Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ The Sheep and the Hedgehog ❯ A Coffee Break ( Chapter 10 )

 

 

 

A Coffee Break

 

 

 

 

Now, back to the past, again…

 

A new star now occupied the center of all rumors and usual gossip that occurred during the coffee breaks of Capsule Corp. workers. Like usual, it had something to do with Doctor Briefs´ only daughter -- her new project, to be very specific. Not that it was something uncanny or out of common, coming from the Briefs that definitely would be normal. Actually, one of the strange points was the deceptive simplicity of the invention - it was just an outfit, which the workers couldn´t decide if it was a space suit or a swim suit. Despite that, the fact of Miss Bulma having pushed aside two projects nearest and dearest to her heart in favor of something apparently insignificant wasn´t exactly what emboldened the employees´ curiosity, either. It was typical that the heir of the famous inventor dropped her work anytime she pleased to watch a martial arts tournament or get into some fantastic adventure happening at the end of the world. It's only natural that the daughter of a millionaire like Doctor Briefs would act irresponsibly.

 

Not that Miss Bulma was a normal rich daddy's little girl. Rich girls typically strutted around with a bunch of bouncers and paparazzi on their toes. They appeared in every gossip magazine or social page of a newspaper worth reading, and in nightclubs, art galleries and other places considered sacred for high society. Daddies´ little girls worried their families to death by doing every sort of thing immoral or illegal, like posing naked for Playboy, collecting husbands and lovers or getting arrested for driving drunk or using drugs. The fact that Miss Bulma didn´t fit in the normal daddy´s little girl role was equally deceptive for both the people who liked and disliked her. Her defenders said that all this proved that she was “a good, honest woman” despite her temper, but deep down they felt a twinge of pity for her. And her haters lamented inwardly that they rarely had anything that could be embellished and turned into a delicious gossip story that would spread throughout all the company, receiving more embellishments as it traveled on its damaging mission. Well, as someone remembered, Miss Briefs had once gotten citations for driving too fast and insulting a policeman. However, that “point in favor” was received with a cold silence from both the parties. A secretary started babbling that Miss Briefs wasn´t such a saint, because some very reliable sources had told her that the spoiled heiress of the Briefs Empire had smoked marijuana while she was still a teenager and now consumed cocaine. But nobody even paid her attention.

 

It was her parents´ fault, the people concluded, shaking their heads. They never had changed their simple, common way of living even after Doctor Briefs became rich; that´s why their daughter was the way she was, disrespecting the confines of her social position and displaying eccentricities like adopting a very unladylike profession (a rich heir wasn't supposed to work and take the job of someone who´d really need it!) and bringing those odd, martial-arts lovers to her home.

 

Actually, the main cause of so much speculation about the project was the fact that the Briefs´ most recent guest was directly involved with it. The pointy-haired little man had been seen almost daily at the laboratory during the last two weeks.

 

Out of all the people their youngest employer had ever brought to Capsule Corp, he was the oddest and the most unpleasant, indeed. Nasty, boorish, always showing a mean, glaring face, he never spoke except to demand things or to insult Miss Briefs and her father. The female workers almost missed the shameless pig that used to peek under her skirts, though a few of them admitted that the stranger was attractive, in a rough way. There was a little polemic about the workers if he was or not her new boyfriend. Maybe he was the reason why she had finally dumped that baseball player. But a few veteran workers, who had known Bulma since she was a kid and actually liked her, dismissed that hypothesis. “Nonsense,” they said. “That Yamcha guy wasn´t man enough for her!” The only thing strange in all this was the fact that they had taken so long to split up. And neither of the two certainly didn´t need any help.

 

Besides, nobody would say that their blue-eyed mistress and the pointy-haired man were exactly fond of each other. Their arguments were far worse than the ones between Miss Briefs and her former boyfriend; she had made the point of tossing her cranky guest out of the laboratory twice, her roars echoing through the entire hallway up one side and down the other.

 

So, why he was admitted there? That was what many people asked. There was the suspicion that the mysterious little man had probably discovered a rotten secret of the Briefs and was blackmailing them to make him some inventions. There were some who bet that he was probably a CIA agent, due the rumors that claimed Capsule Corp´s involvement with extraterrestrials.

 

"Maybe he is an extraterrestrial himself,” someone joked.

