Chapter 9: A Bushel Of Blue Roses

Chapter 9: Bushel Of Blue Roses
I
After breakfast, they walked to school from the Fortunato manor. Eros and Thanatos slipped out the door with their tote-bags and gray-suited schoolboy uniforms, Eros’s crisp uniform in sleek perfection and without a wrinkle out of place, while Thanatos was slightly more disheveled though neat enough to pass the school uniform protocols. Thanatos casually adjusted his tie and flicked a long strand of white hair as though he stood defiantly before a scolding teacher who lectured him about his appearance, while Eros double-checked in the body-length mirror of the hallway whether his uniform, in fact, was still unwrinkled. The only thing that separated Thanatos from Eros was having his tie knotted a bit loosely and his collar unbuttoned three buttons loose. Dante himself sat in the middle of these two extremes, and while bookended between the twins, he licked his lips once and began writing some preliminary notes in his notebook to record everything observed in pencil scrawled scribblings. The two prodigies of the Fortunato family guiding the adopted son seemed an interesting way to wake up the morning and having breakfast. Vassago went to work as the Grand Magus, though he did have a magical sentry that looked after Eros, Thanatos, and Dante walking them from school to the Clocktower, shimmering in a golden sheen of illumination and runic symbols wrapped around its form in chains of ribbon-like glowing glyphs.

Dante tilted his head to the side with raised eyebrows, as the sentry didn’t stir or move and observed him, simply allowing Dante to watch or make notes as he pleased. Vassago had to be powerful indeed to create a magical sentinel such as this, that formidably watched over them and even strike enemies if needed. His brows relaxed and he straightened his head, messing with his necktie just a little to straighten it as though Vassago himself watched him. First day of school, had to make a good impression, after all. His shoulders relaxed, his posture slumping into a more disheveled state of comfort, rather than the defensive posture of a man ready for fight or flight. His gaze lingered on the Clocktower looming before him, toward the gateway instead of retreating backward and feeling the fleeting urge to run. He didn’t instinctively plan escape routes, contingency plans, or ways to dispose of an enemy, though his fingers tapped lightly against his notebook with a slight tremor. Dante’s eyes glanced in his peripheral view, expecting a silver glint of a blade or a spark of gunpowder to erupt from the shadowed areas that he couldn’t quite perceive. Tension smoothed out of his wiry body, his eyes trained forward and concentrating more on his writing than his environment—a fatal mistake for someone like him, though these days he could afford to be more lenient. Especially since Vassago's construct stayed by their side like a guardian angel of sorts (how he probably would've loathed that comparison, though! Dante thought) Though for now, he was a student of the Clocktower—and a well-rested night energized him to his bones except for the lingering remnants of a nightmare that still flashed behind his eyes.

The faces of all his victims, every last one, erupted in vivid detail in his mind in rapid fire succession, as though he watched a movie of memories streaming through his brain about every victim and their lives. The pleading faces of the two girls he saved, their eyes shimmering like the gemlike eyes of barnyard kittens, asking him why he failed them. Dante shook his head, running a hand through sandy blond locks, before murmuring to himself. “It was just a dream.”

“Eh?” Thanatos glanced toward Dante with crimson eyes slightly narrowed. “What did you say now?”

Dante blinked and shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

“Hey now, we’re almost at the Clocktower,” Eros gestured with a grand sweep of his hand toward the pointed tall, grand spire with a giant clock and Roman Numerals in its interface towering over everything else. While the spires towering to a looming silver grey sky that smelled faintly of ozone and charged with an electrical thrum of lightning and purple magic, Dante noted that while the Clocktower itself struck a huge high-toned peal that resonated through the soles of his feet to the top of his head, causing his ears to ring with that one, sonorous note. Eros and Thanatos immediately put one clenched hand to their breasts as the Clocktower pealed its note, and Dante, taking cue, raised his own arm and placed his clenched fist against his breast, which still held a slight tremor.

The Gothic-inspired gates opened before them as though by magic, and within the school grounds was flowerbeds of different roses. A black-haired teenage girl in a Gothic Lolita style scheme dress that was colored and bedecked in black and white knelt by the roses, tending to a blue rose and pressing her lips gently against a petal and closing her eyes. The sweet scent of roses wafting from the garden in a pleasant fragrance overwhelmed him, though it was not unwelcome. A gentle look softened her features and her violet eyes sparkled in delight toward the blue roses moistened with morning dew. She glanced up, eyes widening, before her cupid bow lips curved into a smile. She rose from her knelt position, her skirts swishing and swirling when Eros and Thanatos entered the premises.

