➴𝕿he 𝖙rouble 𝖎t 𝖒ight 𝖉rag чou 𝖉own ❥-- 𝚂tri & 𝓢ocks

Asking Myrnin to stop when he had gotten started was next to impossible. Having him keep up the same speed with anyone was difficult enough. The man was made for skipping ahead of anyone he met and shouting back at you. But he had gotten better at listening to others when he was told to slow down (though he didn't have to always like it). Now was not one of those times. By the time Nico had reached the bottom of the stairs, Myrnin was already in the center of the same room that would have been very familiar to Nico.
Nothing much had changed. It was shocking how little. Part of the room now had a partitioning wall, blocking of a section of the room which resembled a kitchen but clearly was being used for smoking beakers and chemical stains.
The rest of the room was a disaster. It was in a state a place might be in after a break-in. Things were tossed around, books piled at haphazard piles on the floor. Exposed wires were hanging out of machines, and machines on the work tables or the floor. A potted plant, for some unknown reason, had been given a set of metal legs and as Nico entered the doorway it scuttled past before bounding around some objects probably due to some unseen sensors. Myrnin ignored all of it. Even to Nico, it probably looked no different from the other - more unpleasant - times he had seen the room.
Myrnin moved around like he didn't care if he stepped on something or brushed something off the shelves or surfaces. And apparently he didn't care, because he stepped over some papers which had ended up on the ground without even looking.
From there, he waved Nico over. He'd clearly not learned how to respect signs, since there was a clear 'do not touch' sign in bold letters displayed on the table he was hovering over. The sign had dry erase marker words on it, which, if Nico was paying attention, said something like: "Woe all alchemists who touch my stuff - this means you, Myrnin and Claire." The contents of the table held items which were not Myrnin like at all. Or apparently Claire's style either. Most of it was taken up by a laptop, as well as a game console, along with a couple items which looked like they could have been made by Claire or Myrnin. There was also couple items arranged out on the desktop, which Myrnin disturbed as he picked something off it.
He showed it to Nico, ever so slightly proudly. As if he needed to prove he had still kept it. It was the same Mytho-Magic figurine that Nico had given to him ages ago.
He set it back on the desktop, then as if that hadn't been the thing he had wanted to show Nico, he crawled over the table and tumbled over the opposite side.
There was a faint crash, as if he'd hit something on the way down. Then there was a scrambling, as Myrnin moved around somewhere out of sight on his hands and knees. Only after another long second did he resurface, holding out a hand. On the back of his palm was what looked like a regular sized house spider.
"This is Bob!" he said proudly, grinning with joy, clearly proud that he got to show his friend his ... pet? Probably a pet.
As he was holding out his hand, a voice from above said, "You're supposed to be in New York ..." There was pure disapproval in the words. It was like the speaker would much rather be speaking in shorter sentences and possibly shouting.
"Frank," said Myrnin, with a sigh. Then he pointed up with the same hand Bob was on and the spider crawled up his hand until it was perched on the tip of the index finger.
"Did you know about him?" he wondered. He didn't know all of the things that Nico had seen. "You mentioned knowing Ada." His voice was quieter. "He was ... the one that came after her."
"Frank" scoffed. "Leech."
Myrnin ignored him.
"No, I'm not in New York. I'll be going back. Eventually."
"More power to you," muttered Frank. At this point, it was clear that his voice was coming from a speaker positioned in the roof of the lab.
"Check the security," Myrnin snapped, apparently giving in and showing how annoyed he was with the voice.
Frank went quiet. Myrnin looked back at Nico, when before he'd looking at somewhere off into the distance and nearer to the ceiling.
"W -"
"Security breach 80%," said Frank, voice harsh, but not very nervous.
Myrnin's teeth snapped together, growling with distaste. "How? He isn't even here!"
"I have neutralized it," Frank said, with almost a sigh. "But do keep him away from the wires. Incompetence is far harder to cure than skill. You have yet to make even a dent in the security, for example."
Myrnin muttered something rude under his breath. "He's just using the password. Like he's me. Change it again."
"How many exclamation points do you want to add at the end of the current one this time?" Frank said drly.
"Nine."
Myrnin held out his hand with Bob on it again. Apparently he was done talking. "Wanna see anything?" he asked Nico.

