A Fox In Magix

Speaking

Thoughts

Demonic Voice

Disclaimer: I own neither Winx Club, nor Naruto.

AN/ Constructive criticism appreciated. Flamers…screw you. It's been a rough week, and at this point I'm simply throwing this one out there, hoping there aren't too many errors.

Chapter 2, Trouble With the Trix, But Life Keeps Moving

"Naruto, why is it you never talk about your home?" Tecna asked.

They had come together to simply walk around town for the afternoon in a mix of window shopping and talking. She'd been thinking about her own home when it occurred to her that he had never once talked of his. In fact, at the mention, he winced.

"I don't?" She shook her head. "Well, it's kind of complicated," he offered weakly.

"I've got time, if you're willing," she urged, hoping that it wasn't a matter of trust, as she'd hoped that they were beyond that now.

"Remember the day we met?" he asked.

Looking thoughtful for a second, tapping her chin cutely with her index finger, "You were researching at the library…on…interdimensional theory," she recalled.

"Mhm. I didn't come to Alfea through normal means, or magical, or any other known method." Her eyes widened momentarily before she leaned in, curious. "I got caught in the ability of a…bad guy…back home. I tried to escape, but just made it worse."

"How?"

"I've got nothing, other than that I seem to have slipped between the proverbial cracks." Looking at Tecna with a small grin, "Oddly enough, the person to find me was Faragonda."

Tecna blinked. "Headmistress Faragonda?" she asked, needing clarification.

He scratched his head. "Yeah, she helped me get settled in. I've been trying to repay her ever since."

"How long has it been?" she asked.

Lip quirking as he thought, "Going on…two years," he answered, nodding at his count.

"So…are you trying to get back to your home?" she asked, a sliver of worry chilling her.

"That was my plan…for the first week I was here. Then, it occurred to me, that I actually like it here," he replied, looking down at her, radiating warmth. "There's so much more for me here, than back home." Worry aside, she blushed lightly at his implication, turning away so he wouldn't see her reddening cheeks.

"But you asked about my home," he began again. Shrugging lazily, "There's not much to say. We're not as technologically advanced as these realms, leaning more towards advancing in other ways."

"Like what?" she asked, entering familiar territory.

Not wanting to give up too much, "Mainly, bringing out and using the energy within ourselves." Crossing his arms, "In some ways, kind of like how fairies need to learn to draw out their own powers," he elucidated. "We used this energy, calling it chakra, in other fields. Some used it to fight, harnessing the elements, while others could use it to heal, and others to create illusions. And those are just the ones I know about."

"Intriguing," she murmured.

"But one of these fields you know about," he added, with a playful grin.

"Really? What?"

Pausing on the path, he toed the ground with the tip of his shoe, scratching an indiscernible figure. "Seals."

"Pardon?"

"They're also called runes, markings of power."

She nodded. "Of course, some of the more archaic, old fashioned magic utilized written script in spells. This also branched into the use of more complex symbols."

"Yeah, well, fun stuff aside, war's far more common there than here." It was one reason he was glad to be here. If, in some small way, him being here could lessen conflict, he could live with that in the hopes that wherever Nagato was he could accept it as well. He was a weapon, a powerful weapon. Without him, there was one less weapon of mass destruction. Not to mention his being here, a freak accident no matter how you looked at it, meant that Madara couldn't enact his grand plan. He had won against the supposedly immortal Uchiha. All he had had to do was leave, even if that hadn't been the plan.

"Here, I'm just a simple farmer."

She didn't really believe the whole "simple farmer" bit, specifically the "simple" part. It wasn't something she could put to words, but, getting to know him as she had, she began to sense something about him. At times his presence felt…big. Though explaining such a feeling was all but impossible. It was something she hoped he would explain to her …sooner or later. Noting his change in tone, specifically the gloominess, she decided she'd had enough answers for now. "Wait, so is that why you were so interested in the museum exhibit?" she asked with a broad grin.

"They may be antiques, but they're still more advanced than anything we had," he countered weakly at her poking fun.

"I guess I'll just have to educate you." Giggling, she hugged his arm. This time, it was his turn to blush.

"You really want to see my home?" he asked. "I mean my home, not my world."

"Would you show me?" she countered.

