Ash was technically allowed to skip this activity, seeing as she had been stuck in a void for a while. But she wasn't gonna. She had things to prove. She wanted everyone to know that she didn't need special treatment (or she wanted to lie to herself, depending on how you looked at it). Besides, it was just the dark. It wasn't the dark that was bad. It was the things hiding in it.

The point was, Ash was doing this activity regardless of anybody else's better judgement. But, like the novel on haunted houses had said, you couldn't linger at a door if you might have second thoughts. So she stepped in, tuning out the world, closing her eyes. She advanced like a muggle trying to pour water in the dark. She did not lift her feet, she just slid her feet forward slowly to find obstacles. Putting one foot in front of the other. Ash had no fear of the dark. According to her. She felt the universe wanted her to sit out, and she was going to do the exact opposite.

Could she use magic to help? Technically yes. But she didn't need to, so why should she? She didn't need her phone to know what the weather was when she was standing outside. Therefore she did not need magic to walk across a non-dangerous room. Ash did not like to be dependent on people, and she didn't like to be dependent on objects either. They were even less trustworthy than people were.

Time for her FAVOURITE class. Remy was one of the first to arrive to Charms, but the unusual start to the lesson caused her to pause. She read the sign and gulped. With or without magic, it had potential to be super embarrassing. She allowed 10 seconds after the person before her entered, and decided to just go for it.

The room was completely dark, though she still squinted her eyes to try and see. She held out both hands in front of her, instinctively, to watch out for obstacles in front of her. Straight away, she felt something and used her hands to guide her way around it. It was easy enough, but as she passed around, she slipped on something on the floor.

Thankfully, she was able to regain her balance without falling. "Phew." She muttered. Remy continued at a very slow pace forwards and she stubbed her toe on something ELSE situated in the way. It was bigger this time, and probably needed climbing over.

This was stressful.

Once she had gotten a bit more confident with her movements, it didn't take much longer for Remy to reach the end where the seats were. What was the point in this????!

Quinn was quite fond of Charms class—it was nice, simple, practical magic, for the most part. Things you could use in a variety of situations to solve an array of problems. Taking away that problem solving felt almost like a challenge—maybe that was the point of this opening to the class? That you won't always have the means to solve the problem how you want to?

Quinn waited ten seconds after the person in front of him before he entered the classroom. He was met with all-encompassing darkness. He was a tad bit nervous of what he would find in here... but it was just Charms class. No way there were any creatures scampering about. Quinn kept his hands at hip level, holding them out a bit on either side of him as a bracer for any obstacles in his way. He took long, slow steps, making sure his foot would touch anything in his path before he reached it.

He was about halfway through the course, and he had made it around a good portion of the obstacles, but his foot stopped right before a foam cylinder. He was right in front of it on his next step, so his foot immediately hit it, causing him to lose his balance. "Wh—" Quinn let out a small exclamation at he tripped over the cylinder and faceplanted into the floor. "Uff!" Luckily the ground was soft so it didn't hurt much, but when Quinn got up... he didn't know what direction he was facing. "Uh..." Quinn kept walking, not knowing where he was going but knowing he couldn't just stop.

Oh, boy.

That red paper sure was eye catching, which was what Claudine was sure Peralta had been going for when the colour was chosen. She stood there reading, what turned out to be instructions, carefully. Her wand was already holstered so that was already one thing down.Oh. Now that didn’t seem too bad of a challenge. Since one person had just entered the classroom, the girl counted ten seconds then made her way into it.

Yes. It certainly was dark in here. Without thinking twice, Claudine stuck her hands out ahead of her. It was instinct that told her to do so. Slowly, she began moving toward the opposite end of the room. A couple of paces in, she stumbled over something soft but it wasn’t enough to lose her balance, thankfully.

And so she continued on, twice more bumping into objects. Once, it actually hit her in her belly but it hadn’t caused her pain. Peralta must have charmed the objects not to hurt them. It was only after that second bump that Claudine realised that it seemed to be taking her years to reach the other side of the room. Surely she should have been there by now.

The sixth year could hear noises around her and knew that her classmates were attempting their way through. It was the noises ahead of her she fixated on though. These were the noises that told her she was still heading in the right direction.

More stumbles, more bumps, one time twisting her ankle for a bit which made her annoyed as mild pain shot through foot, but in the end, Claudine made it to the desks. But um… what was the point of that exercise?!

