Betrayal
Sorry for the chapter being a day late! Real life issues got in the way yesterday! It's a long one this time, so hopefully it's worth the wait!
...
They stopped at the shop of a cat Darkner named Seam, where the three pooled their money and purchased Darkburgers and Dark Candy, some to eat now and some for healing items. Once finished, Ralsei wandered off for a bit, talking to a monster he saw.
"Took you long enough in there." Susie groaned as she took her Darkburger from Frisk and tore into it hungrily. Frisk privately wondered if chalk had been the only thing Susie had had to eat that day before entering the Dark World. "What were you doing talking so long with that weird guy anyway? Asking him for his life story or something?" She rolled her eyes.
Frisk just grinned. "Actually, I was just getting some information I think you might like to know."
Susie sighed, but still looked intrigued. "All right, nerd. Spill. What is it?"
"Well, historically, this land was apparently run by four kings from this place called Card Castle to the east." Frisk explained. "But recently some strange knight appeared and locked three of the kings away. The remaining king put him and his strange son into power. Apparently caused more chaos than they had seen since some other event he refused to tell me about. The king's pretty pissed at Lightners though from what he told me. He said Darkners and Lightners once lived in harmony. Heck, the Darkners considered the Lightners their gods. Said that we were their protectors and their creators and gave them purpose. But then one day, they were all locked away here, and the Lightners who did it never returned. The king's bitter now and took up arms and aims to take revenge on the Lightners that left them behind."
"You see, Frisk?! This is what I was telling you! This is why we need to fight! They want to kill us, and they will if we don't strike first!" Susie yelled.
"Susie, that's not true." Ralsei pleaded, having finished his conversation and come over, most likely having heard Susie's shouting. "A lot of us still like you guys and missed having Lightners here. Just because the king's mean doesn't mean everyone is. A lot of them don't even want to fight! If we're kind, we can show everyone including the king how great you guys are! But if we fight, people will just think we're bad!"
"Look, fighting when someone's trying to hurt you isn't bad, it's smart!" Susie retorted.
"Guys!" Frisk called out and both of them looked to her. "Susie, you're right, we need to be really careful, but Ralsei's right too. If we just fight everybody, people will think we're bad and the king will probably use it as ammo to prove his narrative, and then will probably send a bunch more people after us." She looked down. "Sometimes fighting... people don't care who's the one who starts it. They'll just hate the one who finishes it." She clenched her fists, remembering all the times she had tried to fight back when bullies had cornered her, and how the teachers that came to respond to the fight would see her punch the person cornering her in the face or kick them in an effort to get away and assume she started it, and she was the one who got in trouble, since it was her word against theirs. She couldn't see it being any different here.
And she didn't want Susie and gentle Ralsei to get in trouble too.
Looking down at the ground as she was, she didn't see Ralsei look worried, or Susie's gaze briefly soften.
The dragon monster sighed. "You don't get it, Frisk. That's EXACTLY why we've got to prove we're stronger than them. They already want us dead or hurt or whatever. We need to show them that we're too tough to mess with. Send them cowering under their beds! We act all nice, they're just going to think we're weak."
"No, they won't! Kindness is a strength, Susie! If we show kindness in the face of adversity, they'll see how brave we really are, and they'll see us as heroes rather than just big mean guys." Ralsei protested.
Susie laughed, and Frisk could hear the sadness in it. "Cut that kind of wimpy thinking. It only works in fairy tales. Now let's just finish eating and just get the fuck out of here, okay?"
Frisk nodded and dug into her own burger. She was only able to finish a little over half of it though as it was heavy and greasy, and wrapped the rest up.
"Are you all right, Frisk?" Ralsei asked in concern.
"I'm fine. Just not very hungry." she told him.
Ralsei's eyes glowed slightly, then he looked even more concerned. "Frisk, can you try to eat a little more?" Now Susie was looking at her too and Frisk wanted to sink into the ground.
"Ralsei, I said I'm fine." Frisk said firmly.
"But your SOUL check says you're malnourished. Just a few more bites." Ralsei pleaded.