“Lulu!” Thanatos said, as Lunelle wrapped her arms around Thanatos’s neck. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m doing all right,” Lunelle said with a small smile. “Not doing much worse than before.”

She then turned curiously toward Dante, blinking.

“Who is this gentleman right here?”

Dante almost resisted the urge to snort. He was no gentleman. He didn’t know what gave Lunelle that mistaken impression, though Thanatos grinned, which was more smiles than Dante ever saw the usually solemn boy usually do.

“That is Dante,” Thanatos said. “He saved our father’s life.”

“Oh?” Lunelle said as she detached from Thanatos and walked up to examine Dante closely. Up close, she looked striking, and Dante understood why Thanatos found her attractive and naturally gravitated toward her. There was a certain sweet innocence about her that Dante found he wanted to protect all costs, and he gave a tentative smile back in hopes that it would help put her at ease around him. “Well, if you’re friends with Thanatos, then you’re friends with me! I’m sure that Estelle would love you too!”

“Is this one giant friendship circle?” Dante said.

“Please, take some of these roses,” Lunelle said as she handed him a bushel of blue roses that she had been taking care of.

“You’ve been tending to all this?” Dante said in astonishment. “Yourself?”

“Yes,” Lunelle said with a soft smile. “It gives me something to do and helps provide something to nature. There is something beautiful about the flowers and birds and bees and butterflies that come to the garden, I like watching them as they come to the garden.”

“I’ll have to see it myself,” Dante said earnestly, though honestly he never would’ve dreamed about something as resplendent and luxurious as this. His past life spared no time for such things, especially since an assassin’s life was fraught with peril and danger, of gunshots and blood splatters and steel weapons pressed against the throat. Dante had been in a few scrapes himself, though somehow he managed to get out of them unscathed. Until that one day, when he saved those children. But if he were to do it again, he would rather die and save those children. It was worth it.

“How if Master Vassago doing?” Lunelle said kindly to Thanatos, to which Thanatos still had that soft smile toward her.

“He’s doing all right,” he said. “Business as usual.”

“He’s still trying to find the Root of Magic, right?” Lunelle said. “He wrote many papers and academic books about magic that are circulated throughout the Clocktower today, which I find absolutely incredible. He truly made magic accessible to anyone, which I think is an honorable ideal.”

“Our Father did many things,” Eros said with a laugh. “Sometimes it’s hard to live up to a man like that. But we try out best to follow in his footsteps.”

Lunelle beamed.

“I think that you’re already doing great, Eros, Thanatos! And Dante, if you were to become a Mage, what kind of Mage do you want to be?”

“I don’t know, what kind of Magic is studied here?” Dante asked.

Lunelle still smiled.

“All kinds you can imagine! Elemental, Onmyoujutsu, Sorcery, Conjurer, Illusionist, Summoning, and more! There’s also the Hidden Taboo Index Of Grimoires that aren’t taught until 5th Years in School, or if you have a special pass in the library to be able to read any spell that you want with a Librarian’s jurisdiction…”

“A library, huh,” Dante said quietly. “Maybe I should go there and give it a visit.”

“Eros and I already have library cards there,” Thanatos said. “We could definitely get you in based on Father’s reputation alone.”

Dante gave a somewhat small smile, before he said earnestly. “Thanks.”

“Before we go to the library though, we need to introduce you to a teacher first,” Lunelle said, already guiding them through the entry way of the school with a Gothic-inspired doorway and into the castle corridors, where the sconces of torches lit the path and a lush red carpeting led its way through lined portraits of different Overlords in the past. Dante eyed them all, then went to the last picture of what he assumed to be the current Overlord, a rather handsome man with light brown hair and red eyes. Dante frowned for a moment, as the smirk on the Overlord’s beautified portrait oozed arrogance, as though the world belonged to him and him alone. He believed himself to be a king of kings, though in truth, he was nothing but a Tyrant.

“This is the current Overlord, correct?” Dante said softly, nearly glaring at the portrait so hard that the plaster and canvas would peel.

