adstