The Forbidden Art

Vexoz kept a grip on Teaisha as she seemed to calm down somewhat. He could already tell what was on her mind as the tears rolled down her face. Suddenly, Vera had punched the Mana Spirit, almost knocking her out of his arms! He practically roared at Vera, but knew that any sudden action would only make matters worse. All he could do was try to calm things down....

"I won't put my own happiness over the rest of the worlds." He told Tellas as he subtly switched from restraining the Mana Spirit to comforting her. "It's GENOCIDE! Staying here was seriously a matter of life and death." It pained him to see how horribly one decision effected everyone. If only he had stayed with Vera. If only the Chosen didn't have such a horrible plan in place. If only he was able to stop it and prove it was all worth the trouble....

"I'm not looking for your approval, Tellas. At least I tried to make things better...." As soon as it was perfectly clear that Teaisha was done trying to escape or hurt Vera, he let her loose. The Mana Spirit stayed right in the same close position in front of him.

"You're going to go back with her, aren't you?" She almost wimpered.

A sigh escaped Vexoz as he looked Vera in the eye. "I just don't know...." If only there was a way to make the decision without hurting anyone....

Tellas growled, "If you still care for Vera..." His axe entered his hands, "Prove it with your blade!"

Tellas pointed his ax at Vexoz as he looked down at Teaisha. Practically clinging to him as she looked up with the black eye Vera had gave her. In the past, he would've gladly crossed blades for a woman but now....

"I'm not sure if I still care for Vera." He sighed, then looked down at the Mana Spirit again and wiped a tear away from her cheek. Then, he looked over at Vera who caused her the pain. "How would it even work? Vera's just... well, Vera." He said, almost sharply. "And it's obvious who she really has feelings for, Tellas...."

Tellas harumphed and moved to stand down, before turning to Vera, "Vera?" He asked. His rage at Vexoz betraying Vera's heart wasn't enough for him to rage for long because of the red-head's persence.

Everything happene so fast. Vexoz, for a brief second, seemed regretful of his rejection. And after a challenge from Tellas, he backed down immediately. Vera quickly realized that whatever feelings Vexoz thought he had before, he didn't have anymore.

Stupid Mana Spirit!

When Vera was challenged about her own feelings for Tellas, she was at a loss for words. She was saved from a response by an all-too-familiar crushing presence. It seemed even stronger than before and that much more intimidating.

"Welcome back," Asinoir said smoothly, suddenly appearing in Vera's vision. She smiled a polite, completely fake smile at him. He saw right through it and refused to comment, lest he be brought into the drama.

Sure, he could have said something to Vexoz in an attempt to stop the blooming relationship with Taeisha. The problem was, Asinoir knew Vera couldn't settle down. No point in raising hopes just to have them smashed. Especially right before a big battle. Low morale was just not good for his troops.

Asinoir patted Vera on the head, "All of you come with me. Except for Taeisha, unless she really wants to," He said, his words as cryptic as ever. He turned his back and started to walk to the town hall.

Vexoz quickly turned his attention back to Teaisha. "You want to come?"

"It seems kind-of importaint. Probably shouldn't go like...." She mentioned while taking a step back so he could take notice of her bare body.

"Oh... yeah." He responded. "And with the... you know...." He motioned at her black eye.

Teaisha just gave him a little smile. "I'll live long enough to get back to your class."

Something about Asinoir's tone worried him, though. Whatever was going on, it sounded serious. Something told Vexoz that it would either deal with another invasion, or thier plan for genocide. Probably more the first than the second. Without any other words, Vexoz put his face guard on and followed Asinoir.

As the four of them walked into the war room, Asinoir shut the door behind them. He moved to the edge of the table with the large map, placing both hands upon it.

"One thing has been bothering me," Asinoir said bluntly, taking his time to look at each of them, "You three disappeared three months ago. Not soon after you come back, Cee goes berserk, kills one of our mages, and runs off. We managed to capture one of the enemy but he mysteriously escapes," Asinoir's voice was cold, hard, and very serious, "And almost simultaneously, you come back at the same time. Talking about some sort of temporary peace treaty."

Asinoir's cool fury rose across the room, making the hair on the nape of Vera's neck rise, "Now, how the fuck did that happen?" He asked.

