Chapter Text
Right brain and Left brain sat in silence around the dining table. They didn’t usually, but today everyone was too excited for much conversation. Left Brain was staring at Thomas’s completed and marked science quiz. It was full 100/100. The highest grade Thomas had ever gotten on anything. Right brain was so so proud! He’d taken lots of pictures. Thomas posing with his quiz, Thomas and Left brain posing with the quiz, the quiz itself, a secret photo of Left Brain grinning at the results. He was just glueing them all into the scrapbook now, with little gold star stickers to show he’d done a great job, so that they could remember this moment forever.
As they both worked, Thomas entered from the kitchen holding a plate of toast. Right brain smiled as he saw him, closing his scrapbook while Thomas sat down between the two of them. “Still looking at my amazing test results?” Not looking up from the paper, Left Brain nodded. “I’ve been looking over them to make sure we know what to do to get a score like this again.” Right brain leaned over to look at the test, all the compliments from Thomas’s teacher had been circled in dark blue ink, and it looked like Left Brain was reading them over and over. He chuckled. “Whatever you say, friendo. I’m just so proud of my two favourite brainiacs!”
Thomas took a bite of his toast, talking through a full mouth. “Well you two are my favourite brains.” Right brain clasped his hands together against his cheek. “Aww Buddy! That’s so sweet!” Left brain nodded. He didn’t look up from Thomas’s test, but Right Brain was sure a smile had wormed its way onto his face. “Yes. Thank you, Thomas. It feels nice to be appreciated.” Thomas swallowed. “No problem guys. I just can’t believe I got such a good score! I mean, what else could happen this week that’d be better than that?” “SILENCE EVERYONE!”
Right brain jumped in his chair. He looked around for wherever Vision’s voice had come from, before spotting him standing next to Left Brain, hand on his chair. “I have discovered the most glorious thing in Thomas’s mind! You all must come see!” Left Brain finally looked up from his quiz. “I am reviewing Thomas’s test results, I cannot think of something more important than that.”
Vision chuckled, patting Left Brains shoulder. “Trust me, dear friend, you will want to see what I’ve found. It’s amazing!” Right Brain giggled, standing up from his chair. He dropped his scrapbook to the ground, watching it disappear before it hit the floor. “Well I for one can’t wait to see it! Come on Left Brain, the test will still be here when you get back.” Thomas nodded. “Uh yeah. I’ll keep it right here for you. Plus my family will be coming for dinner soon and I don’t want anyone to sit through you guys.”
Left Brain stayed silent for a moment, before he nodded, standing up and pushing his chair in. “Alright. I will not be long.” Right Brain bounced on his heels. “Yay! Let’s go! Come on Vision, show us the way!” Vision nodded, waving his hands. The three of them began to sink down. Thomas waved goodbye, and Right Brain enthusiastically waved back. And then, they were gone.
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They appeared in one of the greyer areas of Thomas’s mind. Not the clean white side that Vision, Left Brain, and Right Brain lived at when they weren’t around Thomas, but not the scary darkish side where all the less helpful things about Thomas stayed either. This place was a grey void, with not much in it aside from the few areas that Thomas had seen, remembered, and mentally constructed but couldn’t get rid of.
Right Brain clapped his hands together, looking around for anything that seemed like it would yuk Visions yum. “So.. what are you en-vision-ing that’d get me and Left Brain so excited?” Left Brain sighed at the pun while Vision grabbed both of their arms, dragging them towards a cluster of different trees the old Vision had constructed from memory. “You’ll see, Rightie!”
He walked the three of them into the makeshift forest, leading them down a random path between the trees and plants. As they walked deeper into the trees, it was like Right Brains mood got better. He’d been pretty happy before, but now he was practically bouncing with hope over what the thing Vision wanted to show them could be. “I was venturing around the mind looking for my sword, when I noticed this peculiar trail of crushed foliage, the one we are following right now.” Right Brain looked down, noticing all of the flattened grass in the shape of footprints that led into the forest. He gasped, momentarily taken from his happy and hopeful mood. “Do you think one of… them came over?”
