Arabelle

Name: Flohwalzer
Your Profession: Performer
Your Rank: 2
Roll ID: 122866
Roll Result: 11 (LD: 6)
Item Type: Debuff Song
Tier: 1
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: [x2] Hypnosis
Description: [reference] A rather simple piano piece. Recorded on a rectangular blue crystal with a black phoenix etched to one of its sides. A dark energy swirls in spirals within -- "Wait, this wasn't supposed to be a debuff crystal! Ah, well, a rare craft is a rare craft!" -- Somehow, it produces a suffocating sound wave that disorients an opponent when played.
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/16480-f11-r2-performer-magnolia/?do=findComment&comment=580578

Name: Moonlight Sonata
Your Profession: Performer
Your Rank: 2
Roll ID: 122869
Roll Result: 12 (LD: 5)
Item Type: Debuff Song
Tier: 1
Quality: Perfect
Enhancements: Perpetuate
Description: [reference] "A poem from me to you." Mournful, meditative, lamenting. The quiet melancholy of the first movement gradually fades in the lighter rhythm of the second. Cheery, playful, a summer flower in the midst of two chasms. The sonata comes to a pause only to accelerate to the tempestuous theme of the last movement. Tumultuous, representative of unbridled raw emotion, reminiscent of a tragedy's climax. "I shall see this lonely tale through to the end."
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/16480-f11-r2-performer-magnolia/?do=findComment&comment=580578

The pianist led them forward, ever forward, her hand gently clasped around their wrist. They could back away if they wanted to. A few steps up the stairs, she looked over her shoulder to meet them at eye-level. "I haven't seen you in a while and I did disappoint with my last encore, so humor me for a bit will you?" Arabelle smiled, cold yet all-knowing. "Take a seat. I'll be recording this as a craft too, so stay quiet, okay?"

She seated herself in front of her piano and straightened her music sheets. Skimming through them once again, she dismissed her latest craft to her shop inventory and set down another empty Performer Crystal.

"Close your eyes and listen. Don't even look at me. Do you know how rarely I say that? Yes, rarely. Appreciate it." The small purple-haired girl breathed in deeply and her fingers hovered over the first notes. "A poem, from me to you."

"Hmhm~. No need to apologize if it wasn't intentional." 

And she meant it. Arabelle wasn't mad at her teammate per se - Kirbs was just doing her job as DPS after all, and she was more concerned with herself and her lack of progress - though that was almost subject to change at the other girl's next words. She felt a small twinge of annoyance. Was that supposed to be reassuring? It sounded condescending at best; like she was weak enough that she had to attack first so they could chalk it up as some sort of "contribution" on her part before the other player went in and killed it in one Sword Art. Yeah, no, she didn't like being pitied. 

But - the small purple-haired girl glanced back at her partner and her soft smile - she would let that pass! Probably just a bad choice of words. It was kind of hard to stay annoyed at the redhead when she was being this nice.

"Another quest, you say?" Arabelle considered it. She watched the other DPS player kill one of the already-weakened mobs. Charging up a Sword Art, the scythe wielder quickly followed up and cleaved one unlucky Wurm in half. Her swing sent a shockwave that lashed at another just a ways behind it. Weaving gracefully in and out of attacks, the small player reappeared at a safer distance and glanced at her EN. One last round of attacks should do it! "Sounds fun! How about we kick Dustin out and do it with just us girls for a change?"

Dustin went in and pummeled Party 1's only Rain Minion with full HP to death. It went flying, HP dropping so fast that it disintegrated before it hit the ground. Freaking overkill! It took all of Arabelle's will not to laugh and look like a maniac in the middle of a battlefield; it was not a good look in her opinion, despite what all those TV shows tried to tell them otherwise. The rest of the horde looked up at their fallen comrade in horror but still, they pressed on like the annoyingly persistent things they were.

Five more. Arabelle chanted this to herself like a mantra as - with considerable difficulty - she hoisted her scythe up to deflect attacks coming her way. Fighting for too long on critically low energy levels had its adverse effects, it seems.

"I'm good!" she called out. If there's another, surprise wave after this, I'm gonna ditch and go insane. "Energy-wise though? Not so much. Give me time to regenerate and I'll attack!"

Knock, knock. 

