//------------------------------// // -119- // Story: Coarse Diamonds // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// They were once again upon the streets of Selengard Station, waiting to either do more shopping or head back to get working on orders. Coco had seen or heard the many attempts by Rarity to approach a stallion and earn a date since she joined Rarity on Eweson, Those attempts were quite bad. The first attempt made by Rarity was on Eweson with a Stallion named High Born. The stallion was good looking, but he was keener on dating another stallion. Considering no mare as being worthy of his time because they couldn’t possibly match his noble grandeur, the guy would likely end up dating a mirror. The second happened when they went up to Geoptis, between the time Rarity managed to acquire The Shining Jewel and during salvage operations, this time the stallions name was Cheeky Tongue. He was quite the flirt and was able to keep up with Rarity, but Cheeky Tongue’s wife threatened to cut out his waggling taste organ and apologized to Rarity for her husband’s attitude without showing a single bit of ire towards Rarity. At this point Rarity should have really quit, but no, she couldn’t. The third in a series of bad attempts at picking up a stallion was named Valid H. Art, he was a stallion well renowned for being an artist. This was before Rarity met Blue Blood, but after being assaulted by Mind Field. The problem was, the stallion was responsible for a different wood plank nailed to a canvas from the one Rarity had appreciated, she didn’t think too highly of him after she heard that. So it was mostly on Rarity’s end that time. Blue Blood, the less said about it the better, at least Rarity tried to be friendly and wasn’t even trying to charm him. By the end of the gala Rarity was ready to shoot him, even in front of the guards. The guards would have probably gone with plausible deniability saying they all got something in their eyes if Rarity had mauled or even killed Blue Blood, they were quite tired of the ponce and nobles weren’t exactly trustworthy eyewitnesses. The Rarity love flop conga line continued when they reached Streusel Station, Coco was trying to block out the memories of the event that came before that even if the forgettable bicycle of a therapist said it was better to confront her fears. Coco feared how strong she was physically for her diminutive size, a full grown Macropussian and any Ceantir over three hundred pounds were quite powerful with only Earth Pony’s being able to match up to them physically. Coco was a little scared of being physically strong enough to punch a small dragon into the ground. Getting back on track, the stallion at Streusel Station was named Feather Bangs this time. The stallion was more looks than brains with mares. While he could do a lot of tricks, knew plenty of pick-up lines and could even fake acting like he was romantic, he didn’t actually know the first thing about dating a mare and what it entails. Rarity wanted a semi-intelligent conversation with someone that wasn’t a blowhard, not that that was asking much as she had plenty of intelligent conversations with her friends, instead of someone she had to actively coach through their first date. Rarity had been quite generous with that one, given she helped coach Feather on how to date three mares equally. Rarity was sadly not one of those mares. At least Feather Bangs came out on top during that debacle and really it wasn’t much more than an hour of solidly coaching him on how he should behave as the male of the herd. Feather actually followed Rarity’s instructions and was last seen with three happy mares. Again Rarity was, thankfully, not among those mares. There was an attempt at a few stallions while they were still at Applin Five, but Rarity just can’t win when it came to stallions. Most of the stallions in that area of space were no nonsense hard working stallions, not even being close to Rarity’s type, but Rarity still made the effort to try to find a diamond among the rough and stalwart. She even tried a buffalo at one point shortly after the wedding and was gently let down by the gentle voiced and slightly rotund fellow, the buffalo simply didn’t want a relationship at that time and he was quite reasonable about it too. Thanks to the buffalo being reasonable, Rarity backed down and had a heart to heart with the noble buffalo named Megalith Bison even if it wasn’t romantic in the slightest. Coco just hoped someone eventually came along and stopped Rarity from putting herself through the turmoil of trying to find a significant other. Rarity was already a rather beautiful and a successful business mare, not exactly a rich one, but a successful one nonetheless. Couldn’t that have been enough? No, Rarity apparently wanted a truly romantic relationship, much to Coco’s chagrin as she saw the writing on the wall. Just about anyone who was to traveling with Rarity would be genre savvy about how bad she was at getting a honest stallion, one that was also handsome, witty and at least middle class. Most of the crew didn’t mind Rarity’s lack of leadership ability, which is