Good day [OPEN!]

[kira]

Kira figured that Remus was probably lucky. Even if animals hated him he still had a friend to help him out. His friends were too wild for her though, especially Sirius from what she could see of him. If he ever came strolling in her direction to talk she would probably try to walk somewhere else quickly as he just seemed like the type which trouble followed. Many girls talk about him in her year, she knew some of the ones in her house spent a conversation or two on him when it came to romances. She had always ignored the idle chatter though, only looking over to them when they asked her opinion of him. If she remember correctly she had said something about not wanting to deal with the drama that would probably follow that relationship. It did not seem like Sirius would want a long term relationship anyway. Even with his faults as a choice of lover he was probably still a great choice of friend.

Perhaps if she had someone to help her in that class, a friend as close as Remus and Sirius seemed to be, she would have taken it, but it was never in her to hope to have such a friend anyway. If one were to just watch her one would note that Kira never seemed to spend that much time with anyone and was always alone. She was quiet and observing, hardly ever engaging in conversations or even smiling really. What did she had to smile about anyway? There was no point in the action for her, there never seemed to be a reason to exercise such muscles. It was probably her that put herself in such a situation anyway. She did not look that inviting to speak with and her short conversational skills probably left much to be desired. Those that did speak to her usually spoke out of politeness or if they needed something from her.

"I suppose that works out in the end if the animals are scared of you," she said, knowing the feeling of animals being afraid of him, "still, it would be better if you could have hands on experience. It would probably help your grade." With any class learning theory was all well and good, but actually practicing what was learned was what helped to make it stick. Even if one knew how to properly brew a certain potion by theory it can be a little different when actually brewing the thing, which could actually affect the potion drastically in the end. Of course, potions was a sort of delicate subject anyway, one had to be able to feel the potion out to do it just right as each sample of ingredients are different from the last. It would probably be a really hard subject if one did not know how to evaluate each ingredient sample instead of thinking of it as the average sample.

When his next words reached her she paused in her gaze, looking thoughtful before turning it to him and looking at him up and down in evaluation. The sight of him made her skin crawl, but she was not going to say that lest it somehow give her away. "You aren't a scary sight," she said once her evaluation was complete, "in fact you're probably meek if anything. Perhaps it's something about your scent that sends them running or a deeper intuition that humans lack. Either way, it seems like they view you as a threat somehow." She did not say we humans, she was not a liar by nature and Kira knew that she should not include herself in the category. She already knew why the animals hated her though, but explaining why they may hate him just reminded her of that fact. It was probably a mix of both really. There was probably something in her that smelled of vampire and instinctively they saw her as a threat and hide away.

[Remus John Lupin]

Remus did consider himself lucky with the friends he had. Oh, sure, the first two years hadn't been easy, with all the secret-keeping and everything, but now that was in the past, he felt rather blessed, actually, and sometimes even undeserving.
Still, there were times when Remus felt like he didn't belong with his friends. James and Sirius were close like brothers, Peter followed them everywhere in idolation, and sometimes Remus wondered where he actually fit in. Was he just the brains, or the 'eccentricity'? His friends were very understanding and supportive, but sometimes Remus wondered if they understood the full extent of what he was. Now they were still in school it was maybe an exciting, thrilling thing - running with werewolves in the Forbidden Forest was exactly a Maraudery thing to do - but Remus guessed he was more concerned with his future than his friends were. They were in school, careless, Marauders.
But he didn't care about that. He didn't want his friends to worry too much. He'd figure something out eventually, but not just yet. It wasn't needed yet.

"I suppose that works out in the end if the animals are scared of you, still, it would be better if you could have hands on experience. It would probably help your grade.." The werewolf nodded. "Yes, it does, I'd have liked to be able to do it myself. My father used to work with magical creatures for the ministery, and I feel sort of bad that we can never do that sort of thing together." It was true. John Lupin had taken his son on all sort of biological excursions before his change and Remus had loved the father-son time they'd spend on those afternoons or weekends.

