Once Upon a Time...(IC)

[Heritage]

Lynn Epstein had spent the better part of two days wandering the stacks at both the Freedom College and FCU libraries, trying to get a handle on just what sort of mystical beastie she was, but had come up more or less dry. This had less to do with the merits of the two schools' respective collections, and a lot more to do with the limits of her incomplete high school education. All the books had titles like "The Metaphysical Proof of the Unquantifiable Aspects of Post-Feminist Interpretation of Dreams", with very few pictures or examples that she could get her head around.

God, I am so stupid. I bet Ben could read this kinda stuff; he actually finished law school, and I bet he had to read stuff ten times harder than this, and in Latin.

Despite the crushing boredom and headaches the world of academia gave her, there were a few useful facts she gleaned from her time among the dusty tomes:

1. Since no one taught her any magic, and her power seemed more or less innate, she was probably now closest to being some kind of mythological-type creature.

2. There are several creatures and beings known for shapeshifting powers, including many gods(!), Japanese animals and some types of faeries, which can be good or bad.

3. There are a lot of cute boys in college. Seriously. :love:

Finally Lynn decided that what she was looking for was not going to be found in a library, but in some odd little bookstore, the kind of places you see in old horror movies and such. After quizzing some of the students (mostly the cute guys!), she made her way down to Riverside, one of her favorite neighborhoods in the city.

I wonder how much rent is down here? I might need to get a roommate to pull that off, but it would be kinda cool to have something to do at night that didn't involve punching people in the face.

The place was called 'The Never Ending Story', and the minute she stepped through the door, she felt at home; something about the smell of old books...

It's like Grampa's old store, back in the West End.

But this was no ordinary bookstore; the shelves formed all sorts of odd angles, and there were stairs going up and down, and ladders on wheels almost two stories high.

Wow, it's like some sort of maze, or something you'd see in a Dr. Seuss book!

After about ten minutes of aimless wandering, Lynn decided she should probably ask for some help; she spotted a young woman not too much older than herself wearing some sort of hippie shirt and baggy cargo pants.

She looks like she might be a pagan or something, or at least dated one once.

The young shapeshifter made her way over to the hippie girl and softly cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry, excuse me?"

The girl turned, and Lynn saw she was a little bit older than she first thought, but not by too much; she had an odd look in her eye, tired but wary, and it seemed like she almost scanned her, rapidly cataloging every item of clothing she was wearing, eye color, hair color, the works. But then the older girl smiled and some of the wariness left her face.

"Hi, can I help you?"

"Um, do you work here?"

The hippie girl laughed, and it was a hard, sad laugh, with maybe a hint of...what, regret? She shook her head.

"Hell no, I'm...it's not important."

She put her hands on her hips and turned to look at the various shelves and their odd angles.

"I may not work here, but I am in here all the time; you need help finding something?"

Lynn nodded nervously; the older girl scared her just a bit, with the look in her eye, and her laugh. It also looked like she was seriously cut under that T-shirt blouse thing she was wearing.

"Um, yeah! I was actually looking for, y'know, books on like...well, magic and folktales and stuff?" After a few seconds, she hastily added, "It's for school."

Hippie Girl frowned for a few seconds, but then sort of shrugged.

"Okay, well, you're actually in luck, because I spend a lot of time in that aisle. It's over here..."

She led Lynn to a dark corner of the store, and the shelves were crammed with all manner of books in all manner of sizes; a few of them looked positively ancient, but they were behind glass and padlocked. As her eyes wandered over the myriad spines, her guide spoke once more.

"So...what exactly are you looking for?"

The smaller girl was too in awe of the impressive selection to see the slightly-clouded face of her companion.

"Uh, like mythology, faerie tales...Japanese manga with little fox people in them..."

"Nothing about, say, spellcasting, rituals, that sort of thing?"

Lynn smiled and shook her head.

"No way, I don't, no! Bleah! That's for the like creepy Goth girls in the back of the cafeteria!"

Then her eyes went wide and she waved her hands nervously.

"Oh God, I'm sorry, are you like a Wiccan or something? I didn't mean to, y'know, offend you or anything!"

The other girl laughed, and almost the last drop of guarded behavior left her body language. Almost.

"No, no, it's fine, it's just-"

She sighed, reached into her pocket, pulled out her wallet and flipped it open.