"Would you be satisfied if you found out I was living as simple as can be?" he asked further. "Put it this way, before I met you I didn't even own a phone. What if you find there isn't much to me to find interesting?"

"I think I can tell for myself what is interesting," she offered. Though from what she had seen from him so far, he was rather simplistic in nature. He was intelligent, yes, but his nature was the polar opposite.

"Next weekend?" he asked.

Today, Tuesday, had been a field class in the Black-Mud Swamp with Professor Palladian. The purpose had been to force them to make their way to the assigned location using their ability to listen to the voice of nature, and anything they could come up with, with the exception of magic, to find their way to the clearing where the class would meet up.

As wonderful and surprising as it was being joined by the Specialists from Red Fountain, the girls still trudged into their group suite. Being covered in various swamp mucks had a somewhat debilitating effect on their moods. At least the Specialists had given them a ride back to their group. Even better, the professor had given them points for their help, claiming that getting the Specialists' help was an inventive choice.

It had been a rather informative day, and not in the way any of them had expected. If suspicions were correct, someone was orchestrating a great many things. The evidence pointed to the three witches, the Trix, but what she found most troubling was how little they actually knew of their intentions. They had tried to steal Stella's ring on multiple occasions, but for an unknown reason.

Stella, handling it the worst, stomped straight for the bathroom, intent on showering for as long as it took. The others, not as motivated as her, slumped tiredly in various chairs.

"Ugh," Musa groaned, leaning over the arm of the couch.

Though, of all of them, Flora was in the highest spirits. She was tired, but the trip into the wilds had invigorated her. "I hope we get to have a class like that again," she proposed hopefully.

Musa sent a weak glare at her friend. "Sorry, girl, not gonna happen."

Tecna pulled off her hat before leaning back on the couch. She was all for learning, but it had been quite the long day.

"Um, shouldn't we be worried about getting the place dirty?" Bloom asked, worried despite her fatigue.

Musa exhaled a deep breath. "Cleaning spell."

Satisfied by that answer, Bloom let herself relax more. "At least we got to see the guys," she proposed. She got a few belated groans of assent at that.

"So our name is "Winx"?" Tecna questioned skeptically.

Bloom smiled widely. "Even better." Making crossing motions with either index finger, "We're the Winx Club!"

"Sounds like fun to me."

Tecna rolled her eyes at his idea of fun. It wasn't too surprising to hear such from him. "Interesting, maybe, but still quite tiresome" she amended into the phone.

"Heheh, there are worse places," he reminded.

"Too true." That was almost always a fact. There was always the chance of something or someone being at a higher end of the extreme. Unexpectedly, she let out a tired yawn.

"Sounds to me like you could use some rest." Even over the phone, she could feel the warmth of his words."Goodnight, Tecna."

"Goodnight, Naruto."

"Sleep well," he added over the line just before the call cut out.

Clad in her pajamas, Tecna walked over and replaced the phone on her dresser before climbing back into bed.

As if to lend further credence to their suspicions, the witches made another attempt before the week was out.

Forging an invitation from Prince Sky, they tricked her into coming to a café thinking it was a date. Taking their chance, Darcy used an illusion to make herself look like the blonde princess and got into Alfea, tearing up their suite looking for Stella's ring.

But thanks to Bloom, and supposedly the Good Judgment spell, they had discovered the trick, and tracked down the witches. But it turned out to be a trap. Stella had entrusted the Ring of Solaria to Bloom, and they were still intent on getting it.

Fortunately, coming together, they'd managed to stop them and rescue back Stella who'd been kidnapped.

But, to save Stella…they had to sacrifice the ring.

The scepter of Solaria was now in the hands of the witches.

Saturday morning:

Checking her appearance in the mirror, making sure nothing was out of place, Tecna eventually stepped back, seeming satisfied that everything was as it should be. Grabbing a few things, she left her room.

Bloom and Flora were both just rising as the technocrat passed through the living room, jacket in arm. "Going somewhere?" Bloom asked, far more tactfully than Stella would.

"Um, out, actually," Tecna answered.

"Naruto?" Flora asked.

Tecna nodded. "We're meeting at the front gate in a few minutes."

As the door closed behind her, Bloom and Flora shared conspiratory glances.

Hiding, the pair of in-training fairies watched their friend as she walked out the gate. Waiting for her…

This was the first time they'd seen him. Tecna had only ever spoken of him.