The red paper visible on the Charms classroom door had made Gracelyn pause for a moment. Red as a color, Gryffindor color notwithstanding, usually meant something dangerous or, well, not good. Actually, that sort of did fit Gryffindor, come to think of it, but either way, the Hufflepuff had approached the door, and the sign thereon, with the smallest bit of hesitation. It was only after reading the message on the sign that she found herself taking a breath she hadn’t known she had been holding. This can’t be that bad, she thought, closing her eyes as she waited the allotted ten seconds before entering the door. She wanted to be prepared, after all. Going into darkness without letting her eyesight adjust was always a bad idea.

Once she was inside, she opened her eyes and looked forward. Definitely dark. Foreboding, except she trusted Professor Peralta. She had trusted her last term, and she didn’t think there was a reason why that wouldn’t have continued. After another moment, she started shuffling forward, hands outstretched slightly in front of her as she slowly began making her way through the darkness.

The only sounds she thought she heard were from the people who had entered before her. Hopefully. Other than that was the sound of her own breath, coming out in measured beats. In an odd way, it was calming, and helping with keeping track of the time as she kept inching forward slowly and deliberately. Except for the instance where she had stepped forward onto something that set her off in a slide several inches forward, keeping her balance only by planting her feet and keeping her arms out.

She took a second to rest on an object that had stopped the slide, sitting on it before setting off again. Back to focusing on the sounds of those ahead, hoping at least one of them would tell her where the seats were. When the adventure was going to end.

Charms charms charms! Margaret was excited. She briefly stopped to read the big red sign...keep wand holdstered...enter the room...okay. She didn't read the whole thing, so excited was she for her second favourite class. She just headed right in.

But um...there was darkness?

She blinked in confusion as the door closed behind her. Keep her wand holstered...she was supposed to find her seat in the dark? Mamie frowned but...she could do this. She closed her eyes--not necessary, obviously, since it was already dark, but it would help her focus. OK. Eyes closed. Find a chair.

She stuck her arms out in front of her and slowly shuffled forward, taking a bigger step every time she didn't run into something. She was walking normally when WHAM! she stubbed her toe on something solid. She moved her arms down, trying to feel what it was with her hands.

Not a chair.

Not anything she could really tell what it was, either, it was a seemingly random shape. Keeping her hands on the weird solid shape (one in the center, one trying to stay on the side she started from), she shuffled around the box (?). Then, she turned to face the right (probable) direction again.

She started going again, not as fast as she'd been when she'd stubbed her toe, but not as slow as she originally started either. She didn't get very far before she bumped into something again. She tried to repeat again her process, but this object...obstacle...whatever it was...was too big for her to reach all the way around. She did her best to move around it, trying to keep herself mentally oriented in the right direction. Started her accelerating shuffle-walk yet again, and got what felt like pretty far before gently encountering something tall...a wall? At least she didn't stub her toe this time. She tried to reach around it, then above it...it wasn't super tall, but seemed rather wide, so she grabbed onto the top edge of the wall or whatever and hoisted herself up. All that broom dangling practice had come in handy, apparently. She balanced herself on the top edge, then carefully lowered herself, eventually dropping to the ground with a THUD.

While she was totally capable of climbing over things...Mamie hoped she wouldn't have to. She shuffled again, then eventually reached the far side of the room, supposedly. This certainly felt like a desk? Shuffling around it, Mamie found the chair, found it was empty, and plopped herself down into the chair. She kept her eyes closed. Could she take a nap before the class really started?

Victoria was not prepared for Charms because she hardly came prepared for any lessons. MAGIC SCHOOL WAS SO FUN BUT SO HARD. It didn't help that V hated doing readings...homework...extra work at all. And so when she arrived, and she had to read that super long sign, she scoffed. And entered tootaaaaaallly without reading and was so surprised by the darkness that she audibly gasped, tripped over a foam square, and landed on her side.

Ugh.

At least everything was soft, and nothing hurt.

She hopped up quickly, figuring she had to find her way through this or at least bumble around a bit in here. Actually, she dropped to all fours once more, starting to crawl straight across the room.