"I'm a cop, a detective; sometimes girls your age get into stuff they can't handle, and then it's people like me who have to clean up the mess."

Lynn felt the blood leave her face, and started to feel a bit light-headed.

"Oh God, is this like a sting? Are these books illegal? Oh God, I'm sorry! I didn't even buy anything yet!"

In a flash, the badge was out of sight, and the detective gently held the young girl's shoulders.

"No, absolutely not. Look-"

She indicated one of the locked shelves with a jerk of her head.

"Some of the books on that shelf, I strongly suggest you don't purchase; they're not illegal, but they are not for amateurs, either."

Then the weirdo hippie cop stepped over to another shelf and started hunting for books, mostly paperbacks.

"I don't know what kind of budget you're limited by, but some of these...here, this one's on kitsune. Aaaaaaand, ooh, here's a really good one on...Celtic mythology."

She presented Lynn with a small stack of books and gave her a comforting smile.

"These will give you a good start; if you want, buy a coffee or just sit down, read 'em over and see what you like."

The young crimefighter had seen a lot of strange things on the streets of Freedom City, but this lady had to be the weirdest, bar none.

"What kind of cop are you?" It came out a lot more blunt than she intended.

The policewoman laughed (How old was she?) and shook her head.

"Kind of a weird one, I'll admit; ask anyone on the force, they'll tell you the same. Here-"

She got her wallet back out and removed a small white business card, which she handed to the befuddled Lynn.

"You want to read up on this stuff, be my guest; it's fascinating stuff, really. But if you ever see something genuinely weird, like so weird you think you fell asleep and woke up in a horror movie? Call me."

The shapeshifter stared down at the card blankly.

"'Lieutenant Morena Colby'."

Colby wrinkles up her nose.

"Ah, call me 'Reena'; everybody else does."

Lynn looked up from the card, still a bit dazed.

"Okay, you can call me...Lynn."

"Lynn...?"

She shook her head firmly."No, just Lynn."

The detective looked perplexed herself for a few seconds, but finally nodded.

"Oh, ah, okay, nice to meet you, Lynn."

"Nice to meet you too, Lieutenant."

"Ah-ah, what'd I say?"

"That everyone calls you 'Reena'."

"Ehhh-xactly! Enjoy those books now!"

After the strangest cop in the known universe was gone, Lynn found an nice empty chair and promptly say down.

"There is no way in hell that just happened."

After a few moments of gazing after the departed detective, the young vigilantee shook her head clear and started to read.

[Kavos]

Sirius entered the small bookstore with a slight huff. It had taken him almost an hour to get away from the grove, everybody had wanted to talk to him.

Wandering through around the book store Sirius looked like a man on a mission. He had several books he wanted the get, One on ancient Celtic mythology, and another on the Japanese Kitsune myths.

While Sirius still didn't know what he was, he could at least look into it. From an obvious standpoint he would of guessed he was a kitsune, but perhaps there was an obscure celtic/galic creature that was also a fox, After all Sirius had yet to be able to do the Kitsunes signature ability of shapeshifting.

Wandering down the aisle Sirius passed two woman who were talking, Sirius kept on his search for the books. He had searched the entire library at home, but had not found these two books, The librarian had mumbled something about short on supplies, and a shipment of new books (with the two sirius wanted) was due to arrive in three months.

Sirius had no intention of waiting that long... But as Sirius stalked the aisles he had a sinking feeling that he may have to. Pouting Sirius sighed and started to head out of the shop. That's when he spotted it. "Myth's and Legends of the Kitsune." over on a table with some young woman reading... Sirius couldn't believe his eyes. There on the table with the young woman he had passed in the aisles a few moments ago, were the two books he was after.

Now that Sirius had his books in sight, there was no way he was going to wait three month's the get them. Nor was he about to yet some Druid wannabe take them either. Quickly Sirius crossed the room toward the table and the young woman.

"Did you know that the Celtics, were ancient druids who were wiped out by the Romans. Despite never actually threatening them, and that the stories’ of druids being evil is a lie, and that in fact they helped many people all over there territory by helping the crops grow, and by banishing evil spirits from the land..." Sirius said to the young woman his voice think with an Irish accent. Sirius hoped that with any luck the girl would bite, and he'd be able to wrangle the books away from her, although if that didn't work there was always plane B...

