[Team] Chun_Lee: Now now, let's do some missions, okay?
[Team] Chun_Lee: Especially if you need cash
[Team] Chun_Lee: We can do a guarding mission
[Team] SharpandPointy: Works for me!
[Team] SpinFan96: Fine
A few hours later...
[Team] SharpandPointy: Whoo hoo!
[Team] SharpandPointy: I'm rich!
[Team] SharpandPointy: GG
[Team] Chun_Lee: gg ^_^
[Team] SpinFan96: Good game
[Team] Chun_Lee: I have to log off now, but you guys should keep going
[Team] Chun_Lee: The rewards stack if you do the next two escorts
[Team] Chun_Lee: If you have a few more hours, it's worth it.
[Team] SharpandPointy: I'm down!
[Team] SharpandPointy: Spin?
Neji hesitated. He had a thousand other things to do this afternoon. Better things, things that could be productive. But... This project was bearing fruit. Haruno admitted to the compensated dating. Maybe he could push a little more, pretend to be her friend for a bit longer, and try to talk her off this misguided path.
He would never admit to himself that he was doing anything so pedestrian as having fun.
[Team] SpinFan96: I can keep going.
[Team] SharpandPointy: Great!
[Team] Chun_Lee: Good! g2g, cya~
[Team] SharpandPointy: bbai~
[Team] SpinFan96: Goodbye
[Team] System: Mentor Chun_Lee has left the team
[Team] SpinFan96: Shall we?
[Team] SharpandPointy: We shall!
Several more hours later... after two more escort missions and who knows how many rounds of "friendly" sparring.
[Team] SharpandPointy: One more time!
[Team] SharpandPointy: I'm going to break your broken bloodline limit if it's the last thing I do.
[Team] SpinFan96: Gladly
[Team] SpinFan96: Just because I am the superior player does not mean the bloodline limit is broken
[Team] SpinFan96: Besides, we're tied right now
[Team] SharpandPointy: I protest!
[Team] SharpandPointy: You can see all my weak points
[Team] SpinFan96: and you can rain down a ridiculous number of projectiles.
[Team] SpinFan96: Enough blathering.
[Team] SpinFan96: We should let our fists do the talking
Tenten burst out laughing, which startled Sakura, who just opened the door.
"Having fun studying?" Sakura raised an eyebrow at her.
"Gaming," Tenten didn't even look up, "Oh, don't look at me like that, Sakura-chan. I only have my elective left and I have Hinata's cousin's notes."
"Are you sure they're useful?"
"The guy might be an asshole, but he's a smart asshole. Now shhh, I gotta win this fight."
Sakura shook her head as Tenten focused on the screen, muttering expletives under her breath. She pulled out her own laptop and drafted a response to the lady at BLOOM regarding the movie rights. This time, she barely flinched when Tenten burst into maniacal, victorious cackles, crowing "Who's the better player, eh?"
[Team] SharpandPointy: HAH
[Team] SharpandPointy: Take that!
[Team] SpinFan96: hmph
[Team] SpinFan96: I conceed for now, but next time I will prevail
[Team] SpinFan96: It's getting late
[Team] SharpandPointy: Next time ^_^
[Team] SharpandPointy: I'll still kick your butt
[Team] SharpandPointy: Niiight
[Team] SpinFan96: Just try me
[Team] SpinFan96: Good night.
Tenten didn't log off, though, but watched as his figure disappeared before she finally sighed in resignation and closed her laptop. As she got up, her stomach, which had been long neglected, finally loudly made its grievances known.
"When was the last time you ate?" Sakura asked absently, flicking through her email..
"Lunch..," Tenten admitted sheepishly as she ladled up some of the leftover congee from this morning.
"That was like eight hours ago! Tenten!"
"I know, I know! I just lost track of time, okay? I'll finish this and then go to bed early like a good little food poisoning victim."
Sakura eyed her suspiciously, but when Tenten sat down at the big central table to dig into her late dinner with single-minded intensity, she relaxed. "Were you playing with your static?"
"Ehn," Tenten nodded as her mouth was full. When she managed to swallow, she added, "You know my mentor, actually. Chun_Lee?"
"You're playing with CL?" Sakura echoed, astonished.
"Yeah, she recognized your username from the potions you gave me that time we were doing the spicy food challenge."
"Huh. Small world. I'm surprised she's not with another clan static but is instead being a mentor."
"CL's busy with school, so she's a bit irregular with her schedule. Something about applying to a Master's program next year. That's probably why she's not doing her own clan stuff," Tenten said between more normal sized bites.
"Is the other person in your static also a mentor or another new player?
"New player."