Vision shook his head, stopping in his tracks and causing Left Brain to walk into him. “I first thought that too, dear Right Brain, but you’ll see soon that it isn’t. Now tell me, do either of you hear anything?” They all stood still for a moment, and Right Brain realised he could hear something. It sounded like voices. They were barely louder than those stage-whispers Vision liked to do, and sounded like an echo. It was hard to tell what they were saying at first, but Right Brain gasped in surprise as they began to make sense.
‘What if Thomas gets a 100 on the rest of his quizzes too! He’ll get taken out for ice cream every time!’ ‘How many students do you think have ever gotten a 100 on their quiz? He might be in the top five! He might even be the first one!’ ‘He’ll probably get ‘best in science’ at the award ceremony if he keeps doing this good!’ ‘He could become a scientist.’ ‘Do you think it’ll increase his chances of getting a date to the dance? Maybe he’ll finally get a crush on the right girl!’
Sentences like that got louder and louder all around them, Right Brain, Left Brain, and Vision’s voices becoming clear and recognisable. Right Brain knew these words. They were all things the three of them said yesterday in the excitement of receiving such a high grade. The forest was just repeating it over and over. He turned to Vision. “This is pretty nifty! A forest that repeats what we say, we could use it to remind ourselves of things so we don’t forget!”
Left Brain seemed less impressed. “This is an interesting phenomena of Thomas’s mind, but I don’t see how it was more important than his test. Am I missing something?” Vision nodded, continuing on ahead. “You both are! Come along now, what I wish to show you is up ahead!” Left Brain and Right Brain looked at each other, before moving to follow him.
After passing by a few more trees, they emptied out, showing a small secluded clearing, but that wasn’t the interesting part. In the middle of the clearing sat a small run-down shed. It reminded Right Brain of the one they saw on Thomas’s route to school near that abandoned house. Why was this here? Not to mention, it was covered in butterflies. Bright purple, sparkly butterflies of all shapes and sizes covered the roof, windowsills, and ground around the shed, some flying in through windows, and more arriving every second. It looked like something out of a fairy tale. Right Brain could see why Vision would love this.
Left Brain looked just as shocked. “Amazing.. Do you think they have a food source inside of the house? I can’t imagine any other reason this amount of butterflies would be clustered in one place, and there doesn’t appear to be any flowers around us.” Vision dropped to his knees. “I have absolutely no clue! I would’ve explored myself when I first found this haven. However, can either of you hear anything on the air aside from our voices?”
Their voices echoing around were very loud, but under it, a new noise had just made itself to Right Brain’s ears. It was way too quiet for him to understand, but it was a sort of very excited mumbling coming from the shed. There was someone inside! Vision dropped to his knees, and once again waved the other two to follow him. They did. Crawling up to the closest window, Right Brain peered inside. And there he was.
Someone Right Brain had never seen before paced around the shed, mumbling under his breath and pulling on his hoodie strings. His eyes sparkled a bright lavender-ish purple, the exact same colour as all of the butterflies, some of which were sitting on his shoulders, his head, and his nose. He was dressed all in black, with a hoodie and some bike shorts. Right Brain couldn’t stop himself from grinning. A new side! It had been ages since they’d gotten a proper new side, and here one was!
They had a new side! A fully new, positive, not scary side! He’d been worried that if they got a new side it would be one of those scary others, but this guy didn’t seem scary at all! He was grinning, and butterflies liked him, and his eyes were sparkly purple! Those were all good qualities! Right Brain felt so good about this! The new side hadn’t noticed him yet, maybe because of all the pacing, but that wasn’t an issue! Right Brain couldn’t wait to introduce himself! He slipped his camera out of his pocket. He should take a photo of the new side to put in his scrapbook! He’d have to do a page all about his new friend.
He held the camera up to his eye, making sure he had a good angle. The new side was still grinning as butterflies flew around, perfectly in frame… and.. ‘CLICK’. For a second, the shed illuminated with a bright light. He’d left the flash on. It wasn’t usually an issue, Thomas, Left Brain, and Vision didn’t care. But the new side gasped and suddenly all of the butterflies began to fly away. It only took seconds for every single one of them to disappear. Vision, Right Brain, and Left Brain leaned against the wall, out of sight of the window. The butterflies in the garden had flown away too, and their voices with the happy thoughts had gone quiet.
