SPOILER!!: oh my feels

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarahlooo

Natalie had.. heard things. Bad things that had happened a few days ago in the Room of Requirement when everyone was at rehearsal. All she could think about since then was how Derf had been trying to help and protect HER and HE was the one that had been at the rehearsal and had seen it all. Natalie still didn't know all the details, but rumors had been flying, as they do at Hogwarts.

Derf's appearance made her feel worse. But it was a deep, heavy concern that sat on her chest and made her sad and worried and SAD. She knew Derf was not himself. His eyes weren't as blue and his hair wasn't as fluffy. He wasn't Derf.

Natalie nodded at him just as he got up to get the parchment. She stood up quickly to... to what? Hug him? Protect him? What if the parchment was cursed? .... But then she just sat down again, her eyes sad. What was she supposed to do? Her best friend was all.. broken. And she didn't know how to fix him.

She watched him return with the parchment and sit down, watched him write his name and pass it over to her. She watched him for a moment longer, ignoring the parchment between them for the time being. She wanted to TALK to him, but they were in class and it just wasn't the right time. She also wasn't sure he even wanted to talk to her about it. Merlin, shouldn't he be in the hospital wing? Getting care? Like, emotional support?

With a little sigh, Natalie scooted closer to Derf and tightly looped her arm through his and hugged it, leaning her head against his shoulder. Then she finally picked up the quill and wrote her name, quiet the whole time.

Derf was mostly just staring a random spot on the parchment and trying not to let his thoughts wander too far from the task at hand. But it was such a simple task that that was kinda proving to be impossible. He had sorta been banking on Astronomy being a complicated mess tonight so he could put all his efforts in trying to understand what the hay was going on. But collecting a piece of parchment and writing their names on it? The third year did not feel all that hopeful at the moment.

His thoughts were drawn from the coming spiral when he felt an arm loop through his and then his posture went a bit rigid for just a second when someone's head was on his shoulder. It took him an embarrassingly long second to recall that he had been sitting next to Natalie and that familiar scent was the shampoo she used on her hair. Natalie's arm and Natalie's head. Right.

Turning his own head slightly, the Hufflepuff looked down at the top of hers while she added her name to the parchment. "What is this for?" Because, er, they only ever really sat like this...um...well...Derf couldn't really think of a time they had sat like this actually. It felt different from other snuggling sitting times...hence him asking.

Kennedy probably was fully aware of her lack of calling him professor, but he had to know that she had a reason for it. Skylar just wasn't sure exactly how to tell him yet... though as it was March, she was running out of time. If she waited too long, it might be too late.

For now though, her attention was on the lesson and the fact that they had to partner up. Which explained the way the desks were arranged, but Tenacius had a good question. One which was of course, evaded with careful wording. Because of course the professor wouldn't give anything away.

She was about to turn to Vivian and ask to be partners, when she heard a voice asking to be partners... and suddenly, Skylar felt at a crossroads. Hattie or Vivian. She liked BOTH of them ... and was in half a mind to choose Isa Wright than to choose between her two bestest friends. Biting her lower lip apologetically at Vivian, because she'd partnered with her more recently and saw her ALL the time in the library and the dorm... her gaze fell to the Hufflepuff. It'd been awhile. Vivian would understand.

Picking up her things, she slid next to Hattie. "Me." Always. And signed her named on top of a blank parchment, before sliding it over to Hattie...

Her quill was in the air writing down everything that was going on. Gabby found in interesting they were pairing up already and a breath of fresh air to see the students going right to work. She remembered some of her lessons as a child and so many were lectures. She loved that nowadays they were doing more collaborative works and helping students not only with academics but social skills. Her eyes fell on her children in the room, it was exciting to get to see her children at work, but she did try to stay in the back of the room where she wouldn't make them uncomfortable either.

Her eyes moved around the room and her notes kept on going. She knew these evaluations were just as important for her as a board member to learn as they were on evaluating the professors. So far she saw everything great going on, which was good. Though she had a ping of worry with her middle child and partners. He was on her mind quite a bit lately with all these rumors coming from the school. He wasn't behind some of this, was he?


Why was his mother here? WHY did she have to be a BOG? He was not excited about this at all and made sure to keep his eyes on the front of the room. He was going to have to pretend harder today than the other days. He could just skirt through lessons half paying attention, but today she would see right through it and he wasn't going to deal with that.