Now Frisk was even more embarrassed and now annoyed. Ralsei not only invaded her personal space to find out something she'd rather keep private, but just had to blurt it out to the world at large, and this made her defensive. "First of all, please don't run SOUL checks on me unless I'm really hurt or I say it's okay. It's invasive as hell. And I literally can't eat any more or I'll get sick, and if you try to make me, I'm going to make sure it's you I puke on!" Ralsei's eyes went wide and Frisk immediately felt horrible for not only snapping at him when all he was trying to do was help her, but also threatening him with something so disgusting. She looked down at the ground, tears filling her eyes. She was so awful...
"Yeah, Ralsei, stop being so damn pushy all the time!" Susie suddenly said, surprising Frisk. "Leave her alone! She doesn't need you being the Food Police, especially since what you're trying to do WON'T make her feel better, it'll just make her barf, and then she'll be in even worse shape. She can just eat the rest of the damn burger later when she feels up to it. Also, nice one, Frisk! Good to see you at least have a little bit of a spine."
Ralsei looked down with a guilty expression. "Sorry, Frisk..."
Frisk softened. "It's fine. I know you were just worried, and I'm sorry I snapped at you...and threatened to puke on you. That was uncalled for. Just...I know my own body, okay? I know how to handle this. All right?"
Ralsei still looked worried but he nodded, and thankfully let the subject go. Frisk gave Susie a small smile and a grateful look for standing up for her, which caused Susie to look away, though Frisk caught the softened expression and the embarrassed blush on her cheeks before she did.
As they walked along the path, they found Lancer once again standing there. He grinned as usual when he saw them. "Well, flip my flapjacks! The clowns are back in town! Well, bad news! Since you last saw me several minutes ago, I've created a brand-new fighting team ready to stop you! Not even the purple girl can stop me now! Ho ho ho! Are you ready to be..."
Susie cut him off. "Stop. Stop talking. "Ho ho ho?" What is that. Why are you saying that."
Lancer blinked in confusion. "Ho ho ho? It's my evil laugh! Scary, right?"
"You sound like baby Santa Claus." Susie said bluntly, and Frisk tried very hard not to laugh, kind of thinking the same thing.
Lancer looked pleadingly up at Susie "...Uh, you mean, like, in a badass way...?"
Susie grinned evilly. "Shut up." She menacingly walked closer to Lancer, towering over the kid. "You REALLY think you know how to be SCARY?"
"W... Well...I..." Lancer stammered.
Susie glowered. "Wrong." She showed her teeth. "Man, wannabe tough guys like you REALLY piss me off. Face it. You wouldn't know SCARY..." She moved even closer. "If it picked you up and bit your face off."
"Th-that's not true." Lancer whispered.
"Oh really?" Susie asked with a grin. She grabbed Lancer roughly by his shirt collar, every one of her jagged teeth showing and her yellow eyes glowing fiercely. "Then why don't we PROVE IT? We'll start with the part...Where your face gets bit off." She then let out a genuinely evil sounding laugh that made chills go up Frisk's spine.
Frisk was frantically trying to figure out if interceding would be necessary when she saw Lancer suddenly brighten. "Ohhhhh, OK. I get it! Thank you, purple girl!"
Susie was clearly caught off guard. "...What?"
"Thanks!" Lancer repeated happily. "It was kind of you! To teach me how to be scary! With an evil laugh!"
The dragon girl glared. "Hey, I wasn't..."
"And now...!" Lancer lightly jumped out of Susie's grip. "You're going to be thrashed!" He then let out an evil laugh that was much more reminiscent of Susie's than his own, ending with a "Merry Christmas!"
Susie glanced to Frisk, seeming very slightly impressed. "I guess that's KIND OF an improvement..." she whispered.
Three pink blob creatures of the same type Frisk had seen Susie clobber earlier rushed in as Lancer darted off. They shot bullets shaped like jigsaw puzzle pieces around the group, which they all had to dodge.
The Jigsawrys were all anxious and shaking, weakly claiming they loved fighting while they clearly hated it and one apologizing and babbling something about needing to make a rent payment. Feeling bad for them, Frisk decided to use her usual befriending tactic. "Hey, we don't wanna fight! You all look like a bunch of great monsters! We'd love to be friends with you!" she said with a winning smile.
Every Jigsawry immediately smiled and stopped. "Of course we'll be friends!" "I've always wanted a friend like you!"
"Susie, don't!" Ralsei yelled from behind her and Frisk turned as she heard a slight scuffle, just in time to see Ralsei grab Susie before she could take a swing at the nearest Jigsawry.