why she was such a good leader in the first place. What they did mind and tried to always bite their tongues on is how often Rarity tried to find a paramour. It was always cringe worthy to watch, even Chrysalis might be slightly better than Rarity as she may actually be chipping away at Sassy’s staunch refusal to like the Changeling Queen. The only really successful member of the crew in a recent romantic sense was always Gilda, who had an unusual thing for sleeping with Pegasus Ponies and only said winged ponies from how Greta tells it. Coriander had love and lost, but absolutely cherished what he had with Saffron’s mother. Coco didn’t know what was going on between her and Greta, but she was quite nervous about it. Why all this introspection? Well, Coco was surprised that a grey furred stallion with silvery white hair made his way up to Rarity who wasn’t trying to attract his attention or even charm him. That made Coco panic a bit, was the world ending and was a stallion actually going to try and romance Rarity? To check off a list of things that might interest Rarity, he looked high class, he was wearing snazzy clothing, had a nice mane style and he was pointedly opening his mouth to talk to Rarity. Hopefully Rarity took this as a cue to not jump down his throat with flirting. “Hello, your form looks quite familiar to me and I can’t help but ask, were you on Eweson?” A stallion noticing Rarity wasn’t ever a problem, a stallion that looked and spoke suavely noticing Rarity was. Coco was counting down to the moment that Rarity did something wrong and Chrysalis looked to be waiting in anticipation as well. Sassy seemed a little less than interested in a stallion talking to Rarity. “Why yes, more than month or two ago, why do you ask? Also, how do I look familiar to you sir? Oh where are my manners, let me introduce myself. I’m Baroness Rarity D. Belle, fashion designer, EVA suit maker, co-owner of Rarity’s Rarities and Captain of the Shining Jewel.” The stallion calmly shook hooves with Rarity and even Opal was looking at the two in consternation. Why was Rarity playing it cool? “And you are? I find you quite familiar as well.” “Sir Hoity Toity, high end fashion critic. You were around for the MOM attack on Eweson correct?” Once Hoity received a nod from Rarity, he smiled a bit. Opal gave a gasp at recognizing who this stallion was, as did Coco as she recognized a well-known Pony fashion critic and they both sighed in relief. Rarity would not actively go after a conflict of interest when it came to her business and fashion as a whole. “So it was you that saved my life back Eweson, I must admit your form in that suit was quite striking for my memory as you stood among the rooftops. I even have a picture of it.” Pulling out his data pad Hoity showed them Rarity standing on the rooftops in her EVA suit while wielding two energy pistols and a few others of the surroundings after the attack, he had definitely been there. You couldn’t visibly see Rarity’s face, but you could clearly see it was her body by shape and definitely her suit. Which meant Hoity Toity had quite a sharp eye on him as much as an equally sharp memory. “To be fair I saved quite a few people, as did Sassy.” Here Rarity turned to her friend who seemed to have a flat look on her face. It was apparent that Sassy was trying to hide her distaste for men by staying visually neutral. “All the same I remember your suit and I must say I would like to know if I can purchase one of those EVA suits for my personal use.” Shaking his head, the stallion seemed a bit excited to meet his savior due to the smile currently on it. “Aside from that is there any other way I can help you aside from writing a good review of your business if it proves to have good quality merchandise?” “Yes, if you could direct me to the fashion contest taking place down on Nocturne, I’ve been meaning to look it up but I’ve been a bit busy shopping with my friends.” Putting a hoof to her chest Rarity buffed her fur a bit and let her eyes sparkle in the stallion’s direction a bit. “If you could give me the information that would be quite helpful.” “Why that’s the least I can do for the mare that saved my life, I’ll send you the data if would like.” They both exchanged data on their pads, Hoity receiving business information on Rarity’s local order taking site and Rarity would receive information on when and where the fashion show was taking place. “Just know that I will not help you with the contest, I am to remain impartial.” “Sir, I will assure you right here and now, that I would never ask you to forsake your integrity.” If he happened to forsake his own integrity by himself, then Rarity was completely fine with that and even her friends could hear that as being an unstated thing. “I would prefer to work for my victories.” “Still, if there is anything else I can possible do for you, then let me know. I can always put in a good word for you with Photo Finish.” At least Hoity was a gentle stallion, he owed Rarity his life and Rarity wasn’t about to hold that over him. “Maybe sometime later, once we’re done looking around I have orders to take care of and I’m going