That bold red sign would have made Phoebe feel ill only a few months ago, but just a few weeks with Professor Peralta had Phoebe reading the new sign with interest instead of dread. She still gave a dramatic sigh (it was just a little SILLY, wasn't it?), but that didn't stop her from counting off after Victoria disappeared through the door.

As soon as it was time, she stepped into the darkened room. And froze. That was weird... she really assumed that she would barrel into the dark, regardless of risk, and do her Gryffindor best to make it across the room as quickly as possible. But once she was in the room, the dark pressed in on her, and even though she knew that Peralta wouldn't let anything happen to her, she just didn't know what was there.

Whoever came in behind her was probably going to find a Phoebe roadblock.

Evan reached the class and stared at the red paper, watching curiously as his classmates seemed to be spacing their entrance before reading the note to confirm why. He could feel his stomach drop reading the activity, and he debated just.. waiting. Passing up on the challenge. But watching all the smaller kids just.. traipsing in without a single fear made him feel like he had to.

It's not like the darkness would have suddenly made the classroom smaller or anything.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped to the door, counted down from 10 after the last student went in and... plunged ahead. Merlin it was pitch black. He kept his wand holstered and tentatively... kicked out in front of him - gently - his arms also splayed out to the sides to feel anything in his surrounding area. He felt like he could hear some of his classmates making small gruntles as they rammed into things so he tried to avoid the directions from those sounds. His steps were slow, steady.

But then he got paranoid someone was going to bump into him and send him splaying anyways because he was taking too long. So he quickened his pace, every "oof" other "ah" step "ow" bumping into something or another. At least it was all soft?

He tripped and fell forward at what he hoped was near the end and just.. crawled the rest of the way to what he hoped was his desk.

RIP his clean robes.

Oh, this was...interesting.

Ivy wasn't sure how she felt about going into a dark room and not being able to use a light. She wasn't a fan, but it was also just for a Charms lesson, so there probably wouldn't be anything actually scary in there. So it was...fine. She would be fine.

After waiting the designated 10 seconds, she pushed her way in, shutting the door behind her, and...pausing as the darkness settled in her. Her heart was suddenly racing, but she took a few deep breaths and forced herself to tentatively take a few steps forward, arms outstretched to touch any obstacles around her-

But then her hands ran into a person.

"Eep!" She squeaked then clamped her hands over her mouth.

Merlin, she was idiot. It was...probably just a student. Right? Right. Who was it who had gone in front of her? Phoebe maybe?

She lowered her hands a little. "Everything okay?" Was there a big obstacle ahead?

Lisa read the description of the challenge and she was INTRIGUED. She was so ready to give this ago. Since she was impatient to get going and into the challenge, she made herself wait an extra five seconds because she KNEW she was counting quickly. And she didn’t want to rush Ivy. She was glad an older year was ahead of her because if she got lost then she’d call for Ivy’s help. Hopefully she could hear her....

Once the waiting time was up, she entered the challenge and stopped moving briefly to let her eyes adjust. It was dark and quiet. Lisa didn’t reach for her wand. Instead, she held out her hands and slowly walked forward, searching for walls or barriers in front of her with her hands. Small steps she took as she didn’t know if anything was out there. She would just take a while to get there.

When her hands touched a barrier, she’d tap it with her nails and then knock on it to see if it was hollow or not. And after a few minutes of walking around slowly, she was feeling more confident so she quickened her pace and then took a tumble over something. WOAH. She thought as she quickly got up to her feet and then began her journey again.

Slow and steady wins the race. No rushing.... she told herself as she pressed on.

Emmerson only barely saw the red letter and only because she’d looked up to make sure she didn’t hit into the wall reading her Teen Witch Weekly magazine article. Had to take in all the wisdom she could from older and thus wiser teen girls who got the privilege of passing on the most vital sort of knowledge in such a widely read magazine.

Compared to some of these utterly enchanting tales of romance and embarrassment (often mixed together), the Gryffindor wasn’t much concerned about whatever notes the Professor may have left for them...but then everyone was going in alone, like in some weird ritual and for the smallest moment, Emmerson considered she REALLY may need to take even a glance at it.

Darkness?

Oh come on. One of the only times the 13-year-old was nose deep in a book—technically a book. It had pages and ink and words, so close enough—and they had to have a dark classroom?