[Heritage]

"Did you know that the Celtics, were ancient druids who were wiped out by the Romans. Despite never actually threatening them, and that the stories’ of druids being evil is a lie, and that in fact they helped many people all over there territory by helping the crops grow, and by banishing evil spirits from the land..."

So this weird skinny Irish guy with long hair came right up to Lynn as she was reading and started going on about the druids, out of the blue! Was this normal at places like this? Maybe he was a college student, and he was looking for some sort of discussion group, or maybe this was the normal way he hit on girls, by blurting out obscure facts. She was currently wearing jeans, a Dr. Zoidberg T-shirt and an old fatigue jacket, so he probably figured she was a FreeSA student or something.

For his part, he was cute-ish, in a half-starved exchange student way, and he sounded like he knew his stuff; too bad about the lack of social skills, but again, he's from Europe, so maybe they do things differently over there.

Peering up from her book, Lynn tentatively responded.

"Uh, all I know about druids I learned from watching my brother play Dungeons & Dragons; they love and protect nature, they, uh, can't wear metal armor, for some weird reason, and they're usually neutral, because, y'know, nature is neither good nor evil, it's just nature, right? They can also cast spells, to do stuff like heal people and turn acorns into grenades."

She scrunches up her face.

"I'm guessing most of that isn't historically accurate? My name is Lynn, by the way."

[Kavos]

Sirius looked somewhat taken aback, before returning to his original demeanour. "A few inaccuracies but ironically mostly correct, given the right situation." Sirius mused thinking over the heavy arcane armour the Knights of the circle ware.

Holding out his hand Sirius did a sort of half bow, "Sirius, Sirius Vulpes."

Sirius lowers his hand again after a few seconds regardless of whether Lynn takes it or not. "I do not mean to be rude, but sometime's its easer to brake the ice than toy around the uncomfortableness of the formalities." Sirius says, a coy smile on his face, as he attempts to be charming.

[Heritage]

"A few inaccuracies but ironically mostly correct, given the right situation."

Huh. Ben always said arguing about the D&D rules made him a better lawyer; I guess that goofy game really was educational!

"Sirius, Sirius Vulpes."

Lynn takes his hand and give it a little shake, still a little put off by this guy with his seriously weird name, but he seems to be harmless.

"Pleased to meecha, Sirius."

"I do not mean to be rude, but sometime's its easer to brake the ice than toy around the uncomfortableness of the formalities."

Yeah, right; absolutely nothing uncomfortable about this conversation! :roll:

Lynn was till trying to get her head around this guy; was he running a con, or is he just really outgoing but in an awkward way? His whole approach threw her for a loop.

"Um, yeah, okay, So, are you like a student or something? I take it your some kind of Celtic history buff, what with all the stuff about the druids."

She indicates a nearby chair with a nod of her head.

"You want to sit and, like, chat about stuff?"

[Kavos]

Sirius gracefully take's the offered seat. "In a manner of speaking you could say I'm a student, albeit reluctantly." Sirius replies, half musing to himself before his attention returns to Lynn. "I've only been in Freedom City for several month's now, and I've recently had some unexpected history pop up, that i must research." Sirius say's eyeing off the two books in Lynn’s possession.

Sirius smirks inwardly to himself, this was going much better than he had expected. She was seemed like a nice enough girl, a tad naive but nice enough. Although he could only sense it if he was in his fox form, Sirius had a sneaking suspicion that if he were in his fox form, he'd probably be able to sense magic on this one, wild untrained and untapped magic... but that was only a suspicion and he wouldn't know unless he encounter her in his fox form.

"So your researching Celtic mythology and Kitsune are you? rather interesting reading selection." Sirius continues...

[Heritage]

"In a manner of speaking you could say I'm a student, albeit reluctantly." Sirius replies, half musing to himself before his attention returns to Lynn. "I've only been in Freedom City for several month's now, and I've recently had some unexpected history pop up, that i must research."

"So your researching Celtic mythology and Kitsune are you? rather interesting reading selection."

Lynn shrugs offhandedly.

"Well to be honest, the kitsune book isn't what I'm really looking for; very cool pictures of old Japanese paintings, though."

She holds the book open to show him; it's more of a glossy coffee table book with a smattering of descriptiosn and interesting tidbits.