to be busy for the foreseeable future.” Though Rarity was certainly happy to have made a friend with one of the judges and a rather prolific high profile one at that. “Thank you for your time then Lady Belle, remember the offer is always open for you to meet with some of the people I know and can introduce you to.” Hoity shook Rarity’s hoof again and he was soon on his way. “Well that was quite a pleasant and rather fortuitous meeting. We need to finish getting a few other odds and ends, then we’re going to start working on selling our wares.” Turning to their Dik-Dik minder Rarity had a question to ask of Grahd. “Will you be sticking around for us running our business So’Grahd?” “Of course. When they say until you leave, they meant I am to stay with all of you until you leave the station on your ship. No ifs and or buts about it.” There was no changing So’Grahd’s mind on it even if there was danger present, but so far it has been a while since someone actively shot at them. It had her on edge, nobody didn’t just plan for something to happen and just left it alone like this. At least Sassy was as alert as she was with various glances at the buildings around them as they walked down the street towards more shops to glance at. - “Okay, who was it that said that all of this stuff happened to us again? I’m kind of sorry for bringing up cyborgs and robot uprising in our bets now.” A plasma rifle eject a blast of energy into the nearest glowing red eye of a cyborg blowing away half its head in a sickening yet awesome display of burnt gore, the body fell over and left sparking bits of wiring and creating a puddle of fluids on the floor. Gilda gunned down a few more. Lightning in the Bombing Peregrine was busy running over a few other invasive problems while the tanks anti-missile and personal turrets tore through the invading Dik-Diks. Saffron was doing pretty well with her knife and teleported to avoid taking any hits, at least it was an effective field test for the personal shield generators Greta made when she couldn’t dodge in time. “Didn’t quite know I would be taken literally about it happening, that’ll show me to open my beak.” “Are you sure we don’t need to contact Rarity about this Gilda? This seems like something she’d want to know about.” Greta called out from inside the Centaur-pede, the turrets on it popping several Dik-Diks with blasts of energy that sent mechanical parts and offal flying every which way. Not only that, but the machine was crushing a few others into a bloody paste with its multiple feet. It was like their hangar was full of ants. Annoying biologically messed up mechanically mish mashed Dik-Dik shaped ants and she had an upset stomach from just looked at their bodies horrible fused to their own technology. “Look we’re really sorry about the Jor Clan boarding your ship, we’ll pay for the damages.” A Jackknife with its wings unfolded was hovering above Gilda and started to rapidly pick off the cybernetic Dik-Diks, the male Dik-Dik piloting the ship was quite good at his job as a dedicated fighter pilot for Selengard Station. “You better damn well pay for the damages caused by this slight inconvenience!” Hovering in front of the Jackknife Gilda started waving waved her fist at it, before turning around and blasting a head off the mechanical zombie that tried to shoot her in the back with a green beam of energy. “I was going to start building something in the hangar before these jackasses showed up and tried to take over the ship by first hacking our hangar doors and then cutting straight through them when that wouldn’t work, which led to this shooting gallery we got going on here.” “It is things like this happening being the reason we have such a strong distaste for intrusive cybernetics. I’ll be filing a report concerning the rogue AI not being as dead as we thought it was, we need to look into this further when we’re done cleaning this up. Wait, this is only a slight inconvenience for you, what kind of situations do you normally deal with? Your hangar is crawling with malicious AI directed cyborgs.” The Dik-Dik continued to hover his fighter around Shining Jewel’s hangar and blowing his own people to bits of offal and splatter that left bloody smears on the floors. “Thank goodness I’m whole and my brain isn’t hackable except by possibly psychics, because having a brain that can be manipulated by both psychics and machines would be far worse. You guys are lucky your firewalls are basically AI proof. I’m curious as to why that is, much less why you have a battle ready tank and a freaking armored walking machine of death in your hangar, but now isn’t the time for that.” “Yeah, yeah, now less yakking and more with getting these assholes off our ship and out of my hangar, then we’ll talk about what you owe us for keeping quiet about this!” Swooping down towards a few of the cybernetic Dik-Diks with the glowing parts grafted to flesh, she unleashed a volley upon them and tore quite a few of them to shreds while dodging the dancing green beams they shot out at her. One clipped her and a glow permeated her whole body for a second. Vera just sighed, as she took a