Vera stepped forward, "Well, you see, um, the guy escaped so we chased after him and um, there was a rebellion in the militia's ranks and something almost happened so Kailyn gave me the three months," Vera said hastily, obviously leaving a lot out.

Asinoir slammed his fist onto the table. Vera jumped and flinched at the same time, a true fear crawling into her blood, "You're on a first name basis?! What the fuck did you do, Vera, have one of your lesbian escapades on her?!"

Vera shook her head, "No! No! She's with someone. I didn't learn her last name till I visited Cee's grave. It's Adonis! Just like you! Isn't that weird?" She rambled, knowing she was getting herself deeper and deeper into a hole, judging by the electricity building in the room.

"You visited his grave?! You left, again, despite knowing you couldn't?!" He half shouted. Vera whimpered and hid behind Tellas.

"And you!" Asinoir roared, looking at Vexoz, "You couldn't have said something? Why the hell didn't you go with her? Aren't you two helping the enemy? Isn't that why you left in the first place?"

"Tell me, Tellas, did she really go looking for 'healing' or was she conspiring with Kailyn?!" Asinoir asked, now targeting the Draco Lupus.

Tellas's axe embeeded itself in the wall past Asinoir, "How DARE you!" he growled, "She's done nothing against the Chosen and you attack her in this way!?" He flexed his claw and his axe defied gravity to return to his grasp.

"You've fallen quite far for a general to be hurling false accusations and asumtions around the place!"

Vexoz got in front of Tellas to let him handle this before the wolf dragon made things any worse. He had delt with this type of situation before. In his years working as a swordsman for hire, it was imperative that you understood strategy. Otherwise, you wouldn't know who to attack and what to do if you screw up.

"I think I can explein it better. After the hot spring Vera, Tellas, and I found the enemy." He kept his voice clear and professional. A striking contrast from how he normally talked and sounded. "We decided to take some initiative and followed them to guage the threat...."

Suddenly, he stopped and looked Asinoir in the eye. "I believe I heard your Ret did something similar?" That should at least protect Vera from some of Asinoir's claims. Should probably leave out the part about Drake and finding the genocide plan. "I assumed Cee was with them. However, after they discovered us, it seemed to force them to accelerate thier plans. Otherwise, thier army would have been much more prepared."

Now time to tell him about the actual event.... But how to word it so it didn't sound so... unprofessional. Asinoir could probably sense his hesitation, so Vexoz just went with his best excuse. "We were unable to stop thiem from lowering the barrier, but managed to take out a majority of thier forces and caused Falks and the others to retreat."

How to explein Cee's grave? "In his final moments, Cee helped save Vera's life and we should at least perdon her for honoring his memory." Not exactly the truth, in a way.... But it was close enough to keep from sounding forced.

Vexoz finally concluded. "Ever since then, I've been preparing our men for when they inevitably return. We should be well enough armed to finish Falks this time and crush thier assult."

The warrior crossed his arms and eased himself. That should sound official enough for the Chosen's head general....

They had come to the Chosen, and had a small normal Chosen ceremony. With stranded vows and a council member over looking the proceedings, the night after the wedding they left there shores by the door and had some fun. Since then they`d been living among the Chosen. Like all the other men Vonton had been ordered to par take in daily training classes, not like the toned fighter needed them to much but they did help him update his form a tad. He admired the Chosen for there attempts and bring Magic back into the world and knew nothing of the planned genocide. There seemed to be some kind of commotion going on and it was throwing his training off, and the naked furry woman walking around unnerved him a tad. So he put away his equipment and walked towards his and June’s house. He opened the door and called up “June, I`m home!” He walked up the stairs, and entered the bedroom.

June almost freaked out when she heard Vonton's voice. She could feel herself fall over, but continued to see the same street corner. It took her a moment to stop using her magic. Ever since they were wedded, June had been secretly practicing mirror magic with her eyes. Dispite what Vonton had said 3 months ago about it, her curiosity got the better of her. This time, her vision was slightly blurry for a few moments. Thier bed seemed to be one solid shade of brown. Finally, it cleared back to normal. Next time, she would have to be sure to watch how late it was getting.