"See? Cool stuff."

She sets it aside and starts flipping through the somewhat larger Celtic book; it's more of an anthropological overview of the myth cycles, legends and folklore of Ireland and Scotland, targeting the amateur enthusiast, and has a few black-and-white line illustrations.

"This is more what I'm looking for, stuff about the 'Day-on Sid-hee', hollow hills and stuff. The Faerie Courts, goblins and brownies, that kinda thing."

Lynn peers closely at a caption, holding the book right up to her face.

"God, this Gaelic stuff is so hard to pronounce! 'Two-hatha Dee Dannon'; hmm, maybe they invented yogurt."

She chuckles at her own weak joke, then stops and looks up at Sirius, and her brow furrows with concern.

"Oh man, I'm sorry! This is all Irish stuff, right? I didn't mean to make fun of your cultural heritage or anything."

The young woman sits up and starts craning her neck to scan the store; somewhat oddly, she seems to be sniffing the air as well.

"Maybe I could buy you like a scone or something; do you like scones, or is that more an English thing?"

[Kavos]

Sirius chuckles, "No offence taken, Even I find some of those name's difficult to pronounce." Sirius muses, "And a scone would be fine, thank you." Musing for a second Sirius continues, "But if your buying the scones than I insist on buying the a hot drink for you. Coffee? Coco? Tea?" Sirius asks.

[Heritage]

Sirius chuckles, "No offence taken, Even I find some of those name's difficult to pronounce." Sirius muses, "And a scone would be fine, thank you." Musing for a second Sirius continues, "But if your buying the scones than I insist on buying the a hot drink for you. Coffee? Coco? Tea?" Sirius asks.

Lynn's eyes light up at the mention of free hot liquids.

"Oh, coffee for sure! Lots of cream and sugar, with caramel syrup and whipped cream if they have it!"

She jumps up, grabs the Celtic book and tucks it under her arm, leaving the kitsune book on the low table by her chair. She eagerly points across the bookstore.

"From the smell of it, I think the coffee and baked goods are over thataway."

[Kavos]

Sirius stands and allows Lynn to lead the way. Quickly snatching up the Kitsune book before he follows. 'One down, one two go.' Sirius thinks to himself with an inward smile.

"So I take it your a student?" Sirius asks as he follows. "Or are you just expanding your cultural knowledge?" Sirius adds.

[Heritage]

"So I take it your a student?" Sirius asks as he follows. "Or are you just expanding your cultural knowledge?" Sirius adds.

Lynn gets in line behind a girl with matted dreadlocks who reeks of patchouli and infrequent bathing; despite her best efforts to breathe through her mouth, her face begins to crumple with dismay.

"Uh, what? You mean me? Heck no, I didn't even finish high school! I, uh, do plan on getting my GED soon, though; maybe then I could try for like community college or something. I have no idea what I'd actually major in."

That was actually a really good question; maybe she should think about college on down the road...

"So yeah, I guess a sort of general broadening of the horizons kinda thing. Actually-"

She casually looks around to make sure no one else is paying attention, then leans in to murmur to the Irish boy.

"I'm on a kind of a quest, just like Lancelot and Galahad!"

Lynn looks thoughtful for a second as she steps forward to place her order.

"Well, maybe more like Brave Sir Robin."

The beautiful brunette laughs and wiggles her eyebrows.

"Pretty cool, huh?"

[Kavos]

Sirius nod's knowingly as lynn spoke about increasing her horizen's, His smile decisivly got larger however as she told him about her quest...

"Hmm how interesting, you could say that I'm on a quest as well... Sort of a family thing, something that my family has been working toward's for a very long time." Sirius said, finding it hard to hide his smirk. This really was going far better than he had exspected.

[Heritage]

"Hmm how interesting, you could say that I'm on a quest as well... Sort of a family thing, something that my family has been working toward's for a very long time."

Not really playing very close attention, Lynn blows on her coffee and hands Sirius his scone along with a napkin.

"Really? That's cool."

She leads them to a small coffee table, and sets the Celtic book down on the chair beside her, next to her messenger bag.

"The thing of it is, what I'm looking for? May not even exist, and if it does, it might be pretty dangerous."

Once again she looks around before leaning across the table; there's something to be said for having a pretty girl whispering in your ear all the time.

