.hack//The Rising of the Wave
A fanfiction by Sargent Snarky
Genre: General
Rating: T / PG 13 for mild language, thematic elements, etc.
Summary: A novelization of the games. Nothing more. Nothing less. Kite is, of course, the central character.
Spoilers: Not if you take it as you play the game. If you haven't played the games and you skip to the, like, fifty seventh chapter, of COURSE there'll be spoilers, but if you just read it as you play the game or something like that, then there won't be.
Note: Although I will in many instances be taking thing directly from the games, in conversations, descriptions, et cetera I take artistic license, so it won't be exactly like the games.
THIS CHAPTER DEDICATED TO: A.P.Z.A.E. for being the only person to attempt much less be remotely correct on my one trivia question about the book that Bear wrote.
The answer is: Annwyn Side Story
You can find this out by watching a certain episode ( I don't remember which one) in .hack//SIGN. New Trivia Questions will follow the chapter.
This chapter is also dedicated to Melody of Shadow, 'cause you finally updated "Stray Child", and I love you all the more for it! (Now maybe you'll get around to writing a third chapter? –grins hopefully-) For everyone not MoS, go read it! It's good! (and yes, it's in the .hack games genre…)
( By the way, Chessa, I may be stealing Balmung's tuna-loving cat later on in this fic. I hope you don't mind. ;D )
Chapter VI
Kite had been in Boundless Corrupted Fort Walls only a few seconds when Mia's voice resounded in his headphones. However, in those few moments, he'd ample opportunity to view what sort of field this was, and it was not a heartening sight. It was another corrupted field, all splotched with raw data patches, the air spotted with drifting lines of code, but from what little structure remained, Kite decided that it must've once been a field of the same general type as the one he'd early visited with Piros. It was nighttime in the field, and the dim lighting, cast by the full moon, hanging low over distant purple mountains, gave the whole area a rather ashy look, as though it'd been burnt with a cold grey fire. As it was night, there were, of course, insects chirping. However, for every few normal cricket noises came an abnormal metallic sound, a quiet screech.
"Hi," began Mia's voice, friendly enough, though full of mystery. The way she spoke, it always sounded as though she had a secret that she was about to tell. "I've been waiting for you. Actually, I'm also interested in your bracelet. Thanks for coming. I'm at the lowest level of the dungeon… You can make it here, can't you?"
Kite blinked, a bit surprised, but he recovered quickly and asked, "How do you know about Data Drain?"
"Well," she began, sounding as though she were smiling or perhaps holding back laugher. "It's hard to say."
And then she was silent. The vocal link was severed.
So, Kite looked around, seeking the nearest magic portal. Despite the anticipated pain and duress a battle would bring, the twin blade was curious as to what sorts of monsters lurked here. Thus, tentatively, he ran towards the nearest portal.
With a flash and the usual flickering fade-out, the portal dissolved to reveal two Fiend Menhirs. To Kite, they looked nothing more than large, bounding, purple statues, roundish with wide, toothy grins and blue tattoos. And, to Kite, they also looked like a long fight.
Immediately, one hopped towards him, making the ground around it tremble with each thudding impact. However, as Kite moved swiftly to attack it (while the other monster kept its distance), the creature halted, then turned, running after it had received a few blows. It led Kite on a merry chase as the twin blade whittled away at its hit points. The twin blade did not escape without injury, for the thing swatted itself at him several times, but it wasn't too terrible. Strangely, Kite felt as though he were growing used to the pain. He didn't know if that was a good thing, though.
Eventually, he'd worn the stone behemoth down sufficiently that the Protect Break symbol appeared in his vision. However, he ignored it and kept plugging away until the stone beastie fell. Much to his horror, though, immediately afterwards, with an animation of glowing feathers, the creature rose, again, it's hit points completely full.
"No! What am I supposed to do, now?" Kite wondered aloud, as he glanced towards the other Fiend Menhir, who'd cast the resurrection spell.
His time for wondering was cut short by the monster swatting him, though, so Kite merely commenced the same pattern of chase and whittle as before. This time, when the Protect Break symbol appeared, however, Kite stepped back, took a deep breath, and activated the bracelet. He sucked his breath in sharply at the stinging pain upon his wrist, but he held firm as the data drain commenced in all its glowing wonder. Thankfully, or at least Kite considered it worthy of thanks, this process, when performed upon a creature that was not a data bug, didn't hurt nearly so much, though it still was not a comfortable thing by any means.
