Author's Note:
Hey! Legends of Catastrophe here! Ok pretty much the story is slightly sailormoon/gundam, but not quite. Heero doesn't get Serena. Heero gets someone who isn't in the original sailormoon. This is slightly original since Heero gets hooked up with someone named Rose Alexia, but she doesn't know her last name at the beginning of the story. It's kinda long so if you like it you'll be happy about that. Just bear with me and you might just find you like my lil original chary (character) Rose. Pairings: Serena/Darien (as usual), Rie/Duo (now that's a recipe for fun ^_^) , Mina/Quatra (Quatra's in for it e.e), Lita/Wufie (true fighters till the end), Hotaru/Trowa (slightly unique, but it was better than Ami and Trowa in my oppinion), and last-but-not-least the main couple Heero/Rose. Michelle, Ami, Setsuna, and Haruka don't really have a guy right now, but if you review and give me some ideas I'll give 'em some guys to crush on ^_~y. At the begging it switches b/w Luna and Rose, b/c she shares the body of a cat that they named Luna after the original Luna. Kinda confusing, I know, but just keep reading and you should like it.
Ps: The first of this may be rusty since I started a while back, but I changed a few parts so it wasn't quite so corny. The style changes ever so slightly during the story and goes from first to third person in one of the chapters so watch out for that.
^ = Thinking,
^ " = Thought speaking,
" = Speaking.
(*-*) (Which makes it bold sometimes) = Author's notes
(*By the way. Excuse my language in this fic. I don't normally cuss, but I have to be realistic.well as realistic as you can be with a fictional story, and most people do cuss. Just letting you know I don't approve of it, but I'm willing to over look every rare moment for the sake of comedy and realism.*)
Prologue
Hey! My name is Rose.well that's my human name, anyway. Everyone calls me Luna, though. I'll give it to ya straight. I'm a cat. Yep! You heard me. I'm a cat. I'm pretty sure I was once human, though, if I was it was before-I think-the age of six. I don't remember anything before that age, and since after I've been a cat. Right now I'm 15, if I've counted right. I certainly think enough like one, but there is also the whole cat mentality that sometimes takes over. You know, instinct that comes with the body, or that's about as best I can explain it.
It's funny, actually, how I ended up working as an undercover agent. Let's just say that a mentally talking cat gets a lot of attention in a world where that kind of thing is considered impossible. I don't exactly speak; I use what I call 'thought speech' where people hear my voice in their minds. The best part is I can either pick someone out in the crowd or send a private message, or I can let the entire room hear.or even the world! How do they respond, you ask? Well I guess, either I just tap into their minds so all they have to do is think it and I know (I've had to develop control on that so I don't tap into any memories or thoughts I DON'T want to know), or-as has happened with my friends-I talk with them so much they seem to develop their own ability to contact me, though they can't tap into my memory or anything like that. That work takes more 'power'. Not to mention, they ARE the sailor scouts after all. They picked it up rather quickly, and sometimes they can even tell when I'm lying, b/c there are times-if they try hard enough-they can feel my emotions through the link. Am I losing you? Sorry.
Well anyway, there is also this thing about me being in some dumb legend. Not many people know about it, but those who do just don't want to leave me alone so I decided I'd play along till they figure out it's something someone made up and this is just a freak coincidence. It's supposed to say that a young woman will appear as a cat, fall in love at first sight, become human, and save the world. I'm summarizing, of course, but it's still basically the usual stupid stuff people romanticize about. .Ok I know it's a pretty BIG coincidence, but still. That just isn't me. I refuse to even hope that it might be true. The point is I'll play along if they're too dumb to realize its crap. No skin off my back.or fur.or whatever. Anyway, so now some guy made me a secret agent-who's going to suspect the neighbors cat of stealing important files right from under their nose-and I'm on a particularly interesting case at the moment. In fact, I'm typing on what I think is my target's laptop as we speak.well you know what I mean. Again, you're probably thinking that's kinda weird for a cat to be typing on a laptop, but I do what I can with this body of mine. You'd be surprised at the advantages it comes with. Then again, there are also disadvantages, but I don't think I need to go into more detail considering you can probably imagine what they are. Just to fill you in, I'll start at the begging when I was first received the assignment.
