Jinhai was restless, to say the least. Once more, he had to wait around and rely on others to do the jobs he more than anything wanted to help with. It wasn't like he was doing nothing, but there was a certain amount of waiting-potentially for nothing-when you were still guarding the base. Once again, he had to remind himself that this was the best course of action, despite what all his doubts said about the decision.

Like before, only Masato and Hotaka were in his line of sight. It seemed the three wouldn't be doing much in the way of fighting. There was one other team, hidden in the shadows in case of attack. The others were searching for their opponents or performing their own tasks.

It was only a matter of time before something changed. Their captives were still lulled under the genjutsu Masato had created, and though Jinhai knew he should trust the teammate to hold the illusion in place, he couldn't help but worry.

To put Jinhai's emotions into the most basic terms for the past half hour, he was completely nervous. So badly, he wanted to ask again if the recon teams had found anything, but held back on the reminder that he had done so scarcely two minutes prior. He can't help but hope for something to happen that can occupy his mind and chase off any doubts.

Hotaka was gazing out into the surrounding trees, and sighed slightly. "I can't help feeling like this is the calm before the storm."

Jinhai could only nod in agreement, far too tense to verbalize the feeling.

_+_

Kuria jumped to the next tree, looking for anything that seemed even remotely out of place. She was useless in this regard, as was every member on her team, not being sensor ninja. The three, with Nesshin, the sword user from Kiri, rather than Haruna, the stealth expert from Kumo, had to rely solely on what they could see and hear normally. She was a bit jealous of Eiji in this regard, not that she would ever tell him that. His head was already big enough, she thought.

"I'm not seeing anyone in this area," Ikuji was the one to state all of their thoughts, and Kuria sighed a bit.

She looked around once more, in a futile attempt to spot anything they might have missed. Nothing had changed. "Let's move on to the next area."

Though she had accepted Jinhai's plan, she still had the niggling sense of doubt that wanted to worm its way into her mind. While Jinhai had thought it likely they would be working on their defenses in a bid for time to put together a plan, he seemed to have put full stock into that. While true they were working with limited teams, she felt discomfort with how few were on defense.

As she leapt with her team to try and find the opponent's radio module, her thoughts lingered. No plan survives contact with the enemy. Aoi had once said that. While things had gone as expected so far, she felt it was only a matter of time.

Shaking her head, she tried to push the misgivings from her mind. "Let's try to find this radio quickly."

Nesshin and Ikuji just nodded in agreement.

_+_

Eiji sat for a moment, eyes closed as he tried to sharpen his hearing. He also tried to ignore how it seemed that Torai, the close combat fighter from Kumo, could breathe as loud as an elephant. Whether fortunate or not, Eiji wasn't able to hear anything out of place in the forest. As much as he wanted to find the other team quickly, too much haste could cause him to hear or see something too late and they would fall to an ambush.

"Can you hear anything?" It was Torai who had spoken, unsurprisingly. Haruna was rather meek, and befitting her role as a stealth jutsu user didn't make much sound - or much of an impression if you asked Eiji.

Wincing and rubbing his ear slightly he turned a harsh glare to Torai. He had spoken at a normal volume, true, but with Eiji's heightened hearing he might as well have yelled. All concentration lost, the chakra faded from around his ears.

"I can hear you breaking my focus."

Haruna made a small noise, and out of the corner of his eye he saw her cover her mouth, perhaps to hide a smile. Torai likely wanted to argue back, but held his tongue as he recognized the error. Eiji once more gathered his chakra, but couldn't hear anything, and it wasn't like increased sight would help much in the sea of trees. In the end, he couldn't sense anything.

He felt a little useless in that moment, before he shook it off. It was his specialty in being able to locate their opponents, and yet they evaded him completely. Thinking of the possibility that Kuria would find them before him was something he didn't want to consider though. Not because he worried for her or anything, but because that would imply she was better than him.

Perhaps a little bit more abruptly than intended, he stood from his crouch. Haruna let out a small 'eep' of surprise.

"They're not here, let's go."

_+_

The rustle of a bush was all the warning Jinhai had before two shinobi leapt from the brush on one side of their camp. It was just their luck that where they landed happened to be where Hotaka had laid a trap. Suddenly the two were attempting to dodge the kunai that sped toward them.

