Chapter 114 - The Last Days in Teretog (Part 1)

“TREEEYEEEEEEYEYEYEYEYEYEYEEEEEY!!!” screamed Izumi as she rocked hm back and forth violently while the others laughed. “WE’RE HERE! WE’RE HERE!”

Napoleon was helping Izumi wake him by tugging at his hand lightly and making growling noises, something that many of them thought was very cute. Ashe even joined in the fun and prodded him hard with her foot a couple of times.

“UGH!” moaned Trey as he swatted a hand at Izumi and picked up Napoleon up to hold the imp against him. “Leave me alone you she-gorillas!”

“We are here, master.” stated Atharost coolly. “You said you wanted to be awoken when we got here.”

Trey sighed loudly before rubbing his eyes standing up in the dim lighting of the ship’s cabin. Napoleon didn’t hesitate to crawl up onto his shoulders with agility and balance that would surprised him in the past as the imp perched on his right side. He paused to rub his eyes yet again and pushed Juila off of him before squinting out and around. “Alright so it looks like we’re docked in Teretog?”

“Yup!” confirmed Taen, another of the members of Trey’s party who’d deemed it appropriate to wake him from his slumber. “Coctim and Claire have already gone to the Worvan headquarters to inform them of their members’ deaths. Brae said he’d be happy to give us passage to Dioko for free if we need it, but to let him know by tomorrow night before he leaves. I told him we’d likely take him up on the offer.”

“Yeah let’s do that. Taen, would you mind telling him we intend to travel with him to Dioko as originally planned?”

“Will do. I’ll also go let Coctim know because he’s going to sail with us on his own ship, I’m going to go take a look at the wares they have there again anyways. So I’ll be off.” Taen waved and turned to make his way out the room and off the ship, bringing a number of zombies, his phantom, and even the flesh golem - then disappeared off the docks.

“Izumi you’d better get started on those sets of armor soon. Try to have it all done by tonight if possible, but if not then early tomorrow morning. You can always sleep on the trip overseas if you need to so push it hard to make the time while we’re here. Take Ashe, Bann, Juila and Napoleon with you while gathering supplies and borrowing a forge. We should have enough money but if we don’t we can haggle with some of the other items we’ve found from our stash, you can use your own discretion to decide if you’re taking a fair deal. Meanwhile I’m going to go with Jason, Ezdeath, Rivia, Atharost and Sithis to where our stash is and we’ll bring it to the ship – so it’ll be back here within an hour or two if you need it Izumi. We’re going to be taking all of it with us so we’ll need a lot of people to carry it all. Nova will obviously be with me as well. Meet back here by the end of the day, and always stay in groups of two or more at all times.”

“Yes CAP’I’TAN! Just don’t forget to let Piggy and Telipe out of their cages!” exclaimed Izumi with a salute, Ashe quickly followed the motion with her own mocking salute causing Trey to shake his head.

Trey glanced over at the two caged women with a snort. Then he nudged Juila who was beginning to wake up and rub her eyes with a yawn. “Get up Juila, you’re going with them.”

The demoness was prodded twice more until she mumbled something under her breath, swung her legs over the bed and proceeded to walk out of the room with her long black hair swishing to either side each time she stepped.

“Do you still have my measurements?” Bann asked Izumi before they started off the ship.

“Yessir! Some pieces of your armor were still intact so it shouldn’t be too hard, and the materials needed for fireproofing it should be in good supplies.” Izumi waved as she followed Ashe and Napoleon off the ramp of the ship with Juila in close pursuit. “Bye bye!!!”

“Yo Trey, I’m also wanting to pick up some herbalism and alchemy supplies while we’re here. Figured we could go shopping later?” Jason commented as the others left.

“For sure man let’s do it! Glad to hear you’re wanting to pick it back up again.”

Jason smirked. “It’s about time I really put in work with the craft, now that we’re leaving Ornthas. I have a good start but have a long ways to go. It would be a real asset to the guild if we had a potions vendor.”

Trey raised an eyebrow while getting up, beginning to put on some clothes. “Guild?”

Jason faltered, then gave him a sheepish grin while scratching the bag of his head. “Well… the others have been talking about it a lot. I know we’re not official, but they’re talking about our group like we are one.”