Merlin’s soggy socks.” Emm grumbled under her breath, rolling up the magazine and tucking it into her robes. She waited out the count of ten after that first year then pressed on into the classroom. Dark. Yeah, the note said. Uuuuggghhh, just when Jessica was gonna share what happened after her friends locked her in the broom closet with the school loser. What hex did she use? How much did she scream and yell and kick up a fuss? These were the answers the 13-year-old needed—

“WHOA!” Who put that slide there?

Few! It seemed like Ollie wasn't late to charms today, though it was a close call. As she walked up to the classroom, she noticed the crowd of students sat outside and the red notice on the door. Hmmm, this seemed like a fun activity! Ollie was excited as she watched her peers count to ten and head into the abyss. Prepping, she used her robe to clean her wand off, she had waxed it last night and didn't want it to be too slippery if she needed to see it. Finally, it was her turn to head in, she counted to 30 just to make sure no one would still be in front of her when she opened the door.

Okay, the professor wasn't joking. It was pitch black in here, even squinting her eyes she wasn't able to make anything out. She knew she wasn't allowed a light spell, but she still wanted to use magic. It wouldn't be fun if she didn't! She readied her wand and held one hand out in front of her as she began her journey to the desks. Everything seemed to be fine until her fingers had grazed something soft and squishy. Ollie placed the palm of her hand against it to make sure it wasn't breathing and readied her wand to cast a spell.

"Diminuendo!" She cast and slowly felt the item run down her hand. Great! Her spell had worked. She then felt around with her foot feeling the now much smaller object and kicked it with her foot to scoot it out of her way.

She repeated this a few more times before feeling, what she thought was, a desk. Ollie let out a sigh of relief when she sat down safely, glad that she made it through unscathed!

Charms was typically an exciting and practical lesson. It was one that definitely kept Apollo on his toes with interest of usefulness without being outright dangerous. And yet there was something eerie about this lesson as he approached the door and read the red paper shortly after Emmerson. Huh. Weird. But it was charms, not defense against the dark arts, so nothing to worry about. Right?? Counting to 10 ... okay... maybe eight... okay maybe he just did the '1..2...10 thing', the gryffindor entered the room and blinked a few times to try to adjust to the lack of light. No wands, he reminded himself, and tried to hone in on his other senses, namely hearing to find his way to an empty seat.

Only problem was ... "Oooooofff!!! who put this---?" he didn't finish as he tripped over one of the foam wedges. Actually this was kind of comfortable. Could he just stay here for the lesson?

Well, this was something different. Nem read through the notice on the door, lingering on that last sentence in particular. I'll be watching.

As they'd arrived at the classroom alone, and hadn't seen anyone else go in before them, at least ten seconds had clearly elapsed since the last person had entered - and, given the time, there was little chance Nem was the first here - so they went right ahead and entered.

Nem's ears strained and their eyes widened automatically, both trying to compensate for the darkness of the room, but otherwise they were as unperturbed as if the place was totally unchanged. Adjusting was a non-issue. A little ahead, other students could just about be heard making their way through, and even closer there seemed to be something of an obstruction, which might soon become a pile-up. Nem didn't add to it, or try to move past, but made an immediate left turn. Brushing their fingers against the stone surface of the wall, they followed that instead, footsteps sure and unfaltering but silent (helped by the softened floor), right hand over their right eye so that if there was a sudden and brief flare of light, it would still be adjusted to darkness. They didn't make a sound, just stole quietly around the classroom.

Peralta's instructions had only specified making it through the darkness. Most, if not all, of the obstacles had likely been set up through the centre of the room, where the majority of students would head. Nem was quite content to take the longer and potentially less obstructed path around the perimeter, not worried about making good time. They'd deal with an obstacle as and when they encountered it - over or around or just kick whatever it was to the side - and use the wall to guide them to the opposite end of the room, and, if necessary, to brace against. Child's play.

Dahlia rather liked Charms class, so it was with a happy little smile that she made her way towards the room. Only to be met with a big ole' red sign on the door. This couldn't be good. Already there was a sinking feeling in her stomach and she hadn't even read what it was about yet!

Was Professor Peralta trying to give her a panic attack? No wands. No light. Obstacles will be in the way. All of this just to get to her desk? Did the professor realize the lesson hadn't even begun yet? Darkness.. it wasn't exactly a friend of hers anymore. Especially not when there wasn't an ounce of light to shine a path or someone to walk alongside her. Typically adventure was her thing, when she could see where she was head. Right now she felt like she was headed into sudden doom.