Remus chewed his lip thoughtfully as she looked him over silently and a shiver ran down his spine. Okay, this was uncomfortable, her staring at him like that. She was too far away to see the scars on his hands, unless her eyesight was phenomenal, and still Remus felt a slight pang of fear in his stomach.
Her answer disappointed him a little. "You aren't a scary sight; in fact you're probably meek if anything. Perhaps it's something about your scent that sends them running or a deeper intuition that humans lack. Either way, it seems like they view you as a threat somehow." Remus nodded slowly. He'd hoped she'd admit she was feeling ill at ease around him, just so he could apologise and say he didn't mean to be intimidating or anything. It was probably unlikely they'd speak after today, not with the mutual discomfort, but he didn't like the idea of her leaving with the notion that he was unpleasant to be around. Remus couldn't bear the thought. "I suppose so," he answered after a short silence. "I hate being a threat," Remus muttered, more to himself, pretty much giving up on the conversation. Class would be over any minute, and there was no way he was going to be able to fix this.

[kira]

Kira was not even sure exactly what her father did for a living. He had to be limited with what he was and how there was great prejudice against him, including the would-be vampire hunters. When she had met him before he had not told her what he did for a living and she could only assume that he did not do anything but perhaps an odd job every now and again. He could easily work in a vampire community, where ever those are in the world, for all she knew. His clothes were not that shabby or anything, though they did look faded with time and a bit worn. She could only imagine herself in the future, having the possibility of looking a similar fashion in clothing choices. It was not something she looked forward to, but it was a realistic future that would most likely come for her in the end. There was little to do about it except wait to see what came. No matter how good she was no one would want her after all.

"Perhaps there are other experiences you could share together to make up for it," she said quietly, "he would probably be happy to help you grow up doing something different than him as a good father should." Perhaps her father was the same, but she did not know. She barely knew him as he had been missing from her life until that last summer. Kira was unsure if she could trust him, after all he had abandoned her to her mother's family as a child. Being as old as he must be he probably did not have any living family, or at least none that really knew him. Still, her mother's family had been cruel and unforgiving, though she had done nothing to deserve it. They thought differently though, finding that her status in life was lower than that of a family pet. Similar to an unwanted animal that kept showing up on one's doorstep day after day and refused to leave no matter how much one shooed it away.

It had been the only life she knew as a child and now, at Hogwarts, she knew how to avoid others, to avoid that place she had escaped from. For fear of going back there she refused to make friends, not even within her dormitory she shared with other Ravenclaw girls her age. If they ever found out she was sure to be rejected and to suffer even more than the pain of being alone. It was perhaps amazing that Kira had held up so long in her life of solitude at Hogwarts, the friendships and relationships around her taunting her every step in those halls. She ignored those people who obviously flaunted what she did not have in her face, but they did not know of her plight, how could they? Even if they did they would probably understand little about her feelings. Say after day she saw this and day after day she told herself it was better this way, better to just stay away.

Kira could see that her words seemed to have the opposite effect on Remus then she intended, or at the very least they did not help to improve the mood the conversation seemed to have caused. "Indeed, it's not fun to be seen as a threat," she said after a moment of silence, "if people thought the same as those animals they would probably treat you differently, many fearful and many lashing out at you. It would be a hard life to endure. It's rather childish really. I try my best to treat others based upon their treatment of me or upon the actions they take around me and not based upon some silly bias about their physical traits. Perhaps if the animals thought the same they might give you a chance, unfortunately they don't know any better. Thus far, you seem like a good person."

[Remus John Lupin]

Remus' father, at the moment, was a muggle postman. Go figure, he had worked at the Ministry, had lost everything because his son had become the very same beast he worked with, and had now become something far, far less than he deserved in Remus' eyes. He felt guilty about it often, moreso because of the time and money his parents had spend on him before he had asked them to stop the nonsense. There was no cure, and he wanted them to live their lives, not his.
Whereas Kira could imagine maybe living in a vampire community, Remus couldn't begin to guess what it would be like in a pack. He didn't want to join a pack, most packs were feral werewolves, like Greyback had been, he didn't want anything to do with them - he was not like that, or at least tried not to be like that.

"Perhaps there are other experiences you could share together to make up for it, he would probably be happy to help you grow up doing something different than him as a good father should." Remus swallowed and nodded. "He does, he's- he's great," he muttered, faintly smiling, making a mental note to write his parents sometime soon. (And ask Sirius to post it, as owls were not very fond of him either.)
He didn't discuss his parents with his friends much and somehow it was easier to talk about it with a total stranger the Wolf didn't quite trust than with his friends. He wasn't sure why, maybe because he guessed he wouldn't speak to her again after today.