He listened to the professor and looked around when she said about partners. This would be the point he would pretend he didn't hear her or he would just not get a partner unless one came to him, but now, now he had to prove he was "normal" to his mother and make her believe he had friends, though he really didn't want any.

"I need a partner over here if anyone wants to join."

There he made the effort, see mom?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Derf was mostly just staring a random spot on the parchment and trying not to let his thoughts wander too far from the task at hand. But it was such a simple task that that was kinda proving to be impossible. He had sorta been banking on Astronomy being a complicated mess tonight so he could put all his efforts in trying to understand what the hay was going on. But collecting a piece of parchment and writing their names on it? The third year did not feel all that hopeful at the moment.

His thoughts were drawn from the coming spiral when he felt an arm loop through his and then his posture went a bit rigid for just a second when someone's head was on his shoulder. It took him an embarrassingly long second to recall that he had been sitting next to Natalie and that familiar scent was the shampoo she used on her hair. Natalie's arm and Natalie's head. Right.

Turning his own head slightly, the Hufflepuff looked down at the top of hers while she added her name to the parchment. "What is this for?" Because, er, they only ever really sat like this...um...well...Derf couldn't really think of a time they had sat like this actually. It felt different from other snuggling sitting times...hence him asking.

Natalie set the quill down when her name was at the top of the paper, neatly scrawled underneath Derf's less-neatly scrawled name. Honestly, she couldn't remember if the professor had asked them to do anything else because all of her attention was on Derf and what she could do to make him feel better.

She moved her hand now free of a quill to hug his arm, too and then peered her baby blue eyes up at him after he questioned her. She paused... because he had never questioned their hugs and snuggle-sitting before. But rather than deterring her, it just reassured her thoughts that Derf was certainly broken.

"Because you're sad and I don't know what else to do," she replied in a whisper, her cheek now resting on his shoulder. She had a feeling they might not get much out of this lesson.

Partnering Up was the easiest part of lessons these days for Julie. Her blue eyes, as always, drifted to the forms of Cameron and Julie who had settled in together already. Hm. It would be rude to join them without first making sure everyone else was happily partnered up and settled in (although, the idea of working with anyone else today was very unwelcomed) and so she made.... a very slight effort. Looking about the room casually all the while very slowly inching her way toward the table her friends occupied.

As her uncle often regrettably said: there was a, um, butt for every seat. Which translated roughly to: everyone is accounted for. Hastened by this pleasant turn of events, Julie practically jumped the last few inches and settled herself unrepentantly between Cameron and Jessa. "Hey. Mind if I cut in?" Her tone was light despite the anxiety™ and worry™ that had taken over. Like she was gonna let them see her sweat, pleaseeeeeee. Despite her late entrance, Julie had heard Jessa's explanation and her well taken care of eyebrows were casually nearing her equally well taken care of hair.
"just went crazy, huh... " There was a little doubt and a lot of concern but Julie wouldn't press more, not right then. The classroom wasn't exactly the place for a friendly interrogation.

Approvingly, Julie watched Cam write down the names. he really did have excellent penmanship and Julie wasn't sure she'd ever told him. She ought to, though. "Can we have a team name?" She asked, forcing herself to focus on the miniscule.

Patrick looked the boy over, never failed he got the people who always gave him the once over because he was a first year. “Names Patrick” he said, the southern coming out in his voice a bit more than usual. He figured the less he said the better as that would prevent Ronan from drawing any more judgments on him before he could get better at the whole magic thing.

Of course she didn't mind Julie cutting in. Did she ever? Would she ever? No.

Didn't matter the Professor had said they'd be working in pairs, the triangle happened to be one of the most sound structures in the natural world. It was obviously a better idea for them to be working in a group of three and as it so happened, these three tended to work very well together leaving her to doubt the Professor actually having a problem with it.

Much like the concern in Cameron's eyes, Jessa also managed to mostly overlook the growing pile of questions that appeared in Julie's expression. "I'm careful." She said, by way of assuring them both. "Was trying not to be late for class just now. Must not have been paying attention." Could've been argued that feeding the birds could've waited until after the lesson, but she'd noticed the longer she took the feed them was the more likely she was to come back to Apollo in patches. It wasn't a coincidence.