"You know that magic is real, right? The guys in capes deal with it all the time. What I'm looking for-"

She pulls a pad of paper and a mechanical pencil out of her bag and starts to draw crudely; it looks like two circles that nearly touch on the edges, with a squiggly line between them.

"Is like, y'know, a portal or a weak spot, between two worlds; our world, and another one."

Lynn laughs and sips her coffee, giving herself a whipped cream mustache.

"I know, I'm totally insane, and if I'm not...well, I might end up dead. But I need to find one of these."

She licks her lips as she firmly taps the picture with the pencil.

"And faster would be better."

[Kavos]

"How very interesting idead" Sirius muses as Lynn talk's about Magic and portals. "Would it be supprising than if I were to tell you that I beleave you, and in fact I have the mean's to help you." Sirius smooth talks as he descreatly raises a hand and for the breafest of moments his hand appeared in a wash of red/blue fire.

Sirius frown's slightly to himself, that had been harder than it use to be. Although he had much more control of his Fox form, his access to his power had been limited, and he now needed the spellbook to focus his power.

Briging his attention back to Lynn Sirius smiled. "So you see I have a somewhat uneak perspective that may come in handy for you quest." 'Not to mention handy for me...' Sirius say's, saying the last part privatly in his own head.

[Heritage]

Lynn's eyes go wide at Sirius' display of power; she leans forward and whispers harshly.

"Dude, keep a lid on it! You shouldn't just...do stuff like that!"

Once she's sure no else noticed the quick flicker of flames, she turns back to the young Irishman with a sly grin.

"And for the record, you ain't the only one with power to flaunt."

The young woman's eyes switch from their normal dark brown to pale blue, bright green and even yellow cat's eyes before reverting back to their regular shade.

"So you see I have a somewhat uneak perspective that may come in handy for you quest."

Clearly considering the possibilities, Lynn nods sagely as she takes another sip of coffee.

"Mmm. Well, this is all very interesting; maybe we can help each other with our quests. Strength in numbers and all that, right?"

She flips idly through the pages of the mythology book, her glance flitting from the illustrations of gods and wee folk back to the long-haired boy.

"I need to find a portal to the world of Faerie, or at least I think I do; what's the nature of your quest, brave Sir Sirius?"

[Kavos]

"I need to find a portal to the world of Faerie, or at least I think I do;what's the nature of your quest, brave Sir Sirius?"

Sirius thinks for a moment before replying, "Simply put, I'm surching for what i am." Sirius says half telling the truth. "There are a few possabilities..." Sirius says as he indicates to the Kitsune book he had brought along, "however nothing that fit's perfectly." Sirius conceads, a slight look of defeat on his face.

Waving a hand absently Sirius continues, "My mother is verst in such stuff, she may be able to give you... us? guidence into how to enter the Fay realms." Sirius says almost as a whisper, "If you want the help..." He adds even softer at the end.

[Heritage]

"My mother is verst in such stuff, she may be able to give you... us? guidence into how to enter the Fay realms." Sirius says almost as a whisper, "If you want the help..." He adds even softer at the end.

Lynn's jaw drops and her eyes go wide.

"Do I ever, I'm trying to find out the same damn thing! I don't know what I am or why I have these powers, but I think the answers lie in whatever you call it, 'Avalon'. Does your mother live in Freedom? Is she nearby?"

She takes a big gulp of coffee, likes she wants to finish it off now.

[Kavos]

Sirius nods his head in amusement. "I'll See what I can do..." He says as he pulls out an old looking key... "This wont take long." Closing his eye's he holds the key firmly...

"Mother... Mother, can you hear me?" Sirius thinks.

"Yes dear what is it?" The familiar voice of his mother rang in his mind.

"I could use your help, i've encountered a young woman."

"Sirius... when I said keep me informed I didn't mean tell me about every tramp you find."

"Mother! It's not that sort of encounter, she's got magic or something, shapechanger if her little display was anything to go on."

"I care about some shapeshifter why? I'm in the middle of a lesson."

"Mother shes looking for a way into Avalon, I thought we could help her out, I mean having a shapechange as an allie could be handy..."

Silence followed

"Allright I'll be there in five minutes, stay were you are..."

Sirius suddenly felt himself return to the book stoor. Opening his eyes, he smiles slightly and put's the key away. "She'll be here in five." Sirius say's

[Heritage]

"She'll be here in five." Sirius say's

Lynn shakes her head in wonder.