Trey grinned, then went over to piggy’s cage and unlocked the hatch before turning and doing the same with Telipe’s. The idea of a guild didn’t sound all that bad, and it’d be a good way to make money if they settled down somewhere on the western continent. Guilds often provided various services to the locals wherever they ended up, and he was confident that their enchanting, alchemy, monster hunting and mercenary services would be welcomed many places as long as they kept it on the downlow that they had some black magic users in the group.

“Definitely sounds good.” agreed Trey with a smile, noting Rivia and Ezdeath were already dressed and waiting for him silently at the door. He was glad to see Jason in higher spirits than normal. Hopefully getting out of the deadlands was the key to making Jason less miserable.

The sandy beach of Teretog’s docks were bustling with activity, a crowded flutter of very unique individuals went back and forth along the streets beyond. Ragtag ships and their crews were loading and unloading supplies or simply sitting at their posts. Shoddy looking shelters created from rubble, wood and tin sheets littered the familiar city as Trey took a look over the bow. He had been living here to Teretog for many months now, and had visited a couple of the lesser known settlements of the Lawless Lands but he still was getting stares after he came down from the ship onto the wooden docks. The boards creaked under his weight and he covered his mouth as he yawned loudly. Looking down at his shirtless body he admired the shifting tattoo of his left arm before proceeding with a devil, an ifrit, an amazingly beautiful set of women: the succubus and culn, and lastly a blonde man in tow.

A high pitched, feminine voice called out from behind. “Master!!! May we come too!?”

He turned briefly and saw his two collared, shackled pets clasping their hands together and looking down the ramp from the deck Brae’s galley. Piggy seemed rather anxious, and Telipe had her tail tucked between her bare legs while looking down at the wood submissively.

He gave a brief nod as the archdemon to his left, Sithis, snickered. “Come along then.”

Both women scurried down the wooden ramp soon afterwards, with Ezdeath huffing and Rivia giving an exaggerated eye roll.

As they crossed the sand and began to walk through the streets the vagabonds, thieves and thugs quickly scurried out of the way while fearfully eyeing his group as his group members chatted behind him.

[Ancient Demon] “Disgusting creatures…” sneered Sithis with an obvious look of contempt and disgust at the humans darting out of the way as they proceeded through the city.

Ezdeath and Atharost both chuckled, while Jason looked up in confusion. [Human] “What did you say?”

“He said he thinks these people are disgusting,” Trey stated casually. “You seem in an upbeat mood today. What’s on your mind?”

Jason adjusted his longbow and scratched at his chin, warily eyeing a suspicious looking mage to his left who sat in the shade of a palm tree. “I guess… I guess I’m just happy to be leaving Ornthas. I’m excited about this new adventure we’re about take ourselves on, even if it means you have to infiltrate a vampire city. Not that I don’t care about your safety! I just feel like you’ll be able to handle it easily enough. Pretty neat stuff seeing the rest of the world! I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time! But life got in the way…”

They paused for a moment, looking at one another in the warm, sunlit streets.

Then Trey nodded sadly, his red eyes turning down to the dirt. “Yeah. It did. But I’m really glad to see you like this again! I thought I had lost my friend somewhere along the way!”

Jason smiled sideways at Trey, apologetically. “Yeah. I was going to talk to you about it later but now that it’s been brought up… I’m really sorry. About how I’ve been acting over the past couple of months. I’ve been acting like an immature brat, and you didn’t deserve any of it. If anything, you’re the reason why I wasn’t killed in the first place back when those cultists attacked the village. Without you, I wouldn’t even be alive to sit around and complain in the first place. So again… I’m really sorry.”

There was another long pause.

Trey was relieved to hear it, though it had certainly come as a surprise. There was a lot left unsaid, but this was more than enough. “Thanks man. I appreciate it. I was getting worried that you really were going to leave, to be honest. But that’s all in the past now right?”

Trey held out a fist and Jason quickly gave him a fistbump.

“Definitely man. Let’s make the most of what we’ve got. Life is too short to be a little bitch like I’ve been being lately. It’s time for me to grow up!”

Trey laughed, forcing a smile. He certainly had a lot of maturing to do himself. “I’ve had my own fair share of times when I was a little bitch myself. So no hard feelings.”

