TEST DRIVE ∞ May 2025

[thediadem]

Test Drive ∞ May 2025

The First Collision

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Jump ⇅ :: Arrival — Panorama — Fringes — Invite Request

The Diadem is an invite-only panfandom game set in a retro-futuristic world where uprooted souls find themselves deep within an eerie wasteland of roads and highways frequently assailed by cosmic storms. Three united strongholds keep the population. Its capital is Panorama, a large metropolis at the planet's center.

Soon, you realize you aren't alone. Calling themselves fluxdrifts, the "locals" have similar stories to you, either for themselves or their ancestry. You speak to an old woman who claims she hailed from another star. You meet a young man who says his great-great-grandfather knew a strange language everybody spoke "back home." As you explore, you stumble across a coin you recognize or your sister's locket. How did it get here? What does this mean? That's for you to discover.

But first, you need to find a ride.

No invites needed to play on the TDM. Everyone's welcome! Use the Invite Request thread below to request an invite from another player.

∞ Summary ∞

IC-wise, arrivals are scattered throughout the month. Events described on the TDM are also ongoing throughout the month. If you'd rather jump right into the action, you're free to begin in media res with your character having already been on the planet for several days.

Post-impact, characters will wake up in a med tent by the Scrapyard. From there, they must accept a vehicle on loan and make the 2-hour drive to the nearest city, Panorama. If they refuse the car because they don't want the loan, they'll be in debt for medical bills instead...so just take the car. It'll come in handy.

Some things to keep in mind when bringing in your character:

• Pick an injury. At minimum, they got knocked out; at most, whatever they can recover from. Medicine is decently advanced so they'll heal faster if not painlessly.
• Decide items kept. Reasonable items on their person only: photos, keys, clothes, costumes. No pets or animal companions. Wildly out-of-place tech and personal cell phones will be damaged beyond repair.
• Select a weapon. Do this only if eligible. Guidelines about weapons and powers are on the FAQ.
• Choose a vehicle. Decide whether your character gets 2-3 options or if they're stuck with something they hate. Players can pick directly from our collection or source their own images. Anything under a similar aesthetic will work. If your character needs accommodations for driving, they can have them. Ask us for details.
• Get a phone. Characters have to obtain a phone (and a SIM card) themselves. If they've got one from home, it's damaged beyond repair. Phones are cheap. It'll only take a couple of weeks to afford one. You need to know the number before you text or call anyone. Read about phones and the Forum before you hop on it.

TDM threads can be canon if characters are accepted. Top-levels made to the TDM should be open to all.

TDM Questions? Here — Game Questions? FAQ

Setting — Taken — Reserves — Applications ::: ⇅ Top

Fluxdrift

Arrival & Introduction

Date: Throughout May

You've tumbled over a cliff. You were fighting for your life. You're on the cusp of death. You slipped in the shower. Whatever the catalyst, you struggle to cling to consciousness. As darkness overtakes you, a swirling vortex warps light and shadow in a way that defies all physics. A dark wail etches into your very bones. You couldn't describe it if you tried. You can barely comprehend what it is.

Then you open your eyes.

Through the figure's mask ©, you swear the face is grinning down at you. The tent you're in smells of antiseptic, and scratchy blankets line your cot. Injuries you've sustained have been bandaged. In the corner, you spot a MedBot that's fixed you up. Depending on the extent of your injuries, the doctor on duty might give you some painkillers before you go. Thankfully, your belongings are by the exit. Sorry if anything's damaged. Your landing was pretty rough.

You follow the figure outside. They are Yom Crook, here to lend a hand to fellow fluxdrifts like yourself. Their car's parked beside them. Actually, there are lots of cars around, but Yom Crook's stands out with its painted shark mouth. They explain they found you, unconscious, in a diffusion zone and brought you here. The nearest city is a 2-hour drive northeast. Forget about walking. You'll never make it. Also, you owe the doctor a lot of money for patching you up. But you're in luck: they've got some wheels for you and if you accept the vehicle on loan, Yom Crook will cover your medical bills. That's a good deal, right? It's not the shiniest car or motorcycle, but it'll do. If fortune favors, you'll get to choose between two or three options. Plus, if you need accommodations to drive—like adjustments to your seat height or modified controls—you'll receive all that for free.

