Chapter 11: #BornAgain

After a few more minutes of pondering the two hunters decided to follow Donnie, deciding to take the Impala and if anything hairy started up they'd book it!

"Alright Donnie, where are we goin'?" Abel asked as the two stepped out of the motel room, Donnie's eyes shone. Grinning towards the two he got to his feet, brushing whatever dirt had stuck to the back of his jeans.

"Well first off, did you pay with this hotel room with cash or card?"

Abel and Chamuel looked at each other, suddenly feeling stupid as he went to answer, "Card?"

Donnie laughed, "Well you're not gonna be alive long if you keep doing this," He mused, adjusting the glasses that sat on his nose.

"Come on! I'll help you the best I can," He pushed his laptop under his arm, smiling as he turned on his heels and took off to his car that was settled beside the Impala. He pointed to the black vehicle, giving a thumbs up and ducked into the driver's seat of his ride, the small car kicked on. Abel noticed the sputtering, tilting his head at the old junker.

"If anything happens, I got your back, Maverick,"

"I wouldn't want a better pilot beside me, Goose"

Chamuel smiled at this as the two made for their car, Abel made a mental note to pull cash from his card, not that he had much left but he didn't see the need to tell that to his friend as the Impala roared to life.

***

After a half hour of driving they followed Donnie's car into a small side street that opened to a handful of tiny homes. They couldn't be bigger than one story homes, they settled among a few trees here and there, some fences, a few kids playing out in the yards. Abel's eyes traced over the buildings, they reminded him of his small house he turned into a garage yet they had a warmth to them he couldn't place his finger on.

"I think I know this place," Chamuel whispered, Abel glanced at the other. His mind buzzed with curiosity, his eyes traced the man's face for a few heart beats which sent a small trickle of warmth into his chest. It'd been a long time since he was around someone so much, it was nice.

"What'cha mean, Chams?"

"Well," He leaned back in his chair, blue eyes lit with curiosity as they continued to pass every home. "When I still worked in heaven I was basically a prayer angel, that's when you're assigned to certain families or people and listen to their prayers. You do what you can to help and answer them, even if it's not much. Sometimes you can't even do anything and it would kill you inside," He whispered the last part, "But I was specifically made for love,"

Rubbing his hands together as if attempting to comfort himself from the war that waged inside the depths of his mind, "So I had to answer a lot of prayers for couples, I'm wondering if this place had a family I'd watch over in it."

"Were you the only angel of love?" Abel asked, feeling his curiosity peak now, Donnie's car coming to a slow down ahead and turning into the house at the end of the street.

"Well, no, there are angels of all kinds and they do different things. Love is incredibly important for all creatures, so there are a lot of us," Chamuel murmured, his eyes distant.

"Why did they set you up with me? If they have a lot of other ones just like you?"

"I...don't honestly know,"

There was a pause as Abel pulled up into the driveway beside Donnie's car. The driveway was long, running up to a small garage with a lawn beside it. The home next to his had a gate built around it, breaking apart the small bushes that settled on the side of the home. The house itself is small with nothing incredibly special about it, in fact, it reminded Abel of a house they'd toss in a movie just as a generic home.

"Is there love at first sight?" He finally asked, looking to Chamuel as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

This caused Chamuel to shuffle uncomfortable, "I mean, yeah, for soul mates. It's...incredibly rare to the point I've never even seen it. Why?" He glanced at Abel now, tilting his head to the side with a quizzical look, following the movement of unbuckling himself.

They got out, Abel grinned out across the car at Chamuel. A grin that Chamuel was quickly learning meant he was going to attempt at making a joke that would probably fall flat,

"Cause I'm in love with this car,"

Chamuel chuckled, "I don't think the feelings are mutual" He teased.

Abel cuffed the man with a hand as they followed Donnie towards the door, the second they came into view he started talking a mile a minute.

"I have so many ideas!" He started, "First off I think you need to make shirts and stickers,"

"Of what?" Abel asked as they entered the home.

"Uh you guys? You know you have loads of fans, right?"

"We do?" Chamuel looked shocked at even the thought, their twitter wasn't a smash hit but it was enough that the word was slowly getting around.