He was tall, somewhere around six to eight inches taller than their friend. They almost immediately noticed that he had, in their joint opinion, the oddest hair. It was a bright golden blonde, almost luminescent, in what could only be described as long spikes that fell haphazardly. He was lean, but well built, from what they could see across the distance of the courtyard.

Bloom leaned over to Flora. "That's Naruto?"

"It looks that way." Flora smiled. "He's pretty good looking. Stella will be sorry she didn't wake up for this." Bloom giggled lightly in agreement.

"It's really not that far from here," he explained. "Just a few miles. I hope you don't mind the walk."

Tecna shook her head in negation.

He chuckled, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Yeah, but I should probably tell you. I don't have any transportation because I've never really needed it. I didn't think it would com e back to bite me, until right now."

"No, that's alright. Studies show that early morning exercise is best for maintaining proper health."

He hid a smile at her habit of dropping facts. He didn't think it would be the best thing to do, telling her that his normal morning exercise included a thirty plus mile run. And that was on his light mornings. He'd tell her some day. For a while, they idly chatted. With her fairly recent discovery of his subpar technological understanding, she'd taken it upon herself to help him cultivate that knowledge.

It pleased her to see how attentive he was.

Soon enough, right at the 3.6 mile mark, by her mental estimate, they arrived at a dirt road leading into the trees. And soon that too ended, opening onto a large expanse of land. Most of which was covered in crops. She saw rows of vegetable produce, but, also a large section of orchard. Right off the road though was a small house, surrounded by a few trees. The design was odd, indicative by the way the roof curved. Surrounding it was a porch-like walkway. "It's not much, but it's home," he admonished.

She wasn't wholly against living without the aid of technology, only that she didn't understand how some people could so easily choose to live without it. "No, it's nice," she praised. He smiled just a little.

The inside was actually quite different than what she expected. The furniture was tasteful, and, more importantly, quite comfortable. To her approval, everything was immaculate and almost compulsively organized. Everything was almost modern by the realm's standard, but she got the feeling that he still didn't understand some of it.

Not that the house was as simple as he'd put it either.

Several rooms had obviously been given the most attention.

The bathroom was built with stone tile floors and walls. They may not be as clean as brushed steel, but she internally agreed that they looked good. The shower, again, made with tile, was a walk in with a large glass face to keep the steam in.

The living room was centered around a large stone and mortar fireplace. While not as efficient or as clean as a magical, or even electrical, heater, it did have a nice feel to it, like it belonged. And, to her glee, a few of the walls were lined by bookshelves. Again, she may be a technocrat, but she still understood the value of knowledge, regardless of whether it was presented on paper or was digitally rendered.

There was no television, but there was a computer, and, just as he'd explained, it was almost the newest model. "I…still don't know to turn it on," he excused awkwardly, ruffling his hair.

Tecna smiled at his open embarrassment.

"Would you like me to show you?" He grinned sheepishly.

For about an hour or two, she broke down computer operation for him, but soon that wore down and they found themselves sitting on his couch, her eying the various titles stacked on his shelves. As he'd told her, he had indeed done a great deal of study into dimensional apertures. There was some heavy reading there, and at least half of the books covered the vaguer aspects of the subject. Others seemed to involve subjects that interested him. There were a few on the history of the magical realms, most likely from when he first arrived, and a few that made her wonder. Physics? Engineering? And a few others that whet her curiosity.

Thumbing through a few of the heavier titles, she was struck by a question. "You've read all of these?"

"Mhm."

"But you said it yourself, you've only been here two years. There is far too much here to read and understand in such a short amount of time." His smile grew impish. "And now that I think of it," she looked out the window. "How do you manage such a large quantity of vegetation by yourself?"

"I have my methods," he answered back mysteriously, grinning smugly.

She leaned over and poked him in the ribs for that.

"So…not quite what you expected?"

"No." She smiled coyly. "Better." He seemed to find relief in that answer. Hands on her hips, she regarded him. "I may enjoy technology," she began lecturing. "But that's not to say I don't find other things interesting as well." Okay, that was a bit of a leap from her usual philosophy, but she found his company quite enjoyable, and there was just something so…comfortable, about the house, even with its mostly low tech. content. "Besides, it just means I can be the one to teach you the benefits technology has to offer," she finished. He smiled at the drive in her declaration.