Take the vehicle. (And the loan.) Yom Crook assures you that you'll have six months before collectors come around. Any time you're ready to pay a part of it down, return here to the Scrapyard. You'll get a receipt and everything. Paying off the loan in six months isn't impossible, but it will take a lot of work. Just don't get too lax. There's a good chance you'll be juggling multiple loans as you try to get by.

You either know how to drive, or you'll have a bare-bones manual to get you started. Road rules are more a suggestion than enforced, so just hit the pedal and go. The car has some basic features. The built-in compass will help you navigate.

OPTIONAL PROMPTS: a flat tire; a body on the road (is it a trap?); a fender bender

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Panorama

Explore & Settle In

Conditions: Warm spring temperatures, light showers

After 2 hours on the road, you find civilization. The largest of the strongholds, Panorama is where the economy thrives. Massive power plants glowing red make it visible from a distance. The city is divided into three districts. For now, you can access the Pavilion and the Blocks. Don't worry about the Sanctum; they're not letting you in.

You only need to know two things about Panorama: 1) it's big, the size of a modern metropolis, and you'll need your car to get around; 2) anything goes as long as you don't pick a fight with the wrong person. Street smarts will get you far. Despite its geographical size, the population isn't huge. With roughly a million people in a city designed for over twice that number, Panorama is far from deserted, but nor is it overcrowded. It's a good thing. Resources are limited as it is.

The Pavilion: Free Samples

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Like any large city, Panorama features a couple of supermarkets. The stock's not as consistent as a proper supermarket. On occasion, shelves can remain cleaned out for a week or two. Regardless, the long tradition of free samples remains. If you're not already shopping, you'll notice the crowded parking lot and clusters of lines inside.

Try samples, push through the crowds as you shop, or give yourself a five-finger discount. If you're cautious, you can pocket a few small items without consequences. The Pavillion doesn't have the infrastructure for surveillance; unless someone sees you, you won't be caught. Steal from the store or pilfer someone's wallet. Maybe you even make a new friend if you bump into another fluxdrift. Or, start a fight with somebody who cut you off in the cheese line. Don't make too much of a ruckus, or you'll be thrown out.

As you look around, you'll see posters advertising temporary positions for the cash register or graveyard shifts in the warehouse. Seems they might've lost several employees recently (how'd that happen?), which is good for you! It's just a 6-week position, but it'll get you on your feet. The city has temporary positions like this all over. Permanent ones are harder to come by when you're new.

Samples include: steamed cabbage dumplings, synthetic cherry juice, cheddar cheese, and chocolate-covered alien eggs (it's crunchy and weirdly tasty). They're served in the usual throwaway paper cups with little toothpicks.

The Blocks: Power Outage

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Power's finicky in Panorama, especially in the Blocks. Saint Margery's Hospital, located in the same area, has priority for power so the first to go are the motels. Maybe you've been in your room for a couple of weeks, maybe you just got here—and by the way, every motel desk is happy to put the fee on your tab if you don't have the money upfront—but all the motels on the east side are in a blackout, leaving only the west side motels up and running.

What do you do? You have three choices:

• Risk leaving your room and head to the other side where there's power. Knock on some doors and negotiate with another to share the room. They might shut the door in your face, ask for a favor in return, or be nice enough to help you with no strings attached. There's no guarantee your unattended room will be untouched, though, and you'll be on the hook for any damages an intruder causes.
• Sit in the dark and deal. It's not the worst idea, but the TV's down, the vending machines are powered down, and with the entire place plunged into darkness, you risk getting robbed. If you struggle with defending yourself, you might want to find some trustworthy company. You can also sneak out of there and let them take your leftover pizza. It's not like you've got a ton of valuables, right? Plus, clobbering someone in the face with a frying pan sounds great until you realize you've gotta do something with the body. And what if this person's got a friend waiting?
• Get in your car and drive (or grab a friend for a road trip). If you scroll the Forum, you might notice reports on diffusion zones southward. Besides, these motels are hardly your forever home. The city can only provide so much. Why not go for a ride and see what you can find out there?