Sakura raised her eyebrow at that. She must have heard the deliberate casualness in Tenten's tone when she talked about the other person in her static. "Nice, eh?"
"Yeah, nice," Tenten scowled, "Oh don't give me that look, Sakura-chan. Not everyone can be like you and Uchiha-senpai."
"But you want to? Be like me and Uchiha-senpai, I mean?"
"No! Of course not," Tenten wilted a little under Sakura's scrutiny. Do I? Is it even an option? I mean, are we even friends? No, we're definitely friends and I like hanging out with him, but...
Then, to the great relief of her overtaxed emotional processing center, Tenten's brain finally realized some important subtext. "Wait. So, what happened between you and Uchiha-senpai? Something happened, right?"
This time, it was Sakura's turn to look embarrassed and flushed. "N-Nothing."
"Yeah right," Tenten snorted, delighted and determined to dig it out of her. I wonder what base they got to. Second? Third? They can't have gone all the way, right? Then again, they were gone for eight hours. Well, well, well...
"We... we agreed to start dating," Sakura said shyly, her cheeks as red as a monkey's butt. Tenten waited for her to elaborate. And waited.
And waited. That's it? What were they doing yesterday at the basketball game, then, playing pattycakes?
"He called me his girlfriend." Sakura practically whispered. "And... I did too."
"You call Uchiha-senpai your girlfriend?"
"No! Boyfriend! Tenten!" Sakura swatted her.
"Hey, I don't judge." Tenten laughed, dodging. Seeing Sakura's flushed cheeks and her embarrassment, Tenten raised her hands in surrender, still laughing. She slung an arm around her neck. "I'm happy for you, Sakura. I'm glad you're happy. But if he ever makes you cry, you tell us, okay? We'll beat him up for you."
"Hmph," Sakura scowled at her, but she squeezed her back. She was distracted by an email notification. "Wow, I can't believe they're working on a Sunday evening."
"Who?" Tenten asked, craning to look over her shoulder.
"BLOOM. I just sent them a response about the video, and they sent me a counteroffer already," Sakura read it over with a furrowed brow. Tenten read over her shoulder; she didn't understand all the stuff about balance and availability or blahblah, but from the look on Sakura's face, she knew it wasn't what she'd asked for.
"What are you going to do?"
"If my math's right, she's low balling me a little," Sakura responded, pulling out her calculator. "Two legendary pets, three epic pets, and two uncommon pets, plus three hundred dollars, is just under the previous amount quoted. I'm going to push for some really hard to grind legendary materials too. That'll save me several hours."
"Why don't you just ask for more cash?"
Sakura told her about Uchiha-senpai's studio and how they were bidding for New Way. Tenten scratched her head, "I don't see why that means you can't just take the cash, though."
"I want to make sure everyone's rewarded for their participation in the video. In-game stuff is easier than just sending people cash." Sakura responded, "I didn't know there were some legal requirements that meant they had to give actual money, though. Oh well, the money will help me invite you guys and Sasuke-senpai's roommates for dinner, so it works out."
"Ah-hah! I knew it!" Tenten exclaimed triumphantly. "You do believe in the superstition. So when is he taking us out, then?"
"I don't know, and don't you dare badger him, Tenten. I'm serious."
"Fine," Tenten sighed. Reminding him politely once isn't badgering, right? "So what are you making with the legendary mats, then?"
"Something for Meister. I gave him some potions when we got married, but I wanted to give him something more permanent with my maker's mark on it. Nearly all of my armour has his, so..."
"Ooooooh," Tenten teased, laughing as she ducked another glare from Sakura. She went back to her congee, ruminating about the idea. Maybe I could do something similar for CL and Spin...
(￣ω￣;)
A while later, once Tenten was tucked up in bed and Hinata had returned from a late dinner with Old Man, Sakura sent over the movie and signed contract to Karui at BLOOM. She was more eager for the in-game rewards than the cash, which had already been deposited into her bank account, so she logged on to Way again and waited impatiently for the agreed upon drop time for the pets to appear in her inventory.
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: Sakura-chaaaan!
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: You're finally online!
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: Long time no see!
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] SakuraBlossom: CLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] SakuraBlossom: Hey hey hey how's it going?
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] SakuraBlossom: Sharp told me you guys were playing together
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: Yeah!
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: Small world, eh?
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: How do you guys know each other? IRL?
Sakura hesitated. She'd been very careful not to reveal too much of her offline life to her online friends, but this was CL. She could trust her in ways she was never very comfortable talking to Fries about.
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] SakuraBlossom: Yeah, we're roommates
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] SakuraBlossom: I'm the reason she started playing
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] Sakura Blossom: But I was too busy preparing for the couples tournament on top of everything else this semester to mentor her properly.