Jason nodded in acknowledgement, then glanced over his shoulder to where the ifrit, devil, and four stunning women trailing them were waiting patiently by. He dropped his voice into a whisper “Quite the cuties you’ve got there by the way. I’m kinda jealous of the harem you’ve pulled, and maybe… maybe it isn’t so bad since this is just a game after all.”

Well that was a 180. Trey scratched his head, furrowing his brows in confusion at the sudden turn in attitude Jason was displaying. Hadn’t he thought this was real? Hadn’t he been angry with Trey’s amoral decisions? How very odd.

“Indeed.” Trey replied before looking back at Ezdeath. Jason didn’t realize it but Ezdeath had incredibly good hearing, so he was sure she had heard. The armored succubus hadn’t acknowledged it though and was looking at the ground as she stood, holding her chin high avoiding eye contact with the inferior creatures about her as many of the Teretog men stood staring and agape as they passed her bye. “Yeah. It’s been nice… I actually haven’t slept with Ezdeath yet, but she seems beyond me. Too good for me, I guess. Maybe one day when I get the courage… I may ask her on an official date. Who knows.”

Upon Trey’s low toned comment Ezdeath’s face lit up with a large smile and her tail began to flutter about slowly behind her, but she refused to make eye contact before Trey turned around smiling back to Jason.

The little flirty jab only lasted a moment.

From out in front of them, a raven haired middle aged woman could be heard screaming as she barreled out of a shoddy doorway into Teretog’s streets. Her brown skirt was torn and she was bleeding profusely from a gash in the side of her cheek. She tripped and sprawled out onto the ground. “PLEASE! STOP! I DON’T HAVE ANY MORE!”

A large muscular bald man with excessive tattoos barged out the same door into the street and turned to her with a bloody knife in his hand. He was obviously drunk. “You think you can STEAL from ME!? WHERE IS THE MONEY ORLANDO GAVE YOU!? You are MY property to sell, and you will not keep any earnings for your fucking daughter IF I DO NOT ALLOW IT!”

The man had four others follow him out laughing as the pimp kneed the woman in the back to knock the air out of her chest. He dropped the knife and started to squeeze around her kneck as the woman began to choke. “Your precious daughter will take your place in that tiny room of yours, bitch! She will be fucked DAY AND NIGHT and I will always remind her of what NOT to do with YOUR DEATH!”

It wasn’t that this guy was a pimp. Hell, Trey was a pimp. He owned slaves too. But he didn’t like the way this guy was behaving, the outright ruthlessly mean act grated on his nerves. And now that he was rather strong, Trey didn’t have as many reservations as he’d once had… especially here in the Lawless Lands.

“Kill them.” Trey calmly ordered with a flick of his wrist, and the response was immediate. Jason immediately unlatched one of his normal steel tipped arrows and sent it through the man’s skull - going through his eye socket and sticking out the back of his head. The man dropped backwards with a thud to the ground as Ezdeath, Atharost and Sithis made incredibly short work of the other four - tearing off their limbs and ripping them asunder in a short but terrible bloodbath. The screams didn’t last for long and within a couple seconds the three demons were feeding upon the corpses of their prey. Ezdeath ripped out the jugulars from one man and ate them before licking her fingers to smile slyly at Trey.

“I suppose she can be slightly… psychotic too.” noted Jason with one raised eyebrow.

Trey chuckled as Rivia came over to lean her head on his shoulder. “Indeed.”

He then gave the priestess a peck on the cheek and walked over to the cowering prostitute girl on the ground - and bent down. Examining her wound he quickly ordered Rivia dispatch a rejuvinate miracle to heal her. As the deep cut sealed shut, she touched her face cautiously and then looked up again into Trey’s glowing crimson eyes.

The crowd of onlookers stood in silence to lay eyes on the carnage in shock.

“Need a ride out of here?” Trey asked with a smirk. “Go get your daughter. I don’t have all day, so hurry it up.”

***

Taen had met up with coctim, and had dismissed all the undead that’d been following him with the exception of Coriana. He knew that this was likely where Bann and Izumi would be too, and was largely expecting them inside.

Coming up to a large one story building yet again made out of the ruins’ stone wreckage and repairs that spanned out in hundreds of feet to either side - they were stopped by one of the five huge and armored bouncers. His helm had horns jutting out from both sides and his long black beard flowed out to touch his thick steel breastplate while he stood brandishing an enormous axe. The weapon had orange runes Taen recognized as elemental symbols glowing faintly along the sides of the weapon.

