"Wait, what are we watching tonight?" Ember asked as she walked through Generil on a quiet patrol while on comms with Baozhai, "You're definitely gonna love it, it's a Korean drama called the house wives of Namyangju-si, I've chosen an especially violent and petty episode to start with…" baozhai answered with a smug grin but Ember couldn't see it.
"What in the world is a housewife and a Korean drama...?" Ember asked with the utmost and genuine ignorance and curiosity as she perambulated the streets, looking for the next attack or assignment.
"Oh, sweety, what monster has been depriving you of entertainment?" Baozhai responded with one eye squinted and one eye widened as she couldn't believe that question.
"I have, I've been exhaustingly absorbed into finding history on this... Entire place!" Ember confessed with a weary tone, "While simultaneously staying focused on keeping myself trained and conditioned during free time." Ember finished while she stopped, parkoured her way on to the edge of a roof and sat down, feet hanging.
"Sounds like you want an escape from all of that, then tonight I'll make sure to distract you from the stress so you can keep that head of hair!" Baozhai promised after hearing her bestfriend's troubles.
Ember gave a look of confusion, though Baozhai couldn't see it, "Stress can make your hair fall out?" She asked while feeling her hair.
"Ah-- Right, so, what sort of snacks should I bring? I have carrots and Pineapple juice, anything else?" Baozhai responded with the intention of changing the topic.
"Anything but coffee--" Ember replied but she was cut off by Baozhai asking her to hold her thought for a moment.
"Bao, we've found another cursed bunker, spiral bronze staircase down, definitely gonna have tungsten walls and a bronze-ish boy." Baozhai heard from one of the Gen-Oath members of her city she's been assisting. Baozhai asked them to wait.
"Looks like you've got an excuse to visit earlier than eight PM, Emb!" Baozhai informed her with excitement.
"No." Ember calmly responded as she back flipped off the edge to continue walking.
"You don't even know what I was going to say!" Baozhai came out with disappointment in her tone.
"A while ago, you asked me if I could grab you something from a store, I noticed you coincidentally make a certain tone with your voice like Lyle and Artus before they ask me to do something. Your voice has that very same tone." Ember informed her bestfriend, "And If I had a guess based on how you're rushing me to come to Alyi, some of the Gen-Oath members need my help there but I can't leave my patch pregnable." Ember finished giving a good reason.
Baozhai couldn't believe what she was hearing, she tried to remember back on what she asked for and ended up agreeing, "Emb's training is fixed into her but it's NOT ineradicable, at least I'll show that with tonight." Baozhai thought to herself after realizing her friend is a deep workaholic.
"You alright there, Bao?" Ember asked a few times, aiming to catch her attention with each time, "Uh huh, yep, nan wanjeon gwaenchanh-a!" Baozhai answered back after being brought out of her thoughts.
"Okaaay." Ember replied with emphasis, "It'll be fine, Generil still got Lyle, Artus and whoever the fourth member is protecting the place." Baozhai reasoned in an attempt to change her mind.
Ember gave her points some thought, she realized the likeliness that Aleph would ever need help, how his presence in the city makes theirs practically pointless, all of the monsters up to this point could be taken care of by him in less than half the time it took them as a team.
"You're lucky leaving now wouldn't be a total dereliction, part of my duty is also assisting my team when faced with trouble, give me the details on the way!" Said Ember as she got prepared to move.
In a completely random alleyway the Alyi station blocked off, lied a spiral bronze staircase that led down into an uncharted subterranean labrynth. The police did everything they could to stop any and everyone from entering it, there was a number you could count on one hand that had the gall to try to enter but was apprehended by the authorities and an even larger number you'd need more hands to count that had their own theories and curiosity about it.
Ember found her way to this Alleyway after Baozhai told her on the way. Two familiar men in Gen-Oath uniform except with yellow blended in theirs instead of blue were there as if they were waiting for someone to arrive, one was six-five she estimated and the other looked to be five-eight making him slightly taller than her, the bigger member came with bulk, the other much, much less but he looked exceptionally athletic regardless. They were dressed like a Knight and squire. One has a one-handed mace and the other comes equipment with a one-handed crossbow.