Arabelle rapped her knuckles against the front door. She stopped after she felt she'd made enough of a ruckus to wake someone from a deep sleep. Stared intently at the door - was practically glaring at it, Claude might have pointed out if the scout didn't already have his attention trained elsewhere - and waited. Her senses were pricked for any signs of movement. Zilch. Nada. Nein. She won't accept this. Not after coming all this way. The small purple-haired girl banged a clenched fist on the door with enough force to make the slimes in the nearby enclosure jump at the sound of it. Then she stopped and listened.

She half expected to hear the same commotion he had caused when she first visited his house - trying to tidy up for an unexpectedly early visit, she had supposed - but she was met with nothing but the sound of the slimes bouncing about in their little farm and the rustling of leaves as a small brown ferret poked its head out of a nearby pile.

Arabelle stepped back and inhaled deeply.

HellO frOM thE OthER SIiIiiiiiI—

She spun around and marched back to Claude. 

Dustin wasn't home. Today marked the third day in the row. She hadn't seen nor heard of him ever since he one-shotted that quest mob and walked away without so much of a word. Neither had her beloved guild leader, Hei, Saphira, or - heck - the Other Girl. So they all had the idea he might be missing. Most probably.

The small purple-haired girl jumped up and seated herself on the fence beside him in silent frustration. She had shooed him away earlier. Appearance's sake. She thought an ounce of betrayal had flashed on his face for a split second before he left her alone and went to play with the slimes. Okay, give the poor guy who put up with all of her crap some credit. He had found Dustin's stock of hay in the backyard when they came over to check on his house two days ago, so he decided to assign himself the task of feeding the neglected "mobs" since there was nothing else to do. Lucky things. She watched him, out of the corner of her eye. Was he mad? Annoyed? Jealous? She wouldn't put it past him. 

But there was no sign of that when he tilted his head up to look at her. "You okay?"

Strange. She swung her legs. Turned her head and watched the bigger slimes bully the smallest one of them away from its share of food. Dejected, Mr. Fluffy bounced off to the far side of the enclosure only to perk up as the scout tossed it the rest of its share as soon as it was far enough away from the others. Claude was keeping an eye on the lone slime. Probably found it unusual, having never owned a slime farm before. It... did put a smile on her face.

"Honest answer?"

Arabelle looked down on him from her perch. Twirled a finger around her hair. Her fingers curled over the top of the fence and the small movement drew his gaze downward. Considering. Hesitating. Kind of made her want to pat his head like she would with a little kid and tease him. Modesty was not a prevalent word in her book but it was in his - most of the time. 

"There's only one way to answer that question, you know?" Yeah. Without being an insensitive jerk. The question of whether she was stalling or what words she wanted to hear this time lingered in the air, but went unasked. Claude met her amused expression with a wry smile of his own. Then she let the silence on her end drag on for too long and he turned flustered. "Ah! I didn't mean to be rude or anything. I just thought - we've been talking for so long now that it's practically a given already. If..." He trailed off and looked away awkwardly. Like he was considering whether to drop it entirely. Then - she didn't know what went through his mind - he was looking back at her, decidedly embarrassed at his next words but determined nonetheless. "If we were to get along, I want us to understand each other... Speak to each other more. That's what we agreed on."

Cute.

"Yes... we did agree on that. So,"--Arabelle tilted her head. She swung her legs and leaped off the fence, dusting her skirt and spinning around to face him. Silently, she inclined her head to the large empty house. The corners of her lips pulled up into a crooked smile.--"Tell me something nice in return, okay?"

Claude blinked. He pulled away from the fence and trailed after her; she had told him she would be taking the lead this time. "What do you want to know?"

Not much needed to be said as they circled around her favorite guildmate's house; they came here with an agreement already in mind. Three days of no Dustin, and Arabelle was playing detective - whether Claude liked it or not. Naturally, that included poking around the outside of his house... the only area most closely associated to the missing person which they had access to, the only place most likely to provide some clues or leads if ever - and also, quote unquote "he could just be conked out in there somewhere!" She glanced back once again to see her scout sending off a PM to his guild leader. So he was officially a missing person now? Were they going to send out search parties? Somehow, she doubted the rest of his guild would actually be bothered outside of "keeping an eye out" (like that ever worked)... unless it was an order from the leader herself. The small purple-haired girl paused to consider and pulled up her message window to notify Stryder as well. 