“Yes,” Lunelle said, before she whispered. “And just so you know, we’re not supposed to say anything bad about him.”

“Why not?” Dante said, frowning. “He’d do something against children?”

“I don’t know. The Overlord takes on several wives as his lovers, though they’re under a powerful Hypnosis,” Eros said solemnly. “Whether or not he comes after Mother next is something he hasn’t attempted yet, but still…”

“Overlord this, Overlord that,” Dante grumbled. “Bah, why can’t we just kick this guy’s ass? If only I had enough power to do it myself.”

“You’re not on his radar yet, but eventually you will be,” Thanatos said in a low undertone. “The Overlord may be a sleazy womanizer, though he’s still pretty powerful.”

“Right,” Dante said softly, clenching his hands into fists. He remembered what Melusina said about suppressing his mana and keeping hidden from the Overlord’s detection. He wondered if the Overlord was so strong that someone like him was nobody but a pathetic ant underneath his trampling feet, and somehow this fact both pissed him off and wounded his pride. Before, strength was a matter of practicality to survive. But now…he wanted strength to protect. To guard something precious. As he watched Eros, Thanatos, and Lunelle talk to one another with the latest gossip at the Clocktower, Dante gave a rueful smile before he eyed somewhere behind him, a patch of shadow that he thought almost looked suspicious but then thought nothing of it. Perhaps it was paranoia. IF there was something, wouldn’t have Vassago’s magical sentry reacted before?

Maybe it was nothing and he was being overly paranoid. But then, it was that very same paranoia and survival instincts that kept him alive so long. Dante whispered to the magical sentry about sending a message to Vassago, to which the sentry bowed and then retreated quietly, perhaps to tell Vassago about the situation about the mysterious shadow that Dante had spotted. When he caught up to Eros, Thanatos, and Lunelle, he saw another black haired girl in a Gothic Lolita style attired dress, whom he assumed to be Estelle, chirping quite happily about schoolwork as she turned to Dante and looked to him curiously.

“Oh? This is the new student that we’ve been hearing so much about?” Estelle said with a smile, before she curtsied a bit. “Welcome, Dante, to the Clocktowr Academy!”

Dante blinked.

“I’m already famous before I’ve stepped foot into the school, huh?”

“Yup! You’ve got quite a reputation brewing around you,” Estelle said as she guided Dante toward the LIbrary, where Eros and Thanatos must’ve mentioned he wanted to peruse the magical tomes there. “You want to se tup a library card, right? It’s simple easy, and the procedure involves giving your ID or a proof of residency and we’ll get you set up in a cinch! It’s simple, right?”

“Yeah,” Dante said as he looked toward the library, where books upon books were stacked on mahogany bookshelves seaming full of must-filled pages of ancient and brimming magic. Once he set up his library card at Estelle’s suggestion, Estelle smiled and said, “Okay, now that you’ve gotten set up, you can be taught some spells that most people wouldn’t be privy to in classes under the supervision of the Head Librarian.”

“Who is the head Librarian?” Dante asked in curiosity.

"Marionette,” Lunelle said in a chipper tone as she wandered toward the iinner sanctumof the Library to help Dante register for his library card. “I hope that you will enjoy your stay here, at the Clocktower.”

Dante gave a tentative smile at that.

“Thanks.”

“Has Thanatos told you about Lord Vassago?” Lunelle said curiously. “About how he has contributed so much for the Clocktower and the teachings of its students?”

“I can believe it,” Dante said in awe. “He’s an incredible man.”

Lunelle giggled, before she placed a gentle hand on Dante’s shoulder. “I see that you admire him too. I’m glad.”

Dante quirked his lips into a smile, before saying, “Where are the twins anyway? Did they ditch me?”

“I’m afraid when it comes to books and research they can get a little absorbed, I’m afraid,” Lunelle said with an apologetic smile. “Regardless, I willbe here to kpeep you company until they’re dong reseraching.”

“Whatever are they researching that has them so engrossed?” Dante said, having his notebook out ever at the ready to write down notes in his cryptic messages.

“They’re researching all kinds of things, I’m sure,” Lunelle folded her hands in front of her and dipped her head slightly in a formal bow. “Don’t worry, I’m here to keep you company!”