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] SakuraBlossom: So please take care of her for me.
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: Of course!
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: She's wonderful, we've been having fun together with Spin
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: you should meet Spin, too
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: He's a bit weird, but he's a nice guy.
Sakura remembered how flustered Tenten had been when they'd been talking earlier.
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] SakuraBlossom: I def want to meet him.
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: By the way!
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: Are you playing more tonight? Up for an instanced dungeon?
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] SakuraBlossom: I could be
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] SakuraBlossom: Which one? How many people do you need?
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: The Underworld hag
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: I need to replace my fist wraps soon.
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: Right now it's just you and me
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] SakuraBlossom: I should be able to call one more, but I can't play until 9:30.
[Whisper to Chun_Lee] SakuraBlossom: I have some errands.
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: Okeydokey, I'll grab three more from the clan.
[Whisper] Chun_Lee: See you then!
At the appointed time, the pets appeared in her inventory. Glancing at her roommates, Sakura realized that they probably weren't going to log on tonight, so she decided to start with Meister and his roommates. Just as she was about to open her friends list,RollOutBoy messaged her first.
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: So 3SIL…
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: I heard you're one of our juniors
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: …
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: Yep!
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: I CAN'T BELIEVE NO ONE TOLD ME!
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: Trust me I would've been there
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: Haha Next time
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: You know what those two assholes did?
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: Old Man and Wulf?
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: Yes
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: They made me think Sm1rk was cheating on you!
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: So I went up to him and gave him a piece of my mind
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: Y'know what he said?
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: What?
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: "I guess I'll have to have them both"
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: LMAO
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: Can you believe him!?
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: Ahahahaha that's so Meister
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: I was ready to fight him!
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: and get beat up because of it
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: And there he goes with that!
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: You have to teach him manners, 3SIL
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: Haha I'll try, but no promises
Chouji leaned back in his seat and chortled, earning him dirty glances from Naruto and Kiba. The two of them were still completing their parts of the proposal before Sasuke flew out the next morning. Chouji, on the other hand, had wrapped up his part a week ago, and Sasuke was just finishing his packing.
If those idiots were the ones flying out tomorrow afternoon, they wouldn't be packing until noon.
He still hadn't quite forgiven them for the 3SIL/Sakura prank they'd pulled yesterday. Smug, he cracked open another bag of chips while enjoying the schadenfreude. He didn't notice Sasuke quietly close his suitcase and silently moved to stand behind him as he went back to chatting with Sakura-chan.
[Whisper] SakuraBlossom: BTW - BLOOM purchased the rights to the contest video that we did for that competition
[Whisper to SakuraBlossom] RollOutBoy: the one we did to get back at your ex?
[Whisper] SakuraBlossom: … yes
[Whisper] SakuraBlossom: I have your share of the compensation
[Whisper] SakuraBlossom: Meet me here? [Northwest training ground]
Curious what the compensation would be, Chouji met her avatar there. When he opened the gift, his eyes widened.
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: Boost-up butterflies?!
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: asl;kdjf
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: How did you know?!
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: These things cost like $100!
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: You didn't buy them with converted currency, did you? It's not worth it!
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: They offered me game credits, so I chose cash shop pets that would complement everybody's play style
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: I figured the damage boost as a percent of character size scale would work well with your limit ^_^
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: It does but I could never justify spending the cash for a game
Chouji knew that the company wouldn't bother trying to compensate each of the individual actors in the video. They'd just compensate the video's copyright holder and call it done. The fact that Sakura wanted to share it with them was a testament on how nice a person she was.
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: This is awesome
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: I'm going to flatten OldMan next time we PVP
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: lololol
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: he's getting an epic pet too
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: Let me flatten him first, then, before you do that.
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: thanks 3SIL
Sakura chuckled at his enthusiasm. His next message, though, made her pause.
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: 3SIL, you gotta be careful about Sm1rk, though
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: He gets asked in out all kinds of different ways
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: Oh?
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: All kinds of offers that are hard to say no to
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: For example, earlier this year, someone offered to buy us very expensive sushi to get him to come to dinner too
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: So you should be vigilant and not let him go!
Sakura snickered. It's Uchiha-senpai, of course he's getting asked out.
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: dw lol
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: Confessions aren't anything special
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: Even I'm used to getting them
[Whisper to RollOutBoy] SakuraBlossom: ever since I was a kid
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: !
For some reason, a bubble of uneasiness rose in the pit of her stomach when the "Typing" emoticon stayed over RollOutBoy's head for a minute… that stretched into three.