I can't exactly remember what I did earlier that day but I do recall having to get info. for a certain agency about its competition. Ya ya, I know. That's dirty, but they hired me and it's really none of my business. Well anyway, I headed off to my office, and though it was a little big for a cat, it was normal sized for a normal businessperson. I was sitting there when I heard a knock upon the door. I was organizing papers with my claws as best I could when I told him to come in.well 'thought spoke' or whatever. He sat in one of the chairs I gestured to and said his greetings, commenting politely on how nice I looked-I never could seem to keep myself from rolling my eyes when people did that-before he began to explain his reasoning for coming.
" I'm here to offer you a job. Nothing dirty or anything, but it may very well tip the scale on whether or not an innocent is punished and a murderer goes free."
Instinctively my ears perked in attentiveness. I liked the man and his forward ways. Most liked to dance around the real matter, making it seem less or more than it was. The way he presented it, however, in such a short way was a new and improved thing to my ears. Whether he meant to or not, he had hit one of my softest spots, my strong sense of justice. I'm a prideful and stubborn one, yes, but I have a strong sense of justice and will admit when I'm wrong about something or someone. From the chair, I bound up upon the desk and sat, signaling for him to continue with the wave of a tail.
" Well, I'm a lawyer and there is a certain case I feel I needs some special attention. A woman has been accused of killing her husband, but she claims a young man did it and not her. His fingerprints were found on the gun handle, but I don't believe he is guilty. If she goes free, they will most likely go after the young man in question without giving him a fair trial. He's not exactly the most reachable person, nor the most approachable." He paused for a moment to sort his thoughts. During that time I found myself voicing mentally the questions that arose from his statements.
^ " What exactly do you mean? Unreachable? Unapproachable? I find it hard to believe that our govt. is afraid of merely one man." ^ He seemed to become uneasy at my questions.
" .Well..ummm.he's a very important mere man.very powerful and dangerous as well.uhh how should I put this." he paused again.
I could only gaze skeptically at him. ^ If he's so dangerous, then there's a good chance he actually did do it. ^ But she didn't voice her thoughts so as to let him finish.
".Have you ever heard of Heero Yui?" he asked for starters.
I merely raised a cat-like brow before shaking my head. ^ "No." ^ I stated simply. He sighed.
".Ok, never mind. All I want is for you to find sufficient proof that he is innocent. Will you take the job or not?" He began unlocking his brief case.
He was slightly overconfident, but I still liked his approach. I nodded needing no time for consideration. He had already caught my interest and curiosity. Curiosity; man, did I have a lot of that. Luckily, it hadn't gotten me killed yet.yet being the key word as some have pointed out quite frequently.
^ " I'll take it, but I want part in the trial." ^
He nodded as well, taking out papers and laying them across the desk. "These are papers of the case to fill you in a little bit. I'll do some research as well, but I'm afraid I don't have any information on Heero."
At that I gave another skeptical look. ^ " You do know that's going to cost extra right?" ^ I have a heart, yes, but information doesn't come cheap. You have no idea how much research it takes to learn everything about a person so as to fit into their lives perfectly so they don't suspect anything.
He nodded again. " Yes, yes, I'm quite aware of that. You'll get your money, I assure you." He closed his brief case and stood, tipping his hat in a farewell gesture. I felt struck by his petulance, for I could see why he acted so. I hadn't meant to sound so greedy, but it had apparently come across as such. In the end I said nothing, allowing him to leave before letting out a sigh. My muscles were becoming stiff so I stood and hooked the edge of the file with a claw, opening it with ease and gazing down at it's contents. After looking over a few details in both the file and on my own personal laptop I had found that this was going to take more time and energy than first thought. Apparently there were no files whatsoever on Heero Yui, and I'm an excellent hacker, one of the best. However, it seemed he was better than I.or just had a head start. I'd find out what I could one way or another; I always did. ^ Well, ^ I thought to myself, ^ I'd best get started. ^
The preparations aren't important except the fact that whenever I am on missions I wear a ribbon around my neck with a red rose on it. This is to hide the communications and recording chip that is hidden for my 'people' to listen and record at 'headquarter' the things around me. So if I overhear a conversation and get close enough to hear, the 'bug' transmits the conv. (conversation) to my friends back at the office.