OPTIONAL PROMPTS: clean up on aisle 3 (what is that goo?); a knock at your door but no one's there; you hear screaming or a commotion down the hall

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The Fringes

Quad 3: Lockdown

Conditions: Stormy, with flooding roads

Felix Bjurstrom
> Date: 125-05-17
> Time: 02:15:57

> Emergency road lights have been reported in Quadrant 3! Please, can someone go see what's there? When last we chasers investigated emergency lights, a whole truck filled with sour candy had tipped over. Our stores were stocked for weeks! Oh, be careful - reception looks bad in that zone.

Whether you end up here on your own or you were following a tip on the Forum, the outcome is the same: you come to a stop in front of a 2-story office building that's flooded several inches deep. Emergency lights from a roadblock flicker through the stormy night. Stepping out of your car, you're soaked within seconds. When you check your phone, you don't have any bars. No calls in or out.

Through the open windows, a computer awakens and displays a cheerful smile. The lights inside switch on.

Pick your scenario role below. Your thread partner doesn't need to take the opposite role! They can join you in the same scenario (i.e. trapped together). Players are also free to create a generic NPC for the other side to facilitate the thread.

After characters escape, they'll find one bottle of antibiotics in their pocket or car, whether they remember taking it or not.

A: Sealed In
As you peer through the windows, you see crates of medicine floating around. Antibiotics in the diadem are valuable. Hospitals and doctors are always buying. You can keep it for yourself or make a quick buck. Or maybe you're compelled to help somebody back in the city who's in need. Whatever the reason, you decide to take the risk and step inside.

Water splashes around your ankles. The lock buzzes behind you. If you try to break the windows, you discover they're unnaturally resistant to shattering. With the whole place locked tight, the water begins to churn. Then the computer lights up again.

Warning, it flashes in large, bold text. Quarantine in progress. Release code required for exit.

• To find the code, you'll have to search. Duck under the water, go through sopping envelopes and sticky notes or pick the locks on the filing cabinets and desk drawers. You can also try hacking the computers. Use your computer knowledge or fall back on the age-old trick of seeing who wrote down their password.
• The files, notepads, and emails start innocuous, but as you look through them, disturbing phrases jump out at you—a dark thought you've had or a cruel taunt from someone in your past. The longer you're fixed on the terrible words, the higher the water begins to rise. Only another can break you out of your trance.
• With the rising water comes fear. And the more you're afraid, the more the water also rises. You begin to see faces in the water, bobbing like balloon heads. Do you recognize them? If you move to take a closer look, they will sink back beneath the surface as if never there.
• If you manage to swallow your panic, you can eventually find a triple-laminated binder with the release code and instructions. Bad news: you need someone on the outside to punch in the 6 strange symbols in order. The instructions explain that the code panel is located at the back of the building.

Let's hope a friendly face comes along.

B: Set Free
As you peer through the windows, you see not just the crates of medicine but someone trapped inside. They look like they might be in trouble, and from your vantage point, you notice that the water is bubbling strangely. It's definitely not normal rainwater. As you watch, the water rises unnaturally, stopping and starting. It's as if the water level is responding to an external stimulus.

• The glass is soundproof. You can't hear what the person inside is saying, so you'll have to communicate with each other another way. Try charades, typing on your phone, or whatever you think of. Eventually, you determine that they're stuck and that you need to enter some sort of code onto a pad located—according to your trapped partner—at the back of the building.
• Around the back, shadows swallow your surroundings. The panel must be pried open, but a slippery substance makes it hard to get a good grip. Each time the substance touches you, you grow uneasy. You swear you see eyes watching you, though when you turn around, nothing's there.
• You can't seem to keep the instructions in your mind. And those symbols...they burn into your retinas. Through them, you glimpse an incomprehensibly massive figure unfurling in the darkness, pulsing as if in a deep sleep. When you snap back to reality, you realize you've injured yourself, slicing your hand on a sharp edge or a bruise you can't remember getting.
• Once you manage to release the doors, the water inside the office drains upward into the sky as though sucked out by a giant hose. The darkness spreads. Get out of there fast before the shadows drag you or your partner into the void.

Of course, you don't have to help anyone. You can leave the individual there, make a deal, or outright extort them. But remember, you're not the only person on these roads. You might want to play your cards carefully, even if altruism isn't your first instinct.

