Experiment #11

[Vengeance]

He woke up, and the first thing he said to me was, "You must be my spouse!" - Lynx S.

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Experiment #11

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The Delivery
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Under the hot scorching afternoon sun, a delivery truck was parked right by the side of the road. After a routine of unloading a long box off the vehicle by two men in orange uniform, the third worker wheeled the parcel along the pavement that led him to the entrance of the house. He pressed the door bell once, waited, then pressed it again.


Pushing the box off the wheeler, the man made haste back to the truck and, along with his colleagues, drove off in a hurry.


On the way, one of the two men who was in charge of moving the box off pulled out a cellphone, old-fashioned in this era, and dialled a quick few numbers he memorised by heart.


"Hello!"





"We've placed the package at the door."


"Wonderful, wonderful! Come to my office - I'll reward you handsomely for a job well done."


...

 

[CrystalTears]

Lynx was busy working on his new book by the computer when the doorbell rang, he was upstairs in his office, that looked more like a room made out of paper, as he sighed. "I didn't get any calls about someone coming over..." Lynx muttered to himself, as he dug around some papers finding his cellphone, just to verify he was speaking the truth. No missed calls, no unread messages. He threw the phone back into the mountain of papers, and walked downstairs as the second sound from the bell came and he began running instead of walking. However, when he opened the door there was no one there, except a large package.


"Did I... Have I ordered something?" Lynx asked as he grabbed the box, but it was far heavier than he thought. It was large too, so he began pushing it, barely making it inside the hallway before he gave up on pushing the box further. "Remind me to train when I finish my book," Lynx muttered to himself as he walked over to the kitchen to grab a knife and began opening up the box, and to his big surprise. There was a human in there, or something that looked to be human. But, why was he in there in the first place? He leaned in closer, as it said: "Kiss to activate" and Lynx got curious. Was it really going to work? No way, it was silly. He leaned it, kissing the boy's lips and watched to see what happened next.

 

[Vengeance]

Closed eyes opened to reveal scarlet eyes, opened slowly as if calibrating to their new surroundings. His fingers twitched slightly, before the desire for locomotive drove him to raise a hand up to grasp onto the edge of the box. He turned his head, left, right, left again, then he settled his gaze on the other male towering over him.


Red eyes that were once blank suddenly brimmed with unsaid joy. With his other arm stretched out, he pulled the young man who awoken him with a huge grin; if his stark nudity bothered himself, he didn't show it.


"You must be my new spouse!" His boyish voice cracked at the last syllable, excitement too much to be contained.

 

[CrystalTears]

He just woke up.... and the first thing he said is that I am his new spouse? Lynx thought as he was quickly grabbed for, and pulled into a small embrace by the guy who had been packed in a box. He looked small, like a child in some ways and even more, why was he naked?! Lynx looked away and blushed, as he pulled himself gently out of the boy's grasp. "Your new... spouse?" Lynx asked him as he yet again looked away, it was hard looking at this boy's naked body, it was almost as if he turned into a creep thinking of how much he looked like a small boy. "Here," Lynx said and threw his black cardigan over him. "Wear this..." Lynx muttered, as he was hoping that would cover up most of the boy.

 

[Vengeance]

His gesture elicited a gasp from the blonde male. "Already giving me a piece of your clothing?! You're the best, darling!" Promptly, he shimmied his lithe body into the warm article and hugged himself with a satisfied smile. "It feels nice." With that said, he sat up even further and leaned forward before planting a foot on the bottom platform of the box, pivoting his weight, then stood on both feet.


The top hung all the way past his hip, just barely enough to conceal the important and private parts of him, although the blonde didn't seem to mind the lack of adequate clothing on himself. He had on a tint of blush on his cheeks, and his head was lowered to hide the shy smile on him. "A bit late, b-but, um. Hi, I'm," his face scrunched up in confusion for a split second, "E-.. Eleven."

 

[CrystalTears]

"I can't have you walking around naked either..." Lynx muttered mostly to himself as he was glad it managed to at the very least hide the private parts to the boy's body, as he seemed quite satisfied with wearing it as well. He walked out of the box, seeming unfazed by the very fact he was inside a box from the beginning, and then he suddenly became shy, shy and cute that is. "Eleven? That's a peculiar name... Well then Eleven, might I ask what you were doing inside that box?" Lynx asked him, looking over to the manual as the only thing it said was "kiss to activate" and nothing more was listed.