"You know back in the day hunters had to fake credit cards and steal social security numbers," Donnie said,

The home was small, but comfortably. A few doors that lead to the garage, a bedroom, and a tiny backyard scattered around them. The middle of the home held a couch, TV and a few gaming systems, posters painted the walls of all different types. Bunsen burners, collections of bottles with chemicals in them lined the coffee table in front of the TV with a few electronics that Abel wouldn't pinpoint. A tool box laid open on the floor in front of the kitchen, tools covering the ground which Donnie simply kicked out of his way. Carrying his laptop with a hop in his step, pushing a handful of paperwork on the kitchen counter of the way he placed the laptop down.

"I get the best internet in here," He said,

"Go back to that credit card thing," Chamuel said, attempting to step over the tools only for Abel to just walk through them, causing them to clatter over the old tiled floor.

"Well, my brothers all had to steal money somehow," He said, sitting himself down at one of the chairs beside the counter.

"So they'd just do fraud, but you two changed the game!" He sat backwards in the chair so he could look them over.

"You're basically twitter celebrities, and those kinda people can just sell whatever they want and make money!"

"That's....actually not a bad idea," Abel mused, leaning against Donnie's chair.

"Right? I was wondering why you guys weren't doing that! Or using your followers to help you,"

"Help us?" Chamuel whispered, taking a seat on the wooden chair that stood preoccupied in the kitchen.

"Yeah, like, the picture you were looking for was a good ask for help, but why not use it to ask people about the stuff going on in their towns? You want to help them right?"

Abel and Chamuel shot each other a look before returning their attention to Donnie, "Well, we are missing my uncle," He mused,

"Exactly! So!" Donnie opened the laptop, typing into their twitter "You got a picture of him?"

"Well yeah, on my phone," Abel pulled out his cellphone, handing it to Donnie who happily took it from him. He opened Abel's contacts, adding himself before opening the texting screen.

"Shoot me his picture!"

Abel took the phone back, scrolled through his pictures before finding the selfie he and Sam had taken. The long haired hunter looked completely done with Abel while Abel smiled at the camera. The picture made the hunter grin, a sharp stab in his gut when he recalled how long the other had been gone. Silently wondering if he should give the man's wife a call.

"Have you seen me, 12" Donnie said, posting the picture of Abel and Sam.

"Twelve?" Chamuel asked,

"Yep! It'll have them guessing, you're pretending this is a game, you gotta actually make it look like a game,"

Donnie went over more things with the two, typing away into their phones to protect them more. Explaining ways they could easily make more money, have more a following,

"And as things get serious you can flip the switch, tell everyone it's real and to use the tools they need to protect themselves,"

"We...haven't really had time to post about protecting themselves," Chamuel admitted, feeling a spark of embarrassment as they had been far too worried about finding Sam and getting to Mishka's uncles house.

"Well, why not do that today?" Donnie asked, "I got an awesome video camera! We can take videos of you guys just doing what you normally do. We can also take some fake shots too, make it look like Chamuel's glow is fake or whatever,"

"Why are you helping us again?" Chamuel asked, tilting his head at the other. Everything Donnie had done was helpful, he did it without a single thing, and he did it with a smile. He was now offering more and Chamuel couldn't wrap his head around it.

"Well," Donnie whispered, "I...just want to help, just...trust me, okay?" The sudden shift in the other's personality caught the hunters off guard. His usual smile vanished upon the question,

"Hey, we trust ya! Y'know how us hunters are," Abel gestured to him and Cham, "We're just...cautious,"

They caused Donnie's smile to return, grinning at the other. Abel patted his on the back lightly, "Show us what'cha got, Don!"

His excitement was apparent now as he looked between the two, "Well first thing first! I thought we could give you a cool hashtag. Like, a team name almost!"

"What's wrong with Singer Salt?" Abel asked,

"Well, full offense, it's a cool twitter name but...it doesn't really mean anything,"

"It's supposed to mean something?"

"Well yeah, how are people going to get behind something if it doesn't have a meaning to it! People get behind movements all the time, and if you paint this as a sort of movement than people will jump to help, listen and give you advice,"

"So...?" Chamuel didn't fully get it, it didn't make much sense to him but he wasn't exactly savvy with anything online.

"Look, you tell people you're trying to save the world from...darkness or something, even if people believe it's an ARG they're going to be a lot more interested if you make it like a plot instead of two guys running around, making videos. Even if the videos are interesting it'll make the audience grip onto you personally if you show more of a plot. We want them to do that!"