 

"That´s perfectly possible, with that hair," an engineer laughed lightly. "The way that mop stands up defies every law of Physics. Not to mention the fact that he came along with Ms. Bulma and those funny green guys when she came back from space."

"Ms Briefs really was out in space?" marveled a young intern. Before the engineer could respond, however, the secretary who had made the drug use insinuation interrupted them.

 

"That´s something I still cannot believe," chided the young dark-haired woman, every word dripping with thinly disguised spite"That day a cockroach appeared in Miss Briefs room, you could hear her screams throughout the entire corporation. If she ran into a real alien, she certainly would have a heart attack!"

 

"The roach scared you, too, Sae,” remarked the intern, with a slight frown. Sae flashed him a derisive look, before tossing her hair behind her shoulders with a shrug.

 

"But I didn´t make a scandal like she did. Besides, you´ll have to agree with me that´s hard to picture Miss Bulma in a deserted place where there are no shopping centers, no ice-cream, no good-looking boys... and, especially, no beauty salons!"

A general laughing shook the walls of the hallways. Even the ones who liked their young employer couldn´t help, and many dropped all the cups of coffee they held. But, in a sudden instant, the laughs died down to be replaced for a dead silence, just when the triumphant Sae was opening her mouth again.

"I can´t picture any of you insects going out to space," snorted a voice at her back.

 

The secretary jumped and practically tossed herself on the intern´s arms, dropping hot coffee onto his once white immaculate shirt.

 

Vegeta was standing at the end of the hallway, his arms crossed and a disdainful smirk on his lips. Instantaneously, the workers backed away until they practically flattened against the walls, giving him passage, faster than the Red Sea when it opened its passage for the Jewish people. As if he had waited for that to happen, Vegeta strode calmly through the 'corridor' formed by them, making a beeline to the coffee machine. He picked up a plastic cup, then frowned like he was remembering something. Then he crushed the cup and tossed it away, nearly hitting the trash can. Turning away then, he crossed again the hallway 'paved' with frightened people.

 

"You´re just a bunch of stupid, good-for-nothing pieces of junk. None of you would last more than two minutes out on space. But maybe I should take your very reliable source with me on my next trip.” He said as he walked very close to Sae, who was again back to her feet. “I might need some second-class meat for bait," he concluded with a smirk.

 

The secretary gave a muffled squeal and run to shrink behind the intern, not wanting to know what that crazy man would want to catch with bait. However, the young intern was more curious than scared.

"Bait for what?" he ventured to ask.

 

Vegeta took a few more steps before responding, as if he had forgotten his own words, or even the presence of those people around him. Then, when he finally reached the end of the hallway he opened his mouth again.

"For the giant worms of Sulphur,” came his distant response. “They have no sense of taste at all, so they eat anything they find."

 

Sae let out a horrified shriek that echoed through the hallways, like following the retreating pointed-hair figure. When he finally disappeared around a corner, a relieved silence filled the coffee-break room. Just to be replaced again by a new, louder chorus of blablas and yadas.

 

“Who does he think he is?” “Did you hear? He called me second meat!” “He´s nutty!” “A psycho!” “He´s a beast!” “But Sae, you overdid it.” “Yeah, if he tells the mistress we might be fired!” “But where did he come from? Never heard him coming…”

 

Vegeta´s large forehead wrinkled with a frown, the sound was like nails scratching across clawing glass for him. It was a wonder that the old man and her daughter weren´t still ruined, with such morons working for them. Typical of low races, to compensate their own insignificance by gossiping against others. It was the same situation in Freeza´s quarters. Whispers echoed through the hallways in the background, just to silence whenever you came close enough to understand what was being said. Disgusting. Saiyajins didn´t waste their time with gossip, for the simple fact that they never bothered themselves into concealing their hatred for someone. Even when the target of your loathing couldn´t be insulted because it was a high rank or something alike, you always could give it hateful looks and other subtle shows of distaste.

 

“I hope she has finally finished those goddamn clothes,” he thought. “If I knew that would take so long, I would had gone away without them.” It wasn´t entirely truthful, deep down he knew, but these two last weeks had been quite frustrating in two senses. Kakarott and his bratty excuse for a son were far stronger now, and Vegeta was stuck at the same level for the last month. “Every time I advance a degree, he´s already four steps in front of me , damn him!” It was beyond his comprehension the fact that ditz received on a silver platter everything that cost Vegeta so much. And to increase his frustration further, his relationship with the woman hadn´t progressed, either.

