#ttyof

“So are we gonna chat at all? Or are you just gonna keep pulling on those curls of yours? They’re beginning to look like those fwoofy bows on presents.” Bernard’s eyes swung upward and narrowed. “Alright, alright, chill out.” I put up a hand in defence, taking a moment to sip my cocoa. “You keep doing whatever this is, and I will simply sit here and enjoy my cocoa while I watch my friend pull out his hair wondering which one will trigger the explosion, since you look like you are about to explode.” It was mid-January and Bernard and I sat in the café, steam wafting up from our warm drinks as music played in the background. He had barely touched his treat whereas I had about halfway finished mine. Something was definitely up with him. He looked really bad, to be frank. I'm fairly certain he had bags under his eyes. His glare intensified. “Are you actually concerned for me?" he rested his arms on the tabletop, crossing them as he stared me down. "It’s just, I can’t tell what with the massive amounts of snark coming from you.” I frowned. “Still? Yeesh. I literally just woke up from a sprite sleep TODAY. I guess I’m still cranky? I don’t know. Maybe I’ll take a nap after this.” “I don’t blame ya.” With a sigh, Bernard finally loosened up, helping himself to the massive Danish pastry glistening on his plate, icing soaking into the freshly baked dough. “I could use one myself.” “I can tell.” “It’s that obvious?” “Yeah, man. I’m like, seconds away from yelling BAG CHECK ON B-MAN’S EYES!” The way he managed to continue eating while giving me the sassiest dry look he could muster was honestly masterful. “Woof. I felt that look! I think maybe you need a sprite sleep.” He laughed, a quick, hearty guffaw. “I don’t think it works like that, Jacquie.” I shrugged. “Fine, then. An elf sleep.” He laughed even harder. “Elf sleep?” “Yeah! You know, like a sprite sleep! But for elves.” Bernard’s laughter shifted into a chuckle. “That’s not a thing for us.” “Yeah, but those bags under your eyes are, yeesh.” He grew serious suddenly, his face stony. “I'm telling you, Jacqueline. It’s Chrys. Being around her has you feeling like you’ve just woken up mid-sleep cycle after an all-nighter! I can't go near her without feeling completely drained! The elves, too! She upsets them in passing. Even the humans are a little off put by her! Only a little, mind you, considering where they are." “I guess the North Pole would be a little off-putting for a first timer with none magical experiences.” “And in the current state?” Bernard gestured out the window, where people—yes, literal actual people, not elves or other magibeans, straight up human beings (ordibeings as us magibeings refer to them colloquially, given that magical humans exist)—wandered the square, rushing to the ticket gate outside the Workshop doors. “It’s weird even for us.” “But just another family trip to a silly little amusement park or a regular day at the mall for them.” I sighed, gripping my mug tightly and enjoying the warmth emitting from it as I stared out the window. January and the Pole was still busy. It was nuts. "Yep. It hasn't been fun." There was a brief silence as Bernard inhaled the rest of his pastry. "I was beginning to think you were gonna stay away all year," he said, mouth full. "Is that why you called me?" I smirked. "Awh, did you miss me?" He swallowed his bite, a cheeky little smile on his face. "I just didn't think it was fair that you got to hide from one Claus while I've been dealing with both of 'em." I hid a smile behind my mug. “Y’know, B-Man, there are several ways I could reply to that but I think I’m just gonna point out the obvious.” Placing it down, I shifted in my seat and scooted closer, switching to a whisper. “The tunnels are done. You could easily head to the foyer and poof away. It's a poofable place.” Bernard shifted, leaning in close to whisper as well. “That’s not a word.”

This was always one of my favourite scenes bc, as a fun Dani fact, it's the first scene I wrote where I went back to reread it and got hit full force with how much improvement there's been in my writing! Also, Bernard and Jacqueline are so silly and funny and I love them dearly. Bernard looking back at her all seriously and leaning in only to be like THAT'S NOT WORDS, JACQUIE gets me every time!

Check out Y9: 2024 edition HERE on ao3! And of course...

🆕What's NEW this time around:

Cheri has grown more as a character; her role (and Gwen's, by proxy) is more developed in ye olde brain box so her chat with Jacqueline and Mother Nature has had a huge, very last minute shift/adjustment

Expanded the Jarring Third Person POV to the PRESENT cut a bit!

