, intruder..."
Ignoring the ceaseless, senseless words—or word, rather—Cure Ciel swooped down and caught her Scepter right as it fell from the harpy's beak. She landed gracefully in first position by the bookshelf she'd been leaning on. She held onto the worn wood like a bar with one hand, while her other gripped her wand. She pressed the egg-shaped button on the Scepter as Breezy had instructed.
"Sky Scepter—bow mode!"
In a flash of blue, the ends of the wand began elongating, curving into a bow. Already on the bowstring was a stunning golden arrow, its vane a single white feather like the ones on Odette. The tip was a heart, which Ciel found adorable since a heart, incidentally, was right where this baby was going.
She flew up and crouched on top of the bookshelf, squinting to aim. She'd tried archery at a summer camp once, but her arrow had literally landed five centimeters away back then due to her lack of strength. The missing power from back then seemed to course through her now thanks to this transformation, its only barrier being the familiarity of the harpy's face.
Her hands shook. No, there could be no hesitation. She leveled her gaze and readjusted her left glove before taking aim again. Odette had been sure to mention that Officer Reyes would not be hurt in this process.
Her arrow sliced through the air, easily piercing the harpy right in its chest. There was an ensuing squawk of pain that made Ciel flinch.
"Now, Cure Ciel!"
Breezy had flown beside her and was gesturing wildly with her wings at her Sky Scepter, which had turned back into its wand form. The teal eyes of the swan on top lit up, blinking like a firefly trying to communicate. With the wand and a flourish, Ciel drew a blue heart in the air.
"Pretty Cure! SPELLBREAK!"
The heart grew, like a wave gaining size and momentum right before it crashed onto the shore. The shore, in this case, would be the harpy, whose sharp squawking subsided immediately after the finisher made contact. The arrow in its chest vanished and the monstrous crow features coating Officer Reyes dissolved, until there was just an unconscious, but otherwise unharmed, man left. His head landed onto the cement with as he fell over.
"Well," Breezy chirped, "that's probably the only lasting damage he'll get."
"Will he remember anything?" Ciel flew down and bent to inspect him. She felt hollow as her adrenaline rush began fading out.
Only, that hadn't been all adrenaline, had it? No…while she was fairly athletic, no scare in the world could've prompted any of that from her without an extra push. Whatever turning into a "Pretty Cure" had done, she felt like she'd just chugged down a barrel full of nuclear Red Bull. And that, for now, was numbing her over until she could make sense of this situation.
Or she could just delude herself until the end of time. She'd promised to tell the truth to others from then on, but had she mentioned anything about facing it herself?
"No," Breezy replied, "he won't remember. And thank the Clouds the spell was broken before any of Rothbart's lackeys could've taken him to the Cloud Kingdom."
Ciel was about to ask why this Rothbart guy would've done that when she noticed a spec of silver beneath Officer Reyes' arm. Her hand felt something cold and she held up her finding to the room's purplish light. It wasn't a piece of the broken birdcage like she'd thought, but a trinket the size and shape of an egg, with enough tiny, but intricate details to pass as a Fabergé. Pearls traced a swirly design around the circumference.
"That's a Birdie Bomb," Breezy said, answering Ciel's unspoken question. What an unfortunate name.
"They're left behind by Harpies," Odette explained, "though usually much more powerful ones since they're often residue from a Spellbind's magic. Each has a little charm that lasts anywhere from ten minutes to forever. You can activate it by cracking it open, as you would a regular egg."
"Like this?"
"Don't—"
Too late. Ciel had already flung the egg onto the ground like a bouncy ball. Instantly, the birds' identical looks of horror faded into thin air. Where Odette and Breezy had stood before lay the Birdie Bomb, open cleanly in the middle like those plastic eggs dollar stores sold every Easter. "Wh-where'd you go?"
"It must have been an invisibility charm," came Odette's voice from seemingly nowhere.
Breezy let out a long whistle. "Holy feathers, Princess, can you imagine all the possibilities we have right now?"
Before anyone could respond, footsteps thundered from above, getting louder as they traveled down the stairs.
Acting on pure instinct, Ciel pressed the bow mode button on her Sky Scepter and aimed at the stairway. Ready to fire.
What she wasn't ready for, though, was whom she'd be firing at.
Dad?
"Rothbart," Breezy breathed.
It had been a pleasant if unexpected weekend for Bart.