"I'm simply curious," Arabelle finally answered. Her expression betrayed no emotion as she peeked into the main bedroom's window with Claude's record crystal in her hand. "Someone doesn't just completely disappear. push everyone away, and turn unresponsive for days just like that without reason. I don't have any hints as to what it is, but I have the strange feeling that it needs to be discovered and put at rest as soon as possible or something undesirable would happen. A... sense of urgency?" She turned back to him - finding him listening intently to her like he always did when she talked - and quirked a hollow smile. "So I guess one could say that I'm kind of concerned."

The way she described it seemed familiar. Oh man. She'd bet her money on it if you asked her to. This was a Pinball situation. 

"Yeah. I am too." He ran a hand through his long hair. Frustrated. He wasn't finding anything of note and neither was she. "I hope it isn't anything too bad."

"Like I said. It's definitely something of the sort."

Arabelle let her ashen gaze to wander the inside of the empty bedroom for a moment longer. Then she spotted it. A picture on Dustin's dresser; one she had seen when she snooped around his room maybe a few weeks ago. The brunet smiling beside a smaller boy. She never saw the real person but he was apparently important enough to earn a place in a picture frame - where she and the rest of the guild didn't. The amateur detective wouldn't call it a lead. But it gave her an idea. She snapped a picture and watched the image load into the film reel of the record crystal.

"Hey, Claude." The small purple-haired girl looked over her shoulder and smiled. She dangled the crystal with its menu open - and right in the center of the film reel was a picture of her that she didn't remember posing for. Her next words sent heat rushing to his face. "Did I ever tell you how much I love you?"

~~~

The Monument of Life loomed over her, an ominous figure in the darkened iron halls. Writings lined the stone slab. Some were crossed out with etches beneath them. She silently perused each line, lingering particularly on the names of the deceased. Sad sight. Not only that, but also the things at its surroundings. People came by to learn of a friend's unfortunate demise and to mourn. Offerings were arranged neatly in front of the pillar. Players had turned it into a memorial of sorts. 

"...Not here."

So assuming she heard things right amidst the noise of that event battle... that left only a few options. Her gaze fell to the flowers and the lit candle at her feet. The scent of vanilla wafted up and into the air and she raised her head to watch her scout solemnly light another out of the corner of her eye.

She'd bother him later.

Arabelle inched to the right. When he rose to his feet, she reached out and gently tugged on his sleeve - a rare quiet attempt at prodding him to see if he was still alright. Tilting her head at him, she pointed at a name slightly above eye level.

Kadin
Player-Killed by Greil

~~~

Crystals hummed to life, lighting up the dim underground hall. They breathed in the scent of ash and old books, and regarded the rows of cardboard boxes stacked on shelves with brazen letters fixed to their sides with the same morbid awe they always had whenever they entered. She led the way and strained against the heavy wooden door as she pushed it shut and flipped a lock.

"...I suppose it's appropriate for Fione to say 'welcome back,'" she murmured. Quietly. Dreamily. As if she were speaking to herself more than anything. She glided past the shelves, silently indicating the long wooden table at the end. Her pupil-less red eyes searched the labels on the shelves until she stopped at one. 'G.' Then later on, she would drift past a few more and pull a box out of another row. "But many have said this place doesn't exactly feel welcoming. Perhaps it's the idea of being underground... perhaps it's the idea of  being surrounded by all of this. But please be assured. No one else was present when Fione opened the door. Take a seat."

The young woman followed shortly after. She set down a cardboard box. Sifted through the papers arranged neatly within and pulled out the ones of interest, laying them on the table. Then, politely waving away any offers to help, she went back for another. And as names, places, events appeared and connections made themselves evident, she came back for another. And another.

Still, as they exhausted all options, there still remained a disappointing amount of unanswered questions.

"Fione doesn't have every piece of information at hand." she admitted quietly. tucking a few stray locks of violet hair behind her ear. "With Aincrad's current technology and no progression on the matter, gamewide surveillance is impossible. Not even networks of spies entirely dedicated to their... 'profession' can reach the same level as they would in the real world. Frankly, Fione thinks it's for the best."