"I think that might be it." With the names written, there hadn't actually been anymore instructions after that point so this was basically...a waiting game....? Sure. "What sort of name?" She asked, idly playing with Cameron's fingers as was sometimes a habit.

The professors had switched allll of these lesson times around lately. Astronomy was the one lesson that had been at the same time every night; it was always at midnight and Emmeline wasn't likely to forget it. She wasn't going to complain about the earlier start time, though, 'cause she was already feeling kinda sleepy.

She was also SUPER distracted tonight, 'cause of...reasons, so she had sort of wandered into the classroom and to a random seat in a daze. She'd even forgotten to say "hi" to Professor Kennedy! Thankfully, she tuned back in enough to jump up from her seat and grab a piece of parchment for this activity. 'Cept she still needed a partner, of course...

The second year stood up to try to see around all the people moving everywhere to try to locate someone -- anyone, really -- who also wasn't partnered up yet.

Daisy was still waiting for a partner when she spotted the Gryffindor (Emmeline). She walked over to her with a smile. "Hello, my name's Daisy. Do you want to be my partner?"

Kalen looked around as the kids split into pairs or a trio as in Jessa, Julie and Cameron’s case. Not exactly what he asked for, but he didn’t really mind, as long as the kids had someone else to work with.

His eyes scanned the seats and found a few people without partners.

“Miss Fairfield, why don’t you team up with Miss Paton and Miss Diggory and Mr.Blaze, how about you come up here with Miss Swann and Miss Sparkes.” He said as he moved back around to the front of his desk and leaned on it again, making sure everyone had a partner.

“If you don’t have a partner feel free to join up with an already existing group.” He said as he took one last look around. “Ahh Miss Dimple, join Miss Holden and Mr.Salander if you would.”

“All right class, now that we are all paired or trio’d off, these are your partners for the rest of the class. I want you all to work together, be it for answering questions or for what I’ll give you do in a bit. But for right now.” Kalen paused a bit before continuing.

“Does anyone know anything about Nebulas? What can you tell me about them?” He asked with a smile.

OOC:Thanks everyone for pairing off, we will be moving on in about 36 hours or so! Have fun!

Oops. Scarlett had been too busy organizing her fun quills and parchment (class was always more FUN when you had colored ink and parchment to take notes with!) that everyone had grouped up around her. Great. Just great. This was why she hated partner activities! She was slow, and everyone around her was just too darn fast. She bit her lip and raised her hand. "Erm, Professor Kennedy, sorry, I...don't have a partner either," she said quietly. And now she had to ask the professor for help. HER. A sixth year. Asking for help. How embarrassing.

Erm, right, back to the question. THAT she could at least hop in on at any time. Except...she couldn't remember anything about nebulas from her OWL studies. When it came to Astronomy (and some other classes, like Runes, YUCK) it was like all the information had just fallen right out of her head. She raised her hand anyways, though, because she could still contribute SOMETHING.

"Nebulas are SOOOOOOOO pretty! They're like paintings, and the makeup palettes inspired by them are AMAZING as well," she added. Not that Kennedy probably cared about that, but it was important to HER.

Patrick heard the girl pipe up about paintings and makeup something or others, he squinted as if that would help him understand what she meant by that any better. He thought about all of the things he had learned in this thing they did in school called star lab. They sat in a air filled igloo type thing in class and looked at stars... what had that lady said about nebulas?

He sat and thought for another second, "Those are what look like cloudy star balls that are actually other galaxies of stars, right?" he couldn't believe he had remembered that, really his favorite part was eating the mint and seeing the sparks from breaking the mint.

"Ronan." He replied to the boy's introduction. What? If Patrick couldn't muster up the energy for a proper introduction, why should he?

Wait, what was that answer? Cloudy star balls? Galaxies of stars? Made him blush at that. Little dude knew these answers reflected on both of them, right? Since Professor Kennedy had told them to work together the rest of the class. "You do realize that the 'clouds' can be any shape and that galaxies are made up of more than just stars, right?" Professor Kennedy already had a pretty low opinion of him, judging by the rehearsal incident, he didn't need it to sink any lower.

Man, if he'd just waited a few minutes, he could've worked with someone who wouldn't say stupid stuff like that.