"Hopefully, it'll be another Silverback we need to fight so I can show her some of my Jiujutsu techniques or pro-wrestling skills." Ember saw from the larger brolic guy she assumed to be Blair, "Don't let her distract you in there, man, the only reason she's going down with us is so she can test her experiments as she puts it in a "Humane way" remember that?" Ember heard the much smaller guy reply.
Ember jumped down from the rooftop and landed near the two relatives, scaring Blair and confusing Bliant as they immediately noticed her uniform, her armor, are exactly like their own.
"Those curves definitely caused a lot of men to crash but you're not... Bao..." Said Bliant with disappointment in his tone, his eyes were downcast. Ember gave him a choleric look.
"And you're not a handsome, suave and swift swordsman and instead a flirty knucklehead with a mace. Let me call up Bao to see if she remembers your name." Ember snapped back with after hearing his tone.
"That dumpster's starving over there, you should go feed it your comebacks." Bliant came back with as a small part of that touched him, "Hey, Bliant, chill out." Blair told his little brother, he put out his hand that glowed a fiery orange out of his palm, Bliant stopped and went to squat near the spiral steps they were about to throw themselves down.
"Hi, Please, forgive my little brother's... Behavior. We're Blair and Bliant Tavis." Blair asked of Ember as he looked at a defeated Bliant near the end, "So, you were sent by Miss Chen, right?" He finished as he went in for a handshake but Ember walked right past him.
"Yeah, and she and I have a foreign drama series to watch so let's make this quick." Ember replied with an urgent tone as she skipped past his handshake and started checking out the spiral staircase. He looked unamused and gave her unenthusiastic eyes.
Blair grabbed Bliant who was busy checking on his face and preparing himself for the stairs and told him with a low voice "Don't worry about me stopping you next time, little brother." encouraging Bliant to give a slight grin.
Blair clapped and turned around remembering how unethical letting her go with them without explaining a few key details would be, that the cons outweighed the pros.
"There's some things you should know about this mysterious mission, below lies an army of various skeletons made out of some durable mysterious metallic material, our weapons, can't break them but they do have a very fragile weak spot. Each one have a different shaped jewel on their chest and they collapse with the simplest split, slit or fracture but they're small. If you see it, don't hold back or hesitate or you might get swarmed." Blair informed Ember with as much enthusiasm as he could musker.
"Got it, let's just hurry up with this." Ember replied and demanded as she turned on her suit's flash light, she went down first and took the lead but once the team was fully in the dark, Blair set his ablaze with a peculiar bright dark orange flame lighting the way like a torch. Ember's brow went high, she wasn't expecting it.
"I think she's curious about your face, big bro." Bliant told his brother after he noticed her staring at him hard, "Oh, we have special abilities gained from the sun and the moon. At least, they act funny depending if it's night and day." Blair informed Ember as the three advanced lower.
"Got it." Ember responded with a dull tone as they continued walking.
Bliant couldn't stand staying quiet, he began talking and with each word, Ember became more annoyed.
"I wanted to be a plumber, most people don't recognize the necessity in the field, Besides being the best at everything I do, being the best at that was my goal." Bliant went on about, "Shut up. Please." Ember asked with a frustrated tone but the real issue she had was how long the spiral staircase was for her.
"I applied for an apprenticeship when I was twenty-one and got the job but then it happened!" Bliant continued ignoring her pleas, then yelled at the end trying to help Ember understand how shocking it was by his tone.
"Don't bring that up, man." Said Blair with a down hearted tone, "That was a terrifying time, chased through the states and living like drifters. Animals live like that, I never want to live like that again." Blair continued with a rant before he gets the shivers and crawleys from the bugs he recalls.
"Oh, c'mon, big bro, it was more exciting than your job as a CNC programmer!" Bliant argued as they continued down, "Excitement's overrated." Blair returns with a quiet voice.
"What happened to you guys?" Ember asked when Blair's tone as he told Bliant to stop caught her curiosity.
"Why do the babes love a man with a horror story?" Bliant asked Blair as he walked with his hands bound to his back, his brother shrugged with confusion. Ember gave him a venomous after this comment that he felt.
As the team walked carefully, they finally reached below, now they must get through a long corridor in the darkness.
"Get down, big bro!" Bliant yelled with urgency and fear in his tone.
Blair ducked letting Bliant swing his mace full force knocking it to the ground, he noticed it's gem on its forehead, so he ran over and finished it off.