“Coctim!” said the man with a deep hardy laugh as he went to shake hands. “Good to see you again. You going in for another try soon? I see your group has gotten smaller.”

The comment didn’t cheer the relatively small mage up whatsoever. He was well aware his group was smaller this time. And… he had news to deliver about the other Worvan group that’d come with him into Xil’s tomb.

“We have more at the boat… but yes it is smaller. Many of them died the last time around…” Coctim grimaced, trying to offplay his misfortune by just not talking about it anymore. “Anyways am I cleared to enter?”

The burly armored warrior nodded. “I know all of you pretty well by now… except for this one.” The bearded man pointed to Taen. “Who is he?”

“New recruit,” said Coctim with a shrug. “Or he was, but I think we’ll be parting ways when we head back to the western continent soon.

The sentry put his hands on his hips. “Fine. You know the rules, don’t steal or cause any problems with any of Worvan and you won’t be chopped up to make fish food. Pretty simple as usual, nothing here has changed.” The man stepped aside to let them pass.

“Oh, there’ something else.”

Coctim’s group halted their entry and the sentry folded his arms with true concern. “You need to be careful dealing with any slave traders. In fact I’d completely avoid them for now, even if you want to buy yourself a slave or two… hold off. It’s become a dangerous business for everyone involved.”

Coctim’s brows furrowed in confusion. “I… don’t know where that came from but I appreciate it. Did something happen?”

The armored sentry nodded. “Ronnie was killed along with over a hundred of his men and the slave market was raided a while back, ever since then… it’s been rough. Different slavers are rushing back to claim the wares they left and are finding them gone. Slaving is big money, and more than one of the pirate fleets are enraged beyond belief. They’re looking for the perpetrator now… was some kind of demon worshiper. It’s old news now, but the aftereffects are just now being seen with how aggressive everyone is being in acquiring new ‘merchandise.’ He left a real mess of Ronnie’s compound and burned down the entire god damn barracks! However, what this means for you and me is that the market is unstable. Different upstart companies are going to try to get a hold on the market that was once Ronnie’s monopoly, and they’re going to be putting in extra work to obtain more people to sell.”

Coctim’s mouth slowly dropped in understanding. “So it isn’t just opportunistic anymore, everyone’s a target now.”

“That’s right, at least for the foreseeable future. It’ll likely change back to the way it was when the market stabilizes again, but watch your back in the meantime.”

Thoughtfully nodding in appreciation and waving, Coctim lead his party of eight through the entrance into the building.

Upon entering Taen could see it was organized into sections.

One section of the building was like a market where vendors from Worvan had set up shop for outsiders to take a look at their findings and wares. Another section held a great amount of food - a kitchen of sorts - for Worvan members and right nearby another area was sectioned off for bunk beds and personal belongings. It was all one big room though - about eight meters high - with pillars of stone and wood to support the poorly made roof and screens or hung blankets to divide things up into pseudo-rooms. Lower windows on the outside of the building were mostly boarded shut. Only some of the windows to shed light in from further up the wall alongside lanterns and candles lit the place. Hundreds of men and women - even three children - from all races and nationalities bartered, ate, slept and joked with one another in the guild hall. Something that caught Taen’s attention was that many of the people who seemed to be Worvan members had enchanted items such as weapons, armors, rings and other valuables such as the axe the armored man out front wielded. Some of these items Taen could tell right off just by looking at them - by the auras they produced - that they were valuable, while others had negligible effects at best.

“Why are there so many enchanted items in one place? Is this normal?” asked Taen while looking to Claire. Coctim had wandered off with the rest of the men to leave Claire and Taen by themselves.

She smiled. “Well you have to remember this is one of the more successful guilds here. Ornthas has many vaults yet to be plundered, but many have already been plundered by Worvan or one of the other larger guilds.” She looked around, pulling her dark hair over her ears with a swift and practice motion. “Maybe one day the nations in our time will begin to develop weapons, armor, cities and culture to the extent that Ornthas had. It would be remarkable, but as of now Ornthas is the number one place for these sorts of things. It is one of the reasons why so many people are attracted to these Dead Lands, despite the dangers.”

Yeah, he had to agree that the cities of the western continent didn’t have anything like these kinds of treasures. Not all in one place anyways.