Ever since their divorce, he'd let Lexa stay with Carolyn for the most part. Starting otherworldly wars generally didn't mix well with fatherhood, and it was for their daughter's own good that she didn't mix with any of that either.
Still, it had been refreshing to act like a normal dad for a few days; going on a road trip, watching dance performances, eating at fast food restaurants for a treat…It reminded Bart why he was doing what he did, even if nothing could bring back his happiest days; the endless bedtimes stories he used to tell, their infinite number of family outings, and the look of wonder across five-year-old Lexa's face when he'd given her a music box for Christmas and told her he'd signed her up for ballet classes.
It surprised him that The Curse hadn't interrupted the weekend like it usually did whenever he was feeling even a bit content. Leverage for later, he supposed, but he was still relieved.
Speaking of later, he'd have to make up for the lack of new harpies created this coming week. The Pretty Cure back home were putting up more of a fight than he thought they would when he began his invasion six months ago. The advantage of being able to restock his army at any time was the only thing that stood against their iron wills, a fact he hadn't neglected to remind his team when he'd met with them a few minutes ago.
J had smirked at that. "When did you come to that conclusion, at your daughter's ballet recital?"
"Watch it, woman," his newest recruit had grunted, "I don't like that condescending tone about ballet."
"This meeting is going nowhere," the last one had sighed, and Bart had been inclined to agree, which was why he'd called it off early.
And it was a good thing he had, because otherwise he would have missed his niece making her escape.
His dark eyes widened at the sight of seeing Odette as a human once more, then narrowed and steeled. He raised his cane and felt its scraggly wood turn into the shiny surface of his Sky Scepter. If he had any questions, he could ask them later.
A ball of energy materialized at the tip of his wand, and he let it fly forward to knock Odette's weapons right from her hand.
Odette had been shaking behind her bow, stunned speechless. She looked younger than he remembered, though that could probably be owed to how she was practically folding into herself then.
Bart chuckled. "I don't know how you broke the spell, but did you really think you could escape, Odette?"
"N-no," she spluttered out finally. Her voice was unnaturally high. "I—I'm so sorry, I can explain…I…wait, Odette?!"
"He called her Odette," came a voice from somewhere inside Bart's lair. "I can't believe he just called her Odette." His eyes darted around the room, but the only other possible source of speech was the pathetic police officer lying on the ground. It must have been that annoying robin, then. Her family had always grated on his nerves, and she was no exception.
Not that it mattered. He pressed the button on his Scepter so that it extended into a longer staff and conjured a more powerful spell that matched the room's purple glow. Odette yelped as she dodged the streak of light. Bart cursed under his breath—the swearing kind, not the magical.
He was going too easy. He needed to stop her as soon as possible. For all the surprises these past few days, one of his underlings could walk in on this at any moment and discover the lies regarding his niece's death. And if she'd recalled her Spellbind, then maybe she could tell him something else…
At this thought, Bart's blood boiled, and the reason behind his rage literally came to surface.
A giant owl monster. That's what her father was now.
Ciel's dad had turned into an owl harpy.
Bart Roth, father of Lexa Roth, was now a giant owl, complete with grey feathers and impossibly large eyes.
Put it any way you want, it still sounds crazy.
And it was only about to get crazier.
Bookshelves shook as the monster lumbered forward. It was different than the harpy Ciel had fought before; with the tacked on parts of an owl instead of a crow, yes, but bigger as well, with less recognizably human features. If it weren't for the fact that she'd just witnessed his transformation, Ciel would never have connected the monster that stood before her to Bart Roth. And she would never have connected the latter to the Rothbart the birds had spoken of, either.
They say that seeing is believing. But right then, she didn't know what to believe. It all felt surreal.
That was when a ball of purple energy was sent her way from the monster's staff was holding, hitting her square between her eyes. She fell back, dazed. Okay, that felt real.
"Cure Ciel!" Breezy's voice rang out from somewhere above her. Ciel noted vaguely how the robin wasn't referring to her as Lexa nor Odette, who'd been silent this entire time. "We need to get the heck out of duck now. You don't stand a chance against him."
Ciel was rubbing her forehead in a feeble attempt to stop the pain. "I don't know what's going on, but…I need to turn him back. Just like how I turned Officer Reyes back."
"No, Ciel." The robin's usual cheerful lilt was nowhere to be heard, gone along with her physical form. "That won't work. This isn't like the harpy from before. Your dad's Cursed. He's like this of his own free will. Just like how you transformed to fight, he's turned into that to defeat who he thinks is the Princess."
