December 29th, 2009

Casey,

You are not going to believe this. It's the most AMAZING thing. so amazing that I can't believe nobody else has thought to try it yet but still Remember those plans I showed you at the end of the year? I know they didn't make much sense, but you do remember, right? Honestly, it was all theoretical and I thought maybe that there might be a chance from what you described with the bin lid shield but I never thought it'd be like this and it's really brilliant and--

You know what, I can't explain why it's so cool in writing, you'll never get it. I've got to show you. First week of school....no, wait, we're always busy the first week...second week then, or third, no later than the third week, you've got to let me show you. Mind, I don't know where I'm going to show you since we're going to need a lot of room and something's liable to blow up but I'm sure we'll think of something...

After breakfast on Saturday morning, Alvis hurried down from the Ravenclaw common room to the sixth floor corridor with a skip in his step. In the end, between Quidditch games and practices and Astronomy Club meetings and extra tutoring and classes and everything else, it had taken three weeks to hash out a time when the two of them could meet in private. But the wait, he was certain, had been worth it.

He turned down Glanmore Peakes' Corridor[1] and hurried to their arranged meeting spot in front of the (thankfully labeled) display of three Moke skeletons posed as though playing catch. In his arms he carried a bundle of rolled tarp of roughly similar size to a house-cat. This was partially intended to keep all the pieces together, and partially to conceal the surprise.

Given that he'd had to double back to the common room to gather it up, he wasn't surprised to find that Casey had beaten him there. "Good morning. Where're we headed? You said you knew somewhere good?" Obviously, he couldn't show anything off here. Much to easy to be seen and far too many delicate artifacts of school property to be destroyed in the aftermath.

1.	HP Wiki: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Glanmore_Peakes%27_Corridor

In truth, Casey had slight doubts in the back of his mind about meeting with Alvis. Not that Casey was disinterested in the defensive runes worked between them (Alvis with elaborate sketches, Casey actually putting them to something larger than a stone) but the last time they had talked about in in great length was, well...

Back in the start of the year when unwonted things happened between the two of them. When Alvis had been straddling the line from Ravenclaw curiosity to unwarranted privity. That was what Casey kept thinking until things had mellowed out. From where he waited for Alvis on the sixth floor, Casey leaned back ever so slightly as if his last breath had knocked him over. It was odd; he couldn't explain the full details but Alvis was comfortable to be with, an unsaid but mutual respect. The 'mutual' part being hard wrought over the year, as Casey had only been disrespectful in self defense of self.

Yet there was a double edge to how easy it was to talk with Alvis. Casey could become to accustomed to him and blurt out things. Actually, no, blurting was beneath Casey, not even to be first to answer a question correctly in class. Casey was unsure as to how used, how close, to have Alvis without the taller boy knowing...everything.

Casey curved his index finger, pressing the knuckle to his brow. Don't be loose. Don't deviate from the current guise. When Casey looked up Alvis was walking down the corridor, something wrapped under his arm.

"Good morning. That depends, your last note was vague to just how large or secluded of a space would be needed. To index the severity, is this liable to 'blow up' in the manner of a noisy disruption, or to the grounds of breaking several school rules?" Even if it was the latter there were still places in the school they could operate in secret.

Alvis laughed. "Either. Both. It partially depends on your choice of spell. Though the later would be considerably more impressive." He shrugged. "We won't break that many school rules, I don't think. Just the one about dueling. Technically. Does it count as dueling if you're shooting spells as someone who has no intent to return fire?"

He paused a moment, considering the bundle in his arms as though it were an infant. His thoughts floated partially on the question of where to take their demonstration, and partially on observing Casey's body language through his eyelashes. Over the last semester, he'd worked on reining in his desire to be close and friendly with his Slytherin comrade. Casey, he'd realized, was a bit like a cat -- an odd comparison to be sure, but one Alvis considered apt for reasons he didn't quite remember. You couldn't force affection on him too quickly or he'd get spooked and attack.

Distance, then, was the key. Distance and a bit of patience.

Alvis hummed to himself thoughtfully, running the last few possibilities in the back of his head. "It would be good to have something to aim at that isn't...well, one of us. Preferably something that can take some damage. We don't want to get in trouble for destroying school property. So we'll definitely need room away from desks and the like, and we'll need to not be found. If someone stumbled in they could get hurt."