Remus inhaled slowly as Kira spoke again. The knot in his stomach twisted even more at the thought he wasn't going to be able to fix the image she had of him. He actually found that realisation worse than the fact she was making him feel uncomfortable in general.
He listened to her silently, understanding what she meant until: "Thus far, you seem like a good person." He couldn't let that pass just like that. "And still you feel uncomfortable around me," he said softly, avoiding her eyes. "Which is.. well.." Remus stammered. He had said something without really thinking it through because his longing to set things right was too great. He just wanted her to admit she felt nervous around him, just so he could say there was no reason for her to feel like that, and then the whole thing would be fine, wouldn't it? Remus had, of course, no idea what the real reason of her discomfort was, just as he had no idea why touching her made his skin crawl, but he just hoped it was a misunderstanding.
"I'm really sorry if it's anything I did."

[kira]

Though a vampire community was a plausible thing for her it was not something she really wanted. If Kira were to look deep inside of her she would probably find what she did want was to be apart of a happy family, to be able to make friends easily and to not have to worry about the stings of rejection. That was what everyone wanted though, right? Everyone wanted somewhere to belong, but being who she was it just did not seem possible that she would belong anywhere or with anyone. She was only half vampire so how could she truly fit into such a community. She was only half human, still half a monster in the eyes of many of those around her and half a monster was just as bad as being a full monster, if not worse. She could be considered and abomination that should never have been brought about into the world, something unnatural. It was something she so desperately hated to think about.

She nodded to him at his response. It seemed that her words at least made him feel a little better which did relieve Kira a bit. She hated making enemies with other people or having bad relations with others among the little relationships she did have. A bad relationship with another person was just a troublesome one. Probably they would seldom speak to each other again, but she would still prefer to keep the air clear between them if she could, despite her feelings of discomfort she tried to ignore. Besides, she was not a seer or anything so she could not say that they would never have some sort of friendship in the future anyway so keeping things clear was always a good start to any relationship, right? But she really should not be thinking of such things as that, she really should be leaving the conversation and avoiding a friendship. That was what the logical part of her said, but that other part wished to stay, to make everything good between them and ensure that the possibility for friendship was kept open at least.

He seemed to respond more immediately to her second set of words though and she could feel where some of the problem lay. Kira had to pause for a moment and look over his expression. Had he really been that concerned about her own comfort? When they had first started conversing she knew she had hid her discomfort well enough, but it seemed to have leaked out more and more as she stood there talking to him. It was not something that was easy to hide, especially when she did not even know why it was she was uncomfortable. That was also why she was hesitating in her answer as well, she really did not know what answer to give him. Her brain was working to try to figure it out now, but when nothing came up she decided that it would probably be best to be honest with him, especially after his next words which came to be an unnecessary apology.

She sighed after a moment and looked away again. "It was nothing you did," she said softly, "in fact I could find nothing wrong with you so far. There is just something about you that causes an uneasiness. I am unsure what it is, but I apologize for making you think it was something you have done. I've been mostly ignoring it for now, though despite my efforts you have still noticed and I'm regretful if it gave you the wrong impression." But then he had been nervous to, so what would cause him to be just as uneasy? There could have been many explanations for it, though she avoided that perhaps he felt the same kind of uneasiness as she did. It could have been that she was a girl and he was just uneasy about talking to girls. There were a lot of boys that were like that after all and he seemed like he was really concerned about how she felt about him as well. With that in mind it could even have been her own uneasiness that added to it unnecessarily.

[Remus John Lupin]

He was so glad she was finally telling him what he'd wanted to know. Of course Remus had been concerned about her comfort, even if that was a surprise to her. He was gentle by nature and tried to focus on this characteristic as much as possible if he could help it. For Remus, being nice wasn't good enough. He had so many faults (or so he believed) that the only thing that would do for him, was trying to be the best he could be - the least he could do was try and be perfect.
"It was nothing you did. Remus couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. "In fact I could find nothing wrong with you so far. There is just something about you that causes an uneasiness. I am unsure what it is, but I apologize for making you think it was something you have done. I've been mostly ignoring it for now, though despite my efforts you have still noticed and I'm regretful if it gave you the wrong impression."
Remus nodded at her answer, his expression pensive again. She had obviously noticed there was something dangerous about him, like the animals did, but how could she have? He had never encountered a human being before that could sense his nature in such a way. Then again.. humans could be very exceptional in some aspects.. Maybe this was just a matter of time. The idea she might be anything else than human didn't even occur to him, actually, nor did he link it to his own uneasiness. Not at the moment, anyway, but the riddle would occupy his mind from this moment on and he might put two and two together eventually.