Clouded red eyes dropped down to glance through the documents on the table once again. Laid out in front of them were the puzzle pieces. Not all of them. But if put together, they could have a better idea of the bigger picture. Or if everything they learned even fit into the big picture at all.

"Fione doesn't have everything needed," she repeated. "But for the sake of learning the truth behind this, Fione will find the rest herself."

~~~

"Any rooms available today?"

Mid-morning. No Claude; his demanding hag of a guild leader wanted him somewhere else today and he had went off after telling her to stay safe, much to Arabelle's disappointment. She had her fill of Mishiro's free coffee. Some conversation, too... and the small purple-haired girl may or may not have just told her best friend that her guildmate disappeared. And she earned a sympathetic look. Or empathetic. That wasn't good. She wasn't as pathetic as that dull girl at handling people like this. If she found him today, she could say with her usual confidence that it wouldn't devolve into a complete disaster... which she assumed was what happened to her friend and her unrequited/requited love turned crazy murderer thing last November. But Arabelle didn't betray her feelings on that matter. Not when Claude was there. Mishiro had kind of asked her to keep it a secret. Even though her scout had told her on many occasions that he wanted them to be honest with each other. 

Whoops? 

Either way, she got her free dessert privileges back. So that was a plus. She got two for herself this morning.

...but somehow, she already felt extremely worn out.

What do you mean Room 5 is available?!

Lady Luck was messing with her once again. There was no way Fione would have been found out; she trusted that her info gathering skills were top-notch. Which meant that Dustin - who spent the night here and apparently had been doing the past few days or so - chose this exact day of Arabelle's planned confrontation to go... somewhere. Wherever. But she wasn't completely out of guesses. There was this player killer dude named Greil (what the hell kind of name was that?), inextricably linked with her missing guildmate. And one of his guys was around here. Coincidence? She would say 50-50. It was better than giving up.

Arabelle maintained her innocent expression. "Right then. How lucky of me~. One reservation, please."

The small purple-haired girl dropped the key into her inventory and made her way to the shops where Greil's PK bait guy was known to hang around in. Wandered around. Walked up and down the streets. Considered buying an ice cream for herself then decided against it. She was on her amateur detective job, dammit! But PK Bait wasn't there. Went on vacation? Cute, but unlikely. Her information was up to date. So... that most likely meant he got his catch earlier. She checked the quest bulletin and the immediate establishments surrounding it. Then spun around and meandered over to the outskirts of the town.

"Hello!" she greeted, catching the attention of a group of players idling about. A pleasant youthful voice and a cute smile was always a guaranteed snare. "I'm looking for my friend, have you seen him around?"

Repeating the process until a player passed by and confidently gave her an answer with no nonverbal indications that they were making it all up... it was almost too easy. PK bait guy left with a guy in a cloak. Then he went running back to the safe zone without said guy. She flicked her friend list open and scrolled down, finding Dustin's name still listed in it.

Bingo. She didn't even need to ask about the cloaked person's whereabouts.

"Dustin really is an old-fashioned sort of guy, huh?" she mused with a small smile.

Arabelle returned to the teleport plaza and set her destination to Floor 4.

After what seemed like forever, it seemed that these little pests were finally thinning out! The big guy was dead and the frontliners were moving down to assist the Tier 2 players in the fight against the smaller commanders. Seven remained of the Tier 1 minions and their frenzied laughter could be heard across the battlefield as they surged forward with their spears and... spectacularly missed. Their leader was down and they most likely knew they were going to die as well but strangely enough, they pressed on. 

"If these guys weren't AIs, I would've admitted their dedication was admirable... whatever the hell they're fighting for anyway," Arabelle sighed. They did just appear out of nowhere and ruined a perfectly good festival to boot. "But right now, it's just annoying."

She glared at one particular Rain Minion that managed to scramble away from her attack. The little vagrant had to be at 1 HP, but it was clinging onto life - shounen-anime style - and had to have gained an infinite EVA buff or something.

Tier: 1
Build: AoE DPS
Discord (Must have ID #): Blake Harris#3771

Name: Flohwalzer
Your Profession: Performer
Your Rank: 2
Roll ID: 121225
Roll Result: 11 (LD: 10)
Item Type: Debuff Song
Tier: 1
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: [x2] Hypnosis