baseball bat to the invasive cyborgs that continued to ignore her existence. Why did she have to make that bet? Hopefully they’ll clean things up by the time Rarity is done on Selengard Station and doesn’t run into anyone of the Zor clan. Apparently these cyborg Dik-Diks were being controlled by an AI and said AI chose their ship as a target to start taking over nearby ships and eventually the station. Once on board after having its cybernetic Dik-Dik minions cut through the hangar section two door, the AI found that it couldn’t quite get its claws into the ships system no matter what virus it used and it had problems initially hacking the ship in the first place. It wasn’t long after that the Shining Jewel’s drones joined in on taking out the cyborg Dik-Dik problem, not that the two extra Jackknife fighters hovering into their hangar weren’t appreciated. - Opal just scratched at her right ear with a paw and continued to ride her mother around while shopping, yeah her mom didn’t need to know about the cybernetic Dik-Diks trying to take over their ship. They had enough problems with the assassination attempt a few hours ago. It was rather unfortunate for the rogue AI that it had never met a cyberpathic being before, if it had then it would have found out that Opal was impossible to hack and would have stopped it’s attempts instead of expending itself until it was erased by Opal sending out the AI destroying virus that the Space Pirates in the Applon System had tried to use against her. Yeah, having a copy of that virus was really quite useful and at most Opal had to really thank those pirates for the energy surge that gave her this opportunity to experience life like a biological. She now had the drones making sure the cyborgs didn’t touch anything or got anywhere important, just how many of them flooded the hangar? Let’s see… at least fifty at the moment that were still alive and gunning at their well armored vehicles. Having a mobile fortress, which also happens to be a cargo loading machine, present in the hangar would surprise just about anyone. That mess would soon be taken care of, even if the cyborgs Dik-Diks could be saved they’d probably be executed by their own race for delving too deep into cybernetics and ending up controlled by a machine. Said artificial intelligence was being ripped apart by a really nasty virus and thus all its minions were panicking and were now quite disarrayed. There was a bit of a no tolerance policy among the Dik-Dik race when it came to things like this. The Dik-Dik people would at least tolerate a mostly cyborg Dik-Dik until something like this exact scenario happened, then they’d slaughter all offending parties that were controlled to make sure it doesn’t happen a second time or any further plots involving said controlled cyborg Dik-Diks occurred. Still Opal decided to focus on the here and now instead of what was happening on their ship being a bloody and quite gruesome mess. “Oh, what about that one mom?” It was hard for Opal to find a shop with something of interest, mostly because their supplies usually consisted of things to make just about anything they could want. She really didn’t want to do nothing but window shopping with her remaining time before they started up business, so far Coco was the only one to buy some interesting things. Rarity just bought supplies for her business and some things for Opal’s room, food wasn’t currently an issue on Shining Jewel and they recently ate a good meal. “I think we can find something of interest in there.” Opal wouldn’t dare suggest her mother couldn’t make something nice for her to wear and she was sure Coco would be upset that she didn’t go to her for an accessory if she wanted one. Gilda and Greta could cobble together just about anything else they could want or need in a technological sense. She could even ask Chrysalis to make her a shape shifting toy. So the place that caught her interest was one that had things none of her family could possibly make, not without a lot of time and effort anyway, the shop sold random crystals with unique properties and Rarity always enjoyed looking at gems and jewels. Sometimes Opal wished Rarity would cut back on using more expensive things in her more interesting clothing designs. “Well what do you say girls, shall we?” It was an acceptable diversion for Rarity from just heading straight back to Caravel Boutique to start working on making her wares. Besides Opal looked like she wanted to get something neat and this place might be the ideal one for that. “Yes, let’s go in.” Because frankly Sassy didn’t feel safe out in the streets and even So’Grahd was alertly paranoid, as they rightfully should be. Neither Sassy nor So’Grahd noticed Opal was by far the most paranoid out of all them considering a seemingly random attack on Shining Jewel couldn’t have been just odd coincidence. She was hiding it better than anyone else would. Coco had been very quiet and was worried about their safety concerning the fact that Rarity had almost been killed if not for Sassy’s timely and somewhat impossible intervention. She thought a stallion approaching Rarity, on purpose no less, was