"Typically, shooting spells at someone that will not return fire is called violence," Casey quipped. Or a professor's demonstration but this wasn't a class.  "Although if you have their consent that's a different story."

For some reason when Casey and Alvis had been looking at each other he found it odd. Alvis was somehow staring at his eyes but not. Cased did his best to appear unfazed. A smile was not on his lips but a neutral smirk. He was poised and relaxed with matching tonality with his voice.

All a front to cover up:

There's a simple way to get all that Alvis requires. But did Casey want Alvis to know? To suspect? That use of the Room of Requirement, it had been a retreat. A sanctuary. Just for Casey. Well, save the time Zoe Torret had wandered in. But the room manifested needs, even subconscious needs. Could Casey get a different version of the room? Could he mask the part of himself that usually brought that room into existence?

"Tell you what, there's somewhere we can travel separately to not arose suspicion. A floor above in that direction past the larger tapestries." He gestured upwards. "You'll have to give me five minutes."

"I can do that. No problem." Alvis shifted the bundle's weight into one arm, freeing his wand hand to pull the watch out of his pocket. Compared to anything Casey would have worn, it was made of cheap metal alloys with a lot of aluminum involved, but it kept time as well as anything else in the magical world. "Five minutes it is. See you in a bit."

He waved a bit as Casey headed off and leaned against the wall to wait, working out in his head exactly where they were meeting up this time. It didn't take long, given that he'd lived on the seventh floor for most of the last four years, to work out that -- duh -- they were likely headed for the Room of Requirement. Why hadn't he thought of that? He'd read his modern history books, he knew the room was there. He'd gone dumpster-diving there with Philo Falkin just last year, that's where they'd met the crazy mess of woven chaos known as Runner.

He passed the time wondering idly where the carpet has slipped off to since last he'd seen it, which had been before Christmas when it snuck under his bed in the dorms playing hide-and-seek with Philo, who didn't know they were playing. He gave Casey an extra three minutes to sort out whatever he needed in the Room before heading up himself, taking the stairs two at a time. In spite of himself, he was genuinely excited when he spotted the door that wasn't always there. Seeing it in a different form than the Room of Ash and Hidden Things was bound to be a fascinating experience in and of itself.

During the walk to the Room of Requirement Casey was trying not to panic. Internally panic, as it wasn't visible on his face.

He should be able to request specific things out of the room, right? To make sure it didn't match the battle club, the nonsense phrase that labeled that version of the room. But the Room was very perceptive to internal thought in the strange way that it worked. When Amara Bathory had started loosing it and captured that girl for the Gwyllion Fae experiment that had been...block it out.

If he wasn't careful he'd get the same room. Not the crazy room, the club room, and just what would Alvis think if the space Casey created had flashing lights and pulsing music? Had Zoe every told him what Hexy's room was like, outside of the train compartment they had shared on the way home? The holiday at the Torret's had been surprisingly quiet, but since school had resumed...?

Casey's throat burned. He was at the corridor, the proper pacing and thought would bring a new door out of the wall. He had to think carefuly. What did he want? What did he need?

To his mild horror the door looked the same. Casey actually paused before opening it. Alvis would be here in minutes. He opened the door.

The space inside was still large, the high ceiling and stained glass. Casey had never minded the stained glass, it looked regal. Arguably if you wanted windows out of the Room there were probably only a few options. There was still the foot raised platform not a dancing stage but narrowed, more like a long dueling dais, with only a couple dueling dummies this time, same as what seekers of wand practice usually got out of the room. Casey stepped onto the platform and looked around.

No record library. No lights. No bar counter. No red sofas only stone benches under the stained glass windows and the columns. Cushioned seating might have been helpful as long as it wasn't red but that was fine. Spacious room, a couple of seats, wand casting space and some targets. Perfect.

Casey released a lot of breath that he didn't believe could ever fit in his lungs. Had he been back by the door he might have collapsed against it but he willed himself to stay upright. He paced lightly, circling a battle dummy, pulling back the sleeves of his robes, waiting for Alvis.

A few moments later, Alvis cautiously pushed open the door to the Room of Requirement. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect there -- if he found another carpet he'd have to quit school altogether -- but his eyes lit up when he saw what Casey's request of the room had produced.