Main Navigation ::: ⇅ Top

Comments

ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ (ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ?) ᴏᴜᴛᴀɢᴇ

[righteously]

( And lo comes the knocking at your chamber door: knock knock, hello, anybody home?

Should you be unfortunate enough to answer the door, what you'll see on the other side is this: a fully grown man of over six feet tall, wrapped in a bathrobe and wearing floppy sandals, hair visibly lathered with shampoo, flashing his best attempt at a neighborly smile. )

Heyyyyy, hi, sorry to bother you. I'm uh- I'm from 2-B just- over there-

( He shifts, angling himself to point down toward the east wing of the motel, which is notably completely dark-mode. Not a speck of power on that whole side of the building. )

Look, I'm gonna level with you.... when the power cut, my water cut off with it, and this is the first room that didn't sound like anybody was boning down freak-style. I just- I really need, like, five minutes in somebody's shower. You mind?

:)

[messenger]

[ did you mean: the last thing he ever expected to see? castiel hardly would have noticed if the power outage had affected him, since he had spent most of his time until very, very recently laying in the dark, staring at a cracked and molding ceiling that he could see just as well as if the lights were on. this is probably also why he isn't recognized in that first moment on opening the door.

castiel reaches over and flicks the light switch, which resolves into the image of a room and an angel both rather worse for wear.

castiel blinks. ]

No.

I don't mind.

:o

[righteously]

( Talk about the wildest jumpscare of all time — here he was talking to a shadowy doorway like a freaking idiot, lowkey trying to wrap his mind around why Weirdo McIpickedAbadRoom was standing there in utter darkness. This explains it pretty much instantly.

It also pretty much instantly brings along an entire slew of new questions, given the last he remembers seeing of Cas is the guy freaking disappearing from the middle of that clearing in Purgatory with naught but the flapping of wings, and he's been spending every waking moment trying to hunt him down — when not in constant combat with only Benny at his back keeping him from getting his throat ripped out.

In short, he has several, but he starts with: )

...Cas?

[messenger]

Hello, Dean.

[ it's been a while for him, too, though you couldn't exactly have called him awake for most of it. it would be difficult to explain what it's like to be the vessel of an angel to someone who hasn't experienced it, the liminal in-between of not-quite-conscousness, and he doesn't have any real motivation to try. what would it be? just excuses. he ran away, but he felt— still feels— it's the only worthwhile thing he can actually do for anyone.

has he changed at all in all this time?

castiel realizes he's staring. it's the first time in his life he actually does something about it. he steps back from the doorway to let dean inside. ]

Come in. [ that's what you're supposed to say, isn't it? ] This is, um. My room.

[ sure is, buddy. ]

[righteously]

( They move in tandem; Cas makes to step away from the door, Dean follows his retreating form not to pass by, but to stalk forward until he can wrap his fists in Castiel's overcoat, shoving him back until he's cornered against the wide, flat surface of the door.

Absolutely furious. )

Where the hell have you been?!

( The way he snarls it out, the look on his face, anybody with any common sense would think that he's angry — and he is.

But that's only because, as is always the case with Dean, anger is easier than admitting what he's really feeling. The deeper, harder emotions hide behind the simplicity that is lashing out like he's pissed off, but what he really is? Is worried. Concerned. Hurt. Left behind. He's been looking, he thought Cas might have been hurt, might be god damn dead for all he knew-

And he'd been praying. Every night. To a ghost. To the wind. To nothing, he's gotten nothing back, night after night.

Why? )

[messenger]

[ it's a little bit abrupt, all things considered. the startled expression that flashes across his face isn't something that even dean would be that familiar with, in the time he's from. but he lets dean corral him back against the door even in his shock, a hand half raised for— what? dean's bern furious with him on and off again the entire time they've known each other. all he can think now is that he's probably done something to deserve it.

the question is: what?

what did he do this time? ]

... Here?

[ strictly speaking, true. but probably not what dean is referring to. ]

[righteously]

What? ( Like it's the stupidest response in the universe. ) No, not- I'm not talking about now--

( And it's only now that the gears begin to turn. That a seed begins to plant itself in his mind, that it is watered, that it takes root and grows — something's off. He doesn't know what, just that it is. He's a man that has always been keenly perceptive of His People, innately in tune with them the way only a guy raised to walk on eggshells around the temper and impossible affection of a man he idolizes really can be. The list of people he's this aware of is small, but for the names on it, it's absolutely comprehensive.