There was no reaction from Myrnin about touching a table that was clearly labeled for someone else. This was his house (as much as an underground series of rooms could be called a house). And he also had no sense of personal space.
He lowered his hand to the table and Bob the spider scuttled of the hand and across the table to somewhere far away from humans. It was rather impressive that Myrnin could find him. Or the fact that he was still alive at all. Myrnin had been mentioning Bob for at least a year. There was no way that a normal house spider could live that long.
The spiders progress paused when it reached the end of the table, where it just stopped and seemed to be resting. Myrnin looked away from his pet and said to Nico with an off-hand tilt of his head, "Oh? I did, did I?" He couldn't remember the exact conversation, but he thought he had probably mentioned Frank.
Frank seemed to have a frown in his voice, but there also might have been a hint of pride that Myrnin had apparently extended his reputation as far as Nico. "Myrnin's the sort you don't want to meet, boy. He's killed more kids than you can possibly imagine."
Myrnin flinched, but it was so small it was hard to notice. He didn't deny what Frank said, didn't make eye-contact either. He knew that Nico knew, in some respect, about his past. Frank would see no problem in the warning.
Either way, since Myrnin seemed distracted, Frank said without much hesitation, "Oh. 'He' is just this vampire Myrnin's taken charge of. Skinny kid with brown hair, likes getting into small places. Plays video games too much. He's called Samuel."
Myrnin seemed to jump at the change of subject, unaware of what it meant to Nico or even that the name would sound familiar. "Yeah. Keeps guessing my passwords. I'm not sure if that's his aptitude or someone else's. Regardless, I'm not sure what to do about him getting into Frank's workings."
Myrnin scrunched up his nose. "Other than maybe putting down bear traps, but that might be slightly unfair."
He shrugged and then turned. "Want to see something else?" He apparently hadn't picked up that Nico probably wouldn't even be paying attention after a statement like that. He'd mentioned a Samuel before, but he hadn't said he was a vampire, or added more than a simple description of he was fourteen and never washed his hair. He hadn't even said his full name.

The increased escalation of Nico's heart did not go unnoticed by Myrnin or Frank. In fact, Myrnin practically goggled at Nico. "You okay?" he checked. He didn't think he was. If there was one emotion Myrnin was good at picking out, it was surprise. He'd had it directed at him one too many times for it to be anything else. It also didn't stop a niggling assumption to start to form in the back of his mind.
Frank snorted. "Where'd you drag this one from?"
Myrnin's hand waved the question away, on autopilot. It took a second for him to catch up. "Oh ... New York. I've known him for a while." Frank gave a doubtful hum, but Myrnin ignored that too. Instead, his attention returned to Nico and his face scrunched up. It was clear that he was still trying to make the connections between everything but also trying to think up what he wanted to show Nico.
"Ooookay," he said. Then he spun, bouncing a bit, and threw open a door off the main room which had almost been hidden by a bookcase. The door creaked open, revealing a small library beyond. Myrnin glanced back. "Does your Camp Half-Blood or Jupiter have a library with old books like theeeeese?"
They were on alchemy. That was about all that could be figured out. Others weren't books at all as much as diaries. It looked like someone had tried to put them in chronological order, but Myrnin's brain didn't work chronologically, so the attempt had failed. The spins were in different languages, like Myrnin had just started to use the regional dialect. Most spins had no names and instead had slips of paper sticking out of them. Most of them looked old. Most of them were looked like they hadn't been opened in years. But there was a clear separation between them and the other books.
"This is nothing compared to the Archives though," Myrnin grudgingly admitted.

There was no reason Myrnin trusted Nico to be honest with this, but he was completely oblivious to what had triggered the lie. So, after looking at his friend for several seconds, he had to let it go. But that was not until he look up at Frank as if the computer somehow had a better answer to Nico's odd behavior. The computer had no answers to this, which was exactly what Myrnin had expected.
"Well," Myrnin murmured. "If you count the room where you ended up living half my life, then I suppose you have. But I've only been blinking into the House for three years."
If Frank was surprised to hear these Paradox House terms than he didn't point them out. Instead, he just seemed to give a small snort.
Myrnin just as easily ignored that as he had any other comments that the computer had made over time.
Nico's interest in the books was met with a approving look from the book loving vampire. "Yes. Yes, I wrote those. Some of the other books as well." He walked through the room, pulling a couple of books from the shelves and holding them up to his face to read the names. "Or by friends." He set the book back on the shelf. The book had been written by Arthur.
"The Archives. Oh, mostly history about vampires. Every records related to vampires or them within media. The history of Morganville. Those sorts of things." He nodded at one of the walls of the library. "But I really just wanted to show you the way. This is how you can get around in Morganville if you know me."
The wall warped as soon as he looked at it, then the image of my stacks appeared behind it.
"Portals," he said, calmly. His hand reached out and through where the wall had been. Then he withdrew it.
"Who would you like to see, Nico?" his voice was distant, as if he could almost read what was truly on Nico's mind.