Dante nodded, before he met the head librarian, who was a kindly brunette lady with a cherubic face and massively coiffed hair that ended in curls. The Head Librarian smiled toward Dante and said, “Hello, welcome to the Grand Library of the Clocktower? Remember to keep quiet and follow the protcols of returning books after you’re done using them. You can always renew books and extend your time period of borrowing one, though of course if you’re late on returning a book it will require fee.”

Dante nodded. “Sounds fair enough.”

“Anyway,” Marionette said as she led him through the rows of books that towered above them all, with several ladders and stools in place in case if someone needed to get a book from a higher shelf. “You will find books of many kinds around here. Of course there is a network of computers in this library’s infrastructure that contains all the data of library and Clocktower, which you can ask me to navigate and tell you about.”

“I would actually like to work in the library,” Dante said, as marionette perked her head and smiled.

“Oh? I say that we’re a bit understaffed at the moment, so more help would be welcome. The pay is peanuts but we do this because we love books and knowledge and helping students learn the best that they can on all subjects, especially when it comes to Magic.”

“Are you a friend of Vassago’s?’ Dante said, taking out his notebook and recording everything that Marionette just told him while LUnelle lingered in the background.

“You could say that I’m acquainted with Lord Vassago,” Marionette said with a smile. “He used to be an aspiring student of the Clocktower himself, actually, and reformed it so that Magic was available to all demons, and not just a select few of prestigious bloodlines or hierarchies.”

“That really is incredible,” Dante said, before he put his hands into his pockets. “He really is incredible.”

“Isn’t he, though?” Marionette said, before she tittered. “If he weren’t already married I would’ve snatched him up myself! Though honestly, Adelaide is such a sweetheart that I wouldn’t do that to her, so they make a perfect couple.”

“I see,” Dante said, wondering how far and wide that Vassago’s influence reached, and then wondered if he should be addressing Vassago so casually since everyone else seemed to call him ‘Lord Vassago’.

Did it seem so unusual that he would address someone he knew as a Father figure as Vassago, by his first name, rather than Mr. Fortunato or even Lord Vassago? Dante didn’t know, though Vassago never amended his mistake for this, so Datne assumed it was okay for him to talk to him that way. Or maybe other people found Vassago more unapproachable than he really was. Still, from the sounds of it, Vassago did a lot in this Netherworld, and though Dante wasn’t exctly clear what his goals were, he knew that there was a greater cause underlying his actions—and Dante hoped to be a part of it. Demons normally were normally creatures of self-interest and chaos, though itt seemed like Vassago had enough stability within him to coordinate intelligent and strategic reasoning toward change, while also having enough agency of chaos that he could spur on that change in the first place. He remembered Thanatos offhandedly talking about Vassago having some ‘Angel blood’ within him and Dante was curious about that, though perhaps that woudl be another story for another time. Dante was a demon when he first was ‘born’ in this Netherworld, though he hoped to live up to his hero title and become someone worthy of it.

Yet Vassago might be cautioning Dante of something. Even though Melusina did give him the Hero title and gave him a second chance at life, there was something that unsettled him about the Goddess. She seemed deadset on him meeting Kahlan (he didn’t know her and apparently a romantic thread was in store for them? He needed to get to know her first!). But then Dante supposed that only an angel would be able to put up with someone like him, his bloodstained past and hands. Maybe Kahlan would be his salvation, or would she be the tempting guide that would light the path in the darkness of hell as he traversed the nine concentric circles of Hell to find hwat he sought?

“So you’re familiar with Lord Vassago, right?” Marionette said, chattering about as she held an armful of books and pressed them against her voluminous chest. “What do you think of him outside his status as Grand Magus?”

“He’s actually a pretty good guy, I would say,” Dante said. “I didn’t think that he would take on someone like me.”

“Yes, Lord Vassago always had a soft spot for children,” Marionette said fondly. “I think it was Adelaide that convinced him to eventually have theier two sons. He was nervous at first, like a shy little schoolboy in the affairs of the heart.”

“What made Lord Vassago choose Adelaide over other women?” Dante said.

“There’s a special backstory to that,” Marionette said as she shelved the books and began cataloging some other ones in the Restricted area of the Library which she allowed Dante temporary access to. “You’re allowed in this section only under strict supervision. I’m not sure what you want to look up here, but there are all kinds of spells and forbidden grimoires in here that we’ve kept for safekeeping and knowledge’s sake.”