By the way, about my friends, I should probably mention some of them. Have you ever heard of the Sailor Scouts? Well guess what? Yep! You guessed it. There's Serena or 'meatball head' as we've nicknamed her, is my partner and works with all my friends in the different divisions; Rei who usually helps the quiet Ami give out the orders and keep organization; Mina, one of the nosiest, she usually helps me with missions since she is in the contact division b/c she has a way with people (mostly guys though considering she is the sailor scout of love); Lita, an excellent cook by the way, she usually acts as a sort of enforcer most of the time, working in the executive division since she is such an awesome fighter; Ami who's in charge of almost everything, she's the smartest of us all; Hotaru, the total sweety who also helps me a lot in the communications division, she is mostly in charge of recording the transmitted conv. and such; Michelle, who works on organizing files and so on, making sure all goes according to plan while helping Ami; Haruka, who looks like a boy actually, she is the treasurer taking care of all things financial; and Setsuna who is the master at finding out the locations of people and hacking into their files and is also the head of the transportation and information divisions. She is the one who usually takes care of all the passports and such we'd need for traveling abroad and such. She's also the one who ended up giving me the info on where this Heero Yui lived. I was flabbergasted when I found out he was only one of the famous Gundam Pilots, though it explained quite a lot. They were all located in Tokyo in a mansion owned by the Winter foundation. Well anyway, Serena usually either has solo missions of her own since she has that Luna pen or we work as a team, but this time she was staying home for a date with Darien.
Oh! I forgot to tell you how we met I know you must be confused about where Luna and Artemis come into this, but I have bad news. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Luna and Artemis are dead. Not forever, though. They promised Serena and the scouts a long time ago that they would resurrect when the time was right, or so my friends have told me. Well anyway, I had been taking a vacation one summer (even as a cat I had school, b/c they considered talking cats a 'special' case) in Tokyo when all of a sudden I was swarmed by the lot of them being bombarded with questions from all directions with a mixture of "What the heck!?"s and "Luna!! Oh my gosh!!"s with a few additional "But your supposed to be dead, damnit"s before they would let me speak. We exchanged tales, to keep a long story short, and ended up going to work as partners (mostly Serena and I were the actual founders and owners of my lil operation, though the FBI and CIA fund us incase they need us which is most often than not). That's also how I got the nickname 'Luna' or 'Luna-cat' though I still call myself Rose and the cat portion Luna. They are also the ones who came up with the idea of using a rose to hide the chip, mostly Mina and Serena's cute lil joke.
Again it seems, I'm getting off the subject. What was I talking about again? Oh ya! The trip to Tokyo had been both exciting and disheartening news. Tokyo is one of my most favorite places on the earth, but I had known the flight from America to Japan was going to be murder whether I flew east or west to get there. The shortest flight, Setsuna informed me, would be 15 hours at least. As embarrassed as I had been (I felt handicapped at times such as these), I had known I was going to need help, because, since this was a global mission, it required baggage in which I could not carry.
The problem had been who to take, but I had had time to think it over on the way back to the apartments. Not only did we all work in the same corp. but we also lived in the same apartment building. Another bonus was it was close enough to work that I could walk easily downtown and home with the occasional ally-way. We roomed in pairs. I roomed with Hotaru; Serena roomed with mina; Rei roomed with Ami; Michelle roomed with Haruka; Setsuna roomed with Lita; and then there was the exception Darien who roomed alone. I had wanted to ask Setsuna, but she was a main part of the business and was needed in the U.S. with the main Headquarters. Then again I asked anyway. I remember she actually said that she would love to, and had hoped I would ask since she could never seem to get away. It was true she would be hard to replace, but it was only temporary so she was confident Hotaru would do just till they got back. So, with that settled, we left four weeks before the scheduled date of the trail. I should have been thrilled to take on the Universe's best assassins, but it actually bored me. Yet now that I've met them I'm exited to see just where this mission leads me, for it seems to indeed be leading me somewhere. You couldn't tell by what has been happening so far, but I feel a foreboding that this is no ordinary scenario, that this is important. I don't know if I'm making much sense, but I do know that the moment I had left American soil I had known that something was being set into motion. Even now I have not a clue as to what that sense of foreshadowing means, but I do know that some how I'm ready for whatever it is. Somehow I know that this will be a turning point in my life. So I've decided to write it down. I might even decide to post this on my website. Either way I want to be able to remember this time in my life. And so my story continues.