There wasn't a lot that Myrnin could say to that. Like ... was he supposed to push the issue? Or should he just leave it be?
He stood in front of the open portal, with one hand still reaching into it, before he took his hand out and used it to tug at Nico's coat. He was mindful to not touch Nico, but he did tug a little.
"Come wiiith me," he said. He could tell that very little of what he had said was on Nico's mind. It seemed to have gone in one ear and out the other.
The scene beyond the portal changed, shifting to that of a living room in a Victorian style. It looked nothing like the living room they were both familiar with, but it did have a young man playing a video game.
"Come visit Claire."
Then he added, "Where you can tell me what you're thinking about it."

It took a little bit of will for Myrnin not to answer Nico's question then and there. But he did look at his friend with an intense curiosity. He stepped through the portal, he had been told it felt like an intense curtain of cold air to humans, but he felt none of it. Instead, he felt the tug at his mind, as something gathered around him pulled at his thoughts, intent on keeping the doorway between places open.
Shane, the man on the other end of the portal, nearly dropped the game controller he was holding. He gaped at Myrnin, clearly unaware that the vampire had been there. "Come on, man! Knock! Something! Toss a rock in as warning!"
Myrnin stuck his tongue out at the man. Shane rubbed a frustrated hand over his face, looking slightly annoyed. Then he seemed to catch up with what was going on and he stiffened. "Wait ... you're in New York!" He looked behind Myrnin too, looking very surprised. "Who's that!"
There wasn't any answer from Myrnin for a bit until he had sheparded Nico into the living room and the portal could close behind him.
"I came back with a friend of mine. I'll be going back in a bit," Myrnin said conversationally. Shane looked shocked, then shrugged and muttered something about rich bloodsuckers could blow their money however they wanted.
"Why are you *here* then?" he asked instead, pointing down at the floor. "Claire's off, and I would rather prefer her to keep her vacation."
Myrnin held up his hands and shrugged, "Friendly visit. My friend here knows her."
He waved at Nico.
Shane looked at Nico doubtfully, but shrugged and called, "Honey! The bunny-slipper maniac is back and he says he brought a friend!"
It took a couple seconds, but after that a woman in her late twenties (much like Shane) walked in. She looked between Myrnin and Nico in puzzlement. "You're supposed to be in New York. And who's this?"

The hand that Nico offered went unnoticed (probably to his joy) because Claire was instead goggling at him. "You're real?" she asked.
Myrnin was offended. "Of course he's real. What did you think? I just made it all up?"
Shane looked from one person to another. "Made what up?"
"The Paradox House," Myrnin scoffed. It was like he expected both Shane and Claire to recognize the words. Claire's eyes said she did. Shane just looked slightly less confused. Both either had thought Myrnin had made it up or they had thought the possibility of its existence had nothing to do with them. Either way, Claire clearly did know of Nico. Even if the knowledge didn't extend that far.
"I did say he was a friend," Myrnin said brightly.
"That implies you know the person," Shane muttered, though he seemed to be a bit disjointed. They - and clearly they were married, you could tell from how they stood - looked at each other and then looked back at Myrnin.
'Okay,' the look seemed to say. 'We've dealt with weirder than this.'
"Nice to meet you," said Claire. By this point, the handshake was no longer an option to worry about. Shane just shrugged and flopped back down onto the couch. He might have been more welcoming to his guests, but this is Myrnin they were talking about. There were limits to his hospitality. The biggest issue being that Myrnin burst in practically at all hours and without warning, so treating him like an honored guest was just a stretch he couldn't make.
"What exactly were planning to do?" he asked, frowning a little. "This guy ... actually exists in your world?" He seemed to be struggling with the idea of other world too.