When the shimmering pulses of light faded and the bracelet collapsed again, a tiny creature and an item – a Wind Axe, made from the excess data, apparently – were all that was left. The tiny thing was labeled a Wiggle Snake, and it let out a terrified squeal before scampering away (though it wasn't terribly fast) as best it could. Kite ignored it and ignored the Axe (resting, now, in his inventory) in favor of taking care of the remaining Fiend Menhir, though this one he was able to dispatch without the aid of Data Drain.
With that monster gone, Kite also ended the existence of the Wiggle Snake, as it hadn't wandered too far out of reach. And then, he stopped to open the random treasure chest, as well as to ponder. He pulled the Wind Axe from his inventory and examined it, puzzling over this new use he had found for the infernal bracelet and its awful, peculiar power.
But, he didn't let himself ponder for long. Mia was waiting, after all. So, after gazing at his corner map, Kite started towards the dungeon (a tall, dreary, data spotted tower), then made his way down, into the abyss…
In the entrance room stood an Administrator NPC, silent until Kite approached, at which point the NPC stated: "Thank you for playing The World. This area is currently unstable and not functioning properly due to corrupted data configurations. Please return to the field immediately and Gate Out to the town."
Kite sighed. Not this, again! But, he couldn't go back. He had to go to the bottom of the dungeon and meet this Mia… find out what she knew, if she would tell him. So, of course, he completely ignored the administrator and went right by the NPC, into the first room.
It was a large square room, rather bland and dull, though it contained four doors (one on each wall) and a single portal. Since the doors immediately shut upon Kite's entrance, he ran forward to activate the portal. Out of it came three monsters: Two Dust Curses – more of the sword-wielding-a-dagger sort – and a swarm of Bees.
The Dust Curses were easy enough to deal with, as their attacks were easy to dodge, and they moved relatively slowly. The Bees, on the other hand, were an utter nuisance. Since there was a large group of them, they were difficult to avoid at best, and they frequently cast a poisoning spell on Kite. So, he spent the fight feeling rather woozy, as well as developing an appreciation for insect repellant and citronella candles. He found himself wondering if they could be bought in any of the root towns.
Eventually, after a bit of wandering and treasure-collecting (and the activation of a Symbol that gave Kite Ap Corma), Kite found the stairs downward, so downward he went. The second level introduced a new enemy in the first room with portals. A Shield Man was a knobby goblin-gargoyle-demon sort of creature, wielding a creepy-faced shield and a weapon. The oddest thing about them, though, was that they floated.
However, Kite didn't really bother to reflect on their oddities, but simply tried to end the battle as quickly as possible, because those weapons HURT. A lot. Kite wasn't so numb to the pain, yet, that he wouldn't mind a beating or two. He did, however, take the time to appreciate the sparse portal distribution in this dungeon as he made his way down to the third level.
He had only made a few steps into the first room when Mia's voice once again spoke in his ear, though he didn't see her anywhere around: "So, what do you think? Do you think the area is really corrupted? The truth is, for something to be born, something must break. The same applies to humans. Do you understand what I mean?"
Kite blinked, but didn't respond. Yet, there was no need to, for Mia once again broke the connection.
The twin blade made his way through another short floor and down to the next, where Mia's disembodied voice once more addressed him: "You came here to find the secret of the bracelet, but you don't quite trust me," she said, a touch of amusement in her voice.
Kite lifted an eyebrow, mouthing a 'no, really?' to himself.
"The world does not consist of only 1s and 0s. It allows the existence of areas between Yes and No. Humans are interesting, aren't they?"
Kite wondered why she said 'humans' as though she weren't one. But, it soon slipped his mind as he pondered, instead, why she was speaking these assorted thoughts aloud to him.
A brief time later, and he had arrived on the fifth floor. This time, he was not greeted with any words of wisdom (or folly – Kite wasn't sure which they were, yet) from the enigmatic Mia, giving him the sense that maybe this was the lowest floor. He hoped it was. Dungeon delving, after all, wasn't what he was here for.
He went straight forward, into another large, square room containing a single portal. Kite hesitated, and in that moment of hesitation, Mia spoke.
"Go closer to that magic portal."