At the same time as the two that appeared near Jinhai, another two leapt out into the small clearing almost directly across from their teammates. He didn't waste more time focusing on those two, seeing Hotaka already facing them. Masato twitched slightly, but ultimately stayed focused on keeping the genjutsu going.

Jinhai hesitated a moment as he faced his two opponents. He wasn't the most confident in his combat skills, especially against two people. Shaking the thought, he pulled a kunai out of his pouch and charged toward the one that was the most distracted by the trap. He was intercepted by the one that had regained his senses, kunai clashing harshly.

He forced the kunai forward, trying to break through. When it didn't work, he angled his kunai so the opponent's kunai slipped past. Taking the opportunity he tried for another slash. A few more clangs rang between them as this was repeated again and again. Jinhai was in the middle of trying to force his way through his opponent's guard again when a sound from his right had him leaping backwards.

Now faced with two focused opponents, Jinhai was even more unsure of his capabilities. Thankfully, it wasn't two on one for very long. As if knowing the tide of the battle, at that moment one of the defensive team members that had been in hiding dropped to his side. He briefly recognized them as the umbrella user from Kiri. Looking over, there was the other Kiri shinobi next to Hotaka as well. The odds were looking to be more in their favor, and he assumed their third member had stayed back to radio the attack.

Before either side attacked again, Jinhai spoke. "Give up, you've lost your surprise and we still have people to call in for reinforcements." He met the gaze of the umbrella user from Kiri, and she nodded. He took that to mean that the other member was going through with the call.

"I'll say that back to you. Give up, you're outnumbered."

Jinhai started, looking over his shoulder to the last teammate in camp. "Masato!"

The Kumo genin met his gaze, and Jinhai felt a chill go down his spine. The realization of his error came too late to fix.

_+_

Neji quickly regained movement after the eye contact with Aoi was broken when he had moved. He was confident that he would be able to stop his opponent's movements and finally end the fight. For his part, Aoi seemed unconcerned about his jutsu wearing off, and pulled a kunai out of his pouch.

Shikamaru and Kou, bystanders in this fight, saw a very different image than the one Neji saw however. In the heat of the battle, it appeared that Neji had neglected an obvious attack Aoi could use. Shikamaru knew now who would be victorious in this battle.

Aoi was barely three meters from Neji, and the Hyuga deepened his stance slightly in preparation. Doing so brought the danger to his attention. The second the Hyuga was distracted by noticing Hane dive-bombing his one blind spot, Aoi increased his speed. It was barely a moment before Neji began his rotation to throw not only Aoi away, but also Hane, and give himself a brief moment to recollect himself.

It was a moment too late. Neji was caught by his wrist, and using that as leverage Aoi threw him to the ground. He planted his knee on Neji's solar plexus. The kunai Aoi held found itself embedded into the ground right next to Neji's ear. Hane landed calmly on the ground next to the pair, puffing his feathers up in pride at the successful distraction.

"You were a tough opponent." Aoi's expression, which had hardened in the middle of the battle, relaxed now. Neji noticed what seemed to be a light of respect as this happened, though he couldn't be sure.

A bit breathless after his impact with the ground, and Aoi's followup that had driven the air out of his lungs, Neji returned a simple, "as were you."

The pressure disappeared on Neji's torso as Aoi stood, breaking the tense atmosphere at the same moment. The blue haired jonin scratched Hane's head, looking over toward Shikamaru and Kou as he did so. Both of them were walking toward the two, Neji gathering his feet below him.

"That was incredible!" Kou was the first to speak, her eyes sparkling like the sea at sunset. "Granted it was a bit hard for me to keep up, but what I saw was breathtaking. I've watched the chunin exams countless times while representing my father, but nothing compares to that fight." As Kou spoke, the barest of smiles tugged at the corner of Aoi's lips. Any lingering regret Neji could ever have had from the fight was driven away by her enthusiasm.

Kou's face changed after a moment, "Aoi, what happened to your necklace?"

Bringing a hand to his neck, Aoi found the small trinket missing.

_+_

Jinhai and his teammates were stuck between the anvil and the hammer now. The momentary lapse in trust for Masato's ability to keep their captives in the genjutsu had caused it to break. Even worse was that the last two members from the enemy had only strolled casually out of the trees after his misstep.