"I'm glad you don't blame me, although I'm obviously the cause," he said slowly. "There's no arguing that. It's obvious.." His voice trailed off again as his mind wandered. As far as he knew, she'd never felt like this before, or she'd maybe have been more skilled at hiding her discomfort. He had never met anyone before that made his skin crawl like this before, either, except for Greyback - but he was another werewolf.
His eyes scanned her hands, face, neck, any bare piece of skin, but there were no scars. No, it was a ridiculous idea - she couldn't be a werewolf, he was the only exception. Where would she transform, after all?
He smiled a little, just a little. At least she wasn't a werewolf. That was good; it was not good to be a werewolf. Still.. it was a riddle he just couldn't wrap his head around, and that bothered him a little.

[kira]

He had said that animals were scared of him and she had to wonder if this discomfort that she felt right now was similar to how they felt. If it was then it was no wonder they panicked or ran at the first opportune moment, especially if they were simple weak little things. Kira was not weak though, she had many strength in fact. Her magic was relatively good and her vampire side ensured that she was not as physically weak as the other Ravenclaw girls. Being in Ravenclaw would also attest to her intellectual strengths as well. But she did have her weaknesses as well, though she did not care to admit them. She knew that socially she was not strong at all, always being alone left her with little in that area and being part vampire did not help at all. She held little hope for herself as well, which could cause a bit of weakness in will on occasion. There were also the usual weaknesses that her vampire side had as well. In all, she should have little to fear from him based on what she had seen so far of Remus.

"You should not take it to heart," she said with a slight shrug, "the fact that I'm still standing here and talking to you should tell you that I care little for what this uneasiness it telling me to do." As far as her logical mind could see there was nothing wrong with him. He had a few scars and scratches on him, but those could have just been from anything, like being clumsy, an accident, perhaps a bit of roughhousing with his friends. His friends did seem like the types that might roughhouse in the the dormitory or something. There was just so many possibilities for those scars and what did she care anyway? It was his business, not hers. Kira scarcely even knew the boy in front of her except for what she could pick up from this single conversation, which was never good to base any judgment on.

It still did concern her that a seemingly harmless boy made her feel this uneasy. Having been around her father before she knew what another vampire would feel like when around, whether more dangerous or not and this was not the same exact feeling she got. Around her father she felt a connection, but that was probably due to him being her father. She had also felt how dangerous he could be and did hold a type of uneasy feeling, though it dissolved after a while. Perhaps it was something he had done to lower his threat to her senses. Even if that was the case she did not know how to accomplish such a feat yet and so she did not try in fear of just making matters worse for her. There was little that could cause a vampire that much concern by nature, at least little that would come in a human form. It was what confused her and she found that perhaps she would have to look into it later to satisfy her curiosity.

"Besides I could also question you about it yourself," she said as she let her brown eyes fall back to him, "you have been nervous and uneasy about my presence ever since we shook hands." Kira was still passing it off as perhaps just Remus thinking too much about his own appearance to her or something of the sort, but it was better to get the most accurate answer from the source of her pondering. Besides he had asked her the same question so she had a right to ask him about it as well seeing as she answered him honestly instead of choosing that moment to just leave the conversation, his question unanswered and his mind uneasy from her sudden departure. He could do the same as well, but she like to think she knew enough now to know that he would probably give her an answer of some truth.

[Remus John Lupin]

"You should not take it to heart." Remus smiled slightly in a way that showed he clearly did take it to heart. He couldn't help it, he hated being a monster. "The fact that I'm still standing here and talking to you should tell you that I care little for what this uneasiness it telling me to do." He nodded slightly. "I suppose you have a point there - thank you."
He was still looking at her in the hopes of picking up something that would give him a clue as to what was the reason she sensed this. On one hand.. he sort of hoped for a fellow-person who would understand what it was like, on the other hand - no one wished another person was a werewolf or something of the kind. It was a thing too terrible to wish on anyone.