 

[Vengeance]

Eleven, in all his semi-nude and blonde glory, tilted his head and brought a hand to his mouth, subconsciously nibbling on the sleeve of the cardigan. He looked very confused, and within seconds, his red eyes turned misty.


"I don't remember!" He brought his arms together and draped them across his lower abdomen, curled up slightly, "I just.. I just know that I belong here all along. Do you hate me? Are you already thinking of ways to berid of me?" Eyes previously downcast flickered back at Lynx, blinking profusely to clear away the blurred vision brought by an onslaught of tears, only to have backup supply more of the wetness. "I-If darling doesn't want me, I'll perform a seppuku!"

 

[CrystalTears]

Lynx watched as Eleven began thinking about his question, he was even think so hard he began eating on the cardigan. Was he perhaps nervous, or just really thinking hard? Lynx had no clue, and it was even more surprising when the boy said he didn't know why he was in the box, and from there he jumped to the conclusion that Lynx hated him.


The look on Eleven's face when he thought Lynx hated him was as if he had just kicked a puppy, and he hadn't even said anything yet. The weirder part was maybe seeing as he decided to call him 'darling' something which was definitely not right in this situation. They had just met, but for some reason Lynx got the feeling he needed to watch himself to not become too cold towards Eleven." Seppuku? What is that?" Lynx asked, simply curious as he had never heard the word before.

 

[Vengeance]

Without falter, Eleven mimicked a blade with his right hand and jabbed it into his own abdomen. (He winced and pretended it didn't hurt.) If it was a painful gesture, the blond didn't express it. "Cutting open one's stomach to compensate the shame brought."


"I belong with you, darling," he inched closer towards the other male with a face red with maiden embarrassment, "And I- WAH!" He tripped his foot over the side of the box and collapsed on top of the brunet, toppling over him like a heavy mound.

 

[CrystalTears]

"Ah, let us avoid that then," Lynx said immediately, it sounded absolutely terrible and was that not going way too far from being rejected by someone? At this point he couldn't even put him back in the box, or reject him, but who had sent him the package anyway? Maybe there was some sort of return address on the cardboard box...


Before Lynx got the chance to take a proper look on the box that Eleven came from, Eleven came quickly his way falling over him making his from sitting up on the floor, to laying down, with the slightly heavy Eleven on top of him, even if he was amazingly lighter than he thought. "Are you okay Eleven?" Lynx asked immediately, as he was a sort of person who usually thought of others before himself, at least if he got to know then at least.

 

[Vengeance]

The realisation that he was on the floor with Lynx came before the pain set in, and when it did, he flushed and scooted away, hands up. "S-Sorry! I- this, I'm sorry!" The other boy's worried and concern was gone with the wind in his own whiplash of shock. He shot an awkward glance around the floor and finally gave a long look at the box. With a dark glare, he scowled at the box and stood up, patting the shoulders and sides of his spouse beforehand.


Pain forgotten amidst the fury, he hoisted the now empty box up, and carried it (stomping all the way) to the door, out along the pavement, chucking it less than ceremoniously next to the trashcan outside. "I'll dispose of anything that gets in the way between darling and I." His expression was a strong contrast compared to the bright sun hanging overhead.


Oblivious to his indecent outfit for a quaint neighbourhood such as the one right now, Eleven jogged his way into the house and closed the door with his foot, all the while facing the other male with a nonchalant smile. "I've taken out the trash! Ah," he gasped and looked down in mortification, "I'm going to dirty our house with such dirty feet. Darling, I'll go take a shower first, okay?"


With a happy chirp, he skittered into the hallway in his quest to search for a bathroom.

 

[CrystalTears]

Lynx sat on the floor, about completely dumbfounded about what he had somehow gotten involved into, but he only let out a small sigh. There was no way he could just throw him out on the streets either, he may seem cold from one time to another, but he wasn't cruel. He stood up, watching Eleven grab the box and placing it outside by the trash cans, as the neighbors looked over to see the half naked boy, running around. The neighbors gave him a couple of stern looks, as Eleven returned inside and the only thing Lynx could do was embarrassingly close the door behind him.