Ember couldn't believe she just saw a shiny, bronze skeleton come out of the darkness and attack, it was a fleshless humanoid skeleton but it didn't look quite human to her.
"Oh yeah, when we find what we're looking for, we have a few minutes to find our way back and escape or we're trapped here forever, and with whatever else is down here with us." Blair informed Ember, "Should've been the first thing you told me, however, is there anything else?" Ember replied.
"A few smaller details is here in this small journal by an adventurer that got trapped here, Embassy." Said Bliant as he pulled it from his tactical pouch on his hip, "Nicknames are uncalled for." She replied as she read through the tiny journal.
She was on one side as the other two were on the opposite, making it perfect for a Skeleton to get the bright idea of blindsiding her as she skimmed through, it didn't succeed as dodged it's slash then returned the favor with a rapier in it's exposed gem.
"That's a convenient power to have, where'd it go??" Blair asked as he looked perplexed and intrigued.
Ember had finished reading what she felt was important and noted certain details in her head.
"We're gonna be down here a while" Ember thought in her head after letting out a big sigh, "Got zero clue, some scientists when I was little did studies on me for a moment and couldn't figure it out. I just draw a sword in my mind then it's brought into the physical world. That's the best I could come up with, how about you guys?" Ember replied.
"That's truly fascinating." Said Blair, "What else can you conjure up? Computers?!" Blair continued, the last question his excitement at the possibility of conjuring up tech made him excited.
"No. Enough about me, now I'm curious about what you guys bring to the job besides your night and day personalities?" Ember asked as they searched for a door with a certain symbol on it, the other two know what to look for but Ember recently saw it in the journal.
"If only Bly understood the concept of shutting up." Blair commented, "The idea of accomplishments is constantly shoved down your throat by your own family 24/7, there's no point if others have no clue about them." Bliant mumbled and ranted as he searched from door to door close to Blair for the symbol.
"Somebody had to have placed a curse on us that kicked in at the worse time imaginable, We rely on one another, at the crack of dawn when the sun rises high Bliant can unleash destructive blasts of light that look like the sun that I can keep at bay, during night time when the moon is at its highest I can heal any wound but he can control to what extent and if I can or not. I'm useful for support, he's suited for the fieldwork but I have to work with him or he'd obliterate it and himself in the process. We can't stray too far from one another." Blair caught Ember up to speed.
"Our survival and freedom depended on the other for years before we came here. Still, your tricks helped out tremendously while going through it..." Bliant added as the doors seemed endless to him, "There's nobody else I'd rather be stuck with Lil bro, I thanked Josue for giving us this chance and hearing our story, can't say hunting us wasn't justified though." Blair replied before his eyes widened, he looked at Blaine then looked away feeling guilty, dirty, terrible.
"Why? Why, what'd you guys do??" Ember asked with genuine curiosity about the context behind Blair's reaction.
"Go ahead and tell her, this is the way of moving on. It's in the past now and I'm glad you finally stopped blaming them for it." Said Bliant feeling glad deep down inside but his face didn't show it, it was dull. Blair stayed quiet as he pointed down with his thumb signaling Bliant to duck allowing him to blast an ambush skeleton in the gem on its forehead vanquishing it. He went back to searching in silence afterwards.
"I could've hurt or ended a lot of innocent lives. Thankfully, I got lucky the first few times then got to timing the periodic blasts and moved away but if I had been a second off, if anyone would've suffered cuz of my incompetence, it's something I couldn't have forgiven myself for and I don't even believe that all lives are special but..." Bliant imparted on her with a regretful tone.
Ember took in what he let her know, reflected about how she and her brothers was trained to kill without remorse since 9 years old and how he's similar to Artus. She tried her best to understand what her brother, Artus, and her new teammate were onto.
"The door with the ocean on it!" Blair called out to the others excitedly, "Our journey down here's probably coming to an end soon, gotta destroy the treasures to erase this strange place then escape within a few minutes and we're home free! Hopefully no more shows back up." Said Blair with a tone filled up with anticipation for the treasure they'll have to find.
The three law enforcers and heroes entered the room and were welcomed by turquoise lights and a gigantic body of glistening water that looked bottomless, it was the deepest body of water they had ever seen. It was the cleanest they've ever seen. All was well until Blair saw shadows of something swimming in it, he got a bit worried, it quickly grew into him being very worried.