And of course, grammar, syntax, awkward phrasing, and slight ooc moments :)

Primarily with Blinter moments and Thawed!Jack moments!

(like. my god. I did NOT go off with the Blinter. BUT NOW I HAVE!!)

And I may have upped B-Man's sass a bit more? hehehe

"You know, I really didn’t think you’d do it!”

“Do what?!”

“Freeze that elf! I never even thought you’d agree to it! And when you did I thought wow, she’s really ready to go far for this whole fake freeze thing,” he laughed. “And then! You actually did it?! A little extra, but, I’m a fan of the style that went into it. You took the ice sculpture thing and, and ran with it!”

“Then why keep me here too? What, you still think I’d go to the Council with everything? That I’d stop this?”

“Uh, duh. What do you think I am, stupid?”

I opened my mouth to reply in the affirmative.

“It was rhetorical. Don’t answer that.”

I shut my mouth and pulled a face.

“Besides! I’ll need your help getting all this ready! What with your easy access to our shared heritage. It’ll take AGES if I attempted to do this on my own. Between decorating and the airport—"

I could barely focus as he began listing everything he needed my help doing, and continued walking. I could feel the beginnings of a sprite sleep clawing its way to my eyes as I stifled a yawn, trying to keep my two feet moving forward as I followed Jack down the corridor.

“—and I simply cannot do this all in time if you're out and about all willy-nilly. Also, just in case you're that good.”

“That good?”

“Y’know, actually faking it! Willing to go the distance to keep this up! Then the moment I let you go you’d run to the Council and we can’t have that.”

“Okay so, let’s say, theoretically, I WAS faking it. How would all that—” I gestured back towards the steps, where ice-Mason still sat beyond the walls and halls and twists and turns— “Convince you otherwise?”

“Because it’s exactly what I would’ve done.” The full impact of what he said hit as he turned around, surveying me with an unreadable look. “And you did it.”

I came to a grounding stop, my heart falling in my chest.

Jack chuckled quietly to himself. “Exactly. Now, I’ve got tons to do! We will chit chat later, Jacqueline—I’ll make sure your rooms are done up for your stay. Ciao!”

And, shooting me a smile and double finger guns he disappeared, leaving me alone in the corridor as the crushing weight of what I had just done—and what I had agreed to do—came falling down on me.

I stood in the hallway, motionless. The sounds of the chaos of the Workshop dulled before disappearing completely, nothing but a white noise as the world faded out from me and I realized that yes, Jack would've done it.

And I had done it.

I was turning into Jack.

---

>:D ANGST!

"[...]It’s been what. Five years with you in the red jacket?”

“Just about.”

“Five years where I’m busting my butt, Jack Frosting about and trying my darndest to prove that this timeline is the wrong one. And all I ever get is shoved aside! Dismissed! Told I’m too stressed and should go home and rest and everything is how it should be, Jacqueline! Deal with it. So I did. This,” I placed the cup down (very reluctantly, I might add. North Pole cocoa is very good, there's no way you can forget about it for long while ranting to your slightly evil brother who is under the impression that you are now slightly evil as well) and gestured to my frosty exterior, “is me dealing with it.”

He was quiet for a moment. Thoughtful. “No appreciation, eh?” he finally asked.

I breathed in sharply, internally cringing before I spoke again. “None! And I’ve just about HAD it with all the shoving aside of Jacqueline and dismissing all her concerns. And I have tried, over and over and over again, to just be listened to and nobody has! I’m done,” I plopped back into my seat, doing my best impersonation of a deflating balloon. “I’m done with it all and it just seemed easier to do THIS,” I gestured down at myself with both hands. “Then to keep on fighting about it.”

Jack perked up. He shifted, sitting on the edge of his seat.

“So you’re giving up?”

No. “If that’s what you want to call it, sure.”

“Just like that?”

Man, he wished. “Yep.”

“No more, accusations? No more fighting? No more insisting on timelines that don’t exist?”

“None whatsoever,” I lied.

Jack smirked, leaning back in his chair. “Wow. You know, I had hoped patience would win out! Glad to see you’ve finally reached the acceptance stage, Jacqueline.”

I blinked. The what? Did he think I was going through the five stages of grief? “Sorry, the what now?”