a sign that things were about to go horribly wrong and that the entire space station was going to crash into the planet. She was glad to be proven wrong as nothing seemed to be happening around them as they entered the crystal shop. Mostly to buy things for decorative reasons, the shop didn’t sell just crystals, it also sold sculpted statues and other crystal based artist products. “Hello there, my friends.” The greeting of course came from none other than the lackadaisical looking Tree Hugger, she popped up at random and fairly often around Rarity or Gilda. She must have been here for something of grave importance or at least that’s what Coco, Opal and Rarity were thinking. Chrysalis just shrugged at Tree Huggers presence, Sassy seemed to be a bit more on edge and So’Grahd didn’t know the first thing about Tree Hugger except that she didn’t currently have a minder with her. “Tree Hugger, I would say it’s nice to see you, but you’re usually a portents to doom, destruction or something unusual happening. Are you here for Gilda?” Despite Rarity not knowing why Tree Hugger had an affectionate attitude towards Gilda, it was still nice to ask. “No Maker, I am not and I am most certainly not a bringer of bad news. I know Big Sky Child is otherwise occupied and doing what she was meant to be doing, until our next interaction at least. That interaction will hopefully be a rather pleasant one, her feathers are quite warm and I will accept whatever she does for I am of the earth and she is of the sky. If Ever Cheerful chooses to stick around for it, then we will certainly work in concert.” The glance Tree Hugger sent Opal caused the energy cat to have a shiver shoot straight down her spine. Tree simply trotted up to the cat and patted the nervous feline on the head. “It is nice to see you finally getting out and about Opal, you will do greater things with small actions.” Okay if Opal wasn’t freaked out, now she was as Tree Hugger didn’t use a nickname for her and just said her name outright, not only that but Opal was pretty sure Tree said something prophetic there. “If you’re not here to ruffle Gilda’s feathers, then why are you here?” The fact that Opal didn’t surprise Tree Hugger in the slightest with her change in circumstances said that Tree Hugger somehow knew about her already and was waiting here for them to arrive. That Tree even knew what was going on with the Shining Jewel at this very moment, now Opal was beginning to see why Gilda acted so freaked out around Tree. “That’s what I would like to know, where’s your minder exactly?” Obviously her group knew this mare and as such So’Grahd was a little on edge because of what Rarity said about being a portent to problems. How did this mare get this far into the station and how was their security this compromised? “Well her feathers do feel nice when they are properly fluffed out… as for why I’m here. Why are any of us here? We are all part of a greater whole, but separate in our own ways.” That was a usual non-answer that would be expected from Ms. Hugger, she was smiling lazily like usual and she turned to address So’Grahd. “I found my Minder lacking, in a certain manner. He seems to have lost me and I wouldn’t want to upset you by being without, so may I join the group in your care? It would be to my benefit that I’m not left wandering or causing trouble.” “This is seriously going to turn into a thing isn’t it?” Even as Opal asked that, she couldn’t help but feel a growing horror at the thought of being exposed to Tree for however long she planned on being with them as a group. “Not necessarily, though I would like to converse with Ms. Pommel.” That was the most formal any of them have ever heard Tree be, she was a very odd presence in and of itself no matter where she appeared. “Are you on drugs?” So’Grahd probably wouldn’t be the first or even fiftieth person to ask that, they’d be wrong. “Just one, life and all its splendor.” Not one pony in the universe could possibly have said that as dreamily as Tree could, especially not with the same meaning to it. “Paraphrasing that, she means she’s not on any drugs and is perfectly healthy for an Earth Pony.” Though Rarity was suspicious, whatever Tree’s reasons for appearing here were, she wasn’t about to shoo away a friendly face who didn’t mean any harm. “Also are you really going to allow that Officer Grahd?” “I have little choice, she’s a suspicious character without a minder and I will have to call this in.” It kind of perturbed So’Grahd how unconcerned Tree Hugger was about that, it was like she didn’t care that she was caught. If she had a residential ID for living on the station she would have showed it by now. She pulled out her data pad and started up the call, she kept an eye on Tree who didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave the area. “Of course you will officer, it is your duty after all.” The lazy eyes of Tree was actually kind of unnerving to the Dik-Dik, said eyes turned to Chrysalis. “Crystal, keep being yourself and only change if you want to.” “Sure, whatever, I’m always myself nowadays anyway.” Shaking her head Chrysalis decided to make an innocuous