Description: [reference] A rather simple piano piece. Recorded on a rectangular blue crystal with a black phoenix etched to one of its sides. A dark energy swirls in spirals within -- "Wait, this wasn't supposed to be a debuff crystal! Ah, well, a rare craft is a rare craft!" -- Somehow, it produces a suffocating sound wave that disorients an opponent when played. What? No, Arabelle has absolutely no idea of the monstrosity she just created.
Post Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/16480-f11-r2-performer-magnolia/?do=findComment&comment=578952

A couple of things went wrong with her first attempts, leading them all to result as failures. But Arabelle wasn't giving up yet! It was only because she'd spent a few days more than she'd expected gathering materials and the like, and now that she was actually crafting again after a huge restock, it would naturally take her a while to get back into the swing of things.

So she decided to do something simpler. She played the Flea Waltz.

The monster.

"Ehhhh?" She quickly padded over to her familiar which had fallen from its perch as soon as the song ended. It was on the ground but thankfully, still alive. And kind of twitching. Whew. She wouldn't ever be able to keep on living as a pianist with the fact that she just killed her crow with the sound of her playing. The small purple-haired girl left it on a chair and returned to her piano. Okay, now to smash the craft -- oh? Holding up her finished rare craft, she shook it and the dark energy swirled within the pool of blue before gathering once again into a spiral-like clump in the middle. 

That wasn't supposed to be a debuff crystal, but whatever! A rare craft is a rare craft! 

Arabelle whistled happily to herself as she placed the crystal in her shop inventory.

"Psh." Arabelle laughed and shook her head at her second favorite guildmate's overexaggerated response. True, it was turning quite boring and she would honestly take that over the typical shouts of affirmation that many players were used to giving in the midst of battle. And it was more creative than whatever that battle cry was. What the hell? The small purple-haired girl visibly winced. It was unpleasant, grating on her ears like nails being dragged against a chalkboard, and she wanted nothing less than to be rid of these lizard-fish-whatever creatures and their ear-splitting cries.

"Tell that to our teammates."

Let's have an update, shall we? Tank and Healer had disappeared, their names and status bars having magically vanished from the upper-left of her interface. Maybe she yelled at the former too much. Whatever. Freeloader was still being a freeloader. Leaving her and Dustin: a team of two compared to the other team of six.

Perfectly balanced as all things should be.

Arabelle ignored the mook that landed a shallow cut on her side and deflected the attack of one she had set her sights on. Even with her energy at its lowest point, she was sure one more hit from her would kill it! Spinning her scythe, she sent it in a wide arc and sliced the Rain Minion Dustin had previously attacked in half.

"Ara, ara? What do you take me as?" Arabelle shifted her scythe to one hand to catch the cookie he tossed her way. No buffs, but the pleasant sweet taste that flooded her mouth was just enough to lift her spirits in the middle of a fun battle turned tedious. It wasn't a case of 'too much of a good thing,' these lizard warriors and their numbers and their endless indecipherable chattering and their repetitive motions of regrouping, taunting, intimidating, making the same attacks with the same strategies unless otherwise stated and their reliance on numbers rather than skill and her noob teammates sans Dustin were just plain annoying. So much so that she just wanted to be rid of everything and enjoy the festivities before they were oh so rudely interrupted. "Don't worry. These things can barely do anything to my HP."

She gestured wordlessly to Dustin's upper-left, where she knew her HP bar was located in his interface. It had barely moved after the first mob's attack, as deadly as it looked, her stats decided such an attack was practically harmless. Her EN was a different matter though; three consecutive AoEs were not the most helpful to conserving her already low amount of base energy. The small purple-haired girl dropped back, stubbornly refusing to stand behind their rather bull-headed tank, and instead positioned herself beside Dustin with her back to the center of the circle the players had formed.

The minions regrouped and charged at them once again. Arabelle twirled her scythe in her hands like one would with a large baton. The first attack passed through the black and green blur that was her guard and nicked her shoulder and the second glanced off her weapon's rod.

She didn't counterattack.

"I'm regenerating," Arabelle explained to her teammates simply. "So defend me with your lives, okay?"