 

If he had her as a lover, the prince reasoned, all the technology and riches of the Capsule Corp would be at his disposal, to not mention the most pleasant part. So, he had made the point of sacrificing almost daily at least one hour of his precious training to visit the laboratory. Since his planet had been destroyed one decade before he was old enough to have interest in the opposite sex, Vegeta was completely ignorant in terms of court and seduction _ and he didn´t believe the Saiyan techniques would work with Earth women, anyway. At the lack of other ideas, he hoped that the approximation caused by the project would soften the woman and she confessed her visible interest on him.

 

She hadn´t exactly softened, however. If anything, Vegeta´s presence in the laboratory had produced the contrary effect, initially. Despite her dedication and her father´s help, it hadn´t been that easy to produce a cloth and a rubber with similar capacities to the original ones, since they had to rely on the substances produced on Earth.

Bulma didn´t sleep at nights, and her customer´s little visits only increased her state of pressure.

 

“If you ask me one more time when it´ll be ready, I´ll burn all your clothes and you´ll have to train IN YOUR UNDERWEAR!!!” she roared the last time his face appeared through the door.

 

He had let her alone for a while after this. And, finally, father and daughter managed to produce some reasonable samples. However, that was just the first part of the job. They still had to perform some tests.

 

“Tests? For what reason?” Vegeta asked. He had been called to laboratory in private to receive the not so great news.

 

“To check the elasticity and resistance, and to see if they won´t cause allergic reactions in contact to your skin,” explained the old man. “And there´s ever the friction issue, too. You see,” he started when the Saiyan raised an interrogative eyebrow. “When you fly your body produces friction because of the air resistance. More friction you produce, more velocity you lose, no matter the amount of ki or whatever you guys use to fly. These tests are very expensive and can take months.”

 

The prince crossed his arms with a disdainful smirk.

” Pure waste of time. Why do you need that amount of tests if I can discover everything in a few minutes?”

 

The implication of those words caused Bulma to gape with a wide open mouth at him.

”You´re going to help us?” she asked in complete disbelief, as her eyes softened at him. Uncomfortable with the admiring sparkle in her blue gaze, he frowned and looked away.

 

“I´m not your lab rat. But without my help these clothes won´t be ready before the three years finish. Where are the rags I must wear?”

 

If he only knew … Vegeta had just expected to wear the clothes and train at his usual manner. Not to run on a treadmill with lots of wires hanging from his chest to relay his heart beating, blood pressure and whatever (what for, he didn´t understand). Or swimming in a pool or flying in a thing Earthlings called a “wind tunnel”, always wearing the blasted wires. There was some testing in the gravity chamber, too, of course, but the constant monitoring and supervising was leaving him unglued. Vegeta never imagined he would be capable of such patience.

 

Fortunately, there were a few compensations. Since his agreement in helping them with the tests, the attitude of the two scientists was changing. The old doctor no longer saw him as another of his daughters´ crazy friends, and was finally treating him with some respect. He had made a point of offering Vegeta a job in his company _as if that was a great honor! But the main changes were happening in Bulma. Her good humor had gradually come back, she smiled more frequently, now. Vegeta never thought he would miss her maddening good humor until now. She hadn´t showed any signs to encourage further advances, though, but he was now optimistic enough to think that was a matter of time.

 

And the best thing of all - the coffee break. Probably one of the rare Earth customs he could bear. Vegeta had grown to like coffee, during his staying at Capsule Corp, especially after he learned a cup of coffee helped after a hard session of training. Besides, Bulma always had a plate with cookies or cupcakes at hand- two plates, after Vegeta had joined the team.

 

The first thing he noticed when he entered the laboratory was the absence of the plate of cookies. Instead, there was a big tray bearing a large chocolate cake. The table that bore the contents was covered with a nice lacy cloth. He smirked. Not bad. Or it would be `not bad', if the damned thermos bottle they used for coffee was around. Instead, there was one of those metal contraptions that crowded the kitchen, they could make anyone mad before you learned how they worked. Probably one of that blasted woman´s tricks to make him tick( do you mean ticked off or what made him tick?) ! As Vegeta scowled at the metallic monsters, he noticed one thing that hadn´t seen before. The room was filled with colorful, see-through things of funny forms hanging from the walls. Forgetting his anger, he took a few steps closer in order to see that better. He reached out and picked up one of the strange fruit-like things in his hand. “Odd…looks like animal organs, but they´re filled with air,” he thought, as he squeezed the thing between his thumb and the index finger.