Hey! Legends of Catastrophe here! Ok pretty much the story is slightly sailormoon/gundam, but not quite. Heero doesn't get Serena. Heero gets someone who isn't in the original sailormoon. This is slightly original since Heero gets hooked up with someone named Rose Alexia, but she doesn't know her last name at the beginning of the story. It's kinda long so if you like it you'll be happy about that. Just bear with me and you might just find you like my lil original chary (character) Rose. Pairings: Serena/Darien (as usual), Rie/Duo (now that's a recipe for fun ^_^) , Mina/Quatra (Quatra's in for it e.e), Lita/Wufie (true fighters till the end), Hotaru/Trowa (slightly unique, but it was better than Ami and Trowa in my oppinion), and last-but-not-least the main couple Heero/Rose. Michelle, Ami, Setsuna, and Haruka don't really have a guy right now, but if you review and give me some ideas I'll give 'em some guys to crush on ^_~y. At the begging it switches b/w Luna and Rose, b/c she shares the body of a cat that they named Luna after the original Luna. Kinda confusing, I know, but just keep reading and you should like it.
Ps: The first of this may be rusty since I started a while back, but I changed a few parts so it wasn't quite so corny. The style changes ever so slightly during the story and goes from first to third person in one of the chapters so watch out for that.
^ = Thinking,
^ " = Thought speaking,
" = Speaking.
(*-*) (Which makes it bold sometimes) = Author's notes
(*By the way. Excuse my language in this fic. I don't normally cuss, but I have to be realistic.well as realistic as you can be with a fictional story, and most people do cuss. Just letting you know I don't approve of it, but I'm willing to over look every rare moment for the sake of comedy and realism.*)
Prologue
Hey! My name is Rose.well that's my human name, anyway. Everyone calls me Luna, though. I'll give it to ya straight. I'm a cat. Yep! You heard me. I'm a cat. I'm pretty sure I was once human, though, if I was it was before-I think-the age of six. I don't remember anything before that age, and since after I've been a cat. Right now I'm 15, if I've counted right. I certainly think enough like one, but there is also the whole cat mentality that sometimes takes over. You know, instinct that comes with the body, or that's about as best I can explain it.
It's funny, actually, how I ended up working as an undercover agent. Let's just say that a mentally talking cat gets a lot of attention in a world where that kind of thing is considered impossible. I don't exactly speak; I use what I call 'thought speech' where people hear my voice in their minds. The best part is I can either pick someone out in the crowd or send a private message, or I can let the entire room hear.or even the world! How do they respond, you ask? Well I guess, either I just tap into their minds so all they have to do is think it and I know (I've had to develop control on that so I don't tap into any memories or thoughts I DON'T want to know), or-as has happened with my friends-I talk with them so much they seem to develop their own ability to contact me, though they can't tap into my memory or anything like that. That work takes more 'power'. Not to mention, they ARE the sailor scouts after all. They picked it up rather quickly, and sometimes they can even tell when I'm lying, b/c there are times-if they try hard enough-they can feel my emotions through the link. Am I losing you? Sorry.
Well anyway, there is also this thing about me being in some dumb legend. Not many people know about it, but those who do just don't want to leave me alone so I decided I'd play along till they figure out it's something someone made up and this is just a freak coincidence. It's supposed to say that a young woman will appear as a cat, fall in love at first sight, become human, and save the world. I'm summarizing, of course, but it's still basically the usual stupid stuff people romanticize about. .Ok I know it's a pretty BIG coincidence, but still. That just isn't me. I refuse to even hope that it might be true. The point is I'll play along if they're too dumb to realize its crap. No skin off my back.or fur.or whatever. Anyway, so now some guy made me a secret agent-who's going to suspect the neighbors cat of stealing important files right from under their nose-and I'm on a particularly interesting case at the moment. In fact, I'm typing on what I think is my target's laptop as we speak.well you know what I mean. Again, you're probably thinking that's kinda weird for a cat to be typing on a laptop, but I do what I can with this body of mine. You'd be surprised at the advantages it comes with. Then again, there are also disadvantages, but I don't think I need to go into more detail considering you can probably imagine what they are. Just to fill you in, I'll start at the begging when I was first received the assignment.