Sam. Cas. Benny. In that order. He can tell when something isn't right with any of them, and something isn't right with Cas.

Slowly, bit by bit, his fists begin to unclench from Castiel's trench coat. Slowly, bit by bit in inches rather than force, he reels himself back to study Cas — to look at him, actually look at him.

He shouldn't have to say this, he shouldn't have to spell this out, but: )

Purgatory. You bailed on me, you took off, I've been trackin' your ass down for-...

( Weeks? Months? Time's been losing all meaning there; he can't remember eating or sleeping, only combat, only blood, only the washed-out ever-desaturated grey, only pure adrenaline. Always hunting, always hunted, and always searching. )

[messenger]

[ he watches dean watching him, eyes soft, a little sad. a fission of something buzzes just beneath his human skin, and burrows deeper. past the meat of his vessel, down into the true core of what he is. it's not quite fear, but a kissing cousin. a feeling that's become rather pervasive in a life once devoid of feeling entirely, and all the more intoxicating for that. he doesn't like being miserable, but dean always reminds him why he likes feeling nothing even less— his borrowed heart kicks when dean says the word purgatory, and it all slots into place.

no wonder dean is so upset.

it's good to see him, regardless. and to be seen by him.

castiel's fingers twitch, some human instinct to reach out smothered beneath his shame. instead, he lifts his hand and scratches the gauze still covering his temple, the dull ache relegated to familiar background noise. he doesn't move from his place pinned against the door. ]

I was running, [ he explains, with some amount of resignation, ] to draw the Leviathan away from you. I was like a beacon to them.

[righteously]

( Every emotion that runs through him is momentarily visible in his expression — the dawning comprehension, the understanding, the soft and terrible resignation of a protector being protected and thus failing at something he's only just realized he'd failed. That kneejerk instinct of I'd rather you stay and let me fight them with you, I don't give a crap if you're a beacon-

All of it muted just a little by that lingering concern, that sense of something being off that isn't explained by this Purgatory thing. It's something else. There's something else that's wrong.

But also- priorities here, right? Priorities — Cas is safe, Cas is alive, Cas didn't leave him — or at least, he didn't leave him because he wanted to, exactly. A step below that, the newest pile of bullshit to come to terms with: they're here, not home. Wherever here is.

His hands fall away from Castiel's coat entirely, finally, in a way that isn't defeated exactly, but close. )

You should've told me, man. You should've asked. We could've handled them together, we could'a figured something out.

[messenger]

I was afraid.

[ it's not something that he likes to admit, but he hadn't exactly been sane the moment they stepped into purgatory, for any definition of what sane is to an angel. even past that, he was afraid. the entire thing had been his fault. sometimes he thinks dean forgets that— forgot that, so caught up in the current crises that it slipped his mind the reason the leviathan were walking the earth was because of castiel. and, in turn, the reason why they were trapped in purgatory was also due to his actions. if dean had died there, it would have been his fault.

castiel has never let this weight go.

it doesn't occur to him that it might be better to move on, that perhaps his growth has been stunted by the heavy yoke of all this guilt. ]

... But you're right.

[ there was no point in running dean around when he'd just let dean catch him again in the end anyway. the entire thing had been an excise in futility— leave it to him to underestimate dean's stubbornness. he should've known better.

castiel looks down between them when dean lets go, immediately missing the weight of his hands and the warmth of his touch. his room is cold. he hasn't turned on the heater since he arrived. ]

[righteously]

( It's a profound and sincere moment that they're having here — which is a fun time to bring up the fact that it's happening with Dean clad solely in a bathrobe, his hair matted in shampoo-filled slowly-drying spikes. He's wearing hotel slippers instead of shoes. Truly, this alone undercuts just how serious he's being about this whole thing.

In any case, very few things deflate him faster than hearing the words you're right. Maybe because they're so rare; Sam, ever the contrarian, would sooner argue himself blue in the face half the time than admit it. John never, ever did. Cas is one of the only people consistently willing to concede that to him from time to time, ever since the beginning, ever since a quiet moment on a park bench in a town that would've otherwise gotten smote out of existence.