"Huh," said Shane, as if he had never considered such things.
There was something to be said, thought Myrnin. About a man of few words.
Myrnin was not one of those men.
"Yes, well, now that this is settled." He shuffled over to the couch and collapsed into the cushions next to Shane. The couch bounced a bit, Shane along with it.
"You know how exciting this is?" asked Myrnin, continuing to bounce on the edge of the furniture. "The whole world …"
The idea that the House really was a place and not a figment of his mind was so interesting.
But that aside, though he could still see the same spark of interest in Claire's, he knew that all of this was very awkward for Nico. A change in attention was in order. He waved at a chair, in case Nico wanted to sit down. They wouldn't be here long. Just long enough for Myrnin to reconcile another question he had.
"Has Amelie heard anything about the occurrences outside the borders?" Myrnin's voice was dry, as if he didn't have much fate in a 'yes'. So he was not surprised when he didn't get one.
"Don't know," muttered Shane.
"She isn't telling us much," added Claire.
"She never has," muttered Shane as he fiddled with the game console.
Myrnin frowned, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling. In theory, Amelie told him more, but he knew Nico didn't have any idea about what they were talking about.
"Fine," he said with a sigh. A portal blossomed against the wall again, Myrnin not even looking at it while he pulled it into existence.
"We'll go I guess."
He lifted his head enough to stare at Nico. The demigod was jumpy ever since Sam had been mentioned and Myrnin would rather like to know why.
He sighed again. The trip had been slightly useless. He suppose if Nico visited again it wouldn't be? He wasn't completely sure on the finer details of that.
"Lab," he said. "Lab and then I would really like to know why you're heart keeps accelerating at odd intervals."
He got up after a second and removed himself from the Glass House with a flurry of his coat. Claire said a farewell, but he missed it.
That wasn't very unusual.

"I did," confirmed Myrnin, letting the almost accusation sore right over his head. If he was going to be mad at Nico for being impatient than he was a bit late. Nico's eagerness instead seemed fit to confuse him and he studied Nico's face as if searching for some illness there or sign of physical distress.
"What did you want to know about him anyway?" He let the portal slam closed behind them. There was no noise, just a sudden absence of space. The wall of Myrnin's small library was just simple white plaster once again.
Myrnin walked through the library, then carefully pushed open the door. He looked back at Nico and then added, "I have a picture. Will that do?"
He'd already described Sam a bit. He couldn't get much better at it. The boy who lived in the same building as the elder vampire didn't actually seem that striking to Myrnin. There just wasn't a lot which he could pick out. There wasn't even anything which they both particularly talked about a lot.
But Myrnin picked his way back into the lab, which seemed a lot more chaotic than the library. That wasn't because Myrnin had any great respect for the library but more based on the fact that Claire kept the library in order.
He stepped around the corner of a couch (there were two in the room), he stepped through a bit of glass that had been sprinkled around the floor, and found the computer.
He reached out to the laptop - which this one was probably his, it had a chaos of stickers across the top - and opened the lid.
Surprisingly, he didn't boot it up. Instead, he just lifted the piece of paper which had been pressed between the keyboard and the lid.
He turned it over to Nico and showed it to him.

"Sam," he said. "Or at least the more recent picture on the him that the brother - whoever he may be - was able to get."

Emotions were tricky, messy things. The rolled off Nico and over Myrnin like an overarching shadow of a tsunami. Myrnin looked up as if he almost expected there to be such a shadow descending over him.
"Wooh, wooh, Nico!" he said, voice rising in worry. As if he could throw up a stoplight and Nico would somehow cease crying. Myrnin's eyes hurriedly shifted to red, almost as if he was trying to test that theory.
His hands flapped around a bit, as if he was debating on whether he should hug Nico, take the paper away, or some other action. Finally, he just hurried away.
There was a faint crash in the distance and the sound of some blunt objects hitting the floor. Then he was back again and set a reclining chair directly behind Nico. It was awkwardly set down, almost unevenly so, since Myrnin didn't succeed in scooting half the things away which had been in the space before.
Then he gently poked Nico hard enough to tip him back to sit in the chair. With the other hand, he moved the paper enough that Nico still had a hold of it (Myrnin didn't dare try to take it, something told him Nico wouldn't let him). Then he pressed his face between it, so Nico was looking at him now.
"You know him," he said. Statement, not a question. As if the tears weren't a big enough hint. Which, really, the whole thing was a bit strange because Samuel had never mentioned ever being in the Paradox House. Myrnin was pretty sure that he had mentioned it, though Sam doubtlessly had had no idea about it. But this was a rather new development. Myrnin had seen someone who looked like Sam very briefly at one point. But he hadn't actually been able to get any answers from his Sam.
Well ... there was a simple answer.
He lightly patted Nico on the shoulder.
"We'll just go back to New York and say hi to him then! Come on!"
He grinned, apparently hoping this would stop all the clear, wet drops of water coming from Nico's eyes.

