Days passed yet again, and the news about the conflict on Zela slowly died down, being replaced by celebrities, the weather of tomorrow or even strange things like the desertion of a well-known general.
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Me?
Well, I tried to follow the words that Misha said to me, and to tell you the truth…
It's a bit hard.
The problem is that I don't have much things to have fun per se.
I can be with Misha and Alex, help in home and… Nothing more.
Other kids would normally play all day, however that works for them because they are still children.
I am a grown man in the body of a child, so I don't see playing with toys as amusing. The training with Yith isn't fun, it can be entertaining yes, but as the majority of the time I only get beaten up, the fun factor disappears rapidly. Studying is boring, unless it is a subject that takes my attention, like trigonometry…
Ah right, I forgot to mention. I am almost at the level of a high schooler in terms of knowing subjects.
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I shouldn't get off topic so much, I know, but I don't do it on purpose, believe me.
Anyways, to sum up, my daily life didn't change too much. I am a bit more with Alex and Misha than before, but only that.
Changing the topic, although I said that I shouldn't, I am right now training with Yith, however I am not doing physical training this time!
Instead I am using arts!
"Temporal Illusion: Acceleration!" I shout while throwing a rock to Yith.
The moment that said rock left my hand, it speeded up with a momentum behind it that it would be impossible for a seven years old to do…
For a normal seven years old that is.
"Nice throw." He says while effortlessly catching it. "However, don't shout the chant. Make it almost silent, especially if yours has different types as it tells the opponent what you are going to do next."
With a small nod on my part, Yith flings the rock back to me.
And I stand there looking at it.
Now you must be thinking. Why am I not moving even if it's coming straight for my face?
That's because…
"Temporal Illusion: Slow."
After said chant, the rock slows his movement a bit, and becomes easily seen by my eyes, allowing me to evade it with more ease than earlier. After doing that, it regains its original speed.
"…Good. You are becoming better with your arts." Yith praises me.
However I couldn't bask in such praise as I was trying to get my breath together.
"…It looks like using slow it's too much for you now. Stick with acceleration for now." He says while I try not to fall on the snow head first.
I nod weakly.
It wasn't a joke when he said that the White Hand excels in acceleration, but not at all on slowing.
Ah shit.
I feel a bit lightheaded with a mix of nausea. Plus, I feel so hot right now that I am pretty sure I could be naked right here and be alright with the freezing temperatures.
All of this only to slow a fucking rock. I am suffering something akin to a cold because a rock.
I hate it.
I really do.
However I need to get used to it, as I don't know when I'll get the Glass Hand.
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I just hope that I get it fast.
"Your use of acceleration is a lot better than the first time we practiced… Were you practicing by yourself?" Yith says while handing me a bottle full of water.
I take it and drink a quarter of it without stopping. After that I respond him still panting.
"Haa… Yes… Haa…"
I practised, however only acceleration, as I was scared of using slow without supervision.
The nausea passed a bit, although I want to lie down and puke.
"…Let's rest a bit, we can continue later." Yith says after seeing me for some seconds how I am struggling to breathe.
With those words I slowly get to the closest tree, put my back against it, and sit down with the might of a god behind me.
'God, help me' I think while looking at the sky.
After some seconds I can feel something heavy appear on my lap. Instinctively I look at it, and I see my tail with all of its strength gone.
'You had it hard didn't you?'
While I caress my tail with one hand and I hold onto the White Hand with the other, let me explain to you why I am using a chant, and what it means.
The chant, explained simply, is a form to facilitate the invocation of arts when you are starting to learn them. Think of it as a pair of training wheels on a bicycle. If I use it, the power and manipulation is easier to control, that is how I could easily use acceleration just now.
If I don't use the chant, the contrary happens, which means that it becomes worse overall. That is the reason why it was so hard the first time, because I didn't use a chant.
Now you must be thinking why I didn't use one that time.
There is a reason.
And it's that the chant needs to mean something. You can't just yell anything and it will happen. Doing the wrong chant can end in pain.
Lots of it.
I tell you from experience.