She opened the door and greeted him. "Vonton!" She shouted in a cheery tone. "How was your day? Did you make any good... you know, side money?" Of course, she was talking about the occasional heists they went on. In preperation for the coming battle, the Chosen had been forging extra weapons. And, somehow, that ment there wasn't as much money to go around for everyone else or something.... No one really understood how exactly the complexities of a magic-based economy worked, but it was at least cleaner than the forest.

June walked up to Vonton and gave him a hug to show she missed him.

Asinoir felt a nagging sensation that there was still blanks in the report Vexoz gave. There was something Vera was doing or had done and he knew it deep in his gut. The problem was, Asinoir couldn't do anything about it. Except...

A sly grin made its way across Asinoir's face.

"Vexoz, I believe I found a job for your Mana Spirit lady friend," He said. Vera took a step back, not liking the look in his eyes.

"Like what?" She asked suspiciously.

"Well, I'd like it if everyone could just get along. Plus, there's been a few changes around here. Changes you should get used to," Asinoir replied, underhandedly hinting at Vexoz's feelings. Hey, no one said Asinoir was a sensitive man.

Vera's mind was processing and she quickly put two and two together, "Oh hell no!" She exclaimed, turning for the door. Asinoir used his wind magic to create a minor barrier around Vera, preventing her from escape. The redhead glared at the general and dispelled it.

"There's no way I'm hanging around that bi--..." Vera glanced at Vexoz and rearranged her words, "Bigot!"

Asinoir perched a brow.

"No way! You can't make me!"

He then crossed his arms.

"Nope, nuh uh. Not happening."

Asinoir tapped his finger against his forearm.

"Forget it! Never, ever, ever, ever! Not in a million years!"

-=-=-=-=-=-

Vera walked out of the town hall rubbing the back of her head. That stupid devil of a general.

"I hate you!" Vera yelled to the building, stomping her feet. She crossed her arms and plopped onto the ground, sitting Indian style. Asinoir said Taeisha would meet her there and not to move until she got there.

"This isn't bonding, this is babysitting! Unjust imprisonment!" Vera cried out, shaking her fist, "Next time I see you I'm gonna--OW!" Vera exclaimed as a rock hit her temple.

Vexoz almost couldn't stand Asinoir's order. How exactly would he explein this to Teaisha? The two obviously didn't like each other, she would try to kill Vera in the first 5 minutes.... Well, unless Tellas got ax-happy and over protective.... Vexoz couldn't just go with them all day to keep the peace, he had to teach the weapon class.

When he finally got back to the weapon school, everything was as it normally was. The students were working hard, and Teaisha was on a wooden bench where people sat down to rest. She was wearing a loose light silk-like robe that was apparently spirit cloth. It covered her arms, crossed at the cheast, and stopped right at her knees. Although it did feel comfy, Vexoz couldn't see why it was that much better than normal cloth. Ever since the last month, Teaisha had been hard at work trying to learn the ways of the blade. Unfortunately, that ment that several of them men were often starring at her instead of practicing.

Teaisha looked up at him, having somehow fixed her black eye. One of the other students must have been more skilled in herbs than he thought....

"Well, what did they want?" She asked in a concerned tone.

"Nothing much... just some questions." Vexoz responded, leaving out the part about the allegid conspiricy. Might as well give her what she needs to know right now. "Asinoir wants you to look after Vera."

The Mana Spirit seemed to stay calm. "Why me?"

"Well...." Vexoz helped Teaisha off the bench, "I guess it's because, well...." The real reason was probably because he didn't believe Vera and was trying to get her for anything he could. Why else would he choose the one person Vera hated the most? "Vera is a verry... special person. And they needed someone who could stop her if she gets out of control."

A little bit of a smile crossed her face. "So I get another chance at fighting her?"

"What? No!" He couldn't stand to think of the two of them fighting... he didn't want to see either of them hurt. "You'll just need to make sure Vera doesn't do anything too crazy. The hard part will be keeping up with her. I've never known Vera to do anything she didn't want." She seemed to be a little dissapointed, but understanding.

Teaisha started to take off her spirit cloth before Vexoz gently touched her arm to tell her to stop. "It would probably be better to leave it on. Just in case...." He told her. One could never know exactly how Vera would interpret things. "She's outside the town hall. Think you can keep from killing each other until I finish teaching for the day?"