"Susie, stop! It's okay!" Frisk called out, helping him hold the dragon back, nearly getting knocked off her feet though allowing the Jigsawrys to avoid getting creamed.
One, the bravest of the bunch, stood between Susie and the other two. "I-I-I'm not g-gonna let you hurt Barry and Barry!" it cried out, sending out another set of attacks. Frisk pulled Ralsei out of the way of one and yelped as she got hit. Susie growled and started to charge, but Frisk grabbed her.
"Let go of me, Frisk!"
"Just calm down!" Frisk pleaded before trying to smile at the scared Jigsawrys. "I'm sorry about that! She just doesn't like it when we get attacked." she told them. "Just like you wanted to protect your friends."
The Jigsawry in front immediately smiled, and the other two relaxed. "Aww!"
"Don't worry! We won't fight your friends any more, Miss Scary Purple Lady!" the first one said with a smile before leading his friends off.
"Frisk, don't make sound soft!" Susie growled at her, yanking her arm out of Frisk's grip. "Why did you two do that AGAIN?"
"Susie, fighting wasn't necessary! Frisk had it all under control!" Ralsei told her. "You just escalated the fight!"
Susie glared at him. "So, you're saying it's my fault then!"
Frisk stepped in between. "No, we're not. We know you were just trying to protect us, Susie. But you don't have to worry so much about us. Those guys weren't bad. We had it under control."
"I wasn't worried! I'm just the only one here that has any common sense! What are you going to do when someone doesn't accept your mercy?! Just let them kill you?" Susie yelled. Frisk tried to answer, but Susie cut her off. "Whatever. I see I'm not going to get through to you." She stormed to the back behind Ralsei. Ralsei patted Frisk's arm and gave her a comforting smile. Frisk tried to smile back and headed off again with her group, though her mind was disquieted. Susie was still fuming and glaring at the back of Ralsei's head, and Frisk had no idea what to say to help the tension within her new group.
They walked down the path to find yet another puzzle, this one with two boxes overlooking two sets of softly glowing tiles.
"Oh look, it's another puzzle!" Ralsei said cheerfully, breaking the silence.
"Oh no." Susie groaned, annoyed.
"Let's read the instructions!" Ralsei walked over to the sign. "H... Huh?! The instructions are vandalized! It says... "Thoust fools, thou will never figure it out now!" He crossed his arms and glared adorably. "Ruining instructions... That's definitely against the rules!" He looked at the sign again. "Then it, um, says, "PS- I make my own rules -RK."
"Well, that explains that." Susie said with a grin. She walked over to the fence, which was capped with sharp spade shaped points. "Why don't we just climb over this spiked fence?"
Ralsei stated the obvious before Frisk could. "Umm, because then we'd get impaled and die...?"
Susie grinned. "Cool, I'll work on that and you do the puzzle."
Ralsei turned to Frisk. "Umm, try your best, Frisk."
Frisk nodded and checked the puzzle, examining the tiles. One pushed down slightly when she pressed it, and she thought she saw the fence move slightly. She grinned as she realized what she needed to do and shoved the first box over and onto the tile. The fence moved slightly again.
"I think you're onto something, Frisk!" Ralsei said cheerfully.
"Hey, you can just give up if you want to. It's all good." Susie told her with a slightly more disturbing grin.
"Susie, why do you want to climb a barbed fence?"
"Because it's AWESOME."
Frisk shook her head at the response and pushed over the next box onto the final tile, which finally opened the gate. "Wa-ho, you did it, Frisk! Great job!" Ralsei cheered.
"I just pushed two boxes." she said dryly.
"Well, you still did it!"
"Damn, didn't get to impale myself." Susie muttered and Frisk had no clue if she was joking or not. "Oh well. C'mon, chumps."
They crossed through the gate, and Frisk took the wrong path at first, accidentally leading them to a dead end with a puzzle that could only be solved by actually having been to the card castle.
After finding the right path, they ran into more enemies, a Hathy with two Rudinns. They once again had to literally warn the enemies about Susie, which didn't exactly help in calming them down. Thankfully, Ralsei's gentleness and adorable pickup lines ("We don't need EXP. Encountering your smile is reward enough.") managed to calm them down. However, Susie now refused to speak to either of them.