“Thank you,” Dante said politely.

“It’s no problem,” Marionette said, before she went to talk about. “Anyway, Lord Vassago and Adelaide met when Vassago attempted to protect Adelaide from a stalker—though Adelaide, being the strong woman she was, didn’t need his help and handily took down the stalker on her own. You know how Succubus have a certain glamour and charm to them that attracts people toward them? Eros and Thanatos have that kind of pull to them as well, though it’s very subtle.”

“Hm,” Dante said. “If Adelaide has Succubus blood and has the Succubus charm, was Vassago affected?”

“Lord Vassago was not affected by the charm, surprisingly enough,” Marionette said. “He’s a higher level demon, after all, and such glamors do not work on him. Even so, he wanted to help Adelaide because he saw a woman in need, and it was that somewhat old-fashioned courtship that started out of that incident. Adelaide asked who he was, Vassago introduced himself as a student of the Clocktower, and wanted to study the Root Of All Magic.”

Dante found himself more fascinated by the moment. “So when he came to the Netherworld…was he a demon or an angel?”

“He was an angel at that point, I believe,” Marionette said with a crooked smile. “People don’t know that side of him and are so used to seeing him as a demon, though he was an angel first and foremost.”

Dante reflected on Vassago’s words, about being a demon that was honest with themselves rather than being a hypocritical angel that preached about love and justice. Which in all honesty, people depicted angels as the good guys and demons as the fallen who would eventually be wiped out of existence by God for their sins. Or so according to the Holy Writ that was written, though the truth was spread through various Holy Books and Dante didn’t know which religion was true because many cultures and people had different interpretations of an entity as mysterious as ‘God’. Who was God? What was He thinking? Was God watching him right now, and judging and weighing the balance of his sins? Would he really lift the pen for Dante if he performed heroic acts in the name of justice and good will if he performed enough good deeds to save people instead of self interest?

Marionette pulled out a book, before she flopped it on a table and opened I t’s pages as she riffled through them and paused at a section. “Here’s a Spell I think you should know. Lord Vassago told me to teach you this one. For your protection.”

“Is It about the Evil Eye?” Dante asked.

Marionette nodded. “Yes. The Evil Eye is a very potent kind of ocular magic that demons possess when they’re tempting humans or other entities into madness with their powers. Because the Evil Eye is dangerous when unchecked, usually It’s left sealed until the user can control it…which Lord Vassago did with you. And yet at the moment, conditions have been met that your Evil awakened due to stress, right?”

Datne nodded. “Yeah. I witnessed an attack in the Fortunato home, I panicked, and Then Thanatos kinda freaked out and kind of…of…”

Marionette murmured her apologies. “The poor dear. Though don’t fret, young Dante. It wasn’t your fault, or more like, you didn’t mean to. You still have to take responibility, of course, though you’re learning how to prevent something like that again, and Lord Vassago and his son Eros were there to help Thanatos at the time so that nothing drastic happened.”

Dante bowed his head. It still shouldn’t have happened.

“Oh dearie, don’t fret,” Marionette said as she clucked her tongue and stroked Dante’s side long tangs that draped over his left eye affectionately. “We will take care of you here in the library. There are many books to read to educate yourself and even some for entertainment. Plus there is the computers that have a network that connects to the whole of the Clocktower and this particular Netherworld dimension, showing you a database of everything that you could possibly need to know.”

“Wouldn’t the Overlord try to come after the Library first?” Dante said for a moment. “Because students or educating young students can arm themselves with knowledge to eventually usurp his place.”

“He tried, though Lord Vassago is an immovable object that prevents him from touching the Clocktower,” Marionette said proudly, as though Vassago were her own husband instead of Adelaide’s.

“So he protects the Clocktower, at least,” Dante murmured, before he thought about the various wives that the Overlord kept under his spell, to control and manipulate. “What about the wives that he’s taken on? The Overlord, I mean?”

“We haven’t managed to extract them yet,” Marionette said regretfully. “They willingly came to the Overlord and he asked them to be his wives in exchange…though somehow there’s something about the situation that doesn’t settle right.”

“Right?” Dante said with a frown. “They may have initially come to him with good intentions, though the Overlord took advantage of their innocence and is exploiting their emotions.”