"Anything? Are you sure that's not going a bit too extreme?" Lynx asked, but before he knew it Eleven was already in another part of the house, walking around exploring his house. What am I suppose to do? What is all this spouse and darling nonsense anyway? Who is this guy? Lynx thought as he rubbed the back of his head, but followed after Eleven anyway. Eleven was already making himself feel at home, as he complained about his dirty feet, and then he wished to take a shower, walking into the hallway was not a start. "It's up the stairs, first door to the left. I'll see if I can find you some clothes," Lynx told Eleven, as he had to get him dressed in some way, he couldn't walk around like that and if he was going to stay, then the first thing that had to happen was buying him some clothes.

 

[Vengeance]

His smile faded for a moment at the note that he messed up. I'm such a stranger to this place. Optimism bubbled again as he told himself that he was just settling in a new home. Their home, he thought with a warm feeling.


He followed the instruction given to him and trudged upstairs, careful not to wipe his feet on the floor more than necessary. "Sorry!" Eleven called out with laughter in his voice. So excited, the boy even skipped a step with each stride up.


After he had found the bathroom, he took his sweet time undressing himself. The black clothing was smothered with cheek and kisses before he took extra care to placing it next to the sink. One step into the bath, and another, and he was in. He looked at the knobs and switch, gaze trailing up in awe as he soak in the sight of a large showerhead hanging so high up, fixated onto the wall with a pipe. There was another shower, flexible as it could be moved around, a metallic tube connecting it to the junction between the two knobs.


For some reason, they boggled him. "I feel like I've seen this part before," he stretched forward and reached for the mobile showerhead. Red eyes flickered up again as he knitted his brows, lips twitched into a lopsided frown, "But that .."


It dawned on him that he never took a bath before, and that, within good reason, scared him. I know I belong here, and this house feels familiar. But I'm so foreign as well. Who was I? .. What am I?





"I-I should shower quickly," Eleven muttered to himself uncertainly, "Darling is waiting."


He did what his hands remembered doing; turning the right knob with a shaky hand, he waited for the splash of water and prayed it wasn't hot water he had triggered. There must have been a higher being that protected beings with no prior identities such as him, because he felt cold water raining on him, although not from the showerhead he held.


He tried blinking the water from his eyes and tilted his head back to look and marvel. Through squinted vision, he managed to place the (seemingly) useless item in his hand back to the edge of the tub, leaning it against the wall, and turned his head left and right to look for a bottle of cleanser, or a bar of soap. When he did find it (behind his head, he giggled at the discovery), he held onto the bottle of shower gel longer than one would, cheeks pinking again at the idea of sharing the same detergent with his spouse.


"This smell is familiar.."

 

[CrystalTears]

Lynx sighed as Eleven disappeared to the second floor, clearly happy that he was going to get to take a shower as in the mean time Lynx walked down the stairs to see if he had some of his old clothes still stored in the basement. After all, it was the only thing his basement was used for nowadays. He switched the lights on, as the light bulb flickered a bit before it provided limited light in the middle of the room, leaving almost all of the shelves in the darkness. "Why did I store my stuff down here? It's a bad idea. I never renovated down here after all," Lynx muttered to himself as he grabbed a seemingly okay chair and stepped on it.


"Let's see... Books, papers, news articles..." Lynx rummaged through a couple of boxes pushing them to the side when it was not the right one, and grabbed the next. It took him amazingly only a few minutes to find the box he was looking for, it was some old clothes seemingly large enough to fit Eleven's small body. "I got-" The second Lynx started to carry the cardboard box filled with clothes the chair, that he was standing on, gave away and broke underneath his feet making him fall straight down on the floor. In the midst of falling Lynx grabbed the bookshelf, as it was about to fall over him.

 

[Vengeance]

His fingers were pruning from the water. With the stare of a stranger, he studied the contours on the tips and licked his lip. "This is a bit too long," the young man remarked to no one but himself, as if to chastise, then leaned forward to turn off the water, eliciting a squeak from the knob.


The showerhead trickled still, until only a tiny stream of droplets remained, and that dwindled into nothing as well soon. Almost immediately, Eleven near-regretted it. The air was still chilly on his skin, evaporating slowly as he fumbled around for a towel. He saw one, pale grey and thick, draped over the towel pole.