After a few seconds of silence, a wavering voice came from inside the shed. “Who’s there?…” Right Brain looked to his friends, trying to silently figure out who would introduce themselves first. He was really ecstatic to meet this mysterious new side, but Vision was the one who found him first, and he always liked doing things first. But Vision was staring at him, and Left Brain had an eyebrow raised, which gave Right Brain the idea that they wanted him to go first.
The voice rang out again, louder this time. “Come on! …This isn’t funny!” Right Brain couldn’t help but feel bad for startling the poor guy, and for scaring all of his butterflies away. Vision and Left Brain were right, he probably should be the person to introduce himself first. He put his camera back where he’d gotten it bounced up from behind the window, grabbing the windowsill to steady himself. “Hi there!”
The new side jumped backwards, stumbling a little. He stared at Right Brain with wide eyes, which had gone from a sparkly light purple to a dark grey. Neither of them said anything for a few seconds, before Vision nudged Right Brain’s leg. “Oh, right! I’m really sorry for startling you and scaring your butterflies away. I saw all of them and thought they’d make a great picture.” The new side nodded, keeping his eyes locked on Right Brain as he climbed through the hole where glass would’ve been. “...It’s fine. They aren’t mine, they just show up when I’m like… that.”
Right Brain walked forward, smiling. “You mean when your eyes were all sparkly and purple?” The new side nodded again, avoiding eye contact with him. Right Brain would’ve been worried he was frightening the guy, but he was pulling on his hoodie strings, something he’d done earlier when he was happy, so he couldn’t be that scared. He was probably just shy about meeting someone new. No matter, he would make this new side feel as welcome as possible!
He grabbed the new sides hands, clasping his own around them. “Well it’s absolutely wonderful when that happens! Me and my friends came into this forest and it was like your mood lifted ours up and made us feel better!”
“…Your friends?…” The new side looked past Right Brain, and Right Brain giggled. “M-hm! Don’t worry, it’s not just me and you.” He looked behind himself, towards the window where the others were still hiding. “Left Brain! Vision! You should come over and say hi!”
Quickly, Left Brain and Vision popped up, both climbing over the windowsill and into the shed. Left Brain stayed behind, looking around at the insides of the shed, while Vision walked straight up to the two of them. “Greetings, fellow side! It is a pleasure to meet you, and an honor to meet me! I am Vision!” The new side, whose eyes were darting between Right Brain and Vision, nodded. He didn’t seem to speak much. But that was fine, Right Brain didn’t mind. He let go of the new sides hands and pointed behind himself at Left Brain. “That’s our friend Left Brain! Oh, and I’m Right Brain! We're all pleased as punch to meet you!”
“H-hi….” The new side took a step back, pulling on his hoodie strings again. Vision smiled, reaching out and patting his shoulder. “So, newbie. What is your title? The thing we shall refer to you by?” Almost immediately, the new side began to stammer and mumble. “Oh- Uh- I- I’m- Um- Uh- I- I- I- I- I don't know.” Vision frowned, and Right Brain blinked at him. “You don’t know? How can you not know? We all know ours.”
Their new side continued to stammer and mumble. “I- I just-” “Do I have to remind you two that we ourselves didn’t have titles until Thomas gave them to us?” Everyone turned to look at Left Brain, who had decided to join their conversation. He was right. Before they’d had titles they’d just had to refer to each other by pointing and guessing. Right Brain supposed it had slipped his mind. “While we all have an innate vague idea of what we represent, Thomas is the only person who can give us titles or nicknames.”
Right Brain nodded along. “Oh, that’s right!” He turned back to the new side. “So what do you represent? Do you know that?” The new side nodded, which was great! But he didn’t answer. Maybe he was shy about that kinda stuff? He’d been shy about everything else too. But Right Brain could help him! “I think it's probably got something to do with positivity! Remember how great it felt when we entered the forest? And all of those positive thoughts being repeated over and over?”
Left Brain looked to the new side. “Is that correct?” The new side stared at him for a couple seconds before slowly beginning to nod. Right Brain turned to the others with a grin. “Isn’t that great? A side for Thomas that’s all about positivity!” Vision laughed. “I thought we already had you for that, Rightie. But I suppose you getting a less talkative mini-me isn’t the worst thing.” Right Brain grinned wider. “Yeah! It’ll be so great to have another feelings based guy around! Oh, I can’t wait to introduce you to Thomas!”