“The acceptance stage! You did do them a little bit out of order, though. And I think you may have skipped one or two or most of them.”

“They don’t actually have to be in order.”

“You certainly showed us that. So, let’s say all is forgiven.”

The WHIPLASH. “All is what now?!”

“Forgiven!”

--

What is Jack ON about? WAIT. HOLD UP. DID JACQUELINE FREEZE HERSELF OVER? AND WHAT ABOUT THE SABOTAGE? THE THEME PARK? WHAT'S GOING ON?

Jacqueline's Intro: SO MUCH LORE

So much lore I'm gonna have to tag this as CS Lore and CS FACTS

Anyway

I think this was the first time, when originally writing, that I properly opened with Jacqueline's Intro and recognized it as part of the structure of a Frostmas Year

It was a HUGE lore dump! I toned it down a notch this time around, streamlined it and such, and updated the lore as I've got the frozen heart thing tightened UP

It's a sprite thing, so it's like this:

Sprites

Personified Natural Elements

Two types:

Season (has domain over entire season's worth of elements)

Elemental (has domain over one element, i.e., fire, air, water, earth, flora, fauna, winds, etc.)

Elementals typically classify themselves by their element, but will align with a season as a catch all

The season they align with dictates how their hardened hear manifests

LORE! YAY!

(Also, I wrote this in Word so lets see if the bulleted list stays >:3)

(OMG IT DID. Well, in the editor. We'll see how it looks post posting...)

Fun fact: I did a DnD campaign with my pals where sprites were playable characters, and I made them a race sheet and EVERYTHING. They are DEFFS OP but it's a homebrew--we work on it, lol

And also we only played like, 3 or 4 sessions and then fell out bc we all moved or what have you lol

BUT the dnd-ing DID help me refine sprite lore!

Elemental sprites are WAY more common that seasonal sprites. There are only NINE seasonal sprites in existence these days. WAY more elemental sprites around

The Call NERFED sprites

You can thank Snowy and Heat for that one (as Jacqueline mentions in her intro!)

The Snow Queen and the Winter Warlock are Winter's bio parents, and this was the very first time I dropped their names. They make a proper appearance in The Call!

The Snow Queen stealing children references the original fairy tale in the most Jacqueline way possible

And the Winter Warlock is HEAVILY based on the man of the same name from Rankin Bass's Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. Those movies SHAPED ME. CS Lore originally had RB lore, too! And RB movies did influence CS in general!

So many fun facts and I'm not even through the intro yet! WOW!

I did cleverly link CS when Jacqueline drops the Pyros lore 🤭🤭 I LOVE AO3'S CAPABILITIES, YOU GUYS

I CAN'T DO THAT SHIT ON FF DOT NET!

"It used to be a point of pride for me."

This line almost went "It used to be a point of pride for me. But it's hard to take pride in a lie"

Which is a BANGER of a line, but I am trying to keep the Y10 Reveal under wraps and that's as obvious as Pyros's lament to Blaise in Chapter 15 of CS.

You can see the 2020s influences now, which is very funny given this was all originally written almost a decade ago. I love seeing growth! But that's why Jacqueline is like THE HORRORS and also like NEWSFLASH, JACQUELINE! Which is a reference to one of my favourite It's Always Sunny reaction images:

It's so VERSATILE. Deffs top 10 things Dani quotes (and apparently Jacqueline. Which checks out as we are CONNECTED, muses and such. Oldest OC. Has the most dani-isms. Blah blah blah)

Then there's the "be the change you wish to see in the world" with her being like "YOU can be the change you want to see in this horrible terrible timeline!"

Which is a string of words I see on hellsite a LOT :)

Describing her fit was FUN! You can see it accurately (more or less) in this scrimbly Jacqueline, and also this Jacquie as a meme doodle!