He was instantly in love with it when he put it on. "How embarrassing! Sharing a towel with him!" Although his grin was anything but embarrassed.


Donning the towel around his waist, something he felt strangely compelled to do despite not really remembering anything from before (and he tried not to dwell too much on it), he poked his wet head out and strained to hear if Lynx was outside. It was .. unnervingly quiet.


"Did he run away?" His red eyes widened. If that were the case .. I have to stop him! He couldn't recall how he got here, but he was absolutely certain that he couldn't leave. He had something to do here!


In the face of doom, he ran and zipped down the stairs, eyes prickled with tears again at the idea of being abandoned. The door was closed. Letting a huge sigh of relief escape him, he felt intrigued again with the absence of his spouse. "Could he be in another room ..? How large is his wardrobe? .. How large is his bedroom?" His heart thumped like a deer on steroids running on the field. "How indecent! I need to stop th-"


He heard a muffled sound behind the door at the end and neared it cautiously. "Is that his bedroom?"


Seeing that it should be as he guessed, Eleven turned the knob and pushed the door in, surprised at how little light there was in the spacious - .. basement?





"D-Darling?" He gawked at the sight of the male with .. whathappenedhere?!

 

[CrystalTears]

Lynx sat in the middle of the mess, luckily the shelf had barely missed him, but it had landed on top of his ankle, and it was definitely sprained, or something along those lines, but he was more upset by his hand. It was bleeding, and quite heavily so too, the splinters from the broken chair had managed to cut him pretty badly, as maybe standing on a chair that he randomly found in his basement was a bad idea from the beginning. The clothes was at the very least in Lynx' hands right now, and the box was unharmed by the shelf, though his hand and ankle hurt. The door opened up, and he could easily hear Eleven's voice, calling out for him.


"Could you help me lift this off my ankle?" Lynx asked nonchalantly as if this was simply yet another day in a normal afternoon. This was maybe where his calm and carefree self seemed to hurt him more than to help him. Luckily for Lynx there wasn't a lot on the shelves, as most of the shelves were filled with either books or paper, so he hadn't gotten too injured, despite his hand and ankle. He was still pouting thinking of his hand, how was he going to do his book now? He had to call his editor... rearrange the dead line, overwork when he healed... there was a lot he had to do, only because of one shelf.

 

[Vengeance]

"Could you help me lift this off my ankle?" He heard him say. Limbs paralysed with dismay, he could only stare with a gaping mouth, hand clutching on the knob to suspend him from dropping down to his knees.


Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it wasn't time to absorb the fact that his spouse looked like shit, but rather-


"Lift.. lift- right. Right," Eleven mumbled and inhaled sharply, realising too late the familiar sourness in his nose. Not now. Not now .. With only a towel to provide his lithe body some concealment, he half-ran down the small flight of stairs, ignoring the biting cold or his dripping hair. His feet felt sore from having to trek over rougher surfaces after turning tender from a soak in the tub, but he paid it no heed. Instead, he was blind to everything else but the painful sight of Lynx on the floor hurt and-


He heaved, feeling his muscles protest whilst he lifted the shelf, careful not to drop it from his grasp to add insult to injury. Adrenaline helped plenty; in the end, he managed to prop the furniture back onto its proper position, although most, if not all, of its items were astray on the floor.


Eleven knelt down as close as he could to his spouse without touching him, and gave his body a once-over. Blood oozed out in copious amount - in the eyes of a fretting spouse - from the raven's hand.


Not trusting the flimsy shirts and whatever-else in the box Lynx held, for he could feel the musky air thick around them ("How unused is this place?"), he undid the knot on his towel and pulled it off, using it as a makeshift bandage (too thick, too damp, but he was blind), all the while moving Lynx's arm away from the box carefully. Soft grey eagerly sucked up the red.


"Are you hurt anywhere else?" He hadn't realised it until he had to speak, but he was choking on sobs.

 

[CrystalTears]

Lynx watched as Eleven lifted up the entire shelf back to its original place, he had only asked him to lift it up a few centimeters to allow his ankle to slip underneath it, but it seemed as Eleven was far stronger than what he looked to be. Eleven was still wet after he had just taken his shower, and being downstairs in the cold basement was no good idea, they should hurry and get up so he would not catch a cold. Then again, he was naked in a box and sent to him, could he possibly catch a cold? There was no reason to bet he couldn't so getting upstairs was definitely the best option for now.