"You'll have to be patient…I'm pretty stubborn."

"Old data."

Smirking at the small joke, "Lunch?" he suggested. "I've got all the makings for the veggie or fruit smoothie of your choice."

"Ready to go?" he asked. "Faragonda may like me, but I don't think she'll let you push curfew for my sake." It was with some surprise, afterward, that time had seemed to fly by. A testament to how well things had been going.

Tecna blinked in realization before looking to her watch. Ignoring the side-readouts regarding barometric pressure and her calendar… It was that late? She'd been here all day, and hadn't seemed to notice as the sun came ever closer to the horizon. She made to bolt but was stopped.

Pulling her back gently by the wrist, he smiled down at her worried eyes. "I'm hoping you'll forgive me. I've spent my life hiding…everything…and it's a hard habit to break. But, if you want a better idea of what I'm hiding-" He pulled her against himself and, before she could blush or remind him that she was extremely late, they were surrounded by a blur of scenery. "Then I hope this will be one more thing you know about me," he finished, releasing her.

They were standing in front of the campus.

How?

They had been some odd three miles away.

Confused, dazed as she was, she still managed a hypothesis. "Teleportation?"

He smiled fondly down at her. "It's just one of the things I picked up." Leaning over, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight, Tecna," he murmured before vanishing in a quick blurring motion.

Tecna was more than a little confused as she walked on back to the student dorms.

Information overload.

Okay, so maybe the kiss on the forehead may have had something to do with her disorientation, but a lot of it was simply him. Teleportation, without a spell or portal, was fairly advanced.

And then there were the unanswered questions. Somehow, he seemed to have a way to do a great deal…in a short amount of time, if her guess was right. How very…

Irritating.

Endearing, but irritating.

Lightning crashed down around Cloud Tower, but it was inside that the real conflict was currently occurring.

Sitting in a three-point circle, levitating, the Trix were in the midst of a spell, the ring of Solaria floating in the center. Witchly energy licked off them, combining sequentially before ensconcing the ring. They shook at the power draw, but held firm. Not that they had long to wait. After only a moment, the energy gathering around the ring exploded in a bright flash, knocking them out of the air and on their butts.

The ring bounced on the floor.

Darcy sat up, blinking away stars. "That was pathetic."

"Yeah, that was the fourteenth power spell we've tried," Stormy griped.

"I'm wiped."

The near cupboard opened as a groggy Knut stepped into the room, woken from his sleep by the sudden upheaval and explosion of magical power. "What's goin' on?" Far too tired to deal with him, Stormy held out her right hand, thumb, index, and pinky fingers extended.

"Turn right around, and go right back to sleep. Close your eyes and pretend you're devouring a herd of sheep," she intoned, unleashing the minor spell, head dropping tiredly to her chest. Blinking away the residual magic, the ogre could feel himself suddenly overcome by an intense fatigue. Grubby hand going up to his face, he covered a yawn.

"Yaaaaaaghh. Goodnight. I'm goin' to bed," turning on the spot and stepping back into the cupboard, doors closing behind him.

Hardly had the doors closed when Icy's rage reared its ugly head. Small fists beating into the floor, she roared out indignantly at this, their latest failure. "What are we missing?" she snapped. "Why can't we use the ring's full powers? Darcy, did you do a realm-wide search for all the jewelry spells that exist?"

The highlighted brunette rubbed her nose in indifference. "Yes," she groaned back. "I got everything that was listed on the Witch-Wide-Web."

Breaking into the argument, "Unlocking the power of the Great Dragon is gonna take more than a spell or an incantation," Stormy huffed. Hands waving daintily, her tone turned momentarily trite. "It's gonna take something inspired." Wise words or not, the timing was horrible on her part.

"LIKE WHAT!" Stormy flinched bodily at the infuriated demand. "Why don't you make yourself useful for once and figure it out before I turn you into a puppy," she threatened, her raised fist glowing momentarily with power drawn out by her fury. Her typical cold glare was sub-arctic as she focused her attention on the inanimate object that dared mess with her so. "And you… I dare you to keep defying me you second-rate ring," she spat scathingly and hurled the mystical circlet against the near wall where it fell to rest with a small clatter on the floor. She'd get the damn thing to work, no matter what it took!