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Coming back to the chant, what does it mean?
I'll explain it fast and easy for you:
The temporal part is related to time, that is easy to explain. However there is a word play here. Temporal not only refers to time itself but the duration of the arts. It need to be short and easy.
Then what about the illusion part? This doesn't refer to it being false, but instead that it's a distortion.
Combining those words together and you have Temporal Illusion which refers to a distortion on the time itself. Lastly I specify which type of arts I want to use, being acceleration or slow.
All of this to make a distortion on time for a short period.
I explained that easily, however to understand it and get the words right I had to go through some trouble.
First I thought of using Time Dilation instead of Temporal Illusion as a chant, thanks to Mostima, however Yith went against that idea because that refers to a more advanced type of time arts, with its objective being a longer and bigger change on time itself. An example of that is the time barrier that Yith puts when training.
Then I thought something simpler like Time Manipulation.
It was shot down, again.
The reason?
Let me repeat what he said.
'Time Manipulation is something that is outside of our realm. Only one person can do it, and you know well enough who it is. Hint, it isn't Mostima.'
Yep.
To sum up what he means, nobody can manipulate time, but they can alter it.
Let's see…
For example you can change the temperature of the water, however you can't do water bending with it.
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I forgot that water arts were a thing.
After some time I started to feel a bit better. Perhaps because I started to think of other things, like the conflict on Zela.
That's when I remembered something I wanted to ask Yith.
"…Yith do you know what is happening with Lungmen?" I ask him while drinking a bit more of water.
It's freezing cold, but I don't care at all. I need sustenance.
"…That's a strange and sudden question to make." He says surprised. "Can I know the reason?"
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.
I am tired of having to do excuses all the time.
"…I am just preoccupied to tell you the truth. Somebody mentioned that Ursus and Lungmen will go to war soon, and I want to know."
Well this time it wasn't an excuse per se, however my point still stands.
I really am preoccupied of the conflict between the two countries, and how it will affect me and the ones around me.
"Lungmen… Well, lately the news didn't say anything about a war."
That I know, but maybe you know something more-
"However..." He says interrupting my internal monologue.
I knew it.
"…a conflict started between Ursus and Yan recently. And it happened pretty close to the mobile city Lungmen as you said." He says intrigued with what I said.
I am past the point of having to throw the curve ball, so I don't care what he thinks about my knowledge. I had to put up with this for almost three years, and my patience is running down.
With a sigh on my part, I think I can confirm my suspicions. But I can't do anything with the information. I remember that at the end of the conflict Talulah got separated from Ch'en and went with an Ursus duke, however I don't remember his name.
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And even with that, what the hell I can do?
I sigh yet again.
Is this a blessing or a curse?
Knowing the future but not having any possibility of changing it.
I know that right now I am physically a seven years old and I can't do anything, however that doesn't change the matter at hand.
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Forget it.
Forget about Talulah, Ch'en and even Ursus.
My objective is the cure of oripathy. I mustn't be side-tracked with other things.
For that to come to fruition I need to do the following:
First, go to the Victoria Royal Guard School. There I can graduate with a major on Originium Research and continue my training in arts all at the same time.
Why I still choose that school and not the Ursus National University or others? Because I heard that being in said major contracting oripathy happens frequently if you don't take precautions, so I don't want to be in the middle of Ursus as an infected. Plus, the other high grade Universities with said major, cost a gigantic amount of money and you need to have a high status.
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I am envying Ceylon right now.
And I mean that.
Secondly, join Rhine lab. Rhodes Island doesn't exist until around 1093, and I won't wait all those years without doing any research. The second best research lab about Originium is Rhine lab if my memory isn't wrong, however his headquarters are in Columbia, so I will have a bit of trouble.
Third, complete the Clockwork Staff. Yith told me that it will be essential for my objective, however I don't know how. Still, I will trust him in this one.
And finally fourth, join Rhodes Island. In the lore of the game, R.I. was the greatest on Originium Research, so of course I will need to join it. I would like to not be in the front lines, however I don't know what will happen down the line.