Kite obliged, but the monster, which popped out, was not what he expected, for it was a Data Bug. It was very large and looked roughly like a batty, slightly dragonic butterfly or moth. Whatever colors it was meant to be were hidden and marred by the data patches, for it was scaly with the infection. Immediately entering a highly defensive mode, Kite wondered if this was all a trap, orchestrated by Mia simply for the purpose of… he didn't know what.
"Now," Mia commanded, eagerly, "show me the power of that bracelet!"
Fortunately or unfortunately, Kite had no opportunity to ponder, for the monster swooped towards him, belching fire and swinging its long tail. The fire burned, of course, and the tail stung where it struck him, but Kite soon picked up on the creature's attack pattern and was able to avoid most of the hits. Those that still connected were easily taken care of with his hefty supply of Health Drinks.
It took some time of chipping away, but eventually Kite's hard work was rewarded with the vision of a polygonal bubble shield appearing and shattering. The creature's protection was broken, and Kite could now perform Data Drain. Therefore, he did so.
It hurt horribly, as expected, given that this was an actual virus-infected monster, but Kite held back the usual shout of pain that threatened to burst forth, emitting little more than a whimper between clenched teeth. When the bracelet collapsed upon itself again, Kite found, in his hand, another virus core, this one a Virus Core M.
When the static surrounding the monster dissipated, a Red Wyrm was left behind. It had Fire Tolerance and eight hundred some hit points, but, as its attack patterns were exactly the same as its Data Bug counterpart, Kite found it relatively easy to beat, so long as he was cautious. As the HP neared zero, the protect break occurred again, but Kite refrained from data draining it a second time, instead merely focusing upon killing it.
As the final blow was delivered, and the monster collapsed, turning grey and fading, Mia spoke from behind him: "So that's the Data Drain. I've never seen it before."
Kite spun around to face both her and the wavemaster who'd accompanied her earlier. Elk, as was his name, was standing a bit behind and to the side of her, gazing first at Kite, then at Mia, then back again, expression inscrutable, save for a tad of confusion.
Kite, meanwhile, was both shocked and a bit angry at Mia for tricking him like this. "What?" he demanded. "What do you mean by that!"
Mia sighed, though her knowing smirk remained. "Are you angry?" She blinked. "I just wanted to know the extent of your power. If you were too weak, there would be no point in teaching you how to hack the gates."
"Hack gates?" Kite inquired, a bit puzzled.
"You just drained a virus core. That talent comes in handy if you know what you're doing. Virus corse, you see, are the key to breaking through protective barriers. Of course, virus cores are useless to those who don't have the bracelet."
Kite wondered how the hell Mia knew all of this, whether she herself was a hacker. Elk, meanwhile, looked a bit surprised, too, and a bit… jealous?
"I'll show you how to hack the gates," offered Mia. "Come to the Chaos Gate." The smile widened a bit. "I enjoyed watching the Data Drain."
Then, she pulled out a Sprite Ocarina, and Elk did likewise. Kite stared at where they'd been for a few moments, while he considered what to do. In the end, though, he decided to just go along for now, and he pulled out one of his own. When he arrived in the field, outside the dungeon, Mia and Elk were already gone. So, Kite gated out.
0 0 0 0 0 0
Mac Anu
0 0 0 0 0 0
Mia and Elk were waiting, leaning against one of the nearby columns of the courtyard surrounding the ever-spinning Chaos Gate. The cat-player smiled and nodded to Kite as he approached them. Elk watched coolly.
"First, add us to your party. Then, we will go to the gate," Mia instructed.
So, after receiving their member addresses, Kite sent the invites, and within seconds, Mia and Elk were in his party. Mia nodded and strode closer to the Chaos Gate, gesturing to it with an outstretched hand.
"Ok," she began. "Enter the keyword for a protected Area. It should, if you let the bracelet do its work, open the menu to hack the gate. You do know the keyword for a Protected Area," she added as a statement, rather than a question. "It was posted on the Board. The keywords are: (delta) Closed, Oblivious, Twin Hills."
Kite followed her up to the Chaos Gate and activated it, opening the field selection menu. Then, he entered the keywords. As before, once he selected the option to warp there, a beeping sounded in his ears and the message flashed: "Protected Area: Access Denied."