Not that he's always willing to give Dean this; they argue just as much as they don't, but it only makes the times Cas is willing to compromise all the more effective at deescalating him.

His shoulders soften and, after a lengthy, pregnant pause, he exhales a sharp puff of breath as he reaches out again, this time to grip the guy by the shoulders and reel him in to a furious, intent hug. It's a pretty solid contrast to his unhappy mutter of: )

Next time you pull some crap like this, I'm gonna deep-six your ass with a steel chair like Shawn Michaels.

[messenger]

[ the bathrobe, the shampoo-caked hair, doesn't that just add to the gravitas? castiel, of all people, is no stranger to being a little ridiculous. anyway, he's enjoying these particular details for reasons he really ought not to be, even more so when dean reels him in. angels aren't given to being tactile creatures, but castiel has been on earth for long enough to learn his longing. to feel it in the physicality of it, the tug on his gut like an embedded fishhook, the lacuna of his chest shocking in its emptiness. all the things he wants and can't have, wrapped up in a threadbare bathrobe.

so he expects and yet doesn't. it's happened already, once, under different circumstances. he wonders if dean is also surprised when, instead of remaining unmoved, like a carved wooden figurine, castiel returns the embrace. at first with hesitation, and then with the same furiosity. he digs his fingers into the terrycloth and, for a moment, doesn't let go.

it just goes on to make what dean says even funnier. it shouldn't. he feels terrible about all the things he knows he'll go on to do— things that dean seemingly has yet to experience. even if the closest he's ever gotten to trying to "deep-six" him was the awful stint with the purgatory souls.

if only he could do it all again, and do it right. ]

... Is that wrestling terminology?

[ it's mumbled, in a low rumble, with some amount of confusion into dean's ear. he likes the not-unfamiliar scent of hotel shampoo, and doesn't particularly want to pull away, but he supposes he'll have to. ]

[righteously]

( You're god damn right he's surprised. It's all adding up, one little detail after another, the teeniest tiniest red flags that are just off enough from his meticulously catalogued mental understanding of Cas, they might as well be converging into a blaring Kill Bill siren.

It's that last question that acts as the straw to break the camel's back, and he peels back abruptly, expression gone suspicious and just a touch accusatory. )

Why do you know that? You don't know that. Since when do you know jack about wrestling?

( These are the early days; these are the days before the Bunker. The days before he's managed to wrangle Cas into movie nights, or boring evenings in front of pay-per-view television. These are the days where the only media Dean can remember Cas ever watching is literally one single soft-core porn. )

What'd you do, get a Monday Night RAW subscription in Purgatory? What the hell?

[messenger]

[ castiel swallows down the shiver that slithers through his body at that last brush of skin, receding. he can't help but wear his disappointment, though he's a bit flattered, too. that dean knows him well enough for something so inconsequential to be the tip that tips him off. ]

Another angel... "caught me up" on pop culture some time ago.

[ but that isn't all there is to it, and frankly there's no point in hiding the truth when the young man calling himself his son is going around talking about it too. he meets dean's gaze. ]

In your future. It's been four years since our time in Purgatory, from my perspective.

[sawel]

[For better or worse, Rune does answer the door. It’s pretty clear that he’s just done his best to at least attempt to settle down for the evening. The little TV in the corner of the room is on playing god only knows what, honestly Rune didn’t even pay attention to what he’d tuned into he’d just wanted something making noise in the attempt to calm down the thoughts spiraling in his head. He’s made a little nest of blankets in the middle of the bed and a bag of takeaway food is perched in the middle of it although he’s about to come to the conclusion that it’s actually pretty hard to eat like that with one arm strapped up in a sling and relatively useless.

The last thing he’d expected when answering the door is a tall, berobed, belathered man attempting to charm his way into his shower. Here? Now? When he’s two seconds away from throwing himself a literal pity party? What a fucking cosmic joke.]

Uh. [He says. Eloquently. Questioning his life and his life’s choices and whether he’s about to get himself murdered because a handsome guy asked to use his shower and what would Brand say before he takes a step back and opens the door further.] Yeah, sure. No boning here, I’m afraid. Knock yourself out.