Waiting maybe a bit longer than the initial count of 10 they had been told to wait, Lia let out a deep breath and entered the dark classroom. Right away she couldn't help but raise her hands to a little higher than her own waist, keeping them a bit out in front of her. Slowly she moved forward trying to picture the layout of the room in her head as best she could. This didn't exactly work as well as planned.

It couldn't have been more than a minute and.. "Whoa!" Oh, come on! She had no idea what she had run into but her toe had hit something and she went straight down. Okay, no big deal. Right back up onto her feet again, this time one arm outstretched in front of her and the other out a bit to the side. A little of a shuffle walk was being done.

Her finger tips grazed something this time and she was able to feel her way around it easily enough without any harm to herself. This changed her path from a straight line to a more diagonal one. Right away her foot connected with something soft once more but this time she remained on her feet! WOOT! The feeling of accomplishment was short lived as she stepped over up and over the foam block only to feel her entire body leaning forward much to quickly.

"Ahhhh!" Completely flailing as she went down once again, sliding very much ungracefully at the bottom of what she know knew to be a slide. Seriously? A slide? In the dark. Sorry whoever was behind her but she didn't have the foggiest clue where she was or where she was going right now, not like she had any idea before.

The Professors were still the worst, Kale reasoned, after everything that had happened last term, but tbh Peralta got some Trent points for reaching out to him about the nature of the lesson before he was unwittingly thrust into darkness. Merlin only knew he wouldn't handle that task well at all. No ma'am.

So he begrudgingly had to admit that Peralta was at least doing something the other teachers hadn't done all term-- act thoughtfully.

When Kale rolled up and kids wandered into darkness, he stood patiently by the door and waited. This part of the lesson was very much not for him.

Charms it was, Blake liked the idea of charms, his execution? Well that left something to be desired and the simple A on his OWL from last year proved that. And then Blake read the note by the professor. This was in fact an unusual way to begin a lesson, but seemed fun non the less.

Entered a solid 10 seconds after the person in front him. He started walked straight, no better way to start when you can't see anything. He almost immediately encounter a foam wedge, or at least that's what he thought it was, it was easy enough to around however, and continue on his straight path.

It didn't take much longer however until Blake tripped over something else on the floor, causing him to fall onto his hands and knees. Not too much damage to himself, but maybe he should after all crawl a bit? Can't fall over when you're crawling.

Charlie took long strides toward the door of the charms classroom. Red paper on the door? Whatfor? Glancing closer she saw that they were going to have to walk across the classroom without using their wands. Well wasn't that easy? Didn't everyone walk around in the dark.

No she was not being sarcastic.

She watched as Blake entered the room and started counting down from 10. Taking a deep breath to not let the others possible failure get to her. She was used to this. Many of the remote villages her parents lived in during her childhood did not have lights around that would illuminate her pathway when she would run around with the kids.

One. Now she could go. She took a step in and stepped off to the left, allowing herself enough time to acclimate to the dark. Blinking a few times she took a deep breath. It was dark inside but she could see a few outlines here and there. More than that though she could hear her classmates bumping into things and that helped her avoid the first obstacle and hop right over it. This should be easy, right?

Heath felt an overwhelming sense of dread as he read the instructions on the red paper. The thought of being in a dark room, unable to use his wand, reminded him way too much of the months spent in The Room! He was very tempted to sit this one out, but having grown up in a Gryffindor family, he was expected to face his fears instead of hide from them. He didn't even know why he still cared about their expectations anyway. He'd already let them down in every way possible last term!

Whatever the reason, something forced him forward. Taking a deep breath, he counted ten seconds from the previous person's entry. One, two… When he reached ten, he opened the door and stepped inside. The darkness of the room felt all-consuming, and panic set in. He just wanted to get to a desk fast!

Stretching a hand out, he tried to feel his way ahead. He took a few cautious steps, then crashed into something. Whatever it was, it felt soft and squishy like foam. Touching the object, he was able to feel that it was long and slender with a flat round top… a cylinder! He felt his way around the cylinder and continued ahead until he tripped over something. As he put his hands out to catch himself, he felt something hard and smooth. A desk, finally! Feeling for the chair, he sat down carefully and waited for the lights to come on. Please?