“Hmmm… Well I can’t say I wasn’t initially excited to go exploring… but I’m glad to be leaving now.” replied Taen with a smile back. “Let’s go see what they have for sale, I’m curious.”

Taen motioned for her to follow and they began to walk over to where the vendors were on the left side of the guild hall. Coming to a stand with a small green-skinned goblin behind it - Taen began to examine a curved knife inlaid with a ruby mark on the base of the blade. Energy lightly pulsed through his hand while he held the knife and as he brought the magic to life the blade began to vibrate in his grasp.

“Don’t touch if you can’t buy,” said the goblin briskly. “That’d be 60 gold pieces and 20 silver.” Taen hurriedly put the weapon back and moved on to the next vendor.

“Pricey!” said Taen as Claire laughed. “I didn’t even get to identify it and I already know I don’t want it!”

Passing through the two of them inspected many relics and artifacts. Weapons, shields, armor, pots, mirrors, ornaments, books, maps and other odd trinkets were scattered about the place. Taen wanted all of them.

Picking up an odd golden orb that lit up the room in brilliant light - much to the disgruntlement of other people there - Taen moved on to the next vendor with a look of shame on his face.

“Wait… it can’t be,” said Taen as his eyes got big and he frantically made his way over to the southwestern wall of the building. Coming to a stop, Taen saw a large metal cage - easily bigger than he was - and inside it were seven large eggs along with five already-hatched little baby dragons. Four legs, two wings and spines along their backs defined them along with the long tails. Many people were already gathered around to look at the small creatures, pointing in curiosity or amazement. They were the size of a fully grown rabbit, none of them seemed to be able to fly but they were eagerly crawling along the sides of the cage and on the log that had been placed there.

A shirtless, muscular, tattooed man with a bone sticking through his nose for decoration and a bald scarred head was bartering with the vendor girl. She was about five-five with a two-piece outfit, a red silk strap that covered her chest and another short silk bottom. Grey leggings were pulled up slightly past her knees and she wore a red gold-laced hood to cover her red hair that fell to her shoulders.

“I’ll give you 460 gold pieces, five gems, 130 silver pieces and a month’s worth of grain for the black one,” said the bald man.

“I’ve already told you I will not part with one of the dragons for less than one thousand gold pieces or wares worth as much,” replied the girl. “Dragon eggs are not easy to come by.”

Jesus Christ! She wanted the equivalent of 100,000 coin!

“One thousand gold pieces is outrageous!” cried the man as he threw a fist down onto the table she was sitting at. “That’s a fortune you could live off of for years! How is anyone here supposed to come up with that kind of money!?”

The redhead smirked. “Then add some valuable items to the deal and maybe we can work something out. Or go loot some gold from the vaults in Ornthas. I’ve already sold two of these dragons for the same value so it isn’t as if I am not able to find buyers, necromancer.”

Ah, another necromancer. Taen actually hadn’t met any others of his kind, so he took particular interest in this one. He wanted to go ask him about sharing knowledge on spells and anatomy in creating undead, but thought better of it when he realized how weird it’d be to have a stranger ask these things. Especially here in the middle of a cutthroat society.

“Let me take a guess, one of the buyers was a nobleman from Voc’Tule?” said the bald necromancer in disdain.

The redhead nodded.

“As I thought,” spat the necromancer. “I saw him and his men parading around here as if they owned all of Teretog.”

“Yes they were quite arrogant, but a buyer is a buyer,” replied the redheaded girl.

“How about 460 gold pieces, five gems, 130 silver, a month’s worth of grain, and this?” said the necromancer as he pulled out a white-gold jeweled necklace. “This should be worth quite a pretty penny!”

Picking up the jeweled necklace the redhead inspected it for a moment before looking back up from her seat, “I’d value it at about 80 gold pieces. This still is not enough.”

Swearing the necromancer leaned over the table threateningly.

A man wearing a set of armor made from pale-green shards of crystal and carrying a gigantic two-handed sword came forward and shoved the necromancer back forcefully. Black hair came out from his helmet to his breastplate and he brandished his weapon menacingly. “Is there a problem here?”