If Myrnin noticed the temperature drop - and he didn't - then he didn't call attention to it.
Instead the wall behind him rippled to form a portal, much like the one in the library had. This time, Myrnin had to clamber over a couch to reach it, but when he did he held out a hand to urge Nico onward. "Then we shall," he agreed, though he had no idea if Nico would want to come back. He didn't have any idea what all of this was going to be like and speculation would just breed confusion. So he took what was in front of him and right now that meant that Nico was struggling and Myrnin had no issue with the multiple trips one way or another. "Getting back then," he said. "Would be the way we came?"
It was the best he had, since he'd broken open a portal on the nearest piece of earth to the border.
He stepped backwards, out into the sun. It felt like it should have been longer. That more time should have passed. But it hadn't. He could feel the tickle of pain against his arms and face which weren't covered in shade, but he ignored it.
"Unless you have a better way out of here, then taking the Labyrinth again was your preferred way of exit, correct?" he asked, waving at the expanse of Morganville that was mostly low shrubbery now they were out in the desert. The one shadow anywhere near was that cast by the hulking form of the 'Welcome to Morganville' sign.

Myrnin stared in shock as everything around him changed. The shadow had come and gone and he hadn't felt that unbalanced in a long while. He blinked several times at the change of lighting. The sun had traveled quite a bit in the sky and the LED lights of a big city night or day had suddenly shifted the world around them from a desert to a field of color.
Myrnin moved forward, then spun around and looked at the tall buildings in amazement. New York. They were in New York. Faster than seemed possible by any normal means. Even his portals couldn't do this.
"Nico, what was -" he started, aware that this was Nico's power but not why he had done it. But when he looked (and bothered to listen) to his friend he swallowed the words. He came to a halt, then slowly walked back and braced Nico up with his own shoulder.
"Fool," he said with a sigh. His voice didn't hold any worry, but that didn't mean he wasn't. He could feel Nico's body - hear it and smell it and see it - rebelling against the exertion. But he knew that Nico's own folly had been out of some emotional connection to Sam.
Though what that connection might be he couldn't fathom.
"This way," he said with a sigh.
He led the way, at a very slow pace, for where they were renting a room. He wasn't even sure how long, but Nico had at least been right in one respect. It was accessible from Time Square.
It took Myrnin over eight minutes - which was almost to their destination - before he stopped and stared at Nico in shock.
"Are you romantically involved with my charge?" he said, sounding incredulous.
He seemed to swallow down the shock, squeeze a bit further away from the people around them as was physically possible, and then nodded at the next block over.
"We're staying there." Now his voice was just curious. "We will be taking the normal way up," he added.
The journey wasn't exactly stressful so much as tedious. Myrnin almost forgot to take the elevator since stairs really didn't bother him and he could have climbed them faster anyway. But he found the elevator and then shepherded Nico in like he expected the boy to bolt.
"He might be asleep," he muttered a bit to himself. Then again, Samuel took odd hours. He was still getting used to the idea of sleeping in the morning.
The elevator door opened and Myrnin found the rooms a bit after. He didn't bother with a keycard. He just started knocking furiously. After no response for a couple heartbeats he looked at the other doors as if he expected them to open or that he had missed the correct one. But after another second he looked back at the one he had approached and as he did the door swung open a couple feet.
"I'm not happy with you," said a woman, slightly taller than Myrnin, with red hair. The hair was wet, so maybe she'd just gotten out of the shower.
She looked past Myrnin and added, "If you brought snacks, bring them in."
She smiled then. But it was hard to tell if she was serious or if it was just an inside joke she didn't expect Nico to get.