Once again Eleven decided to go naked in front of Lynx, as his eyes quickly darted off to the side, and a small blush spread across his cheeks, but the darkness of the room hid most of it out of Eleven's sight, as there was only one small light bulb in the roof, in the middle of the room. Eleven tied the towel around his hand, as it was damp and far too thick than what was necessary, but Lynx couldn't help himself, but chuckle. It had been a while since he had been taken care of like that, to see someone else worried about him. Lynx reached out his hand and ruffled it through Eleven's blonde hair. "Thank you for worrying. I'm fine. These are just small scratches," Lynx said to reassure Eleven as he stumbled his way up to his feet, unable to stand on his right ankle, as he depended mostly on his left ankle at this point.

 

[Vengeance]

Lynx had chuckled. It was a sound so out of place Eleven couldn't even remotely understand why a chuckle had a place in this scenario. He didn't want to speak any more though, lest he starts croaking like a sad frog again.


When he combed his fingers casually through his hair, the blond boy pressed his lips together firmly and wiped his face with his wrist, feeling the hot tears smear over his skin to cool immediately. "Don't tell me not to worry when I already am," the younger-looking man weakly protested, "I love you, you know."


Sniffing some more, he swallowed thickly, following Lynx's feat, and slipped an arm across his spouse's lower back. He didn't ask, and took it to his own hands as he held Lynx close to him, aiding his steps.


They trekked up in bittersweet silence, light from the hallway streaming in like morning light for a bedroom.


Ah, that's right ..





He felt, just the tiniest bit, conscious that he was nude in the presence of his spouse, but decided not to bring it up; after all, they were married! It'd be silly to be .. em .. ba .. His cheeks warmed anyway.


They reached the final step. With the hazard of tripping down the stairs and cracking their skulls like eggs now gone, he let Lynx stand on his foot first before sweeping him in his arms, holding him in a territorial manner as they headed to the bathroom. "You have your first aid kit in the bathroom, right?"


The fact that he would think of such a common sense, despite having blank memory, hadn't spark anything in his busy mind yet.

 

[CrystalTears]

Lynx looked over to Eleven, it was very obvious that Eleven thought his chuckle was inappropriate for a time like this and Lynx did agree on that. It was a bit inappropriate to chuckle, he was injured, the only thing that made him chuckle was the feeling of being able to concern someone else. He had been living alone for the last couple of years now, and in some ways it felt great and in others lonely. However, right now he had someone who was worried, even though he never wished to worry Eleven from the beginning, it was still nice to feel that he was cared for.


Lynx' cheek lit up to no extend when Eleven told him he loved him, he was actually sounding quite stern and cool the few moments he used to utter out those words to him. They were sweet, sweet alluring words, but it couldn't be true could it? They had only met today. He couldn't answer Eleven's confession, he simply turned away shyly and went quiet, allowing Eleven to help him up the stairs as he usually would have stubbornly insisted he could do it himself, but right now Lynx couldn't speak, not one single word. What was he suppose to say? Someone just told him he loved him. Nothing made sense.


They reached the top of the stairs in no time, and then Eleven let him go. Lynx was planning on grabbing a nearby chair to sit down on, but it seemed as Eleven had different plans as he was swept off the floor, and then carried towards the bathroom in the upper floor. "Y- Yeah... b- but you don't n- need to carry me..." Lynx said embarrassed as he could not face Eleven at all, not only was he being carried, but it was by a naked stranger that had confessed his love for him. Could it get any worse?

 

[Vengeance]

"No! This is my job as your husband," Eleven looked intently at the man in his arms and offered an apologetic smile, eyes reddish like his cheeks. He felt that words were superficial at this point, and instead, when they reached the bathroom, quietly placed the injured male down, after he kicked the lid down with his foot. For a moment, he panicked, his balance tittered. But tensing his calf, he managed to push himself back onto his foot.