She just nodded as Vexoz kissed her real quick. "Good luck, Teaisha. Vera can be quite the handfull to deal with."

"If I can deal with you, then I'll be fine~" She joked before heading out. Something that didn't exactly sit well with Vexoz. They were definately going to kill each other....

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About 10 minutes later, Teaisha had made her way to Vera. Somehow, it seemed like she was held in place or something. At least she didn't have to find her....

"I want to make something clear right now." Teaisha started, trying to get Vera's attention. "I don't want to do this any more than you do." Her tone stayed cold, even in the presence of Tellas. "Just don't mock my fur and we'll get along just fine."

She walked over and sat down next to Vera, pulling her legs close to her body. "What do we do now?"

Taeisha finally showed up and Vera almost screamed in excitement. The last ten minutes had been the worst in her life! Sitting still was not her thing. Then Vera thought about it and reconsidered. No, spending the rest of her day with the Mana Spirit would definitely suck a lot more. On the plus side, Taeisha was covering up her furry boobies.

"Okay. So as long as you follow these quick guidelines, we'll get along okay," Vera said, rocking back and forth on her bottom to face Taeisha, "No poking or prodding, no biting or licking, no punching or slapping, no drooling, no burping, farting is okay but make sure it's quiet and not stinky, don't eat like a cow, agree with me all the time and compliment often, don't use your magic on me or I'll punch you again," Vera rattled off. She went on for a few more minutes before finishing up, "Do all those things and we should get along just fine," She said, forming her hand into the OK sign.

"And for now, we plot how to kill Asinoir for doing something so stupid!" Vera said, throwing her hands in the air like a child. Another rock bounced off her head and she winced. She rubbed at it and stuck her tongue out at a window only to have a rock hit her tongue. She freaked out for a little bit about germs before finally calming down.

"I guess I'm hungry," She finally said. She got up and wiped off the back of her pants. She looked around and then kicked off the ground, heading back towards her house.

She was dumbfounded when she saw a family living inside of it.

"MY HOUSE!" She exclaimed, "My stuff! What did they do with it?! Where is it?! Where am I gonna sleep? I'm hungry!"

Tellas stayed by Vera's side but shook his head, "I guess they couldn't wait for you to return... Shall I find out what they did with your possessions?"

Sleek straight raven hair covering the left half of his face, soft purple eyes, smooth flawless apricot skin, thin silver cross earings, an open purple cassock with the collar open up to his ears, with black pants and shoes and a white shirt. Azrael was nearing Arch-Crusnik status quickly. His grace had grown, especially his power. He didn't have to enter his Crusnik form to create his bloodsword, as well as his wings. He found a secret way to kill vampires without touching them, and his clothes remained blood-free. He appeared from a distant path into the town where Drake, Kailyn, Falks and Mira were, amassing an army. In his grip, a locket of Vladimir's hair.

He approached Mira and asked her to come with him. The two appeared in an opening only five minutes away, and Azrael broke the news of Vladimir's death. She began to cry, and that's what Azrael needed. Both of them kneeled down, and as Azrael comforted her, her tears of sadness fell on Vladimir's hair. After a few seconds a small mist appeared, the hair gone. They got up, only to meet Vladimir standing in the mist. He was shirtless, revealing a gaping wound in his chest with tattoos of demons littering his torso. His eyes were completely black and his hair stretching backwards out in a wild manner. Mira cried and tried to hug Vladimir, but passed through him.

"I know Mira, it's alright. I never expected you to stay lonely forever. Azrael, you're almost there!"

"Yea. Hey, sorry for the sudden revival but we're about to fight the Chosen. Can you help?" Vladimir held out his hands and closed his eyes. After a few minutes his sword appeared, and he held it securely.

"I can have twenty Basan ready if things get hectic. However, I need a corporal body to take residence in. I won't possess you, but I can manifest around you. Azrael?"

"Sure." Vladimir thanked him and phased into the Crusnik's body. The two walked back to the group, and Azrael only sat under the shade of a tree to think.