They entered a hallway with red and white checkerboard squares and the most annoying puzzle Frisk ever dealt with. Rows of squares lit up, and if you stepped on the lit-up row, you ended up teleported back to where you started. After Frisk's fifth failure to cross the hall. Susie ended up getting annoyed and picking her and Ralsei up and attempting it herself. However, Susie was even worse with puzzles than Frisk and ended up failing, and frustrated, made Frisk try it again. Finally, they managed to cross the first set, only to have two living chess pawns jump down and attack them. Ralsei managed to put both them and Susie to sleep by singing a beautiful song Frisk herself could barely stay awake for herself and was able to use Pacify to help them escape.
Waking Susie afterwards wasn't fun and almost got Frisk an ax to the face as Susie woke up thinking they were still fighting. She then chewed out Ralsei for putting her to sleep and Frisk had to once again intercede in the argument before she was able to get her team to continue on.
The second Great Board puzzle was even more frustrating than the first, with only two rows instead of three which gave Frisk less room to work with. Thankfully, she was able to get them across, and also keep Susie from axing the floor, even though she was half tempted to let her.
They then found Lancer standing there yet again waiting for them. "Ha ha ha... So you've begun to cross the Great Board... The halfway point to our castle. Hmm... Impressive. So it's a shame... You won't make it a step further! 'Cause my guys are about to smash you into blood!" He actually sounded dangerous then, until he ruined it slightly by adding, "Lots of blood. Splooshing blood! Very gross and bad!" He then pulled out a bucket before smiling and saying, "Hey purple girl, was that scarier?"
Susie glared at him. "Why are you asking ME?!"
Lancer grinned, looking at Susie in admiration. "Because you're really cool at being terrifying! I wanna be as scary as you!"
Susie looked surprised and oddly touched. "You... want to be like ME?"
Lancer grinned. "Yeah!"
Susie grinned slightly. "Well, that's stupid." She then paused, her voice softening. "But, umm, the new laugh isn't as awful. And saying you'd turn us into blood is, uh, cool. ...What the hell is up with the bucket, though?"
"It's to put the blood in." Lancer answered matter of factly and Frisk almost wanted to laugh.
"Oh." Susie answered.
"Yeah, I'm not, uh, supposed to make a mess." Lancer said, embarrassed, before brightening again. "Anyway, thanks for your feedback! I'm really feeling scary!"
Susie smiled. "...Umm, no problem, I guess. Haha." She then looked around. "...So are your guys gonna attack us, or..."
"...Oh! Yeah!" He then looked sheepish. "...I was so excited I forgot to bring any guys." He then smirked. "But NEXT TIME, it'll be the END for-" He then looked curious. "Hey, I've just been calling you guys clowns. Does your team have an official name or something?"
Ralsei brightened. "Oh, Frisk, we should come up with a name!"
Susie groaned. "No, we shouldn't."
"Then it's decided! Everyone puts a name in the bucket!" Lancer said brightly, pulling out several pieces of paper from his inventory.
Susie and Ralsei looked at each other, shrugged, and scribbled something down. Frisk had literally no idea for names and just stood there awkwardly.
Susie, Lancer, and Ralsei dropped their entries in the bucket and Lancer pushed it at Frisk. "Blue person, you can choose since you kind of look like you don't care."
"I do care, I just couldn't think of a good name." Frisk muttered, but agreed and closed her eyes to make it fair, reaching in the bucket. Feeling the crumpled edge of a piece of paper, she pulled it out.
"Ok! And your name is...!" Lancer read the paper. "...Hmm. I don't think I'm allowed to say this one."
"It's PRONOUNCED, "The $!$? Squad." Susie said with a smirk.
Lancer's eyes widened. "Woah. I'm not allowed to say Tier TWO swear words! Wow. You three's collective dad must be very cool."
"Er, could we PERHAPS consider a DIFFERENT name?" Ralsei hesitantly asked,
"Ralsei, you don't HAVE to be in our Squad." Susie said, glaring at him.
"Susie!" Frisk scolded.
Lancer just ignored her. "Yeah! How about I be in the Squad and YOU be the bad guy?" Lancer grabbed his phone. "Here. Call up my dad. Tell him he has a new son. One that has to take a shower every time he reads a swear word."
"OK, fine! We can keep the name! I just won't say it." Ralsei groaned.