Vision smirked, but the new guy's face paled. “Thomas…” Left Brain shook his head. “I don’t think we should introduce the new side to Thomas tonight. He’s currently having dinner with his family, and it’s already rather late. It may be better to take him to Vision’s mind palace instead.” Vision bounced on his heels. “Ooh yes! I’ll get to make a new room in my palace! You should collect whatever you wish to bring with you, newbie, we should leave now!”
The new side looked around at all of his stuff. “…do I…have to move in with you?…” Right Brain nodded. “You’re a side! And living in a castle with everyone is a lot funnier than being alone. Plus it’s nicer than a shed! What do you want to take with you?” He looked around the shed, trying to figure out if anything looked personal enough to take.
It didn’t really have much in it. There was an unrolled sleeping bag in one corner, and an open chest filled with junk food opposite it. A few shelves were on the walls, but they were empty, and an old looking rug sat in the middle of the room. Right Brain frowned. Had the new side been living all alone in this shed? Most of the furniture looked like it had been brought in from other places in the mind. Right Brain, Left Brain, and Vision did that sometimes too, if Thomas’s mind made something really cool on its own, but not to the extent that it was all of their furniture.
The new guy’s face was a little red. “…I’ll keep everything here…” Right Brain nodded. “Okay then! More stuff for Vision to summon! And we can all get you housewarming gifts! Come on, let’s go!” The new side's eyes darted all around, like he was looking for something, before he focused on Right Brain. “I- Okay…”
Right Brain squealed. He grabbed the new side, hugging him tight. Almost immediately he was pushed away, falling to the floor with a loud thump. He looked up at the new side, who was staring at him with eyes and hurriedly pulling back and forth on his hoodie strings. He didn’t look very happy about going with them, but he was pulling on his hoodie strings, so that meant he was probably happy. Left Brain didn’t show many happy emotions either, but Right Brain could always tell from the things he did. Vision pulled Right Brain to his feet while the new side stared in at them in wide-eyed silence.
“…Sor-” “Sorry about that! Guess we’re both a bit too excited for hugs right now.” The new side nodded. From behind them, Left Brain cleared his throat. “We should head back to the mind palace now, Thomas has just finished dinner.” He was right. The area around them was beginning to get darker, Thomas would probably go to bed soon, and it was best to be in a vision made area when that happened. “Vision? Can you sink us out?”
Vision nodded, waving his hands. The four of them began to descend. Right Brain grabbed the new side’s hand, it could be a bit hard to rise up somewhere you’d never been to before, he could help guide him! The new side was staring at the ground, breathing pretty deeply. Right Brain squeezed his hand. “I can’t wait to help you move in!”
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They rose up in the hallway of Vision’s mind palace, right in front of the row of doors to their rooms. Right Brain could feel the new side struggling to emerge, so he gave him a strong tug, pulling him upwards past the floor. As soon as his feet were on the ground, the new side stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet. Luckily Right Brain was still tightly holding his hand, so he just pulled him back towards him and into his arms. “Careful there, buddy!”
The new side squirmed out of his grip. “...right…” Right Brain smiled at him. He didn’t mind that the new side kept pushing him off, maybe he just wasn’t in the mood for hugs right now. Left Brain got like that sometimes too. Next to them, Vision and Right Brain dusted themselves off. Vision tapped the new side’s shoulder, making sure his eyes were on him before he spread his hands wide. “This is my mind palace! A home for us sides to recline in when we aren’t helping Thomas. All created by yours truly!”
Vision beamed, eyes fixed on the new side, trying to gauge his reaction. The new side looked around the hallway, eyes wide. “I- um… cool.” Vision shined at his praise. “Isn’t it? Now, let me create your room! What do you want the door to look like? I can make anything your heart desires.” Right Brain clapped his hands in excitement, grinning at the both of them. “Oh yeah, what do you want, friendo?” The new side stammered, looking between the two of them. “Uh… well. You don’t- I don’t- I…” Left Brain cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should give the new side a tour of your mind palace before making his room? You’ve shown us before that creating something is a rather lengthy process, it may be best to do it while we are giving the tour.”