Teaisha listened as Vera started stating her... fairly unreasonable demands. Finally, Vera stopped to take a breath. "I'm not an animal or something, I can do most of those things. But complementing you all the time is-"

Then, Vera seemed to interrupt her out of nowhere and said something about Asinoir before flying off. Shortly followed by Tellas, her dragon-wolf normal babysitter. At least it was easy to track Vera's mana. However, she just couldn't keep up with a flying mage in the village. A sigh escaped Teaisha as she stood up, raised her arms, and stretched enough that it would have shown some of her modesty patch had there been a breeze. Asinoir would kill her if Vera did something... or would he kill Vexoz? After chasing Vera's magic through the village at a reasonable pace, she finally found the building she was at.

"I guess they couldn't wait for you to return... Shall I find out what they did with your possessions?" Tellas spoke, making it apparent what had happened.

Teaisha had never really thought about it, but the entire town would have changed since Vera was here last. The Chosen village moved pretty quickly, especially with such a threat closing in on them. Vera seemed pretty upset about what happened. The Mana Spirit couldn't believe the words she found herself saying to comfort the wind mage....

"I do still have to look after you. You could always stay with me until you can get back on your feet, Vera."

A few things ran through Vera's mind after Taeisha made her offer. The foremost being...

She's gonna kill me in my sleep!

She quickly dismissed it because of Vexoz. It was obvious Taeisha had feelings for him and killing Vera would definitely put a big rift between them.

Right?

The thought made a rare solemn look cross her face. It really did look like everyone in the village moved on without her. She had been replaced. It was only a month she was gone! Yet, there was living proof of it right in front of her eyes. Her eyes glazed over with tears. She swallowed the lump in her throat and looked at Tellas. Her faithful companion. Her Drappy.

"I think we can wait till tomorrow," Vera said quietly, "I need a drink!" What better way to wash away sorrow than with alcohol?

With that announcement, Vera headed towards the bar, intent on drinking herself into shameless oblivion.

Tellas nodded, walking with her. He was a little worried about her though and he laid one of his hands on her shoulder, "Vera. Mind if I just suggest something?" He asked, "Don't get too drunk. Even after what has happened here you still have happiness in your future. If I must I'll prove my claim to you."

Kailyn grinned at her lover. They were standing in a field, Zadric in Drake's hand and a blood sword in Kailyn's. It had become a habit of theirs to duel on occasion, a way to test their skills and improve them.

Kailyn lunged forward, clearing the distance between them in a few seconds. She thrust her sword forwards, aimed for his stomach.

Drake blocked the attack with his sword, and knocked it away. He ran over to her, and struck against her own Blood Sword. He pushed forward, staring her down unflinchingly. He broke away from the confrontation, and lunged at Kailyn, swinging his sword so that it might hit her thigh.

Kailyn stopped and jumped backwards, dodging the blow. She circled around Drake, purposefully adding a sway to her hips as she moved.

"I think, after this, we should take a nice hot bath," She hinted, swinging her sword downward towards his shoulder.

He didn't let his gaze waver at all. It was purely his instinct that drove him at the moment. He was subconciously blocking out all distractions, and thinking 5 steps ahead. He brought up his shield, and knocked away the attack once it had connected.

He took the opportunity to swing his own sword at her shoulder, but curved it so that it was going towards her thigh instead. Kailyn only saw the flash of metal and immediately put her sword up to block the upwards attack. Her eyes widened as she realized, too late, that he had faked her out. Zadric's blade cut into her thigh and drew blood. She winced in pain and moved backwards a little, putting pressure on her wound. It wasn't very deep but it was enough to remind her who was the master swordsman here.

"I guess I still need to work on my swordplay," She said obviously.

"Yes... Do you want to continue for today? Or would you like to stop?" He said with a small bit of concern, but it wasn't much, seeing as she now had the powers if a Crusnik. Kailyn looked down at her thigh. It had already stopped bleeding. The cut wasn't deep to begin with, but add onto it the Crusnik powers... well, things like that didn't last long. She looked back up at Drake and decided that the faint sheen of sweat was very, very attractive.

She pulled her bottom lip down into a pout, "It hurts," She teased, moving close to him, "I think it needs to be kissed," She purred, adding a sway to her hips as she approached.

Drake smiled, and only replied, "Don't try and trick me... You just love me for my body!" He joked out between laughs. He unstrapped his armor as she approached, leaving him in only his regular clothing. He brought her close to his body, and kissed her passionately, tripping, and them falling on the ground. He rolled on top of her, and smiled.