The redheaded girl giggled and shook her head, “No, no he is just frustrated. I understand. I’ll tell you what though, necromancer,” the girl got up and walked around the table to take a pouch from the man’s waist. “If you give me these,” she said as she poured out some odd looking heavy green and black marbles into her hand, “along with 400 gold pieces, a month’s worth of grain and that necklace... we’ll have a deal! You can have the dragon for that price.”

The necromancer paused for a moment, looking back and forth between the dragon and the marbles. “You know what those are, do you not?”

The girl nodded with a smirk.

“Well I’m not sure why someone like you would want them, they’d be more valuable to me so I hadn’t thought of bartering with them. But if those are what you want, I’ll be happy to accept.”

The girl clapped her hands with a widening smile as she pocketed the marbles. “Good to hear! I actually have a buyer looking for some of these right now so it works out for us both.”

The necromancer and girl both smiled and shook hands. The girl’s brother then unlocked the cage and entered, picked up a little black dragon which squirmed about and hooked a collar to its neck. Taking the beast out and handing it along with a leash to the necromancer he waited until the other man had given his sister the gold and necklace.

The brother stepped up. “I’ll accompany you along with some of the other Worvan. Where is your grain kept, necromancer?”

“In my ship at the docks, follow me!” the necromancer bowed and walked away victoriously holding the dragon in his arms. Two other men wearing similar outfits, probably the necromancer’s friends - and the girl’s friend along with six other Worvan members followed in the necromancer’s wake.

“Hehe, this necklace is worth at least 300 gold pieces,” snickered the girl while she deposited it into a trunk.

“It’s not very nice to cheat people,” smirked Taen while she turned around to look at him.

With a humph she crossed her arms. “It’s not my fault he doesn’t know the value of his own stuff. By the way I haven’t seen you around before, are you new?” That’s when she caught a glance of Claire. “Oh hi Claire! Is this hunk with your group?”

“Yes he is. The newest addition.”

The redheaded girl put on a sly teasing grin and leaned against the table behind her. “I heard that Coctim was pretty disappointed with the last haul. I’m sorry to hear that, maybe you should have some of Worvan’s members come along this time?”

“I only wish,” laughed Claire, “But Coctim is dead set on keeping the future spoils for ourselves. As for disappointed… it’s more than that. Your friends… the Worvan that accompanied us… they all died. Coctim’s informing your leadership as we speak...”

That dropped the smile off the redheaded girl’s face immediately, and she quickly walked over to poke Claire in the chest. “Bring me to him, I want to hear this too. What the hell happened anyways?”

Five minutes later and Taen was sadly listening in on Coctim’s tale of what had happened while the mage explained it to a large group of Worvan in their guild compound. Even now he regretted their decision to be greedy and try to make a run at the games without Trey’s help.

Maybe he would have been able to complete Xil’s games without help from Trey and company, but he doubted it. Had Michael and Chris been there he’d have been fine he was sure, but not alone. The Worvan members had obviously been much too confident, and it had cost them.

“You look down,” commented Claire beside him as Taen pondered what he could have done differently.

“What gave it away?” replied Taen sarcastically.

Claire frowned. She was well fed, so her ghoul characteristics didn’t come off as obvious. “It wasn’t your fault, you know. They could have come with us.”

“Xil’s a goddamn asshole and a murderer.” snorted the earthborn man. “Getting entertainment out of such sick shit.”

Claire nodded solemnly. “So… you’ve joined their guild then? That’s what I overheard Napoleon and Sithis talking about.”

Taen perked up. “Uh… No? They don’t even have a guild formed yet! Ha you must have heard them talking about how they intend to form one. I overheard them speaking on it too.”

He did like the idea of joining a guild if Trey and his company ever did form one. They were strong, and he liked them overall… but Trey’s obsession with slaves seemed a little off the rocks to Taen. He didn’t know how he felt about that in particular. However… Taen was also a necromancer, and finding a reputable guild on the outside would be hard to do considering black magics were outlawed most places.

Claire gave a dismissive wave of her hand and avoided a stumbling drunk who waltzed past on her left. “You’re basically already a member. Are you all accepting jobs right now?”

Taen scrunched his nose with a laugh. “Uh…”

Claire sighed. “Alright. Well come find me in Dioko after you’re all settled down. I’ll have a job for you.”

“Really? If we were a guild you’d hire us?” asked Taen curiously while folding his arms. “What job would that be?”

“We’ll talk about it when the time comes,” replied Claire with a wink.