And of course, off she goes to terrorize B-Man :)

Scene 1: Every Day Bernard WAKES UP

Their friendship is so fun to me and me alone 🥰🥰

She's such a sweetie. She's like "I will make things HELL for my brother BUT only if it's okay with Bernard first bc I don't wanna make things harder than they are for him 👉🏻👈🏻"

Him being B-Man, of course

Have you guys ever read Just An Elf by Locrain-Mode? If you haven't, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND IT (hence the link!) It's a group of oneshots based on Bernard and things he is NOT, and each one SLAPS. They write SUCH a good Bernard and B-Man's office just being a mess of paper was low key inspired by their work, lol (Chapter 5: One of Roemer's Singing Elves. I LOVED the idea of B's office just being like a vault/hidey hole. LOVED it)

FAVE B-Man characterization, hands DOWN. I strive to write him that good (and I hope I do! :)

"You should know first hand how frozen sprites get!” followed by "What's THAT supposed to mean?!" Is 100% Jacqueline getting a wee bit defensive on her Mom's behalf (and maybe a bit of Jack's but she's just going to ignore THAT feeling)

But B-Man is very, very right--usually post-hardening a heart, sprites rely on one emotion to get them through things so. Y'know. What'll it be for Jacqueline? ;)

And of COURSE he can see right through the illusion after he's done lamenting lol. He's an ELF. I bet they can see through all sorts of illusions!

“Yeah, I’ll say! I think I may be having a heart attack.” “Do you smell burnt toast?” “No, just betrayal.” “There’s no need to be so dramatic.”

^This interaction is my favourite in this scene, 100%. Bernard deserves to be a lil overdramatic! As a TREAT!

VESUVIUS/POMPEII! This is a fun bit of CS lore. Originally it was that Blaise and Jack were responsible for Vesuvius erupting and destroying Pompeii and Herculaneum, but that has since changed! They don’t talk about it much, only Winter really knows what happened, but take a tl;dr:

FT tells Blaise to go see Jack in Pompeii bc something bad is about to happen, doesn't specify what. Blaise, of course, assumes the worst, as you are wont to do when it's Jack. Takes the day, gets fitted by the tailors, off to Pompeii where he finds Jack who has built a nice little life for himself. He's got lots of friends and is getting involved with local politics, and Blaise is like "is this why FT told me to get over here? Does a bad thing happen if Jack wins? Everything seems fine here" and then BOOM. TREMORS. Jack informs him the mountain may be a volcano but nobody's bothered to check and he sure as shit won't. Blaise checks. Jack follows. Volcano day happens. Blaise saves Jack's life. But they can't save anyone else :(

It's ANGSTY! Can't wait to write it one day! I've already done research for it and everything!

So YEAH that's Pompeii in CS context. And yes, Jack did keep a bust!

"This doesn't feel right" says Bernard. "I should've listened" narrates Jacqueline. "my GOD I love foreshadowing" says safyresky as she types this up…

I think I'll need to make the line " I got up, standing tall and proud in my fluffy socks" a scrimbly. I just doodled it while writing this out and the sketch SENT ME. My god.

Scene 2: Bernard Hams it UP

Aka, the scene in which Dani realizes how ding dang crafty she has made Jack. WHOOPS

Exploring his POV has been fun, especially with the edits I've been making while crossposting, where it's his perspective being told to us by Jacqueline as he recounts to her in the present? If that makes sense

ANYWAY, making the distinctions and adding the little Jacqueline interruptions (see: the line about dwarfs) has been a LOT of fun

As much fun as Bernard had HAMMING IT UP in this scene when he delivered the frozen Jacqueline news to Jack >:3

Love me a Jack moment of clarity! Love having him look through the villain fog for a second like "wait is this…wrong? Fucked up?' only for the fog to be like SHUSH! NO! IT'S FINE! And regularly scheduled villainy is back in play!

Bernard asking why was interesting, because I was also wondering why Jack wanted more deets. And it's a combo of two things: 1) the obvious is she frozen? Ou. Maybe…new ally, perhaps? To get my little theme park business off the ground? And 2) oh shit I froze my bb sister :(

(in villain fog voice) YES NEW ALLY! PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE GUILT UNDER THE ICE!

"And something about that terrified him" man, these blorbos are getting the shadowed fore'd out of them and it is just not hitting, CRAZY!

Scene 3: Jack's a crafty one

That's it that's the BTS for this bit. He's CRAFTY

And YES, knew that it was fake originally but needs want, as we see in the next scene--he needs Jacqueline close by to make sure she doesn't SNITCH (as well as access to her repertoire), and she needs to keep tabs on him, for the GREATER GOOD (as well as for purposes of trying to find a way to prove to everyone that she's right and fix the timeline)

And it only hit me HERE. IN THIS SCENE. THAT HE KNEW THE ENTIRE TIME AND WAS ONE STEP AHEAD OF EVEN ME!