She'd already figured they'd be working together for the remainder of the lesson and the fact they'd be allowed to stay as three was the real steal here. Only thing was....they'd need to answer questions as a group? Even the simple ones? Jessa spared a glance between Cameron and Julie, wondering if they'd need a whole huddle just to reply to this.

So far, it didn't seem like anyone else was so...she was just....gonna go ahead and give an answer? The group work aspect she got, just not the idea of group answers.

What if they didn't agree? Did they have to take a vote and do a whole democratic thing? She didn't think she'd be able to agree on an idea simply because she was overruled. Granted, her friends were smart and they'd likely come to about the same answers but what about those questions that might not have been textbook answer based and relied more on opinion?

One thing at a time, Jessa.

"They're known as the place where stars are 'born'." Of course, they weren't really born, they were just stars, but you got the idea.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarahlooo

Natalie set the quill down when her name was at the top of the paper, neatly scrawled underneath Derf's less-neatly scrawled name. Honestly, she couldn't remember if the professor had asked them to do anything else because all of her attention was on Derf and what she could do to make him feel better.

She moved her hand now free of a quill to hug his arm, too and then peered her baby blue eyes up at him after he questioned her. She paused... because he had never questioned their hugs and snuggle-sitting before. But rather than deterring her, it just reassured her thoughts that Derf was certainly broken.

"Because you're sad and I don't know what else to do," she replied in a whisper, her cheek now resting on his shoulder. She had a feeling they might not get much out of this lesson.

Derf felt his chest constrict a bit painfully and, for the first time in a while, did not know what t say. There was not even an urge to mumble or stumble over his words like he typically did when flustered. Although flustered was not an accurate term really...Derf wasn't sure WHAT he was. Mum had told him that while she was a professor, head of house, and deputy headmistress at Hogwarts, staff had done their best to try and maintain a sense of normalcy during times of crisis...which was meant to help but it really just made him MORE uneasy. Pretending that things were all fine and dandy when someone had POSSESSED Sam and could have KILLED three people....LITERALLY JUST DAYS AGO. Derf always knew he was sensitive, it was what made his empathy with creatures what it was, but he may go rabid crup on a muggle the next time someone told him "it was okay" or "you need to get over it."

Somehow managing to offer Natalie a small smile, Derf rested his head atop hers. "Thanks."

Smoothing a crease in their parchment just at the librarian moved things along, the Hufflepuff began transcribing the question being asked since...that was what they were supposed to do, right? "Nebulae," he ended up whispering to Natalie. "I like that plural form better and is sounds more official-ish." As long as she didn't mine...which he could cross out the word on their parchment since he had already written "What do you know about nebulae?" on it.

"They are nurseries for stars," Derf began. "And...like loads of nurseries, they have unique designs and colors." Not that he could see them properly but he had heard Abey describe them loads of times. "Loads of them look like animals...like...there is the Horsehead nebula, Owl nebula, Red Spider nebula, Crab nebula, Manatee nebula, Tarantula nebula, Eagle nebula...WHERE those Pillars of Creation are found and stuff..."

Eagle. Eagle nebula. Pillars of Creation. Red blood eagle.

................................

Derf's eyes became a bit unfocused as the cogs began spinning. They were ALL in danger.

Oh, nebulas!

That was the name of the teddy bear Steph's dad had gifted her over Christmas. And considering the bear was many different colors, the redhead figured it was a perfect name. Not like rainbow or something similar to that. It was a common name for colorful stuffed animals and Steph knew that was boring. But anyway.

"Nebulas are huge clouds of dust and gas that form in space. Their color depends on the reflected light that's hitting them. It's usually from the heat from nearby stars or their light," Steph ended it with a small nod. OMG. Will they be making their own nebulas? Or looking for them? Or becoming the nebulas?

SO MANY RACING QUESTIONS.

Text Cut: Derf

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Derf felt his chest constrict a bit painfully and, for the first time in a while, did not know what t say. There was not even an urge to mumble or stumble over his words like he typically did when flustered. Although flustered was not an accurate term really...Derf wasn't sure WHAT he was. Mum had told him that while she was a professor, head of house, and deputy headmistress at Hogwarts, staff had done their best to try and maintain a sense of normalcy during times of crisis...which was meant to help but it really just made him MORE uneasy. Pretending that things were all fine and dandy when someone had POSSESSED Sam and could have KILLED three people....LITERALLY JUST DAYS AGO. Derf always knew he was sensitive, it was what made his empathy with creatures what it was, but he may go rabid crup on a muggle the next time someone told him "it was okay" or "you need to get over it."