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.
Especially with Misha and Alex.
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In the end I will be still involved with Talulah, Ch'en, Ursus and Reunion!
Just as I was about to sigh again, Yith talks to me.
"Are you ready to continue?"
I look at him for a moment before nodding.
"What are the results?" A soft melodious voice says, resonating all through the office.
"Right now, Lungmen has been able to hold for a week, although if this continues, even without the support from the empire, Koshchei's invasion will only end with success-"
"…I wasn't referring to that."
Just a bit of anger behind the voice is enough to make the green haired man taken aback for a moment, however he regains his calm rapidly.
"Then it's about the Gu?" He says rectifying his previous statement.
"Of course." She says a bit disappointed. "Although I care about my allies, I want to know more about the next test subjects. They have more priority."
He stands there for a moment thinking, before continuing.
"132 were culled and only 5 passed the tests."
"Oh… That's a great number! Usually it would be one or two seeds… That is really great news!" She says while getting up hastily from her chair, almost knocking it down.
Her exhilarating voice plus the gigantic smile that adorns her whole face, makes him feel chills all over his body…
"I know mistress, but as you said they are still seeds, they still need to pass the next phase."
However, he is accustomed to these actions, so he ignores it completely.
Her face slowly loses the previous light that it had before.
"…You are right. I got a bit excited just now." She says while slowly adjusting herself. "But still, they are great news… Maybe if at least three survive we could advance some of our projects by one to three years."
While she was thinking that, he talks, interrupting her thought process.
"If you permit me, I would like to continue talking about Wei's situation, as I think it's something of utmost importance."
She looks at him to the eyes for a moment, making the man flinch, however she only sighs and nods with a bored face.
Like that he retells the conflict that happened days ago.
"Just moments before our people arrived to the city of Lungmen, they were intercepted by three of the reconnaissance teams leaded by a close follower of Koshchei-"
"Let me think. None was wounded right?" She says interrupting the man while talking like she knew the situation beforehand.
Slowly she gets up and starts walking to one of the numerous bookcases found on the room, prompting a troubled look by the man. While following her with his gaze he continues.
"…Yes. They easily dispatched the three teams without trouble and reached the L.G.D., where they made contact with Wei Yenwu and the other representatives."
"As I expected."
In front of said bookcase, she takes a heavy looking book which rested in there for god knows how long and starts reading it, ignoring the amount of dust it has.
"Later that day, the Ursus forces made a surprise attack, however the causalities were low on our side as the ones leading the defence and counter attack were primarily composed of-"
*Thuck*
The sound of a book closing interrupts him, and a silence is generated between the two.
After some seconds, a sigh breaks said silence.
"I want you to understand, that I already know what happened. I think it should have been obvious by the way I acted." She says harshly, without sparing a glance at the shuddering man.
"I-I am sorry m-mistress, I was wronged and didn't know that-"
The panic and dread in his voice is apparent, being visible through his stammering, and seeing that, he tries to recompose himself.
However…
"Don't worry."
An emotionless whisper is heard right next to his ear, making it so his entire body is covered in cold sweat.
Only one thought invades mind.
And that is to escape and run as fastest as he can from this place.
Slowly he turns around, and to his shock he sees that she is already on her chair, with the same book on hand, reading like nothing happened before.
He stays there feeling like his heart is on his throat, and before he could utter any words to salvage this situation...
"We are going to lower the support we are going to give to Lungmen on the following weeks. I want you to make this reach Wei's hands." She says while taking a folder from underneath her desk. "With that said, you are dismissed."
He stays there incredulous, shocked and terrified all at the same time, but after some seconds he slowly nods, takes the folder, and gets out of the office to complete his order.
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After some time passed, she looks at the door for some seconds, before closing the book on her hands.
A sigh resounds on the room again.
"Even though he helped me so much, I can't reciprocate that favour as much as I would like to." While saying that, she takes from underneath her desk a little black box, and when opened a black object covered in a pristine white silk is found there.
"I just hope that he arrives soon." She says while looking at said object, however this time not as a crazed as before.