Ciel felt like a kindergartener being explained a simple concept in a language she didn't understand.
Time to think this over was a luxury she couldn't afford, though. Actually, from the looks of it, she didn't have any time at all.
With the free hand that was jutting out from beneath its left wing, the owl had picked up the arrow she'd dropped before and was rushing towards her to stab the sharp point straight into her chest.
But then it stopped short.
"Lexa…?" the creature drawled. What began as an inhuman grunt faded into the voice she'd spent her weekend with. The arrow tumbled from its hands—seriously, what was with this family and dropping weapons?—as it reached up to grip its own head, stumbling. Its form flickered, flashing from the monster to Ciel's father to the monster all over again.
Ciel remained still this entire time, shell-shocked, with her palms still planted on her forehead and bottom glued to the ground. It wasn't like being cornered by the harpy before, where Lexa hadn't been able to fight; here, it was the question of would she fight?
"We need to leave now!"
Odette. That was Odette yelling. Ciel's anchor in a hurricane, the real Odette. Luckily, the monster appeared to be too pre-occupied with whatever identity crisis it was having to notice.
"Cousin, snap out of it! Before Rothbart does."
"…Right." Ciel rose up, reaching for her Scepter.
"Quick," Breezy shouted, "take the police officer! And the two Sky Scepters, too! I'll take…your cousin."
Ciel obeyed detachedly, adding how can a robin drag a full-sized swan up stairs? to her growing mental list of questions.
Sleep had come instantly for Lexa.
She vaguely remembered turning back into her regular self after staggering out of Dad's house and into the woodland surrounding the lake. She didn't know how she'd made it home, just that she had eventually, much to the relief of her mother.
She woke to the sound of chirping from outside, which—ugh. If she never saw a bird again, it would be too soon.
What too soon really turned out to be, though, was the next second.
"You're up!" something trilled. Lexa rubbed her eyes as a little robin came into focus.
The girl shot up, kicking her baby blue blankets off in the process. "Who are you?"
"Breezy." The robin blinked. "Er, Lexa? We kinda went through this yesterday. Unless…did Rothbart's attack do anything to your head?"
"No." This couldn't be true. "Nonononono…No! That was all a dream! A dream!" A nightmare, really. The whole transformation bit, kicking butt, that had been awesome. But everything extending to her dad, well that…
"What a delayed reaction," Breezy commented. "Welp, I was wondering why you were so quiet afterwards. Denial doesn't last forever, I guess~"
Still under the Birdie Bomb's effects, she and Odette must have followed her into the house yesterday. Breezy was fully visible now, though. The only thing weirder than seeing a bird talk, Lexa thought dazedly, is seeing a bird talk in your own bedroom. Wildlife didn't suit her unapologetically girly throw rugs and the signed So You Think You Can Dance posters lining her pastel walls. Wait, what was Breezy saying about deluding herself while more pressing matters were at hand?
"Good morning, Lexa."
Odette toddled in through the doorway, kicking the strange meter up a notch without a white feather out of place. "Your mother—that would be my aunt, I suppose—just received a call saying that Mr. Reyes returned home safely this morning. She left your home in quite the rush."
"That's good to hear, Odette," Lexa managed to respond.
"Aww, c'mon," Breezy whined, "of course she remembers your name!"
"S-sorry..." Lexa stared down at the checkered pattern on her panama bottoms. "I-I mean, shouldn't you guys be heading home? To your nest or flock or-what did you call it, the Cloud Kingdom?" Right. The sooner they left, the sooner Lexa could put this whole thing past her.
The birds looked at each other. "We were discussing that earlier, actually," Odette finally said. "Now that we're free, we're free to go back, and as much as we'd love to—Breezy especially since her parents are still there—we can't. We would never make it past Swan Lake under Rothbart's watchful eye, especially now that he believes I've rediscovered my Spellbind and can break most of the Kingdom's spells if I returned. We also have reason..."
"More like just vague visions and possibly fake memories," Breezy scoffed, which Odette pointedly ignored.
"...To believe that the only person alive who currently knows my Spellbind-"
"Let's just call him Odette's old penpal," Breezy interrupted once more from her spot on Lexa's headboard. "Or, ooh, I know, how about 'Spellboy'? Kinda sounds like spellbook, y'know? Has more of a ring than Grimoire Guy."