Taking out a bottle of alcohol and the half-used packet of bandage roll sitting by the corner in the compartment behind the mirror, Eleven pulled at the roll to unwind it, then tore it with his hands alone to rip off a segment of gauze. He brought the bottle of alcohol to Lynx and knelt on one knee, scarlet eyes locked at the awkward bundle of blood, water and fluffy towel cotton. With a gentle voice, still breathy to a level after a little crying fest, he commanded like a mother, "Hand."

 

[CrystalTears]

Lynx said nothing and simply let Eleven carry him up to the second floor, it wasn't as if he had anything in the saying as Eleven seemed pretty sure that he was about to the point where if he continued to push his luck Eleven would end up getting angry. They entered the the bathroom as he was gently put down on the toilet lid, as he looked a bit frustrated and this was maybe the downside about living with someone, he was stuck with worrying him if he continued his carefree personality like this, maybe he should think and then act the next time? Though he was still unsure what he was going to do with the whole situation.


Lynx gave Eleven his hand, gently placing it in his as he closed his eyes ready for the impact for the alcohol. It would definitely hurt, and he knew that far too well. "Oh, and my name is Lynx. So you don't need to call me darling," Lynx finally introduced himself to Eleven, even though he wasn't sure if Eleven knew his name or not. He had to find out more about the package and where Eleven came from, but for now he was stuck being in there, and then digging for his phone to hopefully call his editor and explain the whole thing. He sighed, what was he going to do? "Eleven, are you sure that I am your spouse? I mean, we just met today and people don't marry people they just met..." Lynx said, trying to be as kind as possible in the choosing of his words.

 

[Vengeance]

Distracted by the inquiries, his hand tilted the bottle more than he intended, the alcohol dribbling in a steady stream along the other male's palm. Shocked at his own mistake, his grip jostled somewhat, splashing even more alcohol over the hand.


"S-Sorry!" He rushed the words again.


Since the milk was spilled, no point crying over it. He took the opportunity to wrap the gauze over and over Lynx's palm, hoping the pain alone was enough to diverge the topic, even if he felt terrible for causing him more suffering.


OOC Note

I can't think of much that someone can do here. Sorry for the short response.

 

[CrystalTears]

Lynx slightly flinched when the alcohol hit his hand, as it did hurt, and of course it would hurt. Eleven was cleansing his wound after all. It was to be expected it was going to sting, not little, but a whole lot. He watched Eleven trying his best to help his wound, as he saw how nervous he was. He needed to remember to become less clumsy in the future, to not stress Eleven up this much. That meant he wasn't going anywhere close to the basement for a while. His hand was throbbing as even more alcohol was poured on his hand, as Lynx simply bit his lower lip, as it was hurting even more than it was before, but he excused Eleven's clumsiness. He was nervous, and that was okay. He was injured after all, and maybe he didn't like blood?


"It's okay. Let's just... get you some clothes..." Lynx said, his eyes darted to the side as he quickly grabbed a towel with his good hand, throwing it over Eleven's naked body. It was embarrassing to look at his naked body, didn't that bother him one bit?

 

[Vengeance]

The blonde blinked his eyes and felt clean cotton strewn across his shoulder, hand instinctively moved to caress it. "Ah, thank you, da-" he barely corrected himself in time, "Lynx." His tongue felt heavy saying that, weighed down by .. familiarity?


We're married. Of course his name should be familiar!





... but he's never met me before, he says. Who was I before this?





"You're very thoughtful." Despite the worries that shrouded his mind quickly like the everchanging weather, he felt a deep sense of security to know, at least, his spouse was a good and caring person. (He tried to ignore the uneasiness building up in the back of his head.) "I sh-"


The phone downstairs rang, ending their conversation prematurely. Scarlet eyes darted to look into violet (?) ones hesitantly before Eleven arched his lips into an upturn, "I-I'll go get it!" It was both frustrating and relieving; and he couldn't shake off the ominous feeling as he paced down the stairs.


He decided he didn't like the sound of a phone ringing.


-


"Hello there!"


"Oooh, hello, E-le-ven!"





"Do I know you?"


"Do you know me? Ahaha! Just pass the phone to eh~ Lynxie."





Eleven was more upset that this stranger on the other side of the call independently started dubbing his spouse with a hypocorism compared to the detail of his name being known by someone he couldn't even recall.


"Just .. Just a minute! Why do you want to speak to d- Lynx? Who are you?"


"Listen to me and pass the phone to him!"