"What are the odds?" Blair deeply thought about to himself as he stood back up from squatting and resting near the edge as Bliant were bragging off to Ember near the entrance.
"Party boy over here and I have been training since we were forced on the run, masking his face with a flame isn't this guy's only trick." Bliant told Ember as she stood quiet and paid attention, "Now listen, there's something swimming in the water. If it's that, if it is, stay focused and calm and if it becomes too overwhelming, scream and I'll rush back. Do not drop me." Blair informed his brother, who has a deadly fear of snakes.
Bliant's brows went up, he nodded then went to prepare for their ignited bridge.
"I won an award for quickest swimmer back where I'm from, if he does, I got your back, zero hesitation!" Ember replied as she made her way to the edge and conjured up a blade she thought would be right.
Bliant shot a precise and straight blast across the way, then lit it even more on fire maintaining the flames with his other hand, Blair set his boots afire then hopped on not even sure he could maintain what's needed to stay on it. This is only the second time they used their powers like this.
"I've got to stay focused myself and worry about deciding on a plan. I walk slow, I could probably see the giant snake and blast it down before Bly can see it or go across my fastest and hope for the best?" Blair thought out in his head after looking back and giving Bliant a thumbs up.
Blair moved cautiously on the ignited bridge, slow and steady with his eyes wide open. Staying on his toes, watching out carefully and attentively for any sign of whatever minacious creature he couldn't get a clear glimpse of swimming...
Crossbow in hand, after making it halfway without any attacks, Blair then skated across like he was on a surfboard, as quick as the average car but the snake was faster in the water and it hopped out of the water to throw him off the bridge. He was able to keep his balance and stay above but Bliant was sweaty, fearful, shaking when he saw it. He closed his eyes and he put in his all for his brother. Nothing less, pushing harder despite the struggle for more.
The jumpscare halted Blair for a moment as he needed to pull himself together, and for Bliant, he recovered quickly. Continuing to skate across the lake of water to the other smaller platform the valve was on to drain the lake.
He rushed and rushed, Ember realized she was an exceptionally quick swimmer but no matter how hard she could try, she'd never make it to him if something happened. She was irritated that she felt powerless, until some advice she remembered from Nathaniel popped into her mind. She felt like it was silly but she felt impelled to do it as a useless teammate, reluctant friend and sister to do what she was about to do next.
"You're legendary Bliant, you're epic but you can't let him drop, he's your everything and you'd be an absolute shameful disgrace to your family if you don't push through, if you coward out now." Ember yelled out from the top of her lungs, Bliant didn't give any reply but he looked like he was struggling slightly less. Ember realized it was working and with the thought it could buy Blair more time, she continued.
Blair ducked and jumped as he skated across, however, he stayed on track. The snake failed as Blair rolled onto the platform with a slight smile.
"Sit now, rest, man." Ember told Bliant, using that ability tires him out, he wasn't well trained at it. Bliant fell on his butt then laid on his back, with Ember watching Blair, barely in sight but it was enough.
Blair got the feeling to keep his guard up, his crossbow in hand as he kept it up, watching for the metallic aquatic snake, he rolled out the way at the perfect time, it slammed against the wall as hard as it could, trying to smash him up against it. He spotted it's point on it's neck and it crumbled into ash. He scooped some into the bag on his hip.
He started to crank the ancient seeming valve, Ember noticed the water turning into a steel. She began to get curious what drove the entire setting.
She understood that the citizens of Alyi was in danger and that they needed to hurry and close it up. Soon after, Ember noticed a door was revealed behind Blair which the two assumed led to their next task but before Blair entered he turned back around and realized there were two more doors open that led to the same rooms, empty white.
Ember helped Bliant off the ground then began walking away, he, however, smiled and kissed his biceps then immediately followed after her. Didn't take long for the two to notice the doors as well. The team met up in the center still remaining in the blue lit lake space.
"Do we split up?" Bliant asked as he looked at all three doors, "We have zero idea what'll happen if we do and you know how it is to get swarmed by these creepy skeletons, Lil bro." Blair replied, "Yeah. I could've body slammed them though." Bliant responded with a quiet tone. Ember shook her head as she looked at Bliant.