I can't exactly remember what I did earlier that day but I do recall having to get info. for a certain agency about its competition. Ya ya, I know. That's dirty, but they hired me and it's really none of my business. Well anyway, I headed off to my office, and though it was a little big for a cat, it was normal sized for a normal businessperson. I was sitting there when I heard a knock upon the door. I was organizing papers with my claws as best I could when I told him to come in.well 'thought spoke' or whatever. He sat in one of the chairs I gestured to and said his greetings, commenting politely on how nice I looked-I never could seem to keep myself from rolling my eyes when people did that-before he began to explain his reasoning for coming.
" I'm here to offer you a job. Nothing dirty or anything, but it may very well tip the scale on whether or not an innocent is punished and a murderer goes free."
Instinctively my ears perked in attentiveness. I liked the man and his forward ways. Most liked to dance around the real matter, making it seem less or more than it was. The way he presented it, however, in such a short way was a new and improved thing to my ears. Whether he meant to or not, he had hit one of my softest spots, my strong sense of justice. I'm a prideful and stubborn one, yes, but I have a strong sense of justice and will admit when I'm wrong about something or someone. From the chair, I bound up upon the desk and sat, signaling for him to continue with the wave of a tail.
" Well, I'm a lawyer and there is a certain case I feel I needs some special attention. A woman has been accused of killing her husband, but she claims a young man did it and not her. His fingerprints were found on the gun handle, but I don't believe he is guilty. If she goes free, they will most likely go after the young man in question without giving him a fair trial. He's not exactly the most reachable person, nor the most approachable." He paused for a moment to sort his thoughts. During that time I found myself voicing mentally the questions that arose from his statements.
^ " What exactly do you mean? Unreachable? Unapproachable? I find it hard to believe that our govt. is afraid of merely one man." ^ He seemed to become uneasy at my questions.
" .Well..ummm.he's a very important mere man.very powerful and dangerous as well.uhh how should I put this." he paused again.
I could only gaze skeptically at him. ^ If he's so dangerous, then there's a good chance he actually did do it. ^ But she didn't voice her thoughts so as to let him finish.
".Have you ever heard of Heero Yui?" he asked for starters.
I merely raised a cat-like brow before shaking my head. ^ "No." ^ I stated simply. He sighed.
".Ok, never mind. All I want is for you to find sufficient proof that he is innocent. Will you take the job or not?" He began unlocking his brief case.
He was slightly overconfident, but I still liked his approach. I nodded needing no time for consideration. He had already caught my interest and curiosity. Curiosity; man, did I have a lot of that. Luckily, it hadn't gotten me killed yet.yet being the key word as some have pointed out quite frequently.
^ " I'll take it, but I want part in the trial." ^
He nodded as well, taking out papers and laying them across the desk. "These are papers of the case to fill you in a little bit. I'll do some research as well, but I'm afraid I don't have any information on Heero."
At that I gave another skeptical look. ^ " You do know that's going to cost extra right?" ^ I have a heart, yes, but information doesn't come cheap. You have no idea how much research it takes to learn everything about a person so as to fit into their lives perfectly so they don't suspect anything.
He nodded again. " Yes, yes, I'm quite aware of that. You'll get your money, I assure you." He closed his brief case and stood, tipping his hat in a farewell gesture. I felt struck by his petulance, for I could see why he acted so. I hadn't meant to sound so greedy, but it had apparently come across as such. In the end I said nothing, allowing him to leave before letting out a sigh. My muscles were becoming stiff so I stood and hooked the edge of the file with a claw, opening it with ease and gazing down at it's contents. After looking over a few details in both the file and on my own personal laptop I had found that this was going to take more time and energy than first thought. Apparently there were no files whatsoever on Heero Yui, and I'm an excellent hacker, one of the best. However, it seemed he was better than I.or just had a head start. I'd find out what I could one way or another; I always did. ^ Well, ^ I thought to myself, ^ I'd best get started. ^
The preparations aren't important except the fact that whenever I am on missions I wear a ribbon around my neck with a red rose on it. This is to hide the communications and recording chip that is hidden for my 'people' to listen and record at 'headquarter' the things around me. So if I overhear a conversation and get close enough to hear, the 'bug' transmits the conv. (conversation) to my friends back at the office.