Before either Vision or Right Brain could respond, the new side cut in “Y-yeah. You guys should show me around first… Please…?” Right Brain squealed, that was the most he’d heard the new side speak so far! And he was still pulling on his hoodie strings too, that had to be good! “Okay! I’d love to give you a tour, friendo!” Vision sighed, waving his hands at a blank space on the wall with a dramatic flourish. “Then I suppose I shall stay here to imagine the concept of a blank room while you two give our newbie a tour!” Right Brain nodded. “Alright!”
Vision had risen them all up at the end of the hallway, so Right and Left Brain both directed the new side past him to get a better look at their doors. Left Brain adjusted his glasses. “This is our upstairs hallway, it’s where our bedrooms are, as well as one of our bathrooms.” Right Brain grinned, excitedly pointing out the details each of them had on their doors. “Yeah! Mines the light blue one with the sign saying ‘Come In’ with the smile and all of the stickers! Left Brain’s is the dark blue one with the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the doorknob but you can always come in anyway. And Vision’s is the white one with all of those nifty doodles and gold borders over it!”
From behind him, Vision huffed. “Don’t show him your rooms without me! I must be there when you show him everything, to take notes for what furniture I shall fill his room with. Say, what color do you want your door to be?” Before the new side could answer for himself, Vision gasped. “I should make it that twinkling shade of purple that was under your eyes earlier! I could even make it glitter in that same dazzling way!”
Right Brain giggled as the new side's face slowly turned red. “You should! It was such a pretty color!” He nudged the new side. “Have you ever seen it in a mirror, it’s so glittery! I can show you the photo I took after the tour. It should be in my room, I keep so many photos of all of us there. I can’t wait to start adding you to my scrapbook-” Left Brain cleared his throat. “Unless you intend to go get your scrapbook, we should move downstairs.” Right Brain grinned. “Right! Sorry, I’m just rattling off my rocker, aren’t I?” He grabbed the new side’s arm, eagerly dragging him down the stairs. Left Brain followed at a walking pace behind them.
The two of them stopped in the living area, Left Brain catching up to them as the new side took a first look around. “Most of this layout should already be familiar to you, since it’s simply a replica of Thomas’s own house, but we have a few different decorations and furniture to him and his family.” Right Brain nodded, turning the new side around to point everything out properly. Who cared if the new side already knew the layout, it was still fun to show him. “This is the lounge, you can add any movies you want to our collection, I betcha we’ll have it tucked away somewhere!” Once the new side gave a small nod, Right Brain continued. “This is our dining table! We eat dinner together every night if we aren’t helping Thomas. I’ll have to get Vision to make you a chair. Do you have a favourite meal? I’m sure I can make it for dinner tonight.” The new side shook his head. “...you c- cook?”
He nodded. “Only recipes Thomas properly knows, but sometimes it's fun to throw a bunch of ingredients in a pot and make up the outcome. Makes me feel like a real chef.” He pointed.
“Past the dining table is the kitchen! That’s where I do all the cooking. And baking! It’s always fun to whip up a sweet treat. Even if we can just summon it.” The new guy nodded. “Right…” “We have a second bathroom near the lounge, as well as a backdoor and a frontdoor. Vision has made it so they lead to a back garden and a neighborhood street respectively, though they both loop back around if you wander far enough.” The new side looked around, eyes darting to each door Left Brain pointed out. “...okay.”
“Well unless you want us to show you the outside, I betcha we should go and check on Vision.” Right Brain went to walk to the staircase, but the new side stayed planted where he was. “M- maybe I sh-” “I’VE FINISHED!” All three of them jumped, turning to look at the balcony Vision had yelled from. There he stood, half of his body bent over the ledge, waving his hands about dramatically. “Your room has been summoned newbie! Come and look at it!” The new side stayed frozen for a few seconds, staring up at Vision. Right Brain tugged on his new friend’s arm. “Come on, I bet he did a great job.” Slowly, the new side began to move, walking to the stairs. He was being pretty slow, and Right Brain couldn't help but skip ahead to see whatever snazzy door Vision had conjured up, but if the new side was taking his time he didn’t wanna rush him.