"...Currently resides in this world," Odette continued. "Perhaps even nearby, if we're lucky. And hopefully, by the time we have tracked this 'Spellboy' down, your father will have lowered his defences."
Lexa swallowed. "My father...as in Rothbart?"
Breezy let out a sharp chirp of frustration. "Have you still not wrapped your head around that yet? Even after what you saw yesterday? Even after he attacked you?"
"I still have no idea what I saw yesterday," Lexa said evenly. "And Officer Reyes attacked me, too. Doesn't mean he killed his sister or started a war in some fantasy world or whatever else this Rothbart guy does."
"You know what he does, Lexa?" Breezy gave the wood she was perched on an angry peck. "Asides from all of that? He takes people from your world to turn them into harpies that fight for him. Brainwashed harpies that fight for him in our so-called fantasy world."
"What?" Lexa turned to Odette for confirmation.
"I'm afraid uncle's armies consist largely of people from this world." She bowed her head, apologetic. "That man you broke the spell on was a temporary guard for Rothbart's, ah, hideout, but given a week he would've been in the Cloud Kingdom, blindly attacking what forces of good we have left in that monstrous form."
All of Sorrel's disappearances... Lexa had to lean back on her headboard for support. That was all him? And they all got turned into harpies? All of this Cloud Kingdom bird stuff Lexa could accept, as unbelievable as it was, because it was just added awareness about some far-off place she'd never see. It was irrelevant to her life, disconnected.
But everything else twisted the way she perceived things she thought she already knew. It was harder to accept that change than to accept brand new knowledge.
No. My dad...he isn't a bad man. I mean, sure he gets mad at the drop of a hat, and he's kinda strange locking himself up all the time, but he's not...he wouldn't go to that far. I mean, even if what they're saying is true, he stopped himself from stabbing me with that arrow yesterday, didn't he?
Because he thought you looked like Lexa at the last moment, answered a cursed voice at the back of her mind.
Because I am Lexa.
Because he was perfectly fine with hurting his niece, but not his daughter.
The doorbell rang then, plucking Lexa out from her black hole of thoughts.
"You might want to hide," she told the birds before going to answer the door. She nearly burst out laughing when she saw who it was.
"Good morning, Lexa," her father greeted. In his hands and out of place was her luggage, which he set down through the doorway before entering himself. "You left these on my porch yesterday."
Lexa goggled at the bags. Crap! He must've figured out what she'd done, something that was barely dawning on herself.
Dad scratched his goatee. "It was pretty terrible of me to expect you to walk home carrying all that, though, huh? Anyway, the homework you did during the weekend was in there, so I figured you'd need that."
Phew, he didn't catch on! "I...hah...no, thank you! I totally forgot about them."
Just as Lexa was positive he'd turn to leave, he just had to turn and add, "Oh, and about yesterday! You went straight home as soon as I left, right? No dilly-dallying around town?"
"I...Of course I didn't dilly-dally!" Lexa wasn't sure why she felt so guilty, not why she sounded so shrill.
"That's good to hear." Dad leaned forward, so that his tall shadow seemed to consume Lexa's small frame. His eyes were dark behind his glasses. There were bags underneath; he was looking pretty dishevelled in general, actually. "You know, with all the disappearances lately, you can never be too careful. There's dangerous people out there, Lex-people not like us." He paused. "I don't know what's been bugging you lately, why you were so eager to jot down your Spellbind, but just know that it's not a big deal compared to what else is out there. Nothing else matters to me but your safety, so be wary and stay out of things you don't understand."
It took every fibber of Lexa's being not to flinch. "I'll keep all of that in mind!"
"So...you didn't come back to my house after you left?"
"O-of course not." The lie was so transparent, but Dad seemed to believe it. He nodded. It's what he wanted to hear.
"It must have really been her then..." His words were barely a whisper.
Now she began to laugh. "Jeez, Dad, what's gotten into you? Nothing's going to happen!"
He stepped back. "Ha, you're right. I guess I'm just getting old. Well, you have a good day then!"
"I will!" Lexa plastered on a smile, one she kept on until he was out of sight…
"It's all true..." She slammed the door and slid down to the floor.
The birds were beside her in an instant. Breezy twiddled, "What's true?"
"What you and...my cousin were saying. My dad was acting really weird just now, which isn't actually that out of the ordinary, except...he mentioned Spellbinds. I know for a fact that he did." Lexa buried her face in her pajama's soft sleeves. Whatever happened, there was always the option of never coming back up again.