"What?! Why did they refused to help?!" A Lung screams out in anger while hitting the table in the middle of the room.
"We should have expected this mister Wao." Wei Yenwu says calmly, although a bit troubled by how his expression looks.
At night, a discussion of the recent events that elapsed is being held on Lungmen. The room is the same one used before.
With a sigh he continues.
"Mister Wao, the use of the team borrowed by the Mistress is something that we wanted to hide for the moment, first to not give away who our allies are and second to have a trump card in case something goes awfully wrong." Wei says, making the rest of the people on the room nod at his words.
"…I know… I know pretty damn well, but what do you expect me to do?! If I sent the ones below me, their death was going to be assured! I would have easily lost a quarter of my remaining people if I didn't take that choice!" The Lung now known as Wao shouts.
"I know mister Wao, however right now we showed to Koshchei one of our allies. We need to have more caution on the future, as we right now complicated her relationship with the empire one way or another."
He knows that because she was an ally of Koshchei before the start of all of this.
"I-I…"
Wao stutters, trying to come up with a response, however seeing the consequences of his rash judgement, it makes him realize how much he troubled everyone.
So his response is...
"I… need to take a breather." He says, getting up and walking to the exit door with his head low.
An escape.
"Go-" Wei responds but the door is already closed before he can finish.
He sits back down, feeling heavy.
With that, a collective sigh comes out of everybody meanwhile murmurs spreads through the room.
"Poor Wao, he was the one most affected by this." A feline representative says concerned.
"Unfortunately." A vouivre responds "Although it was a poor move on his part, who can blame him."
Everybody in the room just nod to those words.
Seeing that everyone is thinking about Wao like that, Wei puts his own grain of sand on the conversation.
"The representative Wao, was the one who suffered the most that is easily seen as his own section suffered the most on one of the recent attacks, almost to the point of crippling it. If it wasn't for the backing provided by the mistress's team, then surely he would have lost the little support he had left on the counterattack." Wei heavily narrates with any hint of emotion.
That statement is enough to make the rest of the representatives gasp.
What Wei means by 'losing the support' is that his section would have been impossible to repair, as the amount of wealth that would be lost will only end with it being counterproductive.
A complete section would be discarded.
'Thanks to god that it didn't end in that…'
A sigh comes from Wei's mouth.
'However we lost so much in such little time… We still have some tricks on our hands, but this is literally an uphill battle even if all the empire isn't in play.'
"Although I feel empathy for sir Wao, we need to think that it was a poor decision, one that will need to be judged at the end of the war."
Everyone nods to that.
'…I can feel a headache incoming…'
This Lungmen isn't the same one that could easily use part of its territory to Reunion for a trap. It still is dependent of Yan, his military force isn't the greatest, and its economic prowess is just above average. Not to mention it only has 21 sections at this time.
Their manpower is low, the almost loss of a section will make the economic part of the city plummet for the time being, and although he didn't say it, a spy is pretty much probable to be in their ranks.
'No, it's guaranteed.'
Just the more Wei thinks about it, the more his brows become furrowed.
'Our plans weren't exposed per se, but the recent battles showed that we were in an equilibrium with Koshchei's fighting forces. Which is… strange and alarming at the same time.'
He looks up at the other representatives who changed the subject of conversation to a way to stop effectively the advance of Koshchei's forces.
'I need to remember Koshchei is more cunning than a fox. His nickname as Black Snake is one with a good reason. He attacked for more than 30 years, and sometimes he had enough power to thwart Lungmen as a whole… But he didn't… He is searching something more, but what?'
Meanwhile he was thinking about the plans of Koshchei, the door suddenly opens, and from it two persons appear. One is the previous representative, Mister Wao, and the other an unknown green haired man with a folder in hand.
Seeing the green haired man everybody started to sweat except Wei.
'Who is he?! And why is he here?!'
Is what everyone thought while seeing him, and with a good reason.
This is one of the most secure locations of all Lungmen, and not only that, but all of the leaders of said city are currently in here.
If something happened… Then Lungmen will easily fall in hands of Koshchei.