Myrnin had a feeling that Nico would be falling asleep if he wasn't taken to a seat. He cast a look at Lady Grey - Jesse - which she read almost at once.
"Come in," she said. Myrnin knew she didn't know him, but that could be explained later. Instead, his girlfriend held open the door and Myrnin squeezed inside. One hand lightly brushed her arm in passing, but that seemed to be the only real sign that he was acknowledging their relationship - and that he was sorry for dropping off the map. Not like she wasn't used to that.
The hotel room was pitch black. There wasn't really any need for it to be otherwise. Myrnin could see perfectly well without the use of lights. The curtains were all closed up tight, limiting the light which came in as much as possible. He navigated the room without any issue, completely forgetting the fact that Nico was neither familiar with the layout nor could he see it in the first place.
Lady Grey remembered and after a second one of the lights came on followed by the others. The hotel room looked nice. It was expensive, that was for sure. Expensive afforded you a bit of privacy in Myrnin's experience. Privacy was short lived in most places and he'd been hoping to get as much as possible while they were here for an unforeseen amount of time. But it was large enough that it was basically just a house, with a full kitchen and what looked to be at least three rooms.
Sam was nowhere to be seen. But Myrnin waved to a chair, just on the off chance that Nico was going to take it. Then he said to Lady Grey, "This is Nico. Yeah. Same Nico. Nico, this is Lady Grey."
There was a momentary widening of Lady Grey's eyes, as if she was shocked, but then they reduced back to their regular size. She moved from her position by the wall and moved forward. When she was more directly in Nico's sight, she gave a stiff bow. Not a curtsy. A bow. "It's Jesse these days," she said, straightening. "Myrnin is the only one who calls me Lady Grey." The way she said 'Myrnin' held an accent which was far deeper than the rest of her words had. Where Myrnin had something deep and almost clearly Welsh, she had none. Or maybe slightly Southern, if the listener focused. Nico might only have experience with vampires from the room he had enacted, but if he remembered he might have found that strange. All of the other vampires he had heard speak had a distinct blending of accents. Jesse's seemed to be wholly American.
Myrnin knew that she'd carefully cultivated it to fit in, since she was one of the few vampires who wasn't a member of Morganville. Sometimes he missed how rich her words sounded when she spoke her older form of English.
He knew that Nico hadn't actually come here for the introductions. Since it seemed like Jesse wasn't going to question Nico's presence (yet) he instead turned his head in the direction of Sam's room.
"Is he up?" he asked.
"Last time I checked," answered Jesse.
Myrnin didn't bother calling for Sam. He knew the boy had heard when he was being talked about. He wasn't disappointed when one of the doors was slowly opened and a familiar figure shuffled out.
"What's up?" Samuel asked, walking out into the middle of the room, glancing first at Jesse, then Myrnin, and finally Sam.

There was a slight twitch to one Lady Grey's eyebrow. Myrnin noticed it. He knew the feeling. He felt tense just watching Nico. His nonverbal reactions were causing the elder vampire to shift nervously from foot to foot. But then he looked at Sam.

...

The rapid heartbeat of the random boy in the living quarters of the hotel room at once had Samuel on edge. His muscles tensed just a little and he looked at Myrnin almost at once. He could smell death on the boy, but he wasn't actually dead. He did have a bit of a theme going on, but that was besides the point. What was a human doing here?
Myrnin seemed to be fine, though he looked antsy as usual. Jesse might have been the one with more telling signs. Other than a slight tightening of a jaw muscle, she seemed relaxed. But Samuel wasn't going to be fooled by that.
"Who's th -" he started, only for the word that Nico had just said to catch up to him. Then his head swiveled around and he looked at Nico with an expression that was very nonplussed. There was no spark of recognizance, only a touch of confusion. He mentally tried to run through all the kids from his old school. But it had been small enough that he thought he would have remembered anyone like this.
"Yes?" he inquired instead. He knew it hadn't been a question, but he wasn't sure what else he was supposed to say to it. There seemed to be very strong emotions around the boy, but there was nothing that he could find within the vague sense of them which would give him answers.
He looked at Myrnin again, but the answer there was that Myrnin seemed to have a very conflicting expression. He kept looking at the other boy and wringing his hands.
"You going to introduce us?" Sam asked, feeling a bit frustrated.
Myrnin had no reaction.