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: Uhhhh 3SIL
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: I'm really sorry about this
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: Sakura
[Whisper] RollOutBoy: But Sm1rk was reading over my shoulder this whole time!
[Couple] Sm1rkMeister: ever since you were a kid?
[Couple] System: Your spouse is not online and will not receive your messages. Please try again later
〣( ºΔº )〣
"S-Sakura-chan, are you okay?" Hinata asked, concerned, from her desk. She and Tenten had both looked up when Sakura had slammed the lid of her laptop closed.
"No! Yes! … Probably."
"Uchiha-senpai?" Tenten asked knowingly.
"Urgh yes. I said something dumb in-game," Sakura groaned, rubbing her hands over her face, "Me and my big mouth."
"W-Well, you should probably talk to him to clear up the confusion, then. B-Before it gets any worse."
"Urghhhh, you're right. I know you're right," Sakura stared at the screen, trying to muster up the courage to log back in. Finally, she squeezed her eyes shut and clicked the log-in button. When she peaked a minute later, she was still standing in the same location from where she'd logged out, and Meister and RollOutBoy were also still there.
[Here] RollOutBoy: Are you okay?
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: ?
[Here] SakuraBlossom: I'm okay!
[Here] SakuraBlossom: Our internet flickered because my roommate was drying her hair
Behind her, Hinata hummed quietly to herself as she got ready to take an evening shower. Tenten hadn't gotten up from her bed since she went to lie down after dinner. Temari still wasn't in the apartment.
[Here] RollOutBoy: O
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: Just to clarify
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: unlike you
[Here] SakuraBlossom: ?
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: I haven't been confessed to before
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: ever
[Here] SakuraBlossom: really?
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: yes
Is he… No, that can't be right. But maybe? Is Uchiha-senpai being… Jealous? Hang on, though. I know he's been confessed too - we saw it that day on the balcony! Someone tried to hand him a love letter in the middle of the road.
[Here] SakuraBlossom: Hmmm I seem to remember something else
[Here] SakuraBlossom: I saw someone hand you a love letter in the middle of the street this semester
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: I don't remember anyone like that
[Here] SakuraBlossom: in the middle of the term
[Here] SakuraBlossom: Right outside the dorms!
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: Unlike you, who has received confessions ever since you were a kid
[Here] RollOutBoy: Oooooo
[Here] RollOutBoy: I need more popcorn for this
[Here] SakuraBlossom: Really? You don't remember at all
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: not being confessed to
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: maybe being stopped
[Here] SakuraBlossom: Ah hah! J'accuse!
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: I think someone was handing out flyers
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: I didn't take one
[Here] SakuraBlossom: …
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: At least I assumed it was flyers
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: who would stop a stranger in the middle of the street to give them a love confession?
[Here] SakuraBlossom: …
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: Unless someone's done that to you?
Sakura wanted to cry without tears. It'd happened, and it hadn't just been once.
[Here] Sm1rkMeister: My wife is very popular
[Here] SakuraBlossom: She must have been handing out flyers
[Here] SakuraBlossom: anyways
[Here] SakuraBlossom: this kind of popularity is kind of a pain
[Here] SakuraBlossom: no point collecting too many
[Here] SakuraBlossom: quantity over quality, right?
[Here] SakuraBlossom: I got the best quality so who cares about quantity?
Even Chouji was astonished when he saw that message. When he finally recovered his wits, though, he looked straight at Sasuke.
Then he started laughing his head off.
Naruto and Kiba, deep as they were into their respective tasks, were both irritated enough by the raucous laughter that they both looked at Chouji like he'd grown a second head.
"L-L-Look at Sasuke," Chouji sputtered between laughter. Naruto and Kiba both looked but they were too late, they'd missed it.
Sasuke had already turned his back on them and gone towards the balcony, hiding the wonderful sight that had made Chouji laugh so hard
Sasuke, unflappable, ice-cold, breaker of many hearts at Konoha U, had turned a bright tomato red.
[Here] RollOutBoy: … I'm just going to go, okay?
[Here] RollOutBoy: I'll uh
[Here] RollOutBoy: just leave you guys to your
[Here] RollOutBoy: flirting
[Here] SakuraBlossom: ?
[Here] SakuraBlossom: ?
[Here] SakuraBlossom: Meister?
"Ahhh!" Sakura actually shrieked this time as she slammed her computer shut again, covering her face with her hands
"N-Now what is it?" Hinata asked
"I broke Meister!" Sakura wailed, "He's not responding!"
"What did you do, Sakura-chan, propose to him and ask to have his first-born child?" Tenten asked.