Unlike before, however, Kite didn't turn and run as the bracelet twitched and flickered. Instead, he lifted his arm up, holding the bracelet between him and the Chaos Gate. The bracelet didn't expand, instead merely flashing in resonance with the Chaos Gate. A moment later, in front of Kite's hand, appeared a small cross of sorts, crystalline, but strangely flat. On one of the four prongs were two identical slots, missing shards, it seemed. Adjacent to that particular prong was an M followed by 02, and all of this seemed to make up its own peculiar menu.
As Kite stared at it in confusing, Mia spoke: "See? You need Virus Cores," she said, pointing to the slots. "Check the gauge to see the type and number of virus cores you need to hack the gate. If you have all of the necessary virus cores, you can fill the gauge and hack the gate. After hacking the gate, though, the virus cores you used will be gone, and, once you've hacked a gate, that area will be open to anyone. Do you understand?"
Kite nodded, eyes fixed upon the gate hacking menu. He added the two Virus Core Ms to the cross from his inventory. They flashed briefly in their slots before blending completely into the cross, which itself flashed. A message saying COMPLETE appeared plastered over it in yellow.
What happened next was completely unexpected… at least for Kite. His bracelet twitched again, then expanded fully, all five blue prongs straightening into a strange star, while the smaller green 'scales' around his wrist shifted and twirled a little. It jerked Kite up into the air, forcing him to jump, and his ears were filled with silence as all sounds died away. Mac Anu faded from his vision as a portal rift to open up, allowing him a view of a tunnel of nothing but data, and it was into this tunnel he was pulled by the bracelet.
The moment he entered, the world around him flickered black and white for a brief instant, and then the portal closed behind him, leaving him seemingly trapped within a vertical tunnel of rushing white noise and data. 1s and 0s floated by in steady streams, while other, more complex codes braided themselves in between.
In this tunnel, Kite was suspended by the bracelet, whose longer and shorter arms folded down to form a sort of cone shape; this then pulled Kite up and through the river of data. Then, abruptly, the bracelet began to collapse completely, and Kite alighted in a crouch upon an invisible platform of some kind. Another rift opened in front of him, and he was pushed towards it, even as the bracelet completely contracted. So, he leapt forward and landed in the formerly protected field.
It was, in terms of weather, time of day and background noises, much the same as the field he'd gone through to meet Mia in the first place. Raw patches of data splattered everything, and the white lines of code floated through the air like alien fireflies. The distant bits of scenery, however, were different than the previous field, but Kite didn't take the time to actively study the field. Instead, he waited for Mia and Elk.
And he didn't have long to wait at all – mere seconds before the pair appeared next to him, amid the more traditional three golden rings. Elk looked around, his expression unreadable, and Mia merely looked satisfied, an odd little smile curving her lips - that smile that was always there, a product of her catlike face.
"There must be some kind of secret in these protected areas," she stated, looking sidelong at Kite. "That's why they lock them, right?"
Kite didn't reply, but merely looked back at her, perhaps thinking about her or about this field or perhaps nothing at all. Regardless, he, Mia and Elk stood for a few moments in silence before Kite got the hint (via a meaningful look from Mia) that he was supposed to take the lead. So, he did, leading them towards the distant dungeon.
Along the way, they encountered a portal, which dissolved to reveal a Red Wyvern. Though Kite and Mia sprang forward, immediately on the offensive, Elk hung back, casting La Repth as it was needed. The battle was easily won, so long as they were careful to dodge the flames (something Kite made sure to do, as he wasn't keen on revealing his unfortunate sensory connection at this time). However, Mia's attacks, Kite found, were much weaker than his own, and when he checked the party stats, he was surprised to see that both of his companions has much lower levels, Elk being level three and Mia level five.
How then, Kite wondered, had they ever managed to get to the bottom of the last dungeon without getting killed? For this he had no answer (except that maybe they were very good at avoiding portals), so he dismissed the train of thought to the back of his mind.
Anyway, they presently reached the dungeon and went within. Through the first door, they reached a room with one portal, whence emerged a Scorpion Tank. Kite stared at the thing in awed wonder for a moment, as it truly was a bizarre and frightening creature (as opposed to the sillier ones, like goblins). It was a huge thing, something akin to a cross between a catapult and a cart, with large spiky wheels and a scorpion sort of tail and beady eyes.
The monster glared at them before lunging forward with its tail, seeking to impale any one of the three players before it. So, said three players scattered in three directions, hurrying to get behind the creature before it could lunge again. Then, they assumed the battle strategy of before: Kite and Mia pounded at the thing, while Elk hung back to administer healing, though this time he did contribute one or two fire spells, as the monster was of the water element.