"Damn Don, you're a genius!" Abel laughed,

"I know it!" He grinned, "So! What should the hashtag be!"

Abel and Chamuel both froze, it was hard enough coming up with a twitter name now a hashtag? And it had to mean something?

"Well..I don't know,"

"Well, how about...Freewill!! Like you're fighting for Freewill?" Donnie's eyes glowed,

"Hah," Chamuel scoffed, "Free will? It's a myth if anything, God decides all of our fates in the end. They like to preach we have free will but honestly? I don't buy it,"

"And that's coming from an Angel, damn, so cynical!" Abel laughed,

Chamuel felt his face turn red, "I...didn't mean for it to sound so bad, I guess I just hate hearing about freewill,"

"Okay, how about...No Apocalypse," Abel said,

"Oh! Graces wings!" Donnie added,

"What would that even mean?" Abel asked, a smile on his face.

"That's what you call Cham's light show! I thought maybe it'd work!"

"Okay, but how about a baseball term?"

"You do use a bat," Donnie mused,

"No baseball terms," Chamuel laughed, "It's hard enough keeping up with all the movie references,"

"How about a movie reference!" Abel added,

"Like....May the force be with you, but...may the apocalypse be with you!" Donnie gave a playful evil grin, putting his hands like he was attempting to mimic the scene.

"No no, I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse, no apocalypse,"

"The world's longest hashtag!" Chamuel chuckled, shaking his head, "but hey I got that one! God Father!"

"Proud of you for doing the bare minimum," Abel laughed,

"I'll take my medal now,"

"First place at knowing movies," Donnie chimed in,

"Chamuel, the movie master!" Abel retorted, causing the blonde to laugh as they continued to go in circles with the names. Coming up with silly ones to serious and dark ones, Abel opened his jaw to speak only to feel a familiar darkness beside him. His mind felt like static as Arphaxat's voice chimed in,

"Born again," he whispered,

"Born again?" Abel asked him, keeping his voice low as Chamuel and Donnie continued laughing, talking, neither seemed to notice the slight shift in the brunette's mood. He could feel Arphaxat's hand on his shoulder, he swore the man's breath was on his neck.

"The bible says, that through Jesus, we are born again,"

"But...we're not Jesus,"

"But you want to protect your followers, you want them to believe in you, trust you, and through your help, they can be born again. They can learn what it really means to have free will, to have protection in themselves, you'll make them stronger,"

Abel was shocked by how sincere the man sounded, though the demon's presence still spooked him from time to time he wondered silently if he was judging the man too quickly. After all, he never met a demon. Maybe he was good and his negative energy was something he couldn't control, and honestly, it wasn't a bad name.

"How about Born Again?" Abel piped up, causing the other two to glance in his direction with a smile.

"Born again?" Donnie asked,

"As in, you're born again through Christ?" Chamuel sounded a little shocked at the others' words, knowing Abel wasn't a reader of the bible and didn't show much interest in understanding it.

"Yeah, cause like, it'll be symbolic. People will believe us and trust us, so we can help them learn what it means to have freewill and protect themselves, make em stronger," He could almost see Arphaxat smiling beside him as he parroted the words the other said.

"I like it!" Donnie said finally, turning in his chair and starting to type it into Twitter.

"Me too," Chamuel chuckled, leaning over to look at the screen of the laptop, "That was so clever, Abe!"

"See! What I tell ya? I'm here to help!" Arphaxat whispered, before the feeling of his presence slowly faded away leaving the numbing feeling in Abel's head for a few extra minutes as Donnie went over his ideas for their merchandise.

Abel listened with intent as the man continued his rambling, he had ideas that Abel hadn't even thought of but it wasn't a shock. The hunter wasn't as creative as he thought he was when it came to things like this, he found himself watching Chamuel as the man spoke to them. Silently wondering about what the angel had seen, done in his thousands of years. Wondering what the angel looked like without the skin suit, if he'd have the same brilliant blue eyes. Turning his attention back to Donnie when he noticed himself just staring at the angel, he was getting distracted easily and he couldn't seem to figure out why.