comment about Ms. Hugger’s emotions. “I would just like to say your emotions are really weird to taste. Lots of love, but given towards everyone and everything which should be impossible because nobody can love absolutely everything like that.” “For vast is the focus of the one of the sea, for you collect and will hardly give until one fish drinks upon you. When you start giving back, the universe will say thank you for loving it as much as you have and ensure your path will become slightly easier.” Yep more cryptic stuff, like that was helping Tree’s case of somehow being illegally present. “Now may we discuss things Ms. Pommel, I believe your friends are here to do some shopping? I will get something you’ll need while we do so.” Coco looked at Rarity and the others, all she received were some shrugs. Taking it upon herself to follow the strange mare towards a specific section of the shop she saw Tree Hugger looking at the rose quartz bin. “Is this what I need?” Coco asked of Tree tentatively. “No, it is something that I like in its representation. What you will actually need is this…” Moving over to a different display after grabbing four bits of rose quartz, Tree plucked a single small crystal out and held it out to Coco for her to look at. “This is a tiger eye. After I put this in your possession, do not lose it or you and Rarity will face certain grievous injury. A moment will come when you will absolutely need to use it and have no other option. It’ll be some time after you, through action or inaction, will inevitably cause someone’s demise. Your morals will not be called into question, but how you act will be noted. So do what you feel to be the correct course of action no matter what.” “What, but I don’t want to kill anyone…” At least Coco managed to catch herself before she shouted that out loud. “Do not worry too much about the future. Even if you will be the main cause of someone’s demise, you will not be the one to blame for what happens.” Tree Hugger pulled Coco into a hug and started to pet her head gently. Coco almost hated herself for leaning into the gentle stroke and even start enjoying it with such stressful news delivered by the mystery mare that was basically Gilda’s boogey-monster. “Just remember, there are plenty of divergent streams and one stone can cause a change in the flow. Find the courage to befriend a Krad. One last thing, do not fear your own claws. That is all that I desired to tell you personally Sheep Wolf. Now let me go purchase my selection and throw a stone of my own for a lot of people’s sakes.” With that Tree silently walked up to the counter and purchased the five crystals and got them back from the cat like Cacceran wearing a mining helmet, it was obvious this Cacceran was one of the Equestrian Cacceran invasion force that went native around a Diamond Dog community. The mare pulled the tiger eye crystal out the bag she received with her purchase and firmly placed it in Coco’s left hoof while looking her in the eyes with a slightly less lazy look, Coco just nodded and Tree’s smile widened then her eyes seemed to go back to being lazy like she hadn’t stared into Coco’s own with a slight bit of seriousness. Rarity was purchasing her own things and Tree went to stand next to her, she stayed there patiently until Rarity turned around and noticed her. “Yes, is there something you need Tree?” Rarity couldn’t help but feel that Tree Hugger was standing close to her for a reason, the response she received was Ms. Hugger positioning her body and her hooves in a certain way. “The Trapeze Troupe will be fine, though they will cause and be in some trouble. I’m sorry if this hurts, but I need to shove you in exactly one minute Maker. I do not intend to cause you any physical harm and I am sorry about the mental distress in advance.” Tree Hugger might have maneuvered Rarity forcefully into position, but she obviously had her reasons for doing so. She turned to Opal sitting on Rarity's back. “Can you point you right forearm to the ceiling and be prepared to use the special function on it?” Opal did so immediately with her left paw on her new Parascine designed data pad, she wasn’t about to question the crazy mare. When Tree did things, she did them for a really good reason. Like buying multiple medical kits long before a MOM attack happened. This was a chain of dominoes that was somehow coming together and Opal knew it wasn’t a coincidence, listening to Tree was definitely the best policy for any situation. “Tree what’s…” Receiving a hoof to her mouth made Rarity stop, Tree just gave her a tight smile. Tree was facing completely away from the doorway. “Both of you please close your eyes.” Pleaded Tree Hugger in a sad tone, they did as asked and at that moment a bald male human wearing a face covering frowning gray mask, an expensive looking suit and red tie slammed the door to the shop wide open and tossed a grenade like object at the floor. What followed was an immediate flash and a loud bang, then blood spilling against the shops clean floor in the chaos. Chrysalis and Opal were able to swiftly react to what was happening, but it was already too late...