He glanced at her again, but not too long fearing the feeling might increase the same way it did when she observed him closely. There was nothing he could see or feel that seemed out of the ordinary. He didn't get it. To his senses, she was human, as far as he could tell.
Kira's next words pulled him from his thoughts. "Besides I could also question you about it yourself, you have been nervous and uneasy about my presence ever since we shook hands." Remus couldn't stop himself from smiling a little nervously. "I suppose I can't deny it now, can I?" He ran a hand through his hair briefly, something he often did when he was nervous. "It's just.. this gut feeling," he glanced at Kira. "which is ridiculous, as you're just.. you're you. There's nothing out of the ordinary as far as I can tell, and I feel sorry for it. It's almost worse than prejudice, because prejudice is based on lies, but what I, well.. we, I suppose - what we feel seems to be based on something real, even if we can't see it." Yes, he feared he'd gone too far now, but he couldn't stand it. Not that he wanted to pry in Kira's personal affairs, but - as stated before - he wanted the situation to end well, he wanted them to part without the feeling the other was not to be trusted in any way.
He wasn't sure if he was doing a good job at all, but he could at least try.

[kira]

Remus was right in his thoughts. Though Kira would have liked to have someone around who could understand her she would not wish her own situation or similar on another. It was already enough that one life had to be ruined by being born unnatural, but to even wish that cursed life upon another was just cruel. If someone else had been placed in her shoes she did have to wonder if they would survive it emotionally. Going through her own memories she sometimes wondered how she even survived it. If one were to be cursed like she were one should at least have a supportive family to fall back on. She did not even have that though and it angered her a little inside, but she ignored it. Some people were just born lucky she supposed and she was probably one of the lowest on the luck scale being born half vampire and being born into a family that hates her.

There just had to be something there which caused their reactions, but neither of them could see it at the moment. Kira knew that judging only by appearances she would seem human. In order for her more vampiric qualities to emerge she needed a surge of emotion, be feeding on blood, or perhaps even suffering in the sunlight if she stayed out too long. The first two never happened and the last she usually avoided easily. There were a few close calls but nothing too bad. At all other times she should appear fully human and so of course Remus would not find anything amiss with her appearance to attribute his feeling to, just like she could not find much of anything from his appearance. It was strange that his own feeling was similar to hers, that perhaps he could sense the possible danger he was in from just being around her. As far as she knew no one else had been able to do that, at least not anyone human.

"It is strange for something like this to occur," she said in quiet thought, "do you know of anything about you that could cause this feeling I have?" If it was something like that then he probably did know, but the question would be would he tell her. Honestly, if it were anything like the position Kira was in and he had asked that question she would not have told him anything, stating that she simply did not know or understand what was going on. She barely knew him and even among those that she did know she would not tell anything. Still, there was still a chance that he might make a slip if there was something. But how could there be, she should have sensed him by now if that were the case. Of course, that part of her had only just started maturing and growing more in whatever power it possessed. Perhaps she had not sensed him before because her senses had not been quite that strong yet and she had never really gotten close enough to him. Perhaps she was just over thinking things and becoming to obsessed over that possibility as well, but what else could it have been? She just was not sure of it and, by the way things were going, she probably would not find out that day.

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[Remus John Lupin]

The only way to find out that Remus was a werewolf was either by seeing him without his shirt, as the bite mark was rather prominent, or when he was transformed (which is not recommended). Apart from that, he looked just like any sickly-looking boy, really, and it was actually rather hard to believe he was a monster once a month.
Had she been a full vampire, Remus might've been able to sense it. She would've been colder in body temperature than most humans and her heart beat (if there had been any) would've been different. Also, the uneasy feeling would probably have been a whole lot stronger and Remus might've excused himself and left.