Masato was ticked off at Jinhai for all of ten seconds before he focused on the situation they were now caught in. Nine enemies at their center and six others circling them didn't bode well for the five caught between.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jinhai wondered where the other teammate that was supposed to be standing guard in the forest was. His thoughts didn't dwell on that long however, given the larger problem facing them. He held hope that Kuria's and Eiji's teams had gotten the message of the attack and were headed back to help them.

In the event that wasn't the case however, they needed a plan now. Fighting them was a stupid option, given the severe disadvantages of sheer numbers. Running wasn't a great plan either, since they were effectively surrounded. A distraction could be useful, if they had the ability to do so, but since to plan a distraction with the others in the group Jinhai would need to radio to his teammates, it would be ineffective. With no other options, he decided they would just have to hope for the best and settle for the last resort: stall. Stall until Eiji and Kuria made it back, whether that be in a few minutes, or at the predetermined time they set to return, which was still the better part of an hour away.

"Well, congratulations I suppose," Jinhai put his hands up in the universal sign of surrender. "You managed to capture part of our team."

The four teammates caught with him turned looks - one part disbelief and two parts confusion - on him. So far as expectations went, they obviously didn't expect an easy declaration of defeat from him. One or two of the looks turned suspicious, wary of a traitorous act, and while Jinhai duly noted all of the silent judgment he was receiving, he steadfastly ignored it.

Even the other team seemed confused at this though, and after a few moments of silence, someone seemed to finally elect themselves leader and spoke out.

"That's right. You should surrender, fighting would be useless now." Even though the speaker seemed to warn against the fight, he raised a kunai threateningly.

"Well you're mostly right there, but I don't think that we're ready to surrender to you." As he said this, the hands that he previously held aloft in the air turned into a slight shrug. The seemingly nonchalant action set a few of the enemies on guard. Jinhai's teammates, while still wholly confused as to what he was after, tried to school their expressions into neutral expressions.

"What makes you so sure you shouldn't surrender? You're surrounded! Caught between two fronts, with no hope to win. There's no advantage for you here! It's three to one, and you don't look very strong to me."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong!" Jinhai shook his head, and tried to shake off their taunt. It seemed to be taken as a dramatic effect to others. He instead focused desperately on wracking his brain as to how they could possibly be wrong in their assessment. "You've only caught one third of us, and from my position, we've got over half of your force surrounded. This isn't a deciding victory for you. If anything, I'm in the exact position I want to be in."

Jinhai could practically hear the resounding thought of 'Are you mad?' from both teams. Someone in the center group of enemies actually did say it. It was a true test of his acting skills to keep the confident look on his face.

There was a pervading silence for the count of ten before the person from before spoke out. "Look, I may not be a master tactician, but I'm fairly certain that this is not an advantageous situation for you."

"And there lies the difference between us," Jinhai spread his hands to encompass his teammates, "the fact that the true tactician can find advantage in any situation. We have cards on the table that you haven't even taken into consideration.

"For example, though neither of our central communication devices are in this area, there is a significant difference between our missing device and yours." Jinhai smirked as he found a true flaw to distract them. "All your forces are here, and we don't intend to let you leave easily."

As if on signal, his teammates drew kunai. It was a bluff, the other four all knew this, but they'd be damned if they didn't make it believable. Jinhai, for his part, spread his hands to further promote the confidence behind his words. Able to focus on a bit more he realized something else, though he fought to keep it off his face.

He still hadn't heard anything from the last member of the defensive group that would alert the other teams to the predicament at camp.

_+_

Kou was on her hands and knees searching for the necklace that had broken off of Aoi's neck. Her desperation in finding the object, to the point of disregarding any of the training in dignity she had received as a princess, seemed odd to Aoi. Regardless of how he felt, he too was searching through the grass. Even Shikamaru was helping. Unfortunately, the field was by no means small, and as they continued their search noon came and passed.

Aoi placed a hand on his sister's shoulder. "Kou, we should take a break." Still on her hands and knees, she whirled to face him, eyes wide with muted panic.

"We still haven't found the necklace though!" She went to turn back to her searches, but Aoi's hand, still on her shoulder, stopped her. "What are you doing? We need to find it before it gets dark."

"It is not worth panicking over, it's just a necklace."