"Brilliant! This is perfect." He beamed, let the door swing shut behind him, and crossed to the nearest dummy. He knocked on it with his fist, testing its sturdiness and rigidity. Its wood seemed a bit worn, as though it'd been used before, but that only proved that it could take the brunt. "Excellent. Really excellent. All this'll do great."

The silly grin of anticipation remained on his face as he trotted to the nearest bench and finally set down the bundle he'd been carrying all this time. He fumbled with the cloth, careful not to let his excitement get the better of him, and motioned for Casey to come over. "Well, come on. Enough waiting, I think you'll really like this."

He unrolled the tarp to reveal the object in three piece -- one steel arm-guard with sheepskin straps, and two amulets in the combined cartouche-bound Elder Futhark style they'd used before. One of these was functionally identical to the shield Casey had created, though it was shrunk to the relative size of a Chocolate Frog card, while the other bore a different combination of runes -- Alvis's name rather than Casey's. Embedded in the back of each was a clear, glass-like gem.

"Here." Alvis lobbed the amulet with Casey's name to its designated owner. "I've made some slight modifications, as you can see. From what I've been reading, a multi-part system is definitely the way to go. It's like what you were telling me about Slytherin's amulet. I don't think anyone's built armor like this for ages but it's really fascinating how all the pieces fit together. There used to be this trick of working out individual pieces of armor ahead of time like a puzzle and then layering over the runes so that --"

Babbling, he was babbling again. He cut off in mid-sentence under Casey's stare and shrugged apologetically. "Ah, sorry. I know you can't do leather, but how do you feel about sheepskin? Any allergies there?"

One issue dodged, Casey felt himself relax quite a bit as Alvis took the functionality of the room in stride. Casey could focus then on the joint runic project. The edge of his mouth curled slightly when Alvis revealed the product of his labor. A bit more well designed than a rubbish bin lid turned into a shield.

Though he wasn't the best on the team quidditch practice had helped Casey's coordination somewhat. He caught the new amulet without dropping it. "I take it these amulets are interchangeable with the armor?"

During the course of this endeavor (and really, any time he'd been talking with Alvis) Casey had noticed that to get Alvis back on topic was to stare at him. Just like how he didn't want to be caught locking eyes with anyone the gangly Ravenclaw didn't always like the opposite in effect. That made Casey briefly wonder what was happening with Norling's innate legilimency ability. Even since the name had been put to the power during the body swap crisis Alvis hadn't brought it up again. Did he even know or could sense Casey's efforts with the opposite power?

All in all none of this was important right now. Casey gave a near mute exasperated sigh at the question of his allergies. "It's not necessarily animal skin that's the issue. Mainly when it's made into leather because of the tanning process and all of that." From where he had turned up his right sleeve earlier Casey folded it back along his arm. "If my skin isn't coming into direct contact with the leather I should be fine."

Provided he didn't start sweating profusely. But there was no dignified way to admit that.

"Good to know." Alvis hummed thoughtfully in the back of his throat, adjusting the straps on the vambrace. "It's not good to place leather straps directly against the skin anyway. They're liable to rub you raw. But it's not like armor's meant to be worn all on its own, especially not this armor."

"Now these--" He flipped the amulet with his name on it over one knuckle and held it up so Casey could clearly see the differences between the two. "These are the real trick. As you've guessed, they're functionally interchangeable, which is why I think it's better if I'm wearing it for the first demonstration. Easier to show than to explain. Besides, your spell-casting's better than mine."

Without waiting for acknowledgement or permission, he slipped the armor onto his wand arm and began tightening the straps, which seemed to take forever with his off-hand. Though he focused on the armor, he picked up the ghost of Casey's thoughts in the brief silence that followed. He debated the merits of keeping quiet a moment before deciding that he had no reason to keep secrets from someone who already knew.

"I spoke with Mr. Gries, as you suggested. He confirmed it. I'm a Legilimens. We don't know how it's possible, but I am. Now that I'm aware it's happening I've been focusing on it more, trying to work out the 'rules' as it were." He shrugged, securing the strap at his elbow and moving to the one at his wrist. "It's slow-going, but at least it's going. And before you ask: no, I did not go poking around in your head for that. I've found that I'm more sensitive to thoughts that are somehow about me, particularly when the thinker is looking at me."