It was a bit harder for Kite to avoid taking damage this go around, but at least he'd grown much better at hiding any signs of pain since he'd first received the bracelet. Nevertheless, every time he was struck, Mia would give him an odd little glance, and Kite couldn't help but wonder if she knew. She couldn't have, of course, but that didn't stop him from wondering.
Anyway, at last the battle was over, Elk healed them up, and they moved on. Funnily, this was the only portal on this top floor, so it wasn't long before they moved don to floor two, whose only portal held a Red Wyrm. This beastie was readily disposed of, and presently they'd reached the third floor.
They moved straight down a corridor and into a large square room, which contained a single spinning portal. Mia stopped for a moment, so Elk and Kite did, too, looking at her questioningly.
"If you approach certain magic portals," she said, "Data Bugs will show up." Kite thought that was a rather obvious point, but he did not mention such. "If you Data Drain those bugs," Mia continued, eyes never leaving Kite's wrist, "you can get virus cores from them. There has to be a reason why you have that bracelet." She had seemed to be talking to herself up to this point, but now she looked up, into Kite's eyes with disconcerting intensity. "You will go there to find out the reason, right?"
Kite blinked, glancing down at his wrist, then to the portal. "The reason why I have this bracelet?"
Elk looked between Kite and Mia with a frown, but he didn't say anything. Neither, in fact, did Mia. Instead, the three of them approached the portal.
From it emerged a large mound shaped thing, covered in the signature sickly green glowing splotches all Data Bugs seemed to possess. It looked like a giant turtle, but with a large conical shell, instead of the flatter dome variety turtles generally had. Kite and Mia approached it a bit warily, unsure of its tactics or the best manner of dealing with it.
After a few moments, though, they approached it, slashing at its head (which seemed to be as good a place as any). A moment later, it reared on its hind legs, balancing for a moment before suddenly slamming heavily down into the ground and into Kite and Mia. That hurt considerably, and it also knocked the pair of them back. It took Kite a moment or two to recover and get back to his feet, whereas Mia was up in an instant, looking curiously at him, again. Elk cast his spell, and the pair of warriors soon went back into the fray.
This time, instead of repeating its earlier attack, the monster hopped slightly and spun around quickly, knocking Kite and Mia aside with its heavy stone legs, spread wide and stiff. Again, Mia was up almost instantaneously, while Kite took a few moments to regain his wind and stand up.
At last, however, after much whittling, in Kite's eyes, the orb formed about the creature and shattered, breaking its protection and leaving it quite open for a data drain. So, Kite leapt back, out of the direct line of fire and shouted for Mia to move aside. She complied, and then Kite drained the thing, biting his lip hard to keep from shouting or groaning or making any of the noises he usually did when confronted with the pain of data draining.
In his hand, after the draining, Kite found that he'd received a Virus Core N. With it safely in his inventory, he looked up to behold the resultant, corruption-free monster: a Stone Turtle. With some help from a wood-based spell from Elk, Mia and Kite finished the creature off as quickly as they could, and eventually it fell, turning grey and fading from the landscape.
They stood, gazing at it for a few moments before turning to leave the room. Mia watched Kite's wrist with her peculiar, unblinking gaze, while Elk trotted along behind, looking thoughtful. Kite was lost in thought, himself, for a few moments, before he seemed to decide something. At this point, he stopped and turned to Mia a bit.
He paused, then admitted, "This bracelet… actually belongs to my friend." And then, Kite proceeded to tell Mia and Elk, in brief, what had befallen him thus far, minus, of course, the addition of senses other than sight and hearing to his experience in The World.
Mia listened dispassionately, and then lifted an eyebrow when Kite's tale was completed. "I don't really care what happened to you in the past," she informed him in a dull tone before switching to her more normal 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' one. "But I am interested in what you are going to do with the bracelet in the future. Well… that's about it. If there's anything I can do to help you, I'll try my best."
"Thanks," said Kite, lips twitching into a weak sort of attempt at a smile.
"There's no need to thank me. I'm just doing what I want to do," Mia informed him offhandedly before turning to leave.
"Hey, Mia…?" questioned Elk, staring after.
Mia made no response, but warped out, supposedly with a Sprite Ocarina.