Before anyone could speak up about this situation, he spoke.
"This is a message from the Mistress for Wei Yenwu."
Those words were enough to make a bomb go off on the minds of the other representatives. Not only it confirmed who he was, but why he is here.
Seeing that statement, everybody looks at Wei for a moment, for confirmation.
When seeing he responds to the glares with a nod, the tense atmosphere calms down.
With everybody sighing of relief, and mister Wao nearing his seat, the green haired man approached Wei with a folder in hand-
However he stops for a moment to look at one of the corners and smile just for some seconds before continuing like nothing ever happened.
This didn't went unnoticed by Wei himself.
'…I am now 100% that a headache is incoming.' He laments while receiving the folder.
Like that the man bows and exits the room as easily as he entered.
'…What is it now.' Wei thinks while opening the folder.
The moment he does he is greeted by a page with only two words and a couple of reports about different persons in them.
The two words only say:
Choose three.
A defeated sigh comes from him, making everyone sweat about the content of said folder.
'…I... Shit.'
Without thinking his hand caresses his face, feeling the headache now.
What she says is clear.
Choose three people of the original thirty here to help you.
'We lost so much support thanks to Wao's actions.' He thinks while passing a glance at the lung who is already sat with this head low.
With another sigh and a beaten smile he silently watches each and every report, making sure that not a single one is left unread.
For what seemed like hours and a lot of ups and downs on his face he puts down the folder and makes a hardened expression.
Seeing that, the other representatives start becoming nervous while waiting for his next words.
"This meeting…"
When they heard those hopeless words, all the representatives feared for the worst.
"Is being dismissed. We will continue another day."
However the moment they heard the end of the sentence, they almost spat out blood.
'We were all of this time waiting for those words?!' Is what the majority thinks. 'Plus, we are right now on an incredible hard position, and you want to postpone the meeting?!'
Although there is the minority who know the reason behind the reason he acts like that. They are the ones who know the most about Wei and only nod to his words while slowly getting up.
'He can't say what's in that, so there is only one reason.' They thought. 'There is a spy among us.'
While some retreat silently making their own speculations, others go out a bit heated up from the discussion.
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After everybody left, the only one left remaining is Wei, however the hardened expression rapidly transforms to a smile. He reaches out for the smoking pipe located right next to the folder and ignites it.
Next he takes a mouthful of smoke and says to the solitary room:
"Lin, come out for a moment."
Suddenly a black lump of sand that wasn't before on the corner of the room disappears, and a presence appears from it. Wei's friend and leader of the Shadows of Yen appears and sits right next to him.
"…That green man is pretty dangerous." He says with a laugh. "His footsteps didn't make a noise, and he was able to find me with only his instincts. If he continues working for her he will become someone of great renown."
"You are able to beat him right?" Wei says to Lin, continuing the conversation.
"Of course. If it's about assassination, there is nobody better than me except that black Manticore under that ally of yours. He just noticed my presence when he neared me, and he was already on the range of my arts, so it would have ended in my win." He says with a smile, however it's rapidly transformed in one full of curiosity. "Now that I think about it, how did you meet her? If I am not wrong she is almost unreachable under normal circumstances, especially with that strange ship of hers."
Seeing that the conversation changes to her, Wei puts a weird face.
"…Let's just say that I had a bit of luck."
Hearing that answer Lei makes an astonished face.
"I thought that you didn't believe in luck."
"Well, sometimes you can make exceptions" He says with a smile while taking another mouthful of smoke.
"Mhm. Now, what's the reason you called me? For being in such a hard time, that smile in your face brings me a bit of hope you know?" He says jokingly as always, while taking one of the untouched glasses of water located on the gigantic table.
While he was drinking it, Wei puts down the pipe and says seriously:
"I think I found a way to stop this war."
Which only prompts Lin to look at him in surprise, but he calms fast.
After finishing the glass of water in one go he responds.
"Alright. What do you need me to do?"
"…For now I need you to relay this folder to the Mistress's team as fast as possible." He says while reaching him the same folder that the man passed to him. "Tell them that the first three are my selection."