"Haha, me too!" Lancer replied. "See ya, losers! It's shower time!"
Frisk shook her head. "Susie, did you HAVE to pick a swear word name for our group?"
"Yes, because it's AWESOME!" Susie grinned. "What, don't you agree?"
Frisk rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile as she hit the Save star. The power of the $!$? Squad shined within her, even if she wouldn't say the name aloud either.
They solved yet another light puzzle, were chased and attacked by three Ponman, which Ralsei had to send to sleep again, then stop Susie, who woke up a lot faster this time, from killing one, and Susie was sulking once more as they reached the next Save Star. Frisk and Ralsei talked to a couple of monsters and learned more about their quiet enemies, namely that they were made to follow the king, and that those on the Great Board had their own boss in more peaceful times. But now, even said kind boss had been forced to be the King's Peon. And a white chess piece monster called Mr. Society let her know that the Ponman had no will of their own, and that he, unlike them, wouldn't bow down to such a tyrant.
Unless he asked them.
Because the king was in fact, very scary.
Frisk knew they would have to watch out for the King, and now was becoming uncertain if Susie wasn't at least right on the King's account. The others though she wanted to make sure to spare, because she was now starting to understand exactly what kind of person the king was.
As they passed the save star and entered the next section, Lancer was yet again waiting. "Hohoho... Well, STEP on my BOOTS. If it isn't the (name I'm not allowed to say.). You boys or girls had better turn back while you can."
"Lancer! What is it this time?!" Ralsei asked angrily.
"Hohoho... I'm simply warning you...!" Lancer answered, looking like he was scared himself. "Something EXTREMELY dangerous is lying ahead!" He laughed nervously. "It's actually really inconvenient! Ha! I can't go home at all because I'm so scared!"
Lancer was genuinely worried and this made all of them nervous as well. Ralsei was fidgeting anxiously, and even Susie was sweating. "Wh... What is it?!"
They proceeded cautiously, only to see another tiny C-Round. They all relaxed immediately.
"Oh, hey, little guy..." Ralsei cooed.
"That? That's what you're afraid of?" Susie asked incredulously.
"W... Wow, purple girl! You aren't scared!?"
"Heh, why would I be? What's it gonna do?" Susie asked confidently. Frisk tensed though. She had the feeling that this was where things went south.
Lancer frowned. "Hmm, well, normally..." As he said this, the tiny creature jumped on a white panel and a yellow crown dropped on its head. Susie, Ralsei, and Frisk leapt back in surprise and fear as it grew to a massive size and long legs grew out of it.
"It crushes people to death, I think." Lancer said as it charged. The three of them desperately tried to keep from being crushed, and Frisk was so panicked, she didn't stop Susie from attacking the C-Round.
"We need to get its crown off! If we do, it should turn back into a little guy!" Ralsei called to Frisk and Frisk nodded. Having an idea, she deeply bowed and Ralsei copied her. So did the creature, loosening the crown.
"Susie! Help us bow at it!" Ralsei called to Susie.
She shook her head. "Nah, its crown'll come off... When I smash this guy to the GROUND!" She struck the creature, and it retaliated by sending pellets, some of which struck Frisk before she could dodge. Thankfully, she wasn't too badly hurt and she and Ralsei deeply bowed again, which it returned, but feeling stressed by Susie's attack, pulled some almond milk out of nowhere and drank it, regaining its HP and more.
"Susie! Stop attacking it! You're making it stronger!" Ralsei yelled.
"Pssh, and let it think I'm AFRAID? No way!" She hit it again and the K-Round charged, going after Frisk again and leaping at her while shooting small stars. Somehow, she avoided them all and while shaky, deeply bowed again with Ralsei. The crown loosened further, and Susie once again struck. Frisk and Ralsei dodged the attacks.
"Susie, please just stop attacking and help us act!" Frisk pleaded, but Susie ignored her.
Thankfully, the final set of deep bows got the crown to fall off, and the K-Round turned back into a C-Round and rolled away.
"We... We did it?!" Susie asked in shock and happiness.
Lancer's eyes were wide as he grinned. "Wow! You clowns really ARE heroes! You saved the next twenty minutes of my life!"
Susie grinned. "Yeah, yeah, I am pretty great, huh...?"