No. She had already spent all of Friday throwing her pity party, over matters that weren't a 'big deal' after all.
She was through with it now. She looked up.
"Hey, yesterday, what did I turn into again? The thing with the winged shoes and arrows?"
"It's called being a Pretty Cure," Odette replied slowly.
"Ah, w-well, if you wouldn't mind, Odette, can I keep on being that? A Pretty Cure? I know that that's your Sky Scepter I was using, so..."
The swan had to think for a moment. "I wouldn't mind at all. But...why?"
"I'd like to keep on doing what I did with Officer Reyes." The words were out of Lexa's mouth before she could think them over. Not that she needed to. "Turning people back into their human selves, reversing the havoc my dad's wreaking. The next time he tries to make a harpy, I'll be waiting there with my bow and arrow. I won't let them get anywhere near Swan Lake. I know...that it doesn't make what he's doing better. But hopefully it'll make at least a little difference."
Odette wrapped her wings around Lexa in what she figured was a hug. "Oh, sweetie, you know you don't have to make up for any of Uncle's actions."
Lexa shook her head as she tried to return the embrace. "That's not what I'm trying to do. I mean, honestly, I feel bad for you and Breezy, but most of what you've said Dad's done is kind of unreal for me. The disappearances in Sorrel aren't, though. I really want to prevent them from happening anymore."
"Also," she went on, "when I lie, I never get the benefit of the doubt. People always accuse me of manipulating them, when all I want is to make them happy, even if it's over something fake, even if it's temporary. I don't think lying's, like, inherently bad...I mean, what Dad's doing is pretty awful, inherently or otherwise, b-but...I'm sure there's reasoning behind it. Maybe this way I can understand it." Not a justification, but a rationalization. Where did Rothbart end, and where did Dad begin? She needed his side of the truth to better understand the situation, and then she could revaluate.
Breezy flew over then; Lexa hadn't noticed her absence, but she'd probably gone to retrieve the white pen that was dangling from her beak. She spat it out by Lexa. "Clouds, are you always that pretentious?"
Lexa picked the pen up. "Where'd this come from?"
"It's the Sky Scepter you asked for," Breezy chirped. "It's just in this, like, sealed form right now. The way Rothbart's cane usually is! If you press that egg on top, like a regular clicker pen, it'll hatch into the swan that'll let you transform."
"And you might want to continue pretending to be me when you do," Odette advised. "I can't imagine what Uncle's reaction would be if he found out his own daughter had turned against him."
Lexa was tempted to start laughing again. Of course this would happen right after her resolution to become more honest. Now she was harbouring the mother (or father, she guessed) of all secrets. I wouldn't call it 'turning against', though. And it wouldn't be any worse than my reaction when I found out Dad's a real-life, cross-worldly super villain—
"Koo koo! Koo koo!"
She gasped. Mom insisted on keeping this crazy annoying cuckoo clock that she'd gotten at a garage sale years ago. Lexa hated it, but right then it was her life-saver.
"Gaaaah, no, I'm late for school!"
Breezy had the audacity to giggle. "Kinda funny how you can take down a freaky crow monster, but that cuckoo bird'll still get you down, eh?"
So that cuckoo bird'll get me down, Lexa thought as she scrambled up, but all that drama last Friday won't anymore. It all seemed silly now, in the wake of all that had happened.
"You're not like those Disney princess birds that can cook and do laundry, are you?" she teased. "Because some toast to shove up my mouth while I run for my life would be lovely."
Preview:
"Hey, Breezy, I get why my dad captured Odette, but is there a special reason you were held captive, too?"
"What are you trying to say, Lexa, that I'm not valuable enough for captivity?"
"N-no, that's not what I meant at all! I-it's just...I already know so much about Odette, but you're like a mystery. A very loud mystery with a big personality, but a mystery nonetheless."
"Aw, c'mon, I'm like an open book!"
"An open mystery book—one with the first few chapters ripped out! What was your life like back in the Cloud Kingdom? Did you have any friends?"
"I had a nanny, if you could call her that. She's since sought better employment, though. With your father, in fact..."
Next time: Bright & Breezy! Words Once Spoken Are Past Recalling
A quick continuity note: For readers following from last episode, I did combine the characters of Gage and Nick, as well as shorten the period of time Breezy and Odette were imprisoned from a year to six months. The changes (which have been edited on chapter 1, too) are more relevant to me than you, but I still thought I'd mention it. Thanks for reading!