Research.

It was honestly what she was best at.

For the better part of the day, their group had holed up in the school library, pouring over book after book before said tome was strewn to the side in favor of a new one.

Despite being the focus of the flurried searching of books, Stella proved the least interested in page turning. Not that she herself was doing such. Relying on her specialty, the technocrat was running multiple searches on the magical web, relying on every credible search engine she knew of. The history of Solaria, the ring of Solaria, any myths regarding either, any potential link between Solaria and witches, and so on.

Blinking tiredly, they were all overdue for some sleep, she rubbed the bleariness from her eyes. So long looking at the screen, even she felt the effects.

"Here it is again," Bloom announced to the group. At any and every mentioning, they would read out their findings, even if there was only a slight difference to what they had already read.

Grateful for a brief respite from gluing her eyes to the pages, Musa looked over to the group's redheaded member. "Well? Share the four-one-one, girl."

"Okay. We already know that the ring is so powerful because it was made directly from starlight. The most pure source of magic in the universe." Reiteration. Such had been found out over and over. "But what's really interesting is that, according to this, some say that the ring is extra special because it's made of the same light that created this legendary creature called the Great Dragon." Aching neck lifting her head up from the book, she, and the rest of them, turned to the Solarian princess. "Do you know anything about this, Stella?"

Grinning cockily at being in the know, "Well, yeah. I know all about the starlight stuff…" It wasn't very often she was turned to as the source of answers, outside of fashion that is. "But the other stuff makes me think that I should have it reappraised!"

"Think!" Bloom insisted, exasperation growing. "This could be why the witches wanted your ring. It may have hidden power," she proposed to them all. A good theory, especially when considering that it was the only one they had.

"Yeah," Stella agreed weakly. If that was true, then how come she didn't know about it?

"In that case, we better go get it back," Flora suggested softly.

But Stella was nowhere near as even tempered as her friend. Righteous indignation flaring, "We have to get it back anyway. I'm, like, so useless without it." Musa laughed heartily.

"True dat! In magical defense class, she got beat by a keek bug!" finding no end to the hilarity of it all.

At the end of the school day, Stella was beginning to go through one of her habitual, as of late, meltdowns. Today's classes had not gone in her favor. Though, to be fair, it wasn't like she'd studied very hard…for any of them. "How are we going to get my ring back?" she ranted. "I can't do anything without it."

Tecna frowned. "We have that major quiz in Spells tomorrow," she reminded. As she was, the blonde would need the magical ring in order to even think of passing it.

"That quiz counts for, like, half our grade," Flora murmured, worried. "We have to get your ring back, or you'll never pass, Stella." Not lack of faith, simple truth.

"I GOT IT!" Kiko the bunny had been asleep on Bloom's pillow, but the fairy's emphatic cry had jolted the poor creature back into the land of wakefulness where he glared sourly. "We can cast a hypnosis spell on the witches while they're sleeping!" she plotted. "And then we can make them give us the ring!"

"Kyeah! Classic payback!" Stella cheered, throwing her arms up, before the gravity of the plan hit her. Even she could see the flaw. "But, wait a sec. Detail. How are we even going to get in to Cloud Tower?" From Flora's side of the room, Tecna smiled confidently.

"I know where to download a map of the interschool tunnel," fists up in personal triumph.

"Sweet!" Bloom agreed, taking the plan from there. "We'll go right after lights out and be back while everyone is still asleep! So no one will know we left!" Face crinkling into a cute attempt at a surly frown, hands dangling beside either cheek, "Hey! You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us! That's the power of the Winx Club!" her frown dissolving into a triumphant grin at the end.

What soon followed was not how they had planned things out. Did they make it into Cloud Tower? Yes. Did they get into the witches' room? Yes, again. Did they find the ring? Yes. Quite easily in point of fact.

Did anything go right from that point on? Nope.

Carnivorous insects as large as the average mammalian housepet. Slime. And fire, mostly due to Stella's tendency towards pyromania. And all under the constant worry of getting caught in a place where they weren't supposed to be.

What Bloom had said after, on their trek back, despite their internal gratitude that everything was over, was still unnerving. A voice that only she could hear…that had, in an unknown environment, led them to an escape from the inferno. Spooky. When it was all added up, there was something far beyond coincidence about what she told them.