Somehow managing to offer Natalie a small smile, Derf rested his head atop hers. "Thanks."

Smoothing a crease in their parchment just at the librarian moved things along, the Hufflepuff began transcribing the question being asked since...that was what they were supposed to do, right? "Nebulae," he ended up whispering to Natalie. "I like that plural form better and is sounds more official-ish." As long as she didn't mine...which he could cross out the word on their parchment since he had already written "What do you know about nebulae?" on it.

"They are nurseries for stars," Derf began. "And...like loads of nurseries, they have unique designs and colors." Not that he could see them properly but he had heard Abey describe them loads of times. "Loads of them look like animals...like...there is the Horsehead nebula, Owl nebula, Red Spider nebula, Crab nebula, Manatee nebula, Tarantula nebula, Eagle nebula...WHERE those Pillars of Creation are found and stuff..."

Eagle. Eagle nebula. Pillars of Creation. Red blood eagle.

................................

Derf's eyes became a bit unfocused as the cogs began spinning. They were ALL in danger.

Natalie's chest was constricting and her heartstrings were tugging in a painful way too, but it was for different reasons than his. There was something seriously wrong with Derf and she just SOMEHOW wanted to make him better but she had no idea HOW. She didn't know what he went through in the Room of Requirement and, therefore, had no idea how to console him. And she felt awful because of it.

Still clinging to his arm, Natalie listened to the Professor begin class. Nebulas. Right.

Oh. Nebulae. Well, at least Derf was Derf enough to correct the teacher. That was at least mildly reassuring. And he was answering the question, too. As he was doing so, Natalie took the quill and wrote down a few key words to what he was saying.

Nurseries for stars... Horsehead, owl, red spider, crab, eagle... Pillars of Creation...

Drawing a line between the Pillars of Creation and the eagle nebula, she heard Derf kind of trail off. Natalie peered up at him... and noticed the dazed look on his face. Dread settled into her and her stomach twisted. That wasn't a good look. Was Derf getting possessed now too? WAS HE GONNA GET CURSED???

"Derf?" she whispered, big blue eyes worried, eyebrows knotted in concern.

And no, she wasn't paying attention to the lesson anymore.

A Hufflepuff girl in her year (Daisy) wanted to be partners, yesss! Emmeline beamed at the other girl and chirped, "Sure! I'm Emmeline, what's your name?" She felt kind of bad that she didn't know, 'cause she tried to remember at least all the other second years' names from other Houses and stuff, but there was no point in pretending she knew the girl's name or anything silly like that. The twelve-year-old plopped back down in her seat and scribbled her name at the top of the group parchment she'd already retrieved before sliding it across the desks to the Hufflepuff girl.

Sadly, there wasn't much time to talk to her new partner or anything 'cause Professor Kennedy started talking again pretty quickly. And and, he told Eddie to join her (now) trio! The Gryffindor shot the slightly older Slytherin boy a huuuge grin; her duel against him last term had seemed super awful and icky at the time, but as time passed, she had started thinking that it was actually kind of funny and stuff. As her opinion of the duel had improved, so had her opinion of Eddie. Plus, he'd brought flowers for Miss Olivia when she was in hospital last term without even knowing her and stuff! So, to say that Emmeline was pretty happy to work with him and the Hufflepuff girl would be a bit of an understatement.

Her grin fell off her face faster than a Firebolt when Professor Kennedy asked his question, though. She had NO idea what a nebulum-thing was -- was that even its name? -- and so her answer was bound to be really lame. She was impressed by Derf's answer (and the rest of her classmates' answers too, of course) 'cause he knew LOADS of stuff about them, apparently. Emmeline scrunched her forehead into wrinkles as she struggled to remember anything from the skimming of her Astronomy textbook that she did any time Professor Kennedy assigned them homework (which was wayy too often, by the way). She was pretty sure that she remembered a biiig, beautiful thing in the sky with loads of bright lights from the book that she thought was a nebula. She raised her hand tentatively and muttered super quietly, "They're realllly pretty. And they have loads of different colors and stuff." Yup, that was about as bad as she'd thought it would be. Maybe she'd get lucky and nobody would hear her dumb answer...