 

POP! The object exploded right in his face. Almost instantaneously, a shocked squeal was heard at his back.

 

An outraged “hey” coming from backwards caused him to whirl around.

 

“You´re not forced to like the balloons, but don´t destroy them!” Bulma admonished as she dodged a metal closet to stride towards the prince.

 

“Balloons?” Vegeta echoed dumbly, still stunned at the explosion of the mysterious thing. Completely caught off- guard, he couldn´t disguise an admiring look. During the last two weeks he had seen Bulma wearing lab coats or baggy coveralls with sneakers. But now she wore a short cherry red dress that hugged her nicely, with matching shoes. Her wavy hair was combed neatly behind and tied back with a navy-blue ribbon. Slowly, she strode towards him, not disguising the satisfaction caused by the effect of her appearance over him. Irritated by realizing he had betrayed himself, Vegeta glared at her.

 

“What is all that junk for?” he snarled.

 

She didn´t seemed the least affected by his boorishness.

 

“I just decided making something special to celebrate your new uniform. Cake?” she offered.

 

“No. I want coffee. Where´s that blasted thermos bottle?”

“We don´t need that anymore. Daddy and I decided it would be more practical installing a coffee machine at the lab, instead,” Bulma stated as she reached forward to grab a plastic cup and pushed a few buttons to show Vegeta how the contraption worked. “It makes more than eighty types of cappuccino," the young woman added as a hose filled her plastic cup with the dark liquid. She slowly held the cup at her nose to hum in ecstasy at the smell. “Nuts with “.

 

Vegeta grimaced at the smell.

 

“I drink coffee, not perfume. Does that contraption have something that smells and tastes like coffee?”

”Sure.” Bulma just said patiently as she pointed at the proper button “Here.”

 

She no longer jumped in fury every time that Vegeta was rude. Probably because he never behaved in another way, and to fight the whole time to him for every particle of insult didn´t worth the stress, Bulma had started to ignore most of his provocations. She never had showed such patience to any other person, and that change was gradual but mostly subconscious from her. And although Bulma herself would take many years to realize that, her friends would notice it much sooner. They always would wonder what could have produced such a miracle.

 

Despite Vegeta´s attempts to keep his stoic façade, his relief in receiving the `normal' coffee was so visible that the young woman laughed.

 

“My, you´re really became a coffee addict. Funny, Goku never liked it. He called it `bitter soup' “, she observed.

 

“I´m a genuine Saiyan. Don´t compare me to Kakarott, I already told you that.” Vegeta snapped as he stuffed his mouth with sandwiches. For the millionth time Bulma felt grateful for having become used to Goku´s manners at table through the years, or to live with Vegeta would have been much more difficult. True that he munched with his mouth closed and didn´t talk sputtering, like Goku did.

 

“It´s difficult to not make comparisons, since both you are the only Saiyans I had the opportunity to meet. Besides Goku´s brother”. She added, with a slight shudder.

 

Vegeta gulped more coffee to send the rest of the food down.

 

“Where´s the old man? “ he demanded as he glanced around.

 

“Daddy had to go out because of an unexpected call. Business stuff. Poor him, he wanted to stay and see you try the uniform!” despite her words, Bulma´s tone made it clear she didn´t feel any sorry for her fathers´ absence. It was obvious that she was happy to be alone with the rambunctious prince. That made him confused… and a little disturbed, too.

 

The food, the absurd decoration, even Bulma´s looks made him feel uncomfortable, giving him a feeling like the ones he had in the old days, when he felt an enemy upcoming or suspected of a trap. It was exactly what that looked - a trap, although a tiny part of his mind mocked him, saying he was paranoid. The laboratory walls seemed to close claustrophobically around him, just like in one of his nightmares; it was incredible that he could stand that place for so long. Well, that was no longer necessary.

 

“I don´t know why,” he said, slamming the cup coffee down on the table. “Let´s finish with that. I´m not here for a social visit.”