“The reason why Lord Vassago hasn’t taken care of the Overlord yet,” Marionette said. “Is due to his principles.”

Dante perked up. “His principles?”

Marionette nodded.

“Yes. His principles of redemption. This incident only recently started and Vassago hopes that it’s not a permanent thing—or at least the Overlord could have a change of heart and a chance at redemption. He deems that the women aren’t being used or harmed in anyway, though the Overlord believes that Lord Vassago is trying to usurp his position and undermine him.”

Dante tapped his finger against an open page, before he asked, “Does the Overlord have some kind of ocular magic like I do? Something like the Evil Eyes?”

“Perhaps,” Marionette said. “It seems that young women get caught up in it. Though the Overlord is an entity that keeps in his castle and surrounded by his wives, the Overlord recently stopped by the Clocktower and observed it.”

“Was he looking for something?” Dante said. “Or someone?”

Marionette shrugged. “Who can say? All we know is that the Overlord is trying to gather more wives, whether it’s for lustful purposes or just a sense of trophy collecting nad status and wealth and power. Though Vassago doesn’t like the Overlord’s way of thinking and wants to push reforms for the women that are being caught underneath his hypnosis spell, the Netherworld hasn’t caught up to Vassago’s sense of ethics and most demons clamor that the Overlord is in the right of things.”

“Demon politics sounds scary,” Dante said.

Marionette smiled. “It could be a blood thirsty affair. Whoever beats the Overlord can take his title and thus become ruler of the Netherworld.”

“It’s not going to be as simple as that though, is it?” Dante said.

“No dear,” Marionette said as she hummed and riffled through more pages in the book. “Though your Evil Eye might have something to do with the Mesmerism that the Overlord has.”

“So he has Mesmerism in his eyes,” Dante said. “Creating powerful illusions and stuff?”

“His ocular magic is so powerful that people caught within his gaze experience an entirely different dimension—and sometimes are babbling mad,” Marionette said. “That is why it’s not recommended to go against the Overlord unless if you’re at a tier like Vassago or some other high level demons or angels.”

“What about Eros and Thanatos?” Dante said. “They’re Overlords-In-Training, arene’t they?”

“Yes,” Marionette said. “And there’s much dispute about who deserves the position more. Everyone says that it’s Eros who will be guaranteed the position, though Lord Vassago is open to other possibilities and hasn’t made a direct decision yet.”

Dante thought about it. True, Eros seemed to be the golden child of the family, the perfect and unkempt one who was a paragon of all virtues, though Thanatos was no slouch himself. Dante saw that Thanatos had an impressive resume of spells and knowledge and even good looks to top it all off, though Dante noted the envy and inferiority complex that Thanatos harbored toward his brother, too. Because even if Thanatos were good, even if he studied and worked hard, even if he built up his practical skills and experience, he was only second best. Dante couldn’t imagine what it would be like having a sibling to have a rivalry with, though it seemed, thus far, that Eros and Thanatos had a more friendly rivalry rather than a destructive one, though Thanatos also showed signs of mouthing off at Eros if he got pissed off at him. Dante thought about Eros, and noting how his seemingly virtuous and high-achieving personality was tireless and in a frenzy to always get more, and more, and more done, which left him studying into the late hours of the night and never sleeping. He probably cast a No Sleep spell on himself to study some more and cram more spells in his head, just for the sake of keeping the golden image of the perfect child in the family.

What a reputation to keep. Dante sure as hell wasn’t perfect. In fact, he was a sinner, and his demon reincarnation proved that. Though Eros was did shine like a brilliant light, the life drive and God of passion, he also seemed to draw the eyes of everyone around him in the room. Whether it was incubus charm or whether it was natural charisma or something unnatural, Dante would be pissed off that Eros had it all together if he weren’t so damned nice to him. Dante thought that Eros preened himself too much and strutted about worrying too much about how good he looked to playfully tease the various girls at school with his handsome visage, Dante would’ve thought that Eros was the standard pretty boy narcissist if Eros didn’t offer to guide and help him in his magic. Then Datne felt guilty about having such thoughts about Eros, one of Vassago’s sons, and then felt another sympathy guilt for comparing him to Thanatos. Both were their own individuals, and no matter their performances and personalities, each of them contributed something to the table, and Dante became friends with them, somehow.

And he couldn’t ask for more.