"No! Nothing like that!" Just when Sakura was about to explain, the dorm phone rang.
She froze.
"Well? Are you going to pick it up, or what?" Tenten demanded.
"Can either of you?" Sakura asked hopefully.
"N-Nope."
"I'm not getting in the middle of that. Go on."
"I'm working up to it!"
"Hurry up!"
"SHANNARO - Fine!" Sakura yelled, stomping to the phone. "Hello?"
"It's me." Sasuke-senpai's voice responded
"Oh," Real smart, Sakura. Try to find two brain cells to rub together. "Did you disconnect too?"
"En. Naruto was blow drying his hair. The wiring on campus seems to be a bit unreliable."
Old man's hair doesn't look like it's ever seen a hair dryer. Sasuke-senpai, do you really have to make fun of me at every opportunity?
Almost as if Sasuke-senpai had seen the consternation on her face, Sakura heard a faint, almost imperceptible chuckle.
"Are you… laughing?"
"Hn," She could still hear the smile in his voice. "I'm happy."
Sakura froze. Is it because of what I said? I… make Sasuke-senpai happy? Baffled, embarrassed, and flustered, her face slowly turned a bright shade of red. "Me… me too." She whispered back into her phone. She glanced furtively behind her, where Hinata and Tenten were studiously pretending not to eavesdrop.
"Listen, I have pets for everyone. I'll give you yours later."
"Hn. Chouji mentioned it."
"Ours are legendary. Don't tell them," Sakura smiled.
"Hn." She swore that she could hear that smile in his voice now. Maybe she was just delusional. "I already have a hawk."
"Well you can have a snake, too. It's supposed to unlock a whole other group of jutsus. With your sharingan, you don't need to remember all those handseals, either.."
"Hn. Thank you."
"They added a new feature, where your spouse can raise both pets at once. So I can help you level this summer, if you're going to be busy with New Way."
"No internship?"
"Not yet. I still have time though."
"You'll find something. What pet did you choose?"
"A slug. It'll help with my med-nin stuff. And snakes are weak to slugs, so you better be careful, or I'll get you."
"You already have."
Shannaro! He kept doing this to her. Some day, she might not temporarily lose her grasp on reality when he launched a one-liner like that at her.
"Sakura?"
"Hm? I'm still here," As Sakura twirled the cord between her fingers, she caught sight of the clock and remembered a promise she'd made a while ago. "Ah I forgot - Do you have time to do a mission tonight? I promised a friend I'd help her with the Underworld hag."
"Sure. We need six for the mission."
"CL's supposed to grab three more. I don't know who else she's asked though"
╮(￣ω￣;)╭
[Clan] Chun_Lee: Is anyone up to do the underworld hag tonight?
[Clan] Chun_Lee: Looking for three more, anyone welcome, so long as you meet the level requirement
[Clan] Chun_Lee: even beginners!
[Clan] Wundterwall: Me!
[Clan] Wundterwall: I haven't done a dungeon before, though
[Clan] Chun_Lee: Thats okay, we'll take you
[Clan] Chun_Lee: I'll send you an invite
[Clan] Chun_Lee: Anyone else?
[Clan] SakiChan: I wish I could, but I'm not high enough level
[Clan] Fireykunai: I have to log off in 20 mins
[Clan] Chun_Lee: Aww too bad :( :( :(
[Clan] Chun_Lee: Anyone else? We really need two more people!
[Clan] Chun_Lee: I'll take anyone
[Clan] Chun_Lee: anyone?
[Clan] Chun_Lee: ?
[Clan] FrieswithThat: You said you need two, right?
[Clan] FrieswithThat: Ami and I can go
AN: Sasuke's landing critical hit after critical hit, isn't he? Huehuehue
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and Happy Holidays to those who don't. Please consider this cliffhanger a present to anyone who may want or need one during this joyous/trying/banal times, whichever they may be to you. Eagle eyed Drama viewers will note a miiiiinor tweak I'm making this chapter. Minor. Very minor. I welcome all speculation but I will not comment on any of it, unless it is with the non-committal smilie face of no spoilers :) This phone call always makes me smile in the original drama - there's so much subtext in the scene, it takes a couple of watches to get it all; hopefully I've captured it suitably for all my readers this time around. Finally - someone asked about my upload schedule, and I'm sorry to report that between life, work, and more work, I have no schedule. However, my frequent AO3 commenters will notice that I reply to all comments right before or right after I post a new chapter (I answer comments as fuel to get through the posting inertia), so wink wink, nudge, nudge, lol. But as always, thanks for stopping by, and as always, comments, reviews, kudos, favourites, bookmarks, and odes to joy always make my day. See you soon!