Kou got to her feet so quickly that Aoi took the smallest of steps back in surprise. "It is worth it!" Shikamaru and Neji looked over from where they were searching in the practice field. "It's not just a necklace!"

Aoi, even with his somewhat poor grasp on emotions, could clearly see that Kou was angry. They were still practically nose-to-nose at this point, so Aoi took another small step back. "Kou, it is a necklace."

"Well obviously it's a necklace!" The exasperated sarcasm was lost on Aoi. "That's not why I'm looking for it though. It's more than a necklace!"

Unsure of how to respond, Aoi glanced past Kou to make eye contact with Shikamaru. He saw the confusion that lay in Aoi's eyes and took a few steps forward. "If I may, princess, I don't-"

"You may not." Kou's eyes bore into Aoi as she dismissed Shikamaru's words with a harsh tone. Aoi met her gaze with an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Aoi, just what was that necklace to you anyway?"

Confused eyes searched Kou's face for any clue as to how to respond to her. Aoi, perhaps for the first time he could remember, was hesitant in any movement he made. He didn't want to upset Kou. Then again, something in how her brows furrowed together and the slightest downturn of her lips told Aoi they were probably past 'upset.'

"What is the necklace to me?" He repeated. Kou just watched for a bit as Aoi searched for any answer that might calm his raging sister.

As the silence stretched, Kou seemed to get more impatient for an answer. She folded her arms in irritation. "Do you seriously need this long to think about it? This isn't a trick question or something, Aoi!"

Something hot within Aoi's chest seemed to slightly unfurl. Some part of him knew that his next words would be the worst possible response, but even so he stated, "It's just a necklace."

"I see." Kou's expression shuttered, turning eerily calm. The fire in her eyes seemed to grow in its intensity, but her voice was ominously even. "I guess we're done searching then."

Right as Neji and Shikamaru got to the pair, Kou turned on her heel and walked away. For a moment or two the pair paused. Neji was the first to follow after her, but not before shooting what could only be described as a baffled look at Aoi. Shikamaru met Aoi's eyes, and if he didn't already know they were siblings, the look in Aoi's eyes would have convinced him.

Shikamaru couldn't help the shiver down his spine at the visible emotion in Aoi's eyes. Nevertheless, he placed a hand on Aoi's shoulder and met his gaze. "If you want, you can talk to me about this later."

Aoi was then left in the training grounds alone with his thoughts as Hane trilled worriedly beside him.

_+_

At Jinhai's comment on the missing devices, there was both panic and surprise on their opponent's faces. The shock even spread to his own team, as they regarded the redhead with grudging respect and worry. If their teammates did change objectives and head for their opponent's center communication device, their position as captives left them out of the third phase of the chunin exams.

The other team, seeming to realize this, regained some of their confidence in the situation. "You wouldn't give up participation in the third exam simply to win this exercise."

"You're sure about this?" Jinhai put his hands on his hips, the motion seeming so natural that only Hotaka and Masato, who were right next to him, noticed the small click of Jinhai holding down the button to his radio. "Both of my teammates from Konoha are still out there, even if I'm still captive at the end of the exam they'll move on."

"No one is that selfless! Even for comrades in the same village!"

"Are you saying you would put your team at risk for your own selfish desires? They must trust you so much. My teammates understand that I would do anything to help them, and I trust them to do the same." After saying this Jinhai removed his hand from the transmission button. Masato shot Jinhai a look, clearly questioning why he felt the need to send that transmission. He only received a glance before Jinhai returned his focus on the man in front of him.

"It's stupid to give up everything for your comrades. I would gladly help them, but taking on a suicide mission so that they succeed in theirs is unimaginably stupid. You should always focus on getting the mission done with as few casualties as possible." There were a few looks of agreement on their enemies faces, but there was also some dissent that didn't go unnoticed by Jinhai.

"You say you'd focus on the mission, that you would minimize casualties, but it seems nowhere in your calculations do you consider that giving yourself up might lead to the best result."

"Only a fool looks to self sacrifice. If you're the one making the plan, then you should be able to create one that doesn't lead to your own demise. If you can't, if sacrificing yourself is the only answer you can come up with, you're a failure of a leader." His verbal opponent held strong to those convictions, you could tell from his expression.