Frostmas is exhausting

Scene 4: Cold Front Face Off at the Dome

Jacqueline channels Winter bc that's all she knows for a frozen sprite that isn't Jack, and felt it'd give best results

She's not wrong but also is not right--frozen hearts are personalized, after all. She wouldn't be sad nor filled with avarice; she'd simply be FULL OF RAGE (spoiler alert, I GUESS)

Fun fact about the Frozen reference: it came out around the time I was working on Crystal Springs for the very first time! It informed a lot of the scenes. In fact, Cold Front reunion had Jacqueline literally quoting Elsa's mantra! Not anymore--I fixed that this year--but thought the throwback here would be funny. DON’T EXPLODE. DON'T EXPLODE. RARGH. DON'T EXPLODE. DON'T EXPLODE--and so on

(The Summer Sprite blood is STRONG in this one)

Look, we all know Santa Jack was certainly…a look. A choice, if you will. Jacqueline's just SAYING what we're all THINKING

Not Jack trying to catch up Jacqueline by egging her on. And then going GOTCHYA. It's so OBVIOUS he's not buying it, it's so CUTE how Jacqueline thinks it works

(maybe it does work a little TOO well given the events of Year 10)

Translator's note: coconut frosts is magical censoring for coconut fucks.

Y'know. These fuckers:

Scene 5: Well played to well played

Was well played on MY PART! One of my FAVOURITE transitions, I LOVE showing similarities between Jack and Jacqueline, ESPECIALLY in an angsty context like this! Something, something, BECOMING WHAT YOU FEAR MOST/DOING WHAT YOU FEAR MOST TO THOSE YOU LOVE~!

This had major editing done. Like, once I knew Jack saw through the farce, I couldn't have any of the old 'he bought it' drivel. Jacqueline, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry you think you got away with this and that he actually knew the entire time 😬

He just needs to make sure he knows why she did it, which is really Jack for 'making sure she's not on to me re: resort thing yet'

Scene 6: YET ANOTHER NEW BOP TO THE RECOUNTING!

I thought Y4 would be the last one, but Y5 surprised me

This one was fun. Thanks to the people who voted in the poll so I could figure out where they were, lmao

Hit you with the COLD FRONT feels and then a banger of a Jack line RIGHT AFTER

Seriously, I am really loving these little retelling segues. I just hope they don't make the blast to the present in Y9 less jarring!

Scene 7: cookies and cocoa

Crystal Springs has a time zone! I believe it's -8:30 hours? I'll have to double check, I know I wrote it down somewhere and I'm pretty sure it's a crystal springs fact post too 🤔

I checked! It's -8:30 GMT :)

"I'm not doing a sport!" She actually IS doing a sport. Bother-your-brother-on-purpose-athon, specifically

"It was for the greater good, I told myself. I was a big, frosty liar" FACT! More foreshadowing at play here, huehuehue >:3

"It’s like wading through molasses" THE STRENGTH I EXERTED TO NOT PUT A BIT IN HERE ABOUT THE BOSTON MOLASSES DISASTER IN 1919 IS ACTUALLY ASTOUNDING.

Scene 7.5: B-Man's…house?

So, sometimes, when I write, I do say the thing I want to write out loud and that's how we get organic moments like "He was all ‘what’s all this then’ and I was like ‘this is who I am now!’ and he was all ‘oh cool let’s make a deal’ and ‘bleh all is forgiven’"

Jacqueline is just having a TIME

I think I have seen in most fics Bernard always being in the Workshop, but I picture him having a nice lil tidy house just outside of the main hub of the shop! For some odd reason, despite thinking it is a bungalow, in my head I picture TWO sets of stairs up. What the fuck is up with THAT

But anyway, that's why I have Jacquie tease B about his house--when does he ever use it? 🤭🤭

Translators note: "snow queen PLEASE" is magic censoring for bitch PLEASE

Frostmas only gets swears when Jacqueline is thinking, not when she is speaking--UNLESS she is out and about in the world, so if she says a swear she is NOT in Crystal Springs! Fun fact for you all tonight :)

Scene 8: Jacqueline's discovery

I originally wrote it so short and jumpy because I thought the chapter was getting too long at 7k words

TOO LONG. CAN YOU IMAGINE?