The dynamic brothers continued to talk and back and forth ideas while Ember went by herself and inspected each doorway. She removed her helmet and tried to use her finely tuned senses, she listened in to see if she could hear anything peculiar then took in deep sniffs and got a whiff of a scent. It didn't smell like anything she's smelled before in her life, it stunk.
"Well, the other doors are as silent as a monk but door three, has a repulsive smell the others don't, it's most likely a clue to which door is right." Ember informed her team as she walked back to them covering her nose and trying to forget the smell.
Bliant and Blair stared at her like she was something they've never seen before, "What??" Ember gave for a response, with confusion.
"Babe's got a strong sense of smell, let me get a crack at it, nerds would call me superb at recognizing them." Bliant shrugged while stating as he walked up to the door and took a strong whiff. Bliant noticeably froze, he was completely still with his mouth open and dripping.
"He does that quite often?" Ember asked, Blair suddenly froze as well for a solid moment before running to him, "There's no way! This place is outré and kooky." Blair mumbled on his way.
Ember put back on her mask to keep out the smell as she followed him to the door.
"Clam chowder, reminds me so much of back home, coming back to my apartment after my shift of plumbing apprenticeship and enjoying some great clam chowder!" Said Bliant before he sniffed and sighed, "Well she was terrible for you, had more love for domestic violence, but the chowder on the other hand?" Blair replied as he took in his own whiffs.
Bliant looked over at Blair, "Thanks man, for really reminding me of that." Blair replied sarcastically, while Blair's memories of their dad used to make them clam chowder came pouring in.
"This third wheel thinks we should keep Moving now and make a jump." Said Ember after she realized the floor was returning to water, "Yeah. C'mon!" Blair replied with urgency in his tone, that snake terrified him and he does not want to meet another one. He went in first.
Bliant took his time, after Ember, "Knows what a third wheel is but not finger-licking clam chowder." Bliant said with a low tone, feeling she disrespected clam chowder with her ignorance.
They stepped in, Ember and Bliant saw the clam chowder appear out of nowhere but Blair was buried nose deep and looking down into the mysterious adventurer's journal.
"The badass states here that in these labyrinths, anything can be the treasure, I can't blame whoever made these to make that the prize for one." Said Blair as he read through more details.
The scene around them changed, the space became a jungle filed with the healthiest, green trees and rocks, rivers filled with water, everything looked real. Bliant and Ember noticed before Blair, eventually he noticed too when his head came out of the Adventurer's journal. Bliant got nervous but he tried his best to shake it off for now.
"This is gonna sound, unlikely, but what if that disarticulated skeleton in the second one we banished belonged to the creator? He seemed like he died of Starvation from being stuck, he had two journals detailing the every rule of certain challenges in this place and a beastiary.... Before it lost me."
"Remember what mom says?" Blair asked rhetorically but as a reminder, "Lack of accountabiliy is a liability for accomplishing superiority!" Bliant repeated, Ember can hear the weariness in his tone. Blair nodded his head with approval, Blair and their mother have two different meanings for that motto and they've caused a rift between them for years.
"All of that muscle only to still have the weakest grip." Ember commented with sass in her voice, "Hit me with something you didn't take from your boyfriend, Miss." Bliant returned with as much, "Something's telling me it shouldn't bother me that I don't get that." Ember replied lost. Bliant stared at her with shock at the thought that she's never had a boyfriend.
As Ember and Bliant were bickering like children to Blair, "Guys, I think these guys are the inhabitants of this forest?" Blair brought to his team's attention with a fearful tone.
Two fifteen foot tall monsters were standing menacingly, an ogre and a cyclops, Bliant smiled at Ember then grabbed his mace off his back and sprung into a fight with the pair.
"Bliant-- wait up!" Blair yelled out, "Two things drive him to be reckless, pretty girls and the renown, so, this is your Fault!" Said Blair after he turned back around and jogging backwards.
Ember stared his way and could only think one word to herself upon realizing what he meant before following Blair.
Blair enhanced Bliant 3x his normal athleticism, allowing Bliant to bash away the jade ogre with his mace. The head of his mace had retractable spikes, he was shocked to find that the spikes penetrated through it gut but he soon found out the perks of it not being organic.
The ogre roared then backhanded Bliant away, sending him flying back to Ember and Blair. Bliant's stamina returned, Blair recognized this and gave him a special signal, Bliant recognized this and blasted another concentrated blast towards the ceiling and reinforced it allowing Blair to hop on and surf.