"You really know your slime lore, huh?" Now within the confines of the <<Garden>>, her attention was divided between searching for materials and her friend. Though admittedly, she leaned more on the latter. "Makes me feel like I'm not taking enough care of my familiar~. Oh hey, did I ever tell you I had one?" She spun around and tucked her hands behind her back, recalling the day she randomly met a nice frontliner who accompanied her on her familiar quest... then proceeded to call her a Disney princess when she'd tamed her crow. "He's a crow, named Moondust. Friendly with players and has a weird fear of other familiars. I'm trying to make it so that he attacks scary things instead of flying away."

She was not making progress on that. Whatever, she had her full build without it anyway.

"Well, true. Being alone is the worst," Arabelle agreed, not noticing her friend's brief moment of embarrassment. Normally she would, but not when she was glaring down at a bush from which the small purple-haired girl swore she'd just saw a blue glow from. Why was it that she had worse chances when she was in the <<Garden>> of all places? She'd found materials outside just fine. She returned to Dustin. "Yeah, I think you need to," she looked him up and down, then averted her gaze and feigned innocence, "Cool off. And so do I. So where is it?"

Quote

To: Dustin

Sure. Will be there in a sec, sugar. ;)

Arabelle dismissed her PMs with a satisfied smile. She was right in her decision to ask Dustin today: not only was his reply fast, but he also invited her to hang out even though he was taking a quest! No, more like he asked her to accompany him instead of rejecting her outright. Mishiro and Claude better be taking notes. She hopped off her bench and reentered her shop. The previously silent first floor was quickly filled with the sound of her whistling as she picked a crystal off the shelves and pocketed it, then changed into her battle attire and summoned her scythe.

"Keep watch, Moondust," the small purple-haired girl ordered her familiar when it flew down to greet her. She wasn't going to bring it; it was completely useless in a fight. Securing her hair to the back of her head with a distinctive red bow, she exited the three-story building and made the quick journey to Floor 7.

Arabelle was almost ashamed to say that she recognized the girl she'd only spoken to twice before she did her second favorite guildmate. But to be fair, that was entirely because his hair was now a vibrant blue and he was wearing a different set of clothes. What was this? A phase?

"Hello! Kirbs, Dustin..." she greeted a wave. Approaching the two, she eyed Dustin up and down then she turned to Kirbs with a friendly smile. "Remember me from the Christmas fair? Well, if you don't, I'll reintroduce myself anyway. My name's Arabelle, nice seeing you again!" The small purple-haired girl shook the redhead's hand and turned back to Dustin. "Hey. What's with the sudden change in style? Hate to bring that image to your head, but you kind of look like one of those K-pop stars now."

"Oh, huh. I guess I forgot to hand this over to him." Her finger hovered over the unidentified weapon's description - Tier 3, Perfect. It would've been the perfect drop if only she wasn't still a Tier One. But that wasn't much of an inconvenience. Arabelle wasn't busy and any excuse to see her favorite guild leader was much-appreciated! After going about her daily business, she teleported to Floor 22 and strolled into Stryder's shop. "Nice seeing you, sugar~," the small purple-haired girl greeted with a wave of her hand. She approached the counter and brought out the unidentified weapon. "Found this in my inventory. I think it dropped for me back when we did our guild gathering thing. Well, either way, I have no use for it right now, so I'm handing it over to you. Do anything with it, I don't mind." Opening the trade window, she transferred ownership to Stryder. Any other day, she would have stayed to chat, but she had a date appointment tonight. "We should do that again someday. If you're having difficulties gathering everyone together, I'm fine with just the two of us? See you!"

- 1 Unidentified T3 Perfect Weapon

Useless cloak guy was being smug. Healer was waiting for an opportunity to heal. Nobody else landed their hits. Arabelle's EN was practically empty at this point, from her constant use of AoEs. Amazing. She decided firmly to herself that teaming up at random was officially the first step to self-destruction in this game. Or in literally every other game, ever. 

Tank didn't <<Howl>> when she actually needed to, leaving the half of the current wave of Rain Minions to turn to Arabelle. And they looked angry. "Your funeral," she said under her breath. With a spin of her scythe, she deflected the first and turned to face the other. But, the second mob seemed to have observed how the first attack missed and it lunged forward, past her guard, thrusting its spear straight into her heart. It pulled its spear out, but not before the small purple-haired girl charged up a Sword Art and launched it into the air with a swing of her scythe.

She staggered backwards, holding a hand to her chest. It didn't hurt but god, did it feel weird.