***

The group decided to take a few videos to introduce their new hashtag. Donnie dragged them to a thrift store not far away, hunting for anything they could use for their videos. Props, weapons, anything that would help them teach their followers how to defend themselves if it came down to it. Abel dug through a bin of sports equipment, attempting to flick his growing hair from his face as he pulled a baseball out and into the light.

"Yo, this is signed!" He laughed, looking it over with a glow in his eyes.

"By who? Anyone famous?" Donnie asked, holding a tennis racket on his shoulder as if it were a sword.

"Dunno! Never had anything with signatures on it," The glow in his eyes vanished as he looked it over, placing it back down.

"Why are you putting it down?" Chamuel asked, looking over from the radios.

"Eh, we don't need it, besides its fifteen bucks! Better save the money,"

"Yeah true," Donnie chuckled, following as Abel made his way towards the rest of the sports equipment.

The trio moved through the town, Donnie waving at nearly everyone they passed by who, in turn, returned his wave or stopped to chat. Abel was astonished at how many people the other man knew,

"You make friends with everyone," He said, "makes life more fun,"

The group grabbed some lunch, enjoyed a few sights Donnie insisted they see before making their way back to the small home.

"Hey Abe," Chamuel said as they followed behind the other car, Abel looked over to his friend. A smile on his lips, "Yeah?"

Chamuel reached into his jacket pocket, pulling a baseball out and holding it up to him as they pulled into the driveway. Chamuel could feel his face turn a shade of red as Abel started at him dumbfounded,

"I uh, bought it when you and Donnie were distracted," He whispered, rubbing the back of his neck as he gave the man a tender smile.

"Wow, Cham...aw you son of a bitch," He chuckled, taking the baseball from the other.

"It's missing something though,"

"Did..I get the wrong one?"

"No," Abel popped open the glove compartment, "It's missing your signature!" he pulled out a permanent marker, handing it to Chamuel who blinked at him in confusion.

"I'm not,"

"Come on Cham, you're probably the coolest person I know, just sign the damn thing,"

Chamuel felt his face turn even more red at the praise, taking the baseball back from the man. Finding a small, clean spot he wrote his signature over the textured skin of the ball. Blinking at how sloppy his signature seemed in comparison to the other baseball players.

"If this is worth anything it's not anymore," Chamuel mused, handing it back to the man who pocketed the ball with a grin.

"Yeah well, now it's worth more to me," Abel retorted, Chamuel felt his heart melt "Besides, who needs money when you got a signed ball?"

"Come on, gay lords!" Donnie shouted, knocking on Cham's window.

"Hey, you're at least ten percent more gay than me," Abel shouted back, pushing out of the car he raced towards Donnie, knocking into the man playfully causing Donnie to laugh and shove him back. Chamuel got out as well, watching the two playfully fight with one another, a smile on his lips as the hunters words continued to dance in his head. Attempting but failing to shake it off he grabbed Abel and hoisted him into the air in a hug.

"Hey! I didn't ask to be picked up by a giraffe!"

"Throw him!" Donnie shouted,

"Throw me at Donnie," Abel shouted back, Chamuel laughed before tripping and falling backwards. Holding Abel against his chest and laughing as the hunter rolled off him,

"That's totally unfair," Abel chuckled

***

"And action!" Donnie said, holding up a large video camera with a smile clean across his features.

Abel stood in front of the camera, holding his baseball bat. He had gone over what harms the sludge, what he knew of it, and how to fight it off. He showed how to hold the bat properly, mentioning the extra weight due to the sharp nails and spikes that jetted out from its wood.

"It's called the darkness," He said proudly, having come up with the name himself, "It's only a few places right now, but keep your eyes peeled. If you see this stuff, you kill it. No questions! This world needs to be Born Again, and that's what we're here to do,"

"Perfect," Donnie laughed, giving Abel a thumbs up. Earlier they had taken a few other videos, highlighting how to defend yourself, how to use salt properly, Abel even found himself quoting Sam almost to a T. The three continued with making their videos, Chamuel and Abel making one last one together.

"I'm Abel Winchester,"

"And I'm Chamuel, archangel of love and war,"

"And we're here to save the world, but we need your help. Keep watching, we're going to keep posting! If you think you found a lead to a demon, send it to us! If you see the darkness? Tell us where! We're here to keep you safe, keep your healthy, and be born again,"

Chamuel nodded as Abel spoke, wrapping an arm around the others shoulder and pulling him to his chest.