Jinhai was also confident, and though they had gotten away from the initial point of the conversation, this discussion was as good at stalling the enemy as anything else. "One must be able to make decisions for the good of their group, putting their personal feelings aside. It should be obvious that everyone in my team wants to move to the third exam, but we all have teammates that aren't here that benefit from any sacrifices we make."

"That's just stupid! Why would anyone give up their chance of success and life for another?"

I think you know this answer even without my input. Emotions are fickle things, but some loyalties just can't be shaken." Jinhai had a smirk on his face, even as he took a shot in the dark, "That's why one of the members of our 'army' has betrayed us isn't it?" The looks Jinhai received from Hotaka and Masato contained understanding for why he had sent the transmission earlier. It seems that, once he'd brought it up, all his teammates realized the lack of earlier transmission from their team.

"What are you talking about now? Are you going to continue to propose half-baked theories and present weak-ass philosophies on war?" Though the words were said confidently enough, there was a lack of surprise on their face that gave away the fact that they did indeed have a traitor on their team.

"It's obvious that at least one shinobi from Kumo has betrayed our team in favor of yours. After all, there's the pride of the village to consider. While your team is composed solely of Kumogakure shinobi, ours has members from other villages." Jinhai shook his head. "Imagine the pride Kumogakure could hold if only they had shinobi in the finale. The strength they could display for the diplomats of the land. Putting aside any personal feelings that could be involved would allow one to consider this option."

"What is the point of discussing this if you're so sure of a traitor? Why would you even tell us any of this?"

"Well, because I can see the bigger picture here."

"The bigger picture? What are you getting after now?"

Jinhai glanced at the Kumo shinobi still on his side. "Disregarding the bigger picture, I must say that any traitors are surely foolish. While the word of Konoha or Kiri shinobi would hardly sway anything, those from Kumo that held loyal through this all likely wouldn't hold the traitors in high regard." He made a face as if considering possibilities. "You have to wonder why they thought splitting teams like this was fair at all really. I'm sure the instructors wouldn't hold prejudice and try to keep any foreign shinobi out by any means possible after all. Though, if that ends up being the case, who's to say that people won't entertain the possibility. It could be quite the bad look fo-"

"Shut up!" Someone next to his current verbal sparring partner cut him off. The look in his eyes as he stepped forward told Jinhai that the jig was up. "He's stalling, seeing if he can wait us out until someone comes back. It's been this long and their reinforcements are nowhere to be seen."

As the realization struck everyone else in the area, there was a tumult of words as everyone seemed to try and speak. Words of insult were mixed in with those of grudging respect. Jinhai simply raised his hands in a gesture of sarcastic innocence.

"I told you I was in the exact position I wanted to be in."

_+_

After receiving the communication from Jinhai, it wasn't long until Kuria and Eiji met up, their teams with them. They stood in silence for a moment, before Kuria sighed. "So Jinhai was wrong."

There was some grumbling from those not from Konoha, but Eiji simply nodded in agreement. "Unfortunately."

Nesshin stepped forward to join the conversation. "So what now? The way I see it, we can keep looking for their radio module or try and rescue those at the base."

"With how the teams are focused right now we can realistically only count on us six. If we work on the assumption that those guarding the module continue to do as they are, that is." Ikuji also joined the discussion.

A silence fell over them as they all considered this. Kuria then voiced a thought, "They should only have 12 that are in fighting condition now. The three that fell in the poisoned trap wouldn't have the means to treat it in the field. That's what Hotaka said, right?"

"Th- there's also the three we knocked out." Haruna mentioned.

"We should assume the worst." Ikuji broke in. "I trust Hotaka knows his stuff, we are on the same team after all, and the dude is a nerd about stuff like that. It's safe to assume 12."

Eiji looked thoughtful, "so if we took them on as-is, we'd each have to fight off two of them."

Haruna made a small noise in fear at the prospect of that. As someone that excels in stealth, she wasn't sure about her odds in a fight against several people. Ikuji likely had similar thoughts based on his expression.

"We've been focusing pretty strongly on the idea that we're rescuing them." Torai spoke from where he was leaning on a tree. "We could probably win pretty handily if we give up on that and hurry to find the module. Based on how long it was between the capture of their teammates and that transmission from base, they would have hidden it close by or between the two camps.

"We also are working on the assumption that they hadn't scouted us before as well. No matter the surveillance, there's always ways to get around it if you're cautious enough to. I wouldn't like abandoning a teammate, but sometimes it's the best option in the end."