He nods, but before he takes the folder he asks him.
"Then what about the supposed spy?"
"Ah, that? I already know what to do."
With that said he takes a last puff of smoke and says:
"Even if we don't know who it is, we'll use him."
When I opened my eyes I saw him again.
I tried talking to him, however it ended the same.
I tried retaliating, but it ended the same.
Finally I begged.
.
.
.
It ended the same way every time I tried.
Then, tired of repeating this I just muttered his name.
The moment I said it, he stopped momentarily and only looked straight at me. But at the end, he still threw the spear.
While I saw how it entered my body and all of the clothes I had on myself turned red, I closed my eyes for a final time.
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However, this time I didn't wake on my bedroom as always.
I could only see darkness, reminiscent of Yith's illusion.
But it wasn't the same, as I could faintly hear a voice.
A harsh and rough voice, one which only hearing it made you tremble because of the power behind it.
But at the same time it was a sad and small one.
It felt… heart breaking.
Such a grandiose voice reduced to that.
Just a whisper.
"…her."
I tried to hear what it tried to say, but it was so weak.
"Please… she…"
Unfortunately, before I could hear his last words my eyes opened again, and I saw the ceiling of my bedroom once again.
"…What the hell?" I mutter while seeing that it's still totally dark outside.
End of Chapter 7: Between Sighs and Whispers.
Author's note: On!
Hey!
Happy Christma-
What?
It already passed?
Then, Happy New Year-!
What?
It already happened too?
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.
Shit.
Anyways, some time passed since the last update, that I know.
And I am pretty sure someone thought I was dead.
Don't lie. I know it, and I don't blame you.
I blame myself too.
But look at the good side!
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I am not dead!
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For now.
On less grim notes, I started another fanfiction called NeverEnding, and it's based on the game Lobotomy Corporation (And if I continue maybe Library of Ruina too (Which even though it will take almost five years with this upload schedule, I already have some plans for it)).
And not only that, but I made a wordpress where you can see the fanfics too!
The reason for that, is because I am thinking of making some fanarts for certain key chapters, to spice up a bit the story more.
However that will take more time, as we aren't in some great chapters for now.
Now only that, but maybe I will use said page to upload finished fanarts that I make and maybe, just maybe, original stories totally unrelated to fanfics.
Just put on the search bar
hiogenworks dot wordpress dot com
And you should be able to enter!
Right now I am close to finishing some fanarts, so if you want to see them, pay attention to my reddit account (u/Hiogen).
Now let's talk about this chapter. If you ask why there is less Micha than in other chapters, the reason should be obvious right? Although the story it's about him, the most important event of the arc is happening pretty far away from him, and it doesn't affect him directly.
But indirectly...
Hue hue hue.
Anyways, let's see the reviews!
Overtale: Alright, if you see any other problem, please don't hesitate to say it.
Zet4: And thanks to you for reading!
: I am happy that you find it more interesting.
PervyPanda: It's great that we reached an understanding, and I have a lot of plans to the story, so I hope that at least one of the many arcs that I planned is your cup of tea.
Notice me sempai.2nd (I think that the other two reviews are the same person):
First review - Micha is still in need of a lot of development, so even though I want to say how this will go, I will refrain myself because I don't want to make any spoilers.
Second review - I don't understand a bit what you are saying, so i am sorry if i lost a joke there.
Third review - I will respond this review with a meme.
Ahem.
I lived bitch.
RoachVit: Micha is a name I chose for a future reason, however as mentioned before... spoiler territory. And about the game and event lore, to tell you the truth.
It's a bit hard to digest all.
In the game, I stopped just before the fight against FrostNova, because I want to read all the dialogues, unfortunately I don't have much time.
If it's about the lore I hardened myself and spoiled the entire of chapter 8 to see more of it and to try to make the fanfic as lore friendly as I can (However it being a game that is being updated, the lore changes all the time, so... it's a bit hard).
Anyways, it's getting late. I hope everyone has a great day and...
Author's note: Off!