Spoiler:

Drake smiled, and pulled out of Kailyn, his hot seed now deep inside of her. He got up, and helped her up, and to get redressed as well. She had a few tears in her outfit, but it was better than his. He was left, having to put his armor back on, with no shirt, since it was torn, so he ended up carrying the torso plate, and chainmail.

Drake pulled her close to him with one arm, and kissed her. "Love you... Make me a sammich?"

Teaisha followed Vera with Tellas this time. Supprisingly, Vera managed to keep from running all the way to the bar. As they entered, Teaishe was noticably uncomftrable. She never liked bars at all.... It wasn't natural for people to drink thier lives away. On top of that, they were pretty filthy. Especially for someone who was only wearing a thin robe. And there were always a good ammount of drunken lustfull characters roaming around.... She was almost thankfull that Vexoz made her take the Spirit Cloth... well, almost.

"If you pass out on the floor, I'm not going to stay behind and wait for you to wake up." She cruelly joked, trying to make up for the fact that she was so un-used to this setting. Then, she tried to pat Vera on the shoulder.

"You know... if you don't want to stay at my place, I think I might know someone else who could take care of you." Teaisha laughed to herself, "but I can almost garentee that Asinoir would be so pissed at us over it! And he wouldn't be able to even say a thing. Want to hear it?" Having known Vera for a total of 10 minutes, the Mana Spirit already knew she would want to voice some ideas about what it could possibly be. Vera acted just like Vexoz had told her she would. Just a little less... exagerated....

Vonton was hugged by his wife, he pulled out of the hug just enough to get a clear look of her face, and he moved his arms so they were higher around her shoulders and admired her perfect face. Her curved features, her flawless eyes, her long silky hair, that was the same pigment less white as his own. He brushed, his hand through her hair, before giving her a small peck and, pulling two sacks of gold coins, and a golden bracelet from his pack and tossing them to her.

“Discarded on a bench in the training area!” He explained before, moving to his closet. He took off his sweat stained shirt, revealing his rock hard abs, and began to shuffle around in the closet. “My day was ok. Didn`t get as much training done as I would have liked, what with the rumored upcoming battle, but there was a lot of commotion, going on something bout, some people named Vera Vexoz and some furry people.”

Vera looked over at Taeisha curiously. She wondered, briefly, why she would try to help her. With a shrug, she ordered a cosmo and waited for her drink to arrive.

It was during that period she turned to Taeisha, her curiosity winning over her skepticism, "What did you have in mind?"

-=-=-=-=-=-

After their... excursion, Drake asked for a sandwich. Kailyn rolled over and looked at him with narrowed eyes.

"Really?" She asked dangerously.

Teaisha found herself grinning. Not as much out of joy, but to distract herself from how filthy this place was. "Well, I've heard of another person around here. A Mana Spirit like me. I think her name's Ret something? You could probably stay with her for the night."

Before Vera could ask, Teaisha added, "well, I don't really know her.... But she would at least hear me out. Mana Spirit to Mana Spirit! Even better, she's Asinoir's wife. Unless he wanted to get on her bad side, he'd have to allow it!"

In reality, Teaisha just wanted to get rid of Vera somewhere. She wanted to have a verry special night with Vexoz.... Alone... without his ex girlfried hanging around. "It's better than sleeping at some filthy bar, right?"

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

June was curious about the wierd rumor, but was never someone too intrested in gossip. Suddenly, a thought hit her! "Oh, uhh, excuse me Vonton."

The mirror mage took off to the bathroom. "I really need to check on something." She stopped and nerviously lied, "you know... lady issues and all." Hopefully, he didn't suspect any thin- oh... of course he would suspect something!

Ghost Vladimir decided to see how Romanov was doing. Not like he could be harmed in his spectral form or anything, so he poofed from Azrael's body and appeared next to Romanov, whom he had formerly shared the same body. He chuckled when he saw Romanov bloodied and beaten.

"So, who's the piece of shit now?"

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Azrael felt the wind envelop his body as he got up. He walked over to Mira and sat beside her, holding out a hand to shake.

"Hey, I think we met before. Before the thing just now with Vladimir, but before. What's your name again?"