He skated upwards and acted as air support, trying to spot any clue to where their gems could be but he saw none then hopped off. He gave a nod to Bliant and even Ember understood.
Ember speedily sprinted towards the jade cyclops to see if she could do any better to spot any, even Bliant was impressed by her astonishing speed and stamina.
She saw the Jade Cyclops pulling his fist back for a punch as she swiftly approached but only for a quick glance, she realized he was doing it slowly to attack with his other hand in an attempt to catch her off guard and performed a side flip onto that one instead with perfect timing or she'd be crushed under his hulking fist.
She continued her way up then back flipped off and saw nothing on her way down, he tried another punch quickly turning towards her but she slid under him in time and saw his small gem in a disturbing spot. As she slid under him, under his loincloth she recognized resembling an aztecian maxlatl and his cloak, she kept note of where it was placed.
Bliant was stuck in a clash with the intimidating ogre, with his friend nearby enough to give him more strength, however, Ember hastened to Blair to brief him about the Cyclops, which was giving chase.
The two took off, since neither were a match for him physically and Ember realized the Cyclops was smarter than it led on, smarter than the previous creatures during their brief fight.
"Isn't going to work, that Cyclops and the ogre are protecting the Chowder, you guys need to keep it occupied, you got anything special like what was that glow earlier for?" Blair replied to her plan.
"You're a brilliant man, Blair Cadel Tavis, you got 30 minutes to find it!" Ember told him, he was shocked to find slight excitement in her tone. Very slight and very hard to detect but heard it.
"How'd you know my middle name?" Blair asked with an upset tone by the surprising revelation, "Bliant told Bao who told me and said she loved it. GO!" Ember responded before she threw her sword at the Jade Cyclop's head to catch it's attention.
"30 minutes, Ember snuffed it out, I've got to calm down and combine our plans." Blair thought to himself after leaving the area and climbing a tree.
Ember dashes in with her blade in hand, she had the slight edge in speed but was outmatched by raw physical power which she decided to take the bruising. She used her secondary ability as the Jade Cyclops smashed her to ground over and over, taking a pause when she stopped moving only to resume when she moved again, she realized what she had to do to keep its attention.
It was exactly twenty-six minutes since Blair and Ember split. Bliant was having the time of his life against the Ogre, he slapped it around and it slapped him around. A match in strength allowing him to unleash his held back ferocity. He loved all three of the labrynths that was filled with powerful monsters but this ogre was perfect for him. It tried to grab him but he smack it's hand away with his face, then kicked the other one.
Earthquakes threw everyone off balance, tremors and trees falling through out, Ember saw rolled over to dodge one of the Jade Cyclop's punches as she watched Blair taking off and signaling her to follow.
Blair shot the butt of the Jade Ogre which transferred its aggro onto him after Bliant was caught offguard by Blair and Ember sprinting towards them. Blair dodged and moved away from the Jade Ogre, he looked back and saw the Jade Cyclops refusing to give up Ember.
His eyes widened and decided to catch up with Ember and Bliant sprinting to them with extremity.
The team hopped on platforms, with the Jade Cyclops and Jade Ogre racing after them up, Blair was terrified since each platform perfectly fit each monster's foot as they hopped after he and his team upwards. The platforms were not reacting to either of their weight like he thought they should have but then again, they were floatijg to begin with which was strange.
The team dashed and leapt with all of the speed and skill they could they had them made leapt into a doorway too small for either monster.
Into the darkness they rushed into, none of them could see, until Blair made use of himself being a torch again and it lead them back into the long and dark corridor, from here they needed to find another door with a specific symbol.
"You really need to just shut up, nobody cares about you winning top of the class in high school, I defeated an elite mathematician." Ember yelled after hearing Bliant brag about more of his accomplishments while the three exited the bunker.
Blair saw it was night, he felt lucky it didn't turn midnight during the battle on Bliant. He noticed the bunkers having a weird sense of time for reach one.
"Speaking of numbers, one of those skeletons back there promised me he'd get your number for me but he didn't have the guts." Bliant replied with a subtle flirtatious tone. Ember shook hands with Blair then walked away without another further word to Baozhai's apartment.
Blair and Bliant together saw the bunker slowly disintegrate into ash and those ashes got carried off by the wind. Both were hoping that was the last of them.