“Direct like always,” Bulma sighed “Allright, then.” She should know better than to waste her time preparing a special environment for that moment. Men were quite insensitive to this kind of thing. Reaching into her pocket, she found a small capsule.

 

“Back off!” she yelled before reaching forward and tossing the object down. The typical “puff” of smoke happened, to reveal a mannequin wearing a new, complete Saiyan battle uniform. Despite having followed closely the process of making it, Vegeta was impressed. To see the work ready, in its definitive look, was quite different from the experimental models he had wore during his `collaboration'. In the first place, those ones were usually opened, sleeveless tanktops, while the prototype had long sleeves and was closed on its neck.

 

The cloth clung nicely to the dummy, like silky blue-royal paint. It was light and soft, but as resistant as a battle cloth could be in battle, and produced very little friction in contact to air, which would give Vegeta more velocity when he would fly. All that he already knew. What really caught his attention was the design of the armor. The very important piece had been subject of many discussions and arguments from the Briefs. Both father and daughter agreed that the shoulder and legs protectors of the traditional armor used by Freeza´s soldiers weren´t much aerodynamic and not practical at all, because they broke too easily. The old man thought the armor should be a replica of the old, simple model Vegeta wore when he was admitted at Capsule Corp, but Bulma said it was “ugly”. The main interested at the subject preferred not give his opinion, mumbling that was up to them. The appearance of the thing didn´t matter to him. Or at least he thought that way.

 

The new armor had no shoulder or leg protectors. Like the old armor, it was simple, but it was far more elegant. It was made in yellow and white rubber, pending from the shoulders with two articulated straps. A strange feeling of déjà vu washed over him.

 

“I am a genius or not? “ bragged Bulma, satisfied with the Saiyans´ loss of words. She expected Vegeta would be impressed, but not that much.

 

Slowly, the prince walked towards the mannequin. He held out both hands to touch the armor and ran his fingers over the soft rubber, like he was caressing it.

 

“Why did you make the armor like that?” he demanded, a little more harshly than he actually meant.

 

“I… it seemed the ideal solution for me, since you didn´t like that old model from your black uniform. It was really ugly.” the young woman responded, a bit of defensively.

 

“That is the same style of armor the soldiers of my father wore when I was a brat.”

 

Bulma´s lips opened in a oval as she let out a shocked gasp. “I didn´t know that…” she murmured, reaching out a hand to cover her gaping mouth. Vegeta, however, was already busy at the task of stripping the dummy from its outfit, dismembering the doll at the process. His Earth clothes were dropped quickly and naturally. Throughout the period of tests, he had gotten used to change in front of Bulma, whenever her father wasn´t present. “Don´t be a hypocrite,” he sneered whenever the outraged inventor protested at his lack of decorum and respect in front of a lady. “You saw much more than that, from my showers in the first place.” After many fruitless arguments, Bulma decided to turn the tables and began to stare openly at him, instead. That made Vegeta clench his teeth and use his whole strength to not blush, for the situation had been caused by him in the first place. But he barely felt her presence now.

 

As the soft cloth brushed his bare skin, his mind was assaulted by old, long-buried memories. Until coming to live at Capsule Corp, he never had worn anything but this. He pulled his head through the armor. His father´s soldiers had wore identical torso armor before the Icejins improved it with shoulder and leg protectors. It seemed strangely fit that now he was wearing a copy of the original armor.

 

It´s almost as if I have regained a part of my pride.

 

The thought raised the corners of his mouth in a half-disdainful smirk. That was silly, of course. There was too much to be done before he could actually regain his pride and his honor. Still, at that moment he felt a sort of strange euphoria running through his entire body, like if part of his old self was coming back to life. He was a Saiyan again, dressed like a prince of his race and not like a mere Earthling, or even like a lackey of Freeza. Those clothes had been made especially for him. His dream of becoming a Super Saiyan no longer seemed that far off.

 

Suddenly it occurred him that perhaps he could actually have turned Super Saiyan during his battle with Freeza, if he hadn´t turned yellow and broken down. The remembrance of his own impotent tears in face of the lizards´ immensurable power still caused his guts to squirm in shame, in such a way that he felt sick.