"Make sure to keep close to a friend, be safe," Chamuel laughed,

Donnie grinned at the two, "Cut! Perfect! Now people are going to be on the lookout for you two, but won't have your location!"

Abel trotted towards his new friend, looking down at the camera as Donnie played the scene back to him to view.

"I'll edit it all into one video, or maybe two," Donnie chuckled,

"Man, Don, you're saving our asses," Abel laughed, lightly patting the man on the shoulder. Donnie grinned at him, wrapping his arms around Abel and squeezing him.

"You're welcome!" He laughed,

Abel scoffed, "Wait! I know you!"

Donnie let him go, looking embarrassed now, "You messaged us...what a week ago?" He glanced at Chamuel who shrugged, it was hard to keep up with everything going on that Abel had almost completely forgotten about it.

"You said you had the sludge!" Abel pulled his phone out to find the messages, Donnie cleared his throat, "Well...I did have the sludge,"

"What?" Abel tilted his head at the man.

"See, I was with my brothers a few states over when I sent you that. We caught it in a jar but the next day it...was just gone, that's why I didn't message you again," Donnie's face turned a shade of red as he spoke as if embarrassed with himself.

"Did you figure anything out about it?" Chamuel asked, walking over slowly as he typed something into his phone.

"Not a thing! I couldn't open the jar without it trying to attack me and no amount of gas put the thing to sleep," Donnie removed his glasses, holding them up he pointed to the chip in the glass. "Little thing did that too, he was mad! Thankfully I have an anti possession tattoo,"

Donnie pulled his shirt down to show off the tattoo on his collar bone. It was smaller than Abels with additional lines here and there that caused the hunter to tilt his head as he inspected it.

"That is lucky," Abel said with a nod, looking from the tattoo to the glasses.

"Yep!" Donnie placed the glasses over his button nose once again. "Let's head inside, it's getting dark! We can get some pizza and I'll edit this,"

"Can we put on a movie?" Abel asked, eyes glowing. He felt like a kid again, though he didn't have many fond memories of being a kid he found himself desperate for the companionship that most children had growing up. But not him.

"Yeah! I got Netflix!" Donnie laughed,

"We got Hulu too," Chamuel added as the three made for the house. Abel grinned at his friends, the lonely feeling that sat in his heart like a thorn lifted. For the first time in his life, he felt as if he belonged. He felt as though he wasn't pretending to be someone he wasn't, yet the ever growing anxiety continued to press into his brain. Arphaxat's words still echoed in his mind, even among the laughter and pizza ordering he couldn't stop the voice that echoed through his skull.

***

Chamuel sat on the couch beside Abel, his arm lazily draped over the back of the cushions. Abel leaned into Chamuel, eyes moving from the TV down to his cell phone as he and Donnie posted pictures onto each other's personal facebook walls. Donnie sat at the computer desk not too far from them, large headphones over his ears as he fiddled with editing the video. A few pizza boxes laid on the table, half smoked blunts scattered around them as the men enjoyed the high that came with the drug.

"This movie...so good," Chamuel said, his head in the clouds as he watched

"I can't believe you've never seen Back to the Future," Abel laughed, leaning till his head was laying over Chamuel's lap, turning his attention back to the screen.

"I didn't need to go to the future so I didn't watch it"

"It's not, like, a guide to getting to the future,"

"Imagine though, a car getting you to the future?" Donnie added, turning to look at them. His eyes bloodshot as he grinned.

"Abel you'd take the impala to the future,"

"I'd take that car anywhere," He agreed, sighing loudly, "Love that hunk of metal."

Chamuel glanced down at the hunter, eyes tracing the few freckles that dotted his face and neck, before settling on his tired, stoned eyes. He jumped as the feeling of his phone vibrating broke his thoughts, pulling his phone from his pocket he narrowed his eyes at the unknown number.

"Someones calling me from New York," Chamuel murmured,

"Answer it!" Abel scrambled into a sitting position, "Maybe we won something,"

"Yeah that idiot award," Chamuel teased, clicking the green button on the screen and holding the phone up.

Abel pushed his ear against the phone, his and Chamuels cheeks being shoved together causing the angel to chuckle. He found Abel didn't have many personal space bubbles, in fact, the man was often touching everyone and everything.

"Hello?" Chamuel laughed into the phone,

"Cham?"