"It is strange for something like this to occur, do you know of anything about you that could cause this feeling I have?" He had been dreading this question and even now he wasn't sure what to do or say.
He could lie and say no and that would be the end of it. Through the years, Remus had become quite good at lying as long as the people he lied to weren't friends of his. Lying to strangers was easy.
He could also admit it, but then she would no doubt ask for an explanation and that would be rather difficult. He couldn't do that. It would be betraying the trust Dumbledore had bestowed in him if he spoke of his condition so openly whilst the head master had tried so hard to hide it from his fellow students.
"No," he said, eventually, after pretending to think. "That's why I'm so confused about this whole thing. There is no reason why we should have this feeling." He glanced at the door again, hoping the class would end soon. Remus feared the conversation had reached its end, really, unless she decided to doubt his answer, which he hoped she didn't, and it seemed there was nothing they could do about the mutual discomfort they felt.

[kira]

Kira watched the thoughtful look pass over his face for a moment before his answer had come. She had expected as much, though she had hoped a bit for a little more information. It was not obvious whether he was telling the truth or not, but it really did not matter any longer. The class would let out soon enough and the mystery would remain unsolved for now. She could not try to badger him for more answers, it was not proper and whether or not he actually did know anything it seemed like he would deny it anyway. In other words there just was no point in continuing on as neither of them were willing to give up much more than that, assuming he had something more to give. Of course, it could still be true that he knew nothing but that feeling of distrust seemed to grow a little stronger at his words, as if warning her of something which she was still quite unaware of.

For now she would give up, but sooner or later she would solve this riddle and have an answer. Kira was like that, though she felt no need to hurry. She did not like to rush things too much, finding that taking her time often gave the best results in the end with the least amount of mistakes. There was no telling exactly how long it would take to find her answers, it would depend on how busy she was and how interested in the riddle she could get. "Indeed, but there seems to be little we can do about it now," she said with a slight shrug, "only thing left is to either ignore it every time we speak or to look into this further. An answer must lay somewhere after all, the only obstacle seems to be finding what that answer is." The library was always a good place to start. Perhaps there was a few books about vampires that could explain their senses more and she could try to relate it to herself. If anything it might give her some clues about what could be causing the feeling to begin with which in turn may lead her to find out if he was possibly hiding something or the reason as to why he could sense how threatening she was. If she could not find any answers there though, there had to be other books that could explain something.

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[Remus John Lupin]

Remus somehow felt remarkably calm as he waited for her response. He knew he should feel nervous, but then again, why would she doubt him? And even if she did, he'd just deny again. There was no other option, the risk was simply too great."Indeed, but there seems to be little we can do about it now, only thing left is to either ignore it every time we speak or to look into this further. An answer must lay somewhere after all, the only obstacle seems to be finding what that answer is." Remus smiled a little at her answer, glad she sort of agreed with him to just leave it at that - at least for now. He was glad she didn't press the matter home.
Then again, she was, of course, a Ravenclaw, and if anyone could solve riddles.. He'd just have to make sure to be absent as little as possible, or maybe be absent on a random day, too, to make it impossible to find a pattern. Because that would be the only thing she could use, wasn't it, his absences and the pattern therein. It seemed like a good plan.

As though it was its cue, the doors of the classroom opened and students started pouring out, chattering, complaining, giggling, glad the day was over, and he was unable to respond to Kira at all due to the sheer noise their fellow students produced.
Also, of course, his friends emerged and Remus waved at them briefly. Before walking over to them, he mouthed at Kira 'I'll see you later', gave a slight, almost relieved smile, and turned to join his friends - both glad and disappointed with how the previous conversation had turned out.

[kira]

Right on time the classroom door finally opened and the slower students in the subject of Arithmancy began pouring into the hall. It was noisy now, too noisy to continue any form of conversation even if they wanted to. There was little else to say to each other now. Kira felt a little more uncomfortable, but this was not the same feeling as before, more that she just hated to be within a crowd of people. She liked having her space and being able to actually walk down the hall without hindrance was nice as well. So she just pressed herself against the wall as the other students walked on by, hoping that the stream would end soon so she could start moving to her common room for a moment's rest. After such a conversation it was probably a good time to give herself a break so that she could think a little clearer.

It did not take long for Remus to rejoin his friends and Kira simply watched him leaving, nodding a bit to his mouthed words. It only took a moment longer for the hall to clear a little bit as Kira began walking down the hall in the other direction alone, many of her classmate ahead of her now. She did not look back to the boy she had just spent one of her more lengthy conversations with, but instead kept her eyes looking ahead of her. A slight sigh escaped her and she felt that perhaps today would be one of those long days again.