 

I allowed him to kill me. I should have keep fighting, instead of letting him beat me until I no longer could move. Perhaps, if I had used my power beyond the limit…

 

A new glint gave life to his eyes. That could be crazy… but there was no better explanation for the Super Saiyan miracle.

 

Unaware of Vegeta´s realizations, Bulma let herself stand in the background, her arms resting on a table and receiving part of her weight as she watched lovingly the Saiyan appreciating her gift at the point of forgetting the rest of the world. Yamcha had that same look in his face whenever he bought (or gained from her) a new aircar. Like a kid with his new toy, that was the expression used by her mother.

 

Despite all the stress and pressure that had been over her head during those last two weeks, Bulma felt a little regret for finishing the project. She had no illusions at all; she knew that as soon as Vegeta would have his new uniform he no longer would come back to the laboratory until he need more training robots or something like that. Perhaps he even would go back to space. She had thought about inventing excuses to delay the delivering of the outfit, like improving the armor or something, but Vegeta was already too impatient, and it would be dangerous if he realized that she was purposely beating around the bush. Who would guess I could miss someone so nasty… true that Vegeta is not nasty the whole time. , she mused, I didn´t even imagine that he was able to talk without putting up a fight.

 

During the long tests, Bulma always talked and talked to him. She chatted only because she was sick of not having anyone else to speak with beside her obnoxious parents. So, she kept talking about everything that came to her mind: her work, her worries about the future and the adventures of her teenagerhood, not caring if he was paying attention or not. To her surprise, Vegeta started to talk back - he actually talked, not told her to shut up or insulted her by purpose. And he also started forming questions. He, whom never had shown any interest about another living being since he had arrived to Earth, started asking her about how she had met “Kakarot”. Most likely to know if his rival had some weak points, but since there was nothing in her information he could use for harm, Bulma didn´t care about responding. But what really surprised her was his sudden interest regarding Earth science.

 

Besides her father and some of his friends, occasionally, Bulma never had anybody else to discuss about science and technology with, or anything else that had to do with her work. Practically all her friends belonged to the violent world of fighting, of ki and spiritual force, things that were beyond her comprehension. They were masters of these things, but none of them was able to fix a pocket radio. Vegeta was a fighter, too, but, unlike the Z warriors, he had grown up in a world of high technology. Even though he was not particulary interested in science, he was able to understand most of Bulma´s and Dr. Briefs´ complex explanations, and even was able to make intelligent remarks. It was funny for the blue-haired woman to see him raising his eyebrows at his shock and surprise caused by the capacity of Earth technology. One year ago, he had supposed they were primitive.

 

The lab will feel so empty without him… well, maybe he´ll come sometimes to get the coffee, Bulma thought wistfully as she stared at the Saiyan´s handsome features. A wrinkle appeared in his large forehead and his smile faded into a frown, clearly indicating he was thinking of something unpleasant. What a shame. Vegeta always looked so attractive whenever he smiled, especially because it was so rare he actually smiled, not smirked.

 

If he smiled more frequently, like that, I could even think about dating him. As if he would. She tried to imagine herself walking hand by hand with the crotchety prince, in a park, a mall, any of the places that she and Yamcha used to go. The image was so impossible that Bulma reached out to cover her mouth and muffled a laugh. Vegeta´s entire body immediately went tense, like he had been abruptly awakened from his thoughts. He turned his head and shot her a glare over his shoulder.

 

“Nice work, isn´t it?” Bulma asked proudly. “Even your people wouldn´t have done it as perfectly.”

 

He shrugged off her words with a snort.

 

“Don´t be stupid. Of course they would. But I must admit that I didn´t believe that you Earthlings would be able to reproduce our complex technology. That surprised me.”

 

“I think that´s the closest I´ll have to a compliment,” Bulma sighed resignedly. Even that was a miracle, coming from him. But Vegeta obviously had indicated the discussion was over. He strode silently towards the door. Bulma called from him to make him stop.

 

“You´re going to try your new clothes in the… gravity room?” she almost trailed off, practically forcing the last two words to go out, when she wanted to ask” in outer space?”

 

He frowned at her for several moments. Part of him demanded him to leave without any rejoinders. Nothing that he did was her business. But another part, very recent and that he tried by all ways to ignore, reminded him that he already owed too much to that woman. He let out a grudging snort.

 

“I´m going to get back what Kakarott has taken from me. That was supposed to be obvious.” He said.