Sam's voice caused his jaw to drop, "Sam!?"

Abel leapt back, "Sammy!" Abel shouted, causing Chamuel to scramble and drop the phone on the ground. Hanging it up by accident the hunters locked eyes before diving at the phone. Abel grabbed it, causing Chamuel to huff as Abel punched the angel's password into the phone and opened it. Almost immediately the phone lit up with another phone call, same number.

"Sam!" Abel shouted into the phone,

Donnie was watching with a curious look on his features, pushing the headphones down so he could hear what was happening.

"Abel! Chamuel?" Sam spoke into the phone.

"Where are you?" Chamuel asked as Abel flipped the phone to speaker.

"New York in--" Sam sounded as if he were talking to someone, "Manhattan,"

"That's where we were heading," Chamuel breathed, his words slightly slurred.

"Whoa...man, what a weird coincidence," Abel whispered to Chamuel, green eyes wide, the whites of his eyes bright red.

"Are....you guys okay? You sound...drunk?" Both men shared a look of horror,

"He knows," Chamuel whispered,

"No he doesn't he said drunk, not high," Abel pointed out

"I can hear you," Sam sighed,

"Look, I'm sending you an address, get here asap! I need talk to you both,"

"Wait, where were you?" Chamuel blurted out, Donnie had leapt off his chair and jumped down beside his friends so he could hear the older hunter better.

"I don't..." Sam sighed, not wanting to talk too long, it caused his anxiety to spark. His eyes narrowed as he watched Baal sucking down a beer out of a long straw. "Look just get here, too much happened and I don't have time to explain on the phone,"

"Are you, like, okay?" Abel asked, looking at the phone as if it had grown a second head. "Well, I'm not dead," Sam huffed, placing his hands on his hips as he attempted to keep the irritation from his voice.

"Just get here, okay?"

"You got it, Sammy, we're still a few days out though,"

"A few days? Me and Dean would drive all night to get where we needed to go," Sam said, feeling a panic settled into his mind as he thought of his brother.

"Well we got...uh, other problems to work on,"

"Hi I'm other problems!" Donnie shouted, causing Abel to chuckle and push his hand into his friends face.

"Who's that?" Sam asked,

"We gotta lot to talk about, Sam," Abel replied nervously.

"Well just get here asap! I..." Sam glanced at Baal once more who was now finished with his beer and had taken to balancing the bottle on the end of his finger. "...might need some help soon,"

"Is anyone in trouble?" Abel asked, his mind wandering as he attempted to keep his mind on the phone call.

"Yes...no..." Sam sighed, racing his fingers through his long locks, "Look guys, things are getting weird. Demons are...turning into these beasts? They're...I've seen so many! In my day demons just looked like people but now?! They can have horns, wings!"

Chamuel and Abel shared a look, "Don't they always have that?"

"No!" Sam practically shouted into the phone, gritting his teeth as Baal sucked mindlessly on his straw. Slapping the beer bottle out of the demons hands, "Stop, I swear to God," He whispered,

"Demons-- back in the day!" Sam shouted back into the phone, perplexed, "They were just in people. They didn't morph and change! Somethings happening and I don't know what it is,"

"Sam you sound freaked! Want me to set you up? I got loads growing in the backyard!" Donnie sang out

"Who is this again? Set me up? Are you offering me drugs?"

"Look Sam, we're coming! Are you safe?" Abel interrupted.

"Well-- I think," Sam said through gritted teeth, looking from Baal to Butch.

"Great! We'll be there soon, just don't die!"

Sam rubbed his forehead, letting out a sigh as his hand fell onto his pants with a soft slap. Placing it on his hip, "Fine, just-- don't take too long! Things are getting crazy and...honestly I'm shocked you two aren't dead,"

The group chatted for a few more minutes before hanging up, Abel leaned back into the couch. He knew it'd take them extra time to get to Sam, anytime Chamuel angel'd up he was too drained to do anything and Abel could only stay awake so long. Shaking his head he pulled out his cell,

"Gimmie that number he called us from,"

Chamuel nodded, holding out the phone to Abel who glanced over it for a few hearts beats. Typing it into his contacts with a grin,

"Cool, thanks,"

Cham nodded, leaning against him, "Okay, who's up for ordering dessert?" he asked, attempting to break the tension.