He was the first to reach the top of the stairs and once Right Brain saw the door, he gasped. He shot Vision two thumbs up. The new side would love it. As the new side reached the top of the stairs, Right Brain grabbed him, putting one hand over his eyes. “It looks amazing, trust me. Let me lead you there for a proper surprise!” The new side sighed and nodded, grabbing his hoodie strings tight. With his free hand, Right Brain grabbed hold of his hand, carefully pulling the new side along. Behind them, Left Brain put a hand on the new side's shoulder, helping Right Brain guide him along. They stood him directly in front of the door. Right Brain bounced on his heels. “I’ll let you see it in 3, 2, 1!” He ripped his hand away, revealing the door Vision had made.
It was the exact same shade of purple that the butterflies and the new side's eyes had glittered when Right Brain first saw him. It also shimmered in the same way, like someone had coated it in glitter, and little purple, black, and white butterflies were painted on around the bottom. Vision grinned at the new side, awaiting his response. “What do you think?” The new side stammered, looking the door up and down. “I- Um- W- I- Th- Thank you? It’s- Uh- Thanks. Really. Wow...” There was silence for a few seconds, as the new side pulled on his hoodie strings furiously. Vision beamed. “I knew you’d adore it! The way you looked at those butterflies in your trusty shed clued me in on what to add!” Right Brain chuckled. “It looks amazing, bud! Have you put anything inside yet?”
Vision dramatically sighed, placing a hand on his forehead. “I cannot do that much in such short time! It takes energy to summon so much. I’ll have recovered by tomorrow.” Left Brain raised an eyebrow. “Where should he sleep tonight then? I don’t suppose you have enough energy left to summon a bed?” Vision grimaced as the new side looked between the three of them. “I can… go back to my shed…” Right Brain shook his head. “No no no! You don’t have to go back there!” He gasped in delight. “What if we all had a sleepover! We could get sleeping bags and mattresses from the cupboards and have a movie night! I’ll make my world famous m&m brownies~”
“Oh yes!” Vision grabbed both Right Brain’s hand and the new side’s. “What a wondrous idea! I must show you all of my favourite movies! Tell me, dearest friend, do you have a favourite Disney movie?” The new side slowly nodded. “...yeah… But-” Vision boisterously laughed, placing both of his hands on the new side’s shoulder. “Then we shall watch it, and then your next favourite movies, and then any movies in this magical lexicon you haven’t seen!” The new side stayed silent, staring at Vision. “I shall go make a list of movies we must watch tonight! We may just craft the perfect viewing experience!”
Right Brain gasped. “Oh! Do you want to come and bake brownies with me? Do you like baking?” The new side’s gaze drifted to him. “Oh.. Um… I don’t-" "While you three do that, I suppose I’ll go downstairs to set up the sleeping bags and blow-up mattresses.” Vision grinned, squeezing their hands. “Thanks, leftie! You can do that while we do the fun stuff.” Right Brain raised an eyebrow. “Come on Vision, if Left Brain wants to set everything up he can! And the new side can join him if he wants.”
The three of them turned to the new side, who was staring past the three of them at his door. “What do you want to do?” He jumped, looking around the pseudo circle that had formed around him. “I-” He stayed silent, pulling both of his hoodie strings down at the same time. He answered a few seconds later in a much smaller voice than before. “...I can- I can help set up.” Vision huffed. “I suppose if that’s what you want to do.” Right Brain chuckled. He wasn’t upset that the new side had chosen Left Brain over them. Left Brain had definitely been the one he had spoken with the least, he probably just wanted to get to know him better. “Guess I’ll get to lick the brownie batter spoons clean myself!”
“I should probably start those brownies right now if I want them to be done by the time the movies start! How about we all banana split to get our jobs done and meet up in the lounge?” The other three nodded, and Right brain gave them all a thumbs up before skipping down the stairs towards the kitchen. Behind him he could hear Vision enter his room to find his collection of Disney DVDs, and Left Brain and the new side beginning to walk down the stairs at a slower pace.
Taking out the cookbook, Right Brain smiled to himself about how well everything was going. Thomas had a new side, and he had a new friend! And now they’d be kicking off their friendship with a sleepover. Gosh, the three of them hadn’t had a sleepover in what felt like so long. Through the door to the living area, he could see Left Brain showing the new side the cupboard where they kept their extra blankets. He’d have to work fast. Right Brain didn’t want to be the slowpoke who made everyone else wait. He smiled wider as he sifted the ingredients into a bowl. This was going to be super!