By the way, about my friends, I should probably mention some of them. Have you ever heard of the Sailor Scouts? Well guess what? Yep! You guessed it. There's Serena or 'meatball head' as we've nicknamed her, is my partner and works with all my friends in the different divisions; Rei who usually helps the quiet Ami give out the orders and keep organization; Mina, one of the nosiest, she usually helps me with missions since she is in the contact division b/c she has a way with people (mostly guys though considering she is the sailor scout of love); Lita, an excellent cook by the way, she usually acts as a sort of enforcer most of the time, working in the executive division since she is such an awesome fighter; Ami who's in charge of almost everything, she's the smartest of us all; Hotaru, the total sweety who also helps me a lot in the communications division, she is mostly in charge of recording the transmitted conv. and such; Michelle, who works on organizing files and so on, making sure all goes according to plan while helping Ami; Haruka, who looks like a boy actually, she is the treasurer taking care of all things financial; and Setsuna who is the master at finding out the locations of people and hacking into their files and is also the head of the transportation and information divisions. She is the one who usually takes care of all the passports and such we'd need for traveling abroad and such. She's also the one who ended up giving me the info on where this Heero Yui lived. I was flabbergasted when I found out he was only one of the famous Gundam Pilots, though it explained quite a lot. They were all located in Tokyo in a mansion owned by the Winter foundation. Well anyway, Serena usually either has solo missions of her own since she has that Luna pen or we work as a team, but this time she was staying home for a date with Darien.
Oh! I forgot to tell you how we met I know you must be confused about where Luna and Artemis come into this, but I have bad news. Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Luna and Artemis are dead. Not forever, though. They promised Serena and the scouts a long time ago that they would resurrect when the time was right, or so my friends have told me. Well anyway, I had been taking a vacation one summer (even as a cat I had school, b/c they considered talking cats a 'special' case) in Tokyo when all of a sudden I was swarmed by the lot of them being bombarded with questions from all directions with a mixture of "What the heck!?"s and "Luna!! Oh my gosh!!"s with a few additional "But your supposed to be dead, damnit"s before they would let me speak. We exchanged tales, to keep a long story short, and ended up going to work as partners (mostly Serena and I were the actual founders and owners of my lil operation, though the FBI and CIA fund us incase they need us which is most often than not). That's also how I got the nickname 'Luna' or 'Luna-cat' though I still call myself Rose and the cat portion Luna. They are also the ones who came up with the idea of using a rose to hide the chip, mostly Mina and Serena's cute lil joke.
Again it seems, I'm getting off the subject. What was I talking about again? Oh ya! The trip to Tokyo had been both exciting and disheartening news. Tokyo is one of my most favorite places on the earth, but I had known the flight from America to Japan was going to be murder whether I flew east or west to get there. The shortest flight, Setsuna informed me, would be 15 hours at least. As embarrassed as I had been (I felt handicapped at times such as these), I had known I was going to need help, because, since this was a global mission, it required baggage in which I could not carry.
The problem had been who to take, but I had had time to think it over on the way back to the apartments. Not only did we all work in the same corp. but we also lived in the same apartment building. Another bonus was it was close enough to work that I could walk easily downtown and home with the occasional ally-way. We roomed in pairs. I roomed with Hotaru; Serena roomed with mina; Rei roomed with Ami; Michelle roomed with Haruka; Setsuna roomed with Lita; and then there was the exception Darien who roomed alone. I had wanted to ask Setsuna, but she was a main part of the business and was needed in the U.S. with the main Headquarters. Then again I asked anyway. I remember she actually said that she would love to, and had hoped I would ask since she could never seem to get away. It was true she would be hard to replace, but it was only temporary so she was confident Hotaru would do just till they got back. So, with that settled, we left four weeks before the scheduled date of the trail. I should have been thrilled to take on the Universe's best assassins, but it actually bored me. Yet now that I've met them I'm exited to see just where this mission leads me, for it seems to indeed be leading me somewhere. You couldn't tell by what has been happening so far, but I feel a foreboding that this is no ordinary scenario, that this is important. I don't know if I'm making much sense, but I do know that the moment I had left American soil I had known that something was being set into motion. Even now I have not a clue as to what that sense of foreshadowing means, but I do know that some how I'm ready for whatever it is. Somehow I know that this will be a turning point in my life. So I've decided to write it down. I might even decide to post this on my website. Either way I want to be able to remember this time in my life. And so my story continues.