Elk sighed unhappily, gazing at where she'd been for a moment before glaring viciously at Kite. Then, still looking rather unhappy, he left, too.
"…?" Kite, rather confused, followed suit and used a Sprite Ocarina, then wraped back to Mac Anu. By the time he got there, though, he found them already gone. So, after depositing extra things in Elf's Haven and saving, Kite logged out.
He found, upon logging out, that he had one new email. So, he opened his inbox and found that message was from Helba, prompting him to wonder if all hackers knew about him, and, if so, how? He also wondered if she and Mia were at all connected, and his thoughts strayed, of course, into wondering who Helbe really was, anyway. But, he knew he'd never find out just staring at the sender, so he clicked it open.
From: Helba
Subject: Virus Cores I
"After hacking the gate, you should know the importance of Virus Cores as vital items to unlock protected areas.
In order to hack the gate of a protected area, you must collect the type and amount of Virus Core indicated in the Gate Hacking Menu
I will teach you about collecting Virus Cores.
Virus Cores are virus data extracted by performing Data Drain on monsters infected with a virus.
Most monsters in "The World" are already infected and are currently in the incubation period.
So, you can draw Virus Cores from not only the Data Bugs, whose data have been rewritten by the virus, but also from normal monsters as well.
I will state the known Virus Cores and the monsters to obtain them from.
Delta Server and Theta Server
Small-size monsters: Virus Core A
Mid-Size Monsters: Virus Core B
Large-sise Monsters; Virus Core C
(there are exceptions)
This is only when you drain normal monsters. The probability of obtaining a Virus Cores is not 100, but when your spread of viral infection is low, you will have a higher chance of getting them."
Kite read and reread the email, just to make sure he would remember it, and then he sat back, pondering it and its contents for a while before opening the earlier message he'd received from Blackrose and writing a reply exclaiming his surprise at her sophomore-dom. Then, with a sigh, he went about turning off his computer and moving on to other things, like some homework. And then, he collapsed into bed and into sleep.
A/N:
See? I'm not dead! I've managed to get another chapter out… several months later. Heh… heh…
Um… Well, I can guarantee you I shan't be updating again for at least a month, because I intend to participate in NaNoWriMo this year. And I intend to actually succeed this time. (I did it last year, but when I was nearly 20k words in, a whole bunch of family things cropped up, as well as fifty bazillion school assignments, and I… kind of… stopped writing. Hehe.)
Also, hey! .hack// G.U. volume one is out! If you have a copy, I'm insanely jealous, just so you know. I have neither the money with which to purchase a copy, nor the time to play it right now, so I'm going to have to wait until DECEMBER to play. –glares at people who have a copy- Damn lucky ducks, you.
Anyway, I really do apologize for always taking so long with updates without having a viable excuse for it. And I know this chapter's on the short side, too, but I haven't had time to go through and play all that I need to play in order to write the complete scene that follows this chapter. I'm taking all AP classes, people (well, except for Band and Ceramics, but those are non-homework classes, anway). I need time to sleep and do homework, you know.
Oh, but you must know that Physics is LOVE! So far we've only covered Newtonian Mechanics, but this stuff RAWKS! Um… yes. I'm a total and complete nerd. What do you want?
Oh yeah. Trivia!
Ok… Well, I'll give you a couple extra to make up for not having any last chapter…
1) What is the name of the unofficial (as in not completely canon) manga based off of the games? (it's not been released in America, but there is a website which is slowly, but surely translating it… or at least they say they are. They've got the prologue done.)
2) What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow? (If you don't know this one, it's all right.)
3) What is Blackrose's brother's pet's name? And what type of pet is it?
4) What did Reki major in, in college?
5) Besides Noble Grunty, what are the two types of Grunties you can raise in Lia Fail (last server)?
6) What is the food that Balmung's cat loves most?
7) We've all seen pictures of Tri-edge, and we all know that he looks like a corrupted form of Kite. What other two members of the original dot hacker group also appear as corrupted things in the new G.U. series?
8) Name four types of Grunty Food.
And there you go! Lots and lots of Trivia for you to answer!
Anyway, I'll shut up, now, and leave you to click the little periwinkle button below so as to leave me a review. Hint, hint.
Really, I adore reviews, especially ones which offer constructive criticism and which also attempt to answer my trivia, so please feed my addiction and leave one! Please?
Love, Snarky