I added a whole 5k words. And that was AFTER getting rid of some lore drop! AH!

I think though that I like it like this now! I don’t have the patience to go month by month to see how Jacqueline has been irritating Jack, and the quick, punchy summaries make the conclusion one HELL OF A PUNCH

It was a moment before the doors swung open, revealing nobody. Jack frowned, confused. He blinked, peering into the foyer. “Can we help you?” Jack slowly lowered his gaze, taken aback by the new, slightly sassy voice. It was high pitched; gratingly so, almost. His heart skipped a beat when he finally came face to face with the figures that had answered the door. They were a matching pair. A boy and a girl. The boy held one of the doors open; the girl stood beside him, holding the other door open with one hand, the other sitting on her hip. They looked remarkably similar: same facial structure, freckles in all the exact same places along their faces. They were also very much on fire, the boy’s hair burning up, the girl’s hair lit at the ends, sparks cracking as she and the boy stared him down, unblinking. And that was when Jack realized that he was a big brother. AGAIN. Doubly so, in fact. It was the only logical explanation, after all. Twins. On fire twins. With very familiar noses and jawlines under the roundness. And very familiar golden eyes. Seems the next set of kids had finally taken after his father. “Hi,” he said, finally finding his voice. “Hey.” “Sup.” “Who are you?” “Who am I? You don’t know who I am? Actually, I should be asking you that. Both of you.” “Well, we asked you first, so…” the boy shrugged, looking up at Jack perplexed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You don’t know who I am? Really?” They shared a look. “Nah.” “Not a clue.” “The jacket doesn’t give it away? The silly hat?” “Ha. It is a silly hat, isn’t it?” The girl snickered. “What about our faces? We have very similar noses, don’t you. Don’t you think?” “Yours is way more crooked,” the boy pointed out. “Do you get punched a lot? I bet you do.” The girl turned to the boy. “He has a kind of gets punched a lot aura, don’t you think?” The boy ignored her, tilting his head. “Are you supposed to be Santa?” “Yes!” “You don’t look like Santa at all.” “Yeah man. Way too frozie around here,” the girl squinted, gesturing to her chin. “And you’re way too skinny,” said the boy. “I’ve been watching my weight! Way too many cookies, and you know, the holly jolly look just isn’t my thing.” “Too many COOKIES?!?!” “The holly jolly look? Isn’t? your thing? But that’s Santa’s thing. That’s his whole shtick!” “YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY COOKIES! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!”

WHAT INDEED, FIERA! WHAT INDEED.

Down to see how the Frostmas Family Reunion goes? FEAST YOUR EYES HERE!

---

And mind my errors, ehehehe.

I wanted to get this posted tf UP so I whooshed it in there after read through #2, and read through #3 is happening presently, if I manage to make it through without distraction. I started a thing called Frostmas Asides? More on that later, but it has my attention rn, and also I am EMOTIONALLY E X H A U S T ED and may just crawl into bed. Absolutely wildin given my penchants for late nights and that it's only midnight o'clock. Does NOT bode well for CR tomorrow, which is funny bc Time Change had me staying up ALL SORTS OF LATE THIS WEEK! AH!

Anyway, some fun changes abound! What's 🆕 for Y3: 2024 Edition:

Upped Bernard sass (delightfully so I think)

Wrote a whole new set of notes to get a vibe of where everyone actually was at, keeping MTF in mind and how the parents specifically are feeling when it occurs in CS

Added another brief bop into the present, with Jack recounting to Jacqueline where she, of course, interrupts him 🤪🤭

And then hits you with angst 😶

Winter's fierceness was upped; Fiera's anger is apparent, and Fino's general inquisitiveness/unease after it all is more apparent lol

WHOLE ASS ENTIRE NEW SCENE OF BLINTER COMFORTING THE KIDDOS POST JACK'S LEAVE. IT PULLS AT THE HEARTSTRINGS, AND, Y'KNOW, IF YOU'VE READ FROSTMAS UP TO THE MOST RECENT YEAR, MORE HINTS THAT WINTER KNEW ABOUT THE BAD THING ALL ALONG >:)

That takes place in the morning room by the window where Jacqueline waited, but this time Blinter's waiting for her, and it's--they--IT'S POETIC, OKAY??? AH!