No one wanted to speak next. They knew Torai had a point. Admitting that aloud didn't sit well for anyone though.

Kuria made a chopping motion as she broke the silence, "I would rather not give up on them without a clear picture of the camp." No one raised a complaint with that thought. "So let's get that picture. So far we've been working in teams of three, like we're used to, but we don't have to. Higher level shinobi don't.

"We can split into teams of two from here and accomplish more. Haruna and Ikuji can go scope out the base camp and figure out if rescue is possible, with their abilities even if somehow they get caught they'd have the best chance to get away. Eiji has the best search abilities of us, so let's have him and Torai go look for the opponent's module. If we bet on their overconfidence and it not being protected, then there's a chance we can steal it. The war ends if we put in the code, so if we just take it we have the option of ending it at any point.

"Finally, I'll go with Nesshin to make sure the team with our module is still alright and provide backup. We'll work under the assumption that where they are has been leaked, and move the unit. The extra combat ability there will be helpful in the worst case. I'll tell Eiji and Ikuji where we'll be headed, and we can plan from there."

Torai frowned. "Why not tell all of us where you're headed?"

"I trust Eiji, and I know for sure that Ikuji and Haruna have teammates caught up at the base. Ikuji needs to know where not to lead a retreat past if they happen to get caught, so of the two he's the better choice to pick."

Torai might have argued against that, but Nesshin cut in first. "The first defensive team would have been in the base, ensuring they got caught, but you're worried that the second team hasn't been caught at all, which raises the question of where they are." He paused and Kuria nodded. "I would assure you my teammates haven't betrayed us if it would help, but something tells me that isn't sufficient."

There was a click as Torai closed his mouth, not able to argue with the logic when Nesshin presented the possibility of traitors. He looked like he still wanted to argue. After contemplating something, he spoke, "I suppose it's suspicious that the second team didn't radio the situation. I won't argue for the same reason as Nesshin, but it's also possible that they just got taken out before they had the opportunity."

Eiji grinned, and tried to break the tense atmosphere, "That's why Haruna and Ikuji are gonna check! If they're caught, then we're in the clear, right?"

The two whose teammate's loyalty was called into question begrudgingly nodded. Kuria sighed in relief. She wasn't confident about not starting a fight if Nesshin hadn't stepped up. He shot her an understanding smirk.

"Alright, so with that settled, we should probably stay off our radios, just in case they've been compromised. Let's meet up in 30 minutes. That should give enough time to search the area between our two bases and to assess the situation at the camp."

_+_

...haha... ha? It's been a while since I updated, I realize. I'm not sure how many people that were reading this five years ago are still around, but... well. I haven't forgotten this story, and well, I don't like to leave business unfinished.

It's so strange to write this again, if I'm being honest. Looking back through my notes, rereading the story (and yikes to some of that let's be real), and just putting myself in the headspace to write this again? It reminds me of the teen that I was (what a nerd). So much has happened in the past five years... like five years worth of stuff.

In any case, I felt bad every time I thought about this story, and should apologize for such a long break. I could provide the excuses of college, I mean gosh I had an entire gender crisis after all lmao.

If anyone is curious: I did graduate college. I think way back when I was 16 I was aiming to be a language teacher, and then after I'd graduated high school it was math. My first year of college I did study for becoming a math teacher, aiming for a Spanish minor. I started streaming on twitch for the occasional income that would let me get groceries (I need a sticker that says "I survived college"). Over time I switched majors, and dropped the minor, and now here I sit, a Civil Engineer in Training (at least until I eventually pass the Professional Exam and get my license). I've been working in my degree for a year now. I guess I'm rambling now, but I just have this weird nostalgia for the person I used to be.

Anyway, you should thank my friends who found out about me not updating for five years for finally yelling me into writing. They're cheering in a VC with me right now as I finish writing this. It may come as a token at this point, but I fully intend to finish this story. I still know where I intended to lead this story, and all the characters I still love so dearly, but... Part of me wonders if I shouldn't change some things. I suppose I'll let you know where that debate ends up eventually.

Five years later, how about another random question?

What's your favorite childhood memory?

I'll aim to make it so the next update isn't five years out. Thank you to everyone that has continued to read and enjoy this story in absence of an update.

-Nick (they/them)