They were dead on their feet by the time they made it back to Alfea. Of all of them, Musa was hunched over as she trudged on. "I wish we could use magic and fly to bed," Flora murmured tiredly.

Bloom had an even better idea. "I'm so tired that if we could use magic in here, I'd make the bed fly to me and tuck me in," one-upping her.

Feeling the energy from the casual competition, Musa straightened back up to deliver an addition of her own. "I'm so tired I would just crash right here," thumbing at the scalloped wall of the hallway, and getting some light laughter from the others. Until a clearing throat froze them all in their footsteps, before they even noticed Griselda standing in their path. Her usual frown…was gone, replaced by an even darker one.

"You're not as tired as you're going to be tomorrow," she chastised, her voice crisp and stern. "I'll see you all in Mrs. Faragonda's office. Now."

The usually placid headmistress unnerved them all with the power of her disapproving glare. "We warned you. Cloud Tower is off limits!" she berated. "Yet you ignored us and went there in the middle of the night!" For once, Griselda was holding her tongue, preferring to silently observe as the headmistress gave the quintet a verbal lashing. "And you broke in! Unbelievable!" The good feelings towards what they'd considered a productive night had all but left them, leaving the fledgling fairy's feeling downtrodden at Faragonda's disappointment in them, and mirroring as much on the outside, barely able to make eye contact with her.

"Unthinkable," Griselda chimed in.

"Unacceptable."

"You must be punished," she finished for the headmistress, having already known that this was where it would lead.

Almost as one, they let out weak whining groans. Punishment was to be expected, but by no means did they like it, or have to for that matter.

"We cannot tolerate this kind of behavior at Alfea!" Headmistress Faragonda proclaimed anew. "But I hope you at least have a reasonable explanation." Thus proving that she was not completely against them in this matter. Disapproving of their actions she may be, but she was at least compassionate enough to hear them out.

"The witches stole-" but Bloom's words never had a chance.

"If I may," Griselda interrupted, stepping to the headmistress' side to further capture her attention. "I believe that in such an extreme violation, any reason they could give us would be completely irrelevant."

"I agree," nodding in assent. Though harsh in judgment, sometimes it was needed in order to sell the lesson.

"In fact, I'd recommend punishment 4D." Faragonda's eyelids rose a fraction, but it was too small an amount to be noticed. "I know we've only used it once before, but we need to set an example for our other students, whatever the consequences may be." By this point though, Stella could contain herself no longer.

"But the witches were the ones that started it!" she exclaimed, missing out entirely on just how childish her words seemed.

"That's enough," Faragonda declared, leaning forward, hands fingers steepled before her mouth, she decided. "Punishment 4D will do!" And, raising her arms, swirling yellow energy coalesced before she threw her arms outward at them. The swirling ball left her, becoming a swirling vortex around the young fairies. "Poweris revokeris…Magicus suspendus"

Simultaneously, each of the girls was lifted into the air where the yellowish energy seemed to literally leech the magic out of them.

Powers drained, and sent to their rooms, they all just loitered around their joined rooms, dejectedly accepting their situation. Most of them anyway. "Well, at least we don't have to go to class for a whole week." That was Stella, always looking on the bright side, when it suited her, and when the bright side was by her own rather narrow perspective.

"We can't do any homework without our powers," Flora elucidated in lament. "We'll be so behind." In Alfea, there was very little that a magic-less student could do. Bloom's first few days being the prime example.

"And what about our network privileges? What am I supposed to do without the Realmwide Web?" asked Tecna sorrowfully. Magic was just one of the things taken from them in this "grounding." They couldn't leave campus. They couldn't really do anything remotely interesting or fun. So much for planning a café day with Naruto. And she'd long ago started assembling a list, too. Knowing now just how limited his grasp of technology was, it was her mission to…educate him.

Taking the cue from her friends and roommates, Musa couldn't help but add her own personal pain to the pile. "I was almost finished with this awesome spell to hit the perfect high note, which was gonna be so rad for my new demo."

Away from the group though, Bloom stared out the window over the campus, and the forest beyond. "You guys, this is bigger than any of that stuff. When the witches realize we took the ring, they'll come here to get us." Silence and grave understanding followed her grim prophecy. "And we won't have our powers."

AN/ Next time: The heroes who wield mops. (Snickering)