"Umm, Susie...?" Ralsei said as he checked Frisk's injured arm. "Not to downplay your contributions, but... You... didn't actually help at all. You only made everything WORSE by attacking it, and Frisk got hurt. If you had just acted nice to it in the first place... We could have avoided that entire battle."
"Huh? Are you FOR REAL? That thing was BLOODTHIRSTY! The only thing keeping it at bay was MY AX!"
"And earlier you terrorized those troops..." Ralsei continued.
"Those guys were ENEMIES! They're FOR terrorizing." Susie protested
"Yeah, she's right!" Lancer piped in.
"And before that, you ate an innocent person's cake..." Ralsei added.
"Cakes... are also my enemy." Susie said with a slightly sheepish grin.
"Ralsei, leave Susie alone about that. I stole some of that cake too, remember?" Frisk protested.
Susie snorted. "You, Goody Two Shoes Frisk, actually pilfered some cake? Yeah, like that actually happened?" Frisk sheepishly opened her bag, revealing the cake chunk inside, and Susie grinned. "Hey, you actually did! How'd you do it?"
Frisk turned bright red and stared at the ground. "I kind of might have took it when he wasn't looking..."
"Nice! Looks like I'm a good bad influence on you after all!" Susie held out her massive hand for a fist bump and Frisk tentatively smiled and bumped her back.
Ralsei sighed. "Frisk, stop encouraging her. Susie... Whether you like it or not... You're a hero. One with the power to bring peace to the future. Could you please start... acting like one?"
"Yeah, when you lay it out like that..." Susie sighed. "I've been a pretty bad hero, haven't I?"
"Susie, you're not bad. You just need to be more gentle when it comes to fights. Please?" Frisk asked softly.
Susie sighed again. "Alright, you guys. You got it. I'll change my ways. From now on, I won't be such a rotten hero anymore." Ralsei brightened, but Frisk could tell Susie was upset and angry, and Susie proved that by grinning evilly and saying, "I'll just be one of the BAD GUYS instead!"
Lancer brightened. "R... Really? You're going to be on MY team?"
Susie grinned. "Yeah, sounds way easier, honestly."
Frisk felt her heart sink. Ralsei looked shocked. "Susie, you can't just-"
Lancer smirked. "Quiet, Toothpaste Boy! Susie is MY comrade now!"
Susie laughed. "Hahaha, yeah, Toothpaste Boy!"
"We're going to have monogrammed track jackets!"
Susie's smile got wider. "Yeah!"
"And sleepovers! Where we tell each other secrets!"
Susie's smile softened and became more affectionate, but nervous. "Ummm, yeah?" She turned back to Frisk and Ralsei. "Well, see you guys never!" Susie said.
"Haha! If you can even last that long!" Lancer chuckled.
"Susie..." Frisk said softly.
Susie looked away. "I told you already, Frisk. I'm not a hero like you are. So just...stop trying." She then walked away with Lancer.
"Frisk.." Ralsei sighed. "Perhaps I shouldn't have been so hard on her. But I just worry that if Susie is too eager to fight... Then... Well, let's just be kind to her, okay, Frisk? I'm sure Susie'll come around soon!" He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Frisk, are you okay?"
"...I'm fine." she told him and walked out of the Great Board with him into the scarlet covered forest ahead. She had only known Susie a few weeks. Only REALLY known her for less than a day. Why should she even care? Plus, Lancer could barely be called a villain anyway. He was just a kid who wanted some attention, and to make his dad proud. And while Susie claimed to be, she wasn't exactly a bad guy either. Ralsei was right, maybe she'd come around.
And it shouldn't matter anyway. Susie might have been somewhat nice to her in a weird way a few times; had helped her up when she fell off the cliff, had tried to protect her even if the dragon heavily denied it, had understood her issues with food and stood up for her about them...
Had been the only person Frisk met she felt could really understand every part of her, even the bad parts.
But they were just classmates! And Susie had never claimed to be her friend, so there was no reason Frisk should be at all hurt by her leaving. By her being on the opposite side.
So she shouldn't care. She shouldn't care at all. Plus, she still had Ralsei, and he was a good friend, and she had Noelle, and Monster Kid, and of course Tina. They were all there for her.
But then why, as she Saved at the Save Star, letting the warm light wash over her and Ralsei, did her heart still hurt?
...
Please comment and let me know what you think!