Like the circus clowns, leering at him in the caravan's gloom. Alvis shuddered slightly at the memory and shoved it into the back of his mind. This was not the time.

With the leather tightened, he folded a final metal cuff across the center of his arm and clicked it into place. In the center of this rune-lined bit of steel was a hole, matching the exact dimensions of the two pendants. Alvis "installed" his amulet gem-down, wrapped its cord around the vambrace for safe-keeping, and checked the fit before hopping up. He drew his wand from his back pocket and moved across the room, counting twenty paces before turning back to Casey with his wand at the ready.

"Right then. Hit me with something -- a curse, or a hex. Something we haven't learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts, something you're pretty sure I won't know."

As Alvis talked, Casey could feel the tiniest of mental tickles to the forefront of his mind. Alvis was talking about the very ability in question but was it from the probing or his own volition to change the subject like that? Casey decided to wait until he felt the last of Norling's extra-sensory influence then improved his barriers. This could get annoying quickly. The admittance of one person possessing a significant degree of legilimensic power against someone who, with or without having to state it in words, worked on the very opposite power of mental defense.

At least Alvis was giving away a good tip. Casey could do considerable work on the defense be either not thinking of Alvis during conversation or being upfront with all queries regarding the Ravenclaw. It deal feel like Norling's control had improved, reigning in his previous slippery nature of snaking through another's conscious. It even seemed to unnerve him, as Casey noticed Alvis shiver.

Something like 'Standard Issue Slytherin Smirk #32' crept onto Casey's face (amazing what sorts of things got trading in the house more than gossip and spell tips) at Norling's challenge for a spell, non-academic and therefor off guard to defend. Although a good duelist worked themselves to work simple patterns of attack and defense that served all purposes, Casey still prided himself on utilizing a variety of magic. Surprise was a good tactic. Now, that didn't mean he was going to cast something lethal at Alvis before he complained. There was a spell that came to mind because of another secretive project that Casey had been brushing up on in cause any hair related chaos needed to be dealt with.

"Capilliffindo!" Instant scalping[1] was something of a misnomer for this hex. It didn't rip someone's scalp off their skull but a successful casting shaved off all the hair on their head. Best of all, the spiral collective of knife-like blue lights homed in on the noggin, each little piece of the spell intent of cutting hair to the epidermis.

1.

HP Wiki

On instinct, Alvis ducked behind his wand arm, bracing it at the wrist. The spiraling blue light struck the guard dead-center and broke across the steel like wind over the wing of a plane. It curled around Alvis's arm, centered on the amulet, which sucked in the magic like a drain. Excess energy rushed past like wind, the barest edges of the spell clipping a few strands from Alvis's bangs. Then, as quickly as it had been summoned, the spell was gone.

Alvis grinned behind his arm, his heart pounding like he'd just made a big save in Quidditch. He could feel the warmth of the cubic zirconia through his shirt, hotter than his skin but not uncomfortably so. He knew from experience that if he removed the amulet now, the clear gem would sparkle with a color that matched Casey's spell exactly.

"Excellent," he said breathlessly, lowering his arm. "Really excellent. Now check this out." He turned his body thirty degrees and snapped his wand at the training dummy. "Prior Incantato!"

Warmth rushed through the armor, this time moving from elbow out through the wrist. A helix of blue light shot from the tip of Alvis's wand. The spiral of gleaming blades dances around the dummy's scalp, buzzing like an electric saw or a swarm of bees. A faint sawdust cloud burst up in the spell's wake.

Alvis spun back towards Casey, beaming like mad. "See? I told you, didn't I tell you? It's the coolest thing! I didn't even know what that spell's supposed to do and it still worked. And, and! It didn't need any of my magic to do it. It's all contained in here." He held up his wand-arm again, patting the amulet proudly. "Remember, last time, we were talking about the redistribution of magic -- that's what made it melt before, when it absorbed too much residual magic from the spells. So I figured, instead of trying to eliminate the defect, we aught to use it.

"There's definitely room for improvement though. Right now we're losing around thirty to thirty-five per cent of the energy on each transfer -- that spell was only about a third as strong as yours would've been if it hit -- and we're never going to get one-hundred per cent energy transfer, the physics just doesn't work like that. But, we can definitely improve on the design with a few experiments.