"Wow...can you text on that thing? Who's your provider?"

She chuckles at her own lame joke as she takes another big sip of coffee, but then becomes more serious as she starts flipping through the mythology book again.

"To be honest, I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for."

She smiles and points towards Sirius' pocket.

"Maybe a key, maybe a person; maybe I'll have to go on a quest and rescue some handsome prince from a dragon."

The pretty brunette frowns at the thought of such a confrontation.

"I better not have to fight a dragon; I'd get my ass kicked! Unless I go at it all sideways; y'know, Puss in Boots style, all sneaky and stuff."

She wiggles her eyebrows.

"That would actually be kinda awesome."

She drains the last of her coffee, crumples up her paper cup, and effortlessly makes the three-point shot into the garbage can some twenty feet away; thrusting both fists up in the air, she softly makes a 'roar of the crowd' sound.

"So, what does your mom do, other than answer keys?"

[Kavos]

Sirius kepted an amused grin on his face as Lynn joked about text messagers and fighting dragons. His face falling stern with the question about his mother, "Its err... complicated." Sirius said, avoiding eye contact with Lynn.

[Heritage]

"Its err... complicated."

Lynn frowns slightly, then nods as she fidgets with her sleeve.

"Um, okay, that's...I have some, y'know, stuff with my mom, too. So, no big deal."

She looks around the rest of bookstore, drumming her hands on the table, until her eyes rest back on Sirius. She sighs deeply.

"So, ah...I keep wanting to ask you more about yourself, but my guess is, you're just gonna be all Irish and enigmatic, and tell me 'it's complicted'. Which is fine, but it's no way to kill five minutes, so..."

She sits up in her chair and leans forward on to her elbows

"Whadya want to know about me, Curious George? Fire away; I might even answer."

[Kavos]

Sirius chuckles slightly, "Well than I suppose one of the bigger question's I have would be why do you want to go to Avalon, and why you think your abilities' are Magical and not Mutation?" Sirius asks.

[Heritage]

"Well than I suppose one of the bigger question's I have would be why do you want to go to Avalon, and why you think your abilities' are Magical and not Mutation?"

Lynn nods sagely.

"Good question! Well, there are several compelling clues. First of all, I have it on very good authority that not only am no longer human, but that I am in fact, an extra-dimensional being."

She looks very thoughtful for the first time; clearly, these revelations trouble her.

"I woke up naked in an alley, in the middle of winter, not cold at all, not even shivering. At first, I thought I'd died, but that's crazy talk, right? But now I'm thinkin'...what if I did die? Or I was, like, replaced?"

She pokes the book a few times for emphasis.

"I've been reading up on all this stuff, and a lot of things fit. Like why does iron make me want to die? Iron fences, iron pans, anything like that, all make me feel like I'm gonna barf myself to death. Then I read about changelings, faeries switching out human babies for little monsters and what not."

She leans forward, her big brown eyes intense as she harshly whispers.

"So what if the real Lynn died in that alley, and I'm just a little pixie who thinks she's Lynn?"

[Kavos]

Sirius shrugs "Sound's reasonable enough, I'm still new to all this Magic world stuff too." Checking his watch, "She should be hear soon." Sirius comments.

"So when did you learn about your powers? I mean for me I woke up and me and my bed was on fire...." Sirius face grimaced at the memory. "Nearly burnt the house down, thankfully Mother was prepared for the event."

[Heritage]

"So when did you learn about your powers? I mean for me I woke up and me and my bed was on fire...." "Nearly burnt the house down, thankfully Mother was prepared for the event."

Lynn made a frightened face.

"Yikes! Thankfully I'm not so dangerous. No, I found out I had powers pretty much right after I woke up naked as a jaybird in the middle of February; I wished I had some clothes, and poof!, I had on the same clothes I had when I passed out. Took a lot of trial and error after that to figure out how I made 'em, and then after that I learned how to make different clothes, and then finally change myself."

She grins wickedly at the memory.

"Now that was a fun year."

The young shapeshifter pulls a small mirror out of thin air and checks her face and hair absentmindedly; it appears to be made of silver and has elaborate floral designs embossed on its back.

"So other than torching houses, what other cool stuff can you do?"