Neva was seated against the wall at the front of the class, already making use of the spell she'd be teaching the students today. She trusted they would follow the instructions she'd left out for them and simply waited, curious to see how each would handle such a dark environment.



"Alright everyone, I'm going to start to light the room. The lights will come up slowly so your eyes have time to adjust. Prepare yourselves." She ended the spell she'd been using on herself and then slowly started to raise the lights in the room. As she did, she moved towards the door and opened it, signaling to those students who opted out of the activity to make their way inside.

When everyone was seated and the lights were completely up, the students would get a nice view of the little obstacle course Neva had set up for them. It looked very much like a children's play area, though she imagined it was less fun tripping over the items than climbing on or sliding down them. "Moving through a dark environment can be tricky, as some of you can probably attest to. After participating in that activity, can you name some of the difficulties you faced while operating in complete darkness? How did your other senses help to make up for your lack of sight? Please feel free to answer one or both of these questions. Those of you who did not take part in the activity, use what you know from previous experiences in the dark to formulate your answers."


OOC: Hi friends! Please feel free to finish up your charrie's progression through the darkness to their seat if you want! Also, our first questions are up! -Can you name some of the difficulties you faced while operating in complete darkness? How did your other senses help to make up for your lack of sight?- Feel free to answer one or both! Class will be moving on in about 20 hours

Oh? A notice? Noah quickened his pace as he saw the red paper stuck on the door and read the professor's instructions. It did raise questions and perhaps bits of trust issues here and there, but surprisingly, the normalcy (or as normal as it could get because this was Hogwarts) of the school also brought back his confidence. Talk about growing up, finally.

When it was his turn, Noah squared his shoulders and just went for the door. He'd decided not to think about the room devoid of light and just go straight in without thinking of the obstacles. He'd have to just push and shove the things in front of him and be done with it. But, of course, the Professor didn't mean the obstacle to be easy. It was apparent that another student who went in before him had the same idea, because soon enough, a foam wedge landed on his face, hitting his left eye. "Ow!" Noah gasped at the sudden sharp sensation, putting a hand on his now irritated eye and kept his other hand feeling the obstacle.

Disoriented, the Gryffindor kept going forwards, only to realize that he'd gone back to his starting point when he felt the cold knob of the Charms' classroom door. "Oh, come on." he'd turn around again, this time going slowly. But that wasn't much of an improvement as he found himself falling down a small pit, landing on a bunch of square foams.

Well, at least he was somewhere in the middle of his destination, right? Only Merlin knows. Noah kept still as he nursed his eye, only to realize that he also bit his lip when he fell. The sting and taste of blood wasn't new to him. What he didn't like was he was blinder than blind.

Hearing the others making it to the other side, Noah turned on his belly and tuned his ears toward them, and slowly crawled his way over employing his sense of touch this time. Slowly but surely, he made it to the end as he grappled one of the chairs and stayed put to catch his breath and blink away the tears from his irritated eye.

Phoebe was startled back into sense by Ivy's voice right beside her, and she grappled in the dark until she caught the girl's elbow. "Hi. I'm okay, yeah. Sorry. I just... apparently just suddenly became afraid of the dark or something. Let's go," she moved forward again, still holding onto Ivy and waving her free hand through the darkness ahead of her.

They found their seats eventually, perhaps a few bruised shins worse for wear, and Phoebe was ridiculously relieved when Peralta began to bring up the lights. Not that she was really afraid of the dark, just something in the dark. Maybe she was afraid of herself in the dark.

"I don't think my senses really kicked in to make up any difference. More like... I couldn't trust anything if I couldn't see, and I just kind of... froze up." She peeked at Ivy-who-saved-her.

Her eyes were squeezed shut the moment Peralta announced that the lights were going to be coming on. For this reason, said lights did not affect her. That was an extra precaution to the slowly returning lights. As she opened her eyes and the room came into focus, Claudine looked around at the path she had taken to get to this side of the room. Well, at least there didn’t seem to be injuries among anyone even though her slightly twisted ankle hurt a little It didn’t matter. Soon Claudine would forget about that.

“Listening helped me a bit,’’ the Snakette volunteered, her hand up. “Hearing those ahead helped to keep me going in the right direction. But the challenge to that was zoning out the others behind me in order to focus.”