He was practically bouncing, happy as a kid on Christmas, and babbling to boot, but he just didn't care. The design, the potential! It was all so exciting.

"Best of all, there's a way to compensate for the energy loss -- and it's even cooler."

Somewhere in his mind an old thought of Casey's stirred. A ponder that had developed over the years, ever since the first primary education in his grandparents ancestral home. The lore of the old wizards, the might of blood, the superiority of...well, on average any wizard or witch was equally skilled but when it came to the full social custom it was far more important to be male...

Lock it down, remove it. Casey returned to his original thought, dredging up the muse from the taint of other memories around that time. When Casey had been taught about the legends and wars of the preeminent magic folk from the earliest of history he had begun to wonder. What would have it been like back in that age, to see the sudden explosion of magical invention from the mightiest mages. To witness firsthand the power of Merlin, Salazar or Godric wrought things you had yet to think were possible.

The thought resurfaced because Casey had thought he would never witness such a magical innovation. He may witness a legendary duel but that was merely the conflict of two great powers. Casey did not think he would ever see another student block one of his spells to recycle it back with his next casting!

To have this craft taught by Professors Storm or Reid would be merely awe inspiring. To have the idea come from a student Casey's age was just insane! Though is eyes were wider than normal Casey was making a valiant effort not to be dumbstruck, not to have his excitement unrestrained as his mind already fired into the many facets of how this could be used. The faint traces of genuine joy snuck onto his face.

Where the common mindsets of Ravenclaw and Slytherin diverged was what to do with a new discovery. The Slytherin knew the benefits of keeping it secret, whether because the technique was dangerous or to have means of gaining the upper hand. Casey was pretty sure Alvis only talked to him about this project but the warning to double their secrecy on the manner wanted to be heard.

After Casey tried this himself, eventual skin reaction or no. "So you think this could work for any spell? Storing and resupplying the magic? And you already believe you have a means to better the spell power retention?" He smoothed out his sleeve again, taking appraisal of what materials Alvis seemed to be using. "I take it the system still only works for those identified with the cartouche method?"

The look on Casey's face made the whole demonstration that much sweeter. It was only the slightest break in his mask, the twitch of a grin and a brightness of eye, but that was more than anybody else had ever gotten, or at least anyone that Alvis had seen.

His face warming with a pleased flush, Alvis tapped the side of his nose in a move that was half anxious twitch and half a telegraph of his rising self-confidence. With the initial flashiness out of the way they were down to the brass tacks of design specs, and there'd be a lot to cover. He took a deep breath.

"Oh, yes. The absorption of magic is a feature unique to the cartouche design, which in turn is only effective for the person it was design to protect. It works on almost any spell. There are limitations." As he ran through the list, he ticked each item off on his fingers, starting at the pinky and folding out towards the thumb. "The armor disrupts the path of magic that way that shield charms do, so you have to be able to block. It works on magic invisible to the naked eye, but subtler things that operate at close-contact, like memory charms, are harder to ward off. It also works purely on magical energy and wouldn't effect conjurations -- so you'd still get a face full of water if someone blasted you with aquamenti."

Alvis rolled his arm, turning the vambrace's clean steel towards Casey. The problem of blocking spells could be mitigated with more armor coverage, but the full-body jointed suits of their medieval references didn't seem practical for a modern-day design, especially not for someone as small as Casey. Exactly how much metal he'd be able to wear without sacrificing his mobility in the ring would be one of the many finicky details to crop up in their increasingly-complex endeavor.

"Moreover, prior incantato only recreates the spell's casting. If said requires continual focus or input from its caster, it doesn't work. So if, hypothetically, someone tried to toss you around with a Levitation Charm, the amulet could catch it and spin it back to lift something into the air, but it'd only last for a second before it dropped again. It's also possible that an exceptionally powerful spellcaster might be able to overwhelm the potential protection, resulting in a reduced but not entirely blocked spell. And..." He sighed and shrugged. "I have no way to guess how it would function against high-level dark magic like the Unforgivables. Those operate on a different level than most."

He tapped the side of his nose again, letting his mind switch gears from one thought to the next. It was such a nice change to have an interested audience for once, rather than a class full of people wondering what he'd gotten on about this time. But if he was allowed to go completely off on the specifics of the design they'd be here all weekend.