Daisy smiled as she joined Emmeline. "My name's Daisy. Thank for being my partner." When Emmeline passed Daisy the piece of parchment, Daisy wrote her name at the top of the parchment just underneath Emmeline's. To have another person join them was okay with Daisy. She knew Edward from a recent DADA lesson and gave him a small smile. She was unsure if he'd return it though.

Daisy could see that her fellow Hufflepuff was behaving rather oddly to notice Professor Kennedy's question. Her hand shot up instantly. "Professor! I think there's something the matter with Derf!" Daisy said rather frantically.

Nebulas?? Jonas blinked.
"Swirly stars in the sky," he kind of threw up. "And they're really really really far away."

Cameron only looked away from Jessa's bandage when he heard somebody else approach them. And not just anyone either. Julie. Ignoring the fact that the professor had told them to PAIR up, he simply smiled at her and gave her a nod. "Of course." Julie was definitely among the handful of people he didn't mind cutting in.

Plus, she seemed equally as concerned about Jessa as he was.

Careful, yeah.

"....okay." He gave Jessa's hand a squeeze and Julie a brief glance when he was sure Jessa wasn't looking. He trusted the Ravenclaw's judgement but he also knew that some risks were unpredictable when it came to her experiments. There was nothing for him to do NOW though so he let it go. He made a mental note to join her more often for the feeding of the birds. Just in case.

Also playing with Jessa's fingers with one hand he used the other to add Julie's name to their piece of parchment. A team name? He was okay with that, naturally, but gave them both an expectant look, not having any ideas himself. As for the first question of the day...

...Jessa answered that for their group. This was what the professor wanted, yeah? Group answers. Cameron trusted both the girls' intelligence and ability to give the correct - or what they believed to be the correct - answer so in his opinion there was no need for any sort of in-group discussion. He gave Jessa a quick smile before looking back down at their parchment.

Was he supposed to write down the answer too?

Miranda was not at all happy to have seen her mother in the classroom as she had entered earlier... Not one bit.. And now she was sans a partner for the activity.. So as usual she was looking around for anyone without like herself...
This was common and regular practice for the teen in the majority of her lessons...

So near the back and away from the main group she sat quietly taking in all that surrounded her.. And hopefully, by the grace of Merlin be left alone.. She sat writing down any notes and any important information that was being given.

While Kirk decidedly remained on the quiet side during the lesson, it wasn't out of lack of interest or shyness. He quite liked the sound of discussion going on. Also contributing to the fact that the classroom was comfortably warm. When it came time to pairing up, he merely glanced around the others. His usual partner-in-crime was under the weather and couldn't quite make it today.

But Kirk did notice at least one still not partnered up, "I'll partner with you, Scarlett." He offered to her. It appeared she wasn't the only lone one though as another girl was nearby. "Hey Miranda, want to be partners?" They could be a trio unless they had another offer already. The following question did light up Kirk's light blue eyes. "Nebulas were originally named as any diffused galaxies or objects related to the subject." That was a start.

And right on schedule Miranda heard her name attached to the time honoured question. Over she looked at Kirk with a friendly smile of course... " Love to..", she answered and collected up her things to join him. Perhaps Scarlett would join them.. Working in threes was always more fun than pairs..
Ooh.. And Kirk was quick with answers too.. YAy!.. This she could work with..

Ooh. Sky wanted to partner with her. Yay! She'd noticed that Sky often went with Viv, so it made her happy that she wanted to be with her this time. Yay! Although she did feel slightly bad for Viv. But they were all besties, so she was sure it would be okay. "Hi Sky" She beamed at her bestie. She hoped that it would be an interesting lesson. She loved astronomy, so she just hoped it would be interesting. She didn't like boring lesson. She took the parchment from Sky, and wrote her name next to Sky's. Perfect.

Ooh. And Viv could be their partner too? That great. "Come sit with us Viv!" The blonde girl beamed, moving over a little so they could all fit on the desk. This would be great, now someone wouldn't be left out, and they could all be happy. But she needed to ask the question too. Smiling, she thought about the question before raising a head. "It's a cloud of dust and gas in Space" Pretty simple really.