"'Power retention' is going to require some experimentation, preferably systematic. It's primarily based on the materials. Not for the armor itself, mind -- I think steel's our best bet there, it's sturdy and hypoallergenic -- but for the amulet. The more personalized the materials, the more they resonate with the magic of the one they're designed for, the more effective they'll be. The gem in the back is the most vital point. Right now they're just cubic zirconia, which is about as generic as you can get. A more compatible stone will increase the effective energy transfer exponentially."

"But until then..." He grinned again, pushing his glasses up his nose. "There's an extra trick that can compensate somewhat for the loss of power on transfer." He backed off, waving indistinctly with his off-hand in the hopes that Casey would get the message -- 'Let me show you one more thing, and they'll you'll have your turn.' Once they had a fair bit of space between them again he gripped his wand and lifted his arm back into the guard position.

"Hit me again. This time, use two different spells. No, wait -- three. As visually distinct as you can make them, in rapid succession."

Casey nodded at the limitations Alvis explained. It made sense off of what spells could be stored and what couldn't. Of course the Unforgivable Curses would be unlikely to counter, especially the Killing Curse, but for all of the advanced and questionably lethal magic Casey knew he didn't go out of his way to learn those.

He stayed silent, memorizing this information until Alvis asked for more spells. A challenge then, was it? Casey's smirk became more pronounced, suggesting guile inimical boldness. It was the kind of look some dueling opponents had grow wary of.

He sidestepped and fired off a phlegm-colored flash of the Bat Bogey Hex followed in rapid succession by the pink splash of a Jelly Fingers Jinx, recently added to his repertoire of offensive spells he could cast silently. Properly this time and not as obvious in regards to the Jelly Fingers (although Casey had ultimately decided against trying to catch Naomi Foley with it unawares).[1] Casey then lunged back past his former position and forcefully incanted "Ustulo!" sending out a harsher flash of light.

Casey was breathing heavier but the many weeks of late night haunts in the other version of this room had bettered some of his dueling stamina, normally this many spells cast without pause would temporarily weaken him. Casey had picked spells with such ferocity to fully test the capabilities of Norling's defense method, so perhaps some of the spells would be worse if Alvis was stuck by them. As for their combative element they were all good surprises to have in a duel: incapacitate the focus of the caster (Bat Bogey) or prevent them from using their wand altogether (Jelly Fingers) or just the pain of a sudden burn from the Burn Hex.

1.	The Tie's the Limit - May 6 2009

Despite the fact that it was very unlike him, Alvis returned Casey's battle-ready smirk over the top of the vanguard. He had no heart for dueling, but putting his creation to the test, well. That was another matter.

The silent spells took him by surprise. Sheer defensive instinct kept him from getting caught off-guard, ducking behind his armored limb. The Bat-Boogie and Jelly Fingers hit at almost the same time, phlegm-green and hot-pink swirling into a dizzying spiral as they were soaked up like a drain. The last flash struck like a knife-blade, leaving Alvis's skin tingling from contact with the metal, not painful, but discomforting. His grip on his wand was not as firm as he would have liked. He hissed through his teeth. One more adjustment to be made.

Alvis could feel the heat of the cubic zirconium through his shirt. He knew, based on his experiments, that it currently flickered through bright colors, first phlegm, then pink, then white. It was almost at its limit and he was glad he'd limited the spell-count. Given Casey's size and weak constitution, it was easy to forget just how much magic he was capable of producing.

"Good show," said Alvis, breathless in the wake of the three spells. "My turn."

As he had before, he shifted his stance, brandish his wand, and snapped it in the direction of the nearest training dummy. With the same call -- "Prior Incantato!" -- his wand gave a violent kick, enough to strain his wrist if the vanguard hadn't held it it firm. A tornado of pink and phlegm with flashing white sparks burst from the tip and engulfed the dummy. The wooden effigy had no fingers to jelly-fy, no boogies to turn bat-like, and couldn't express pain, but the spells made themselves known by splattering against the wood and scattering sawdust from the shoulders in faint, barely-visible burns.

Alvis came away from his stance with a muffled, "Ow," removing the amulet and undoing the straps of the vanguard. "That smarts. You put more kick in your spells than I do..." He massaged his wrist and rolled his fingers to get the last of the spell out of his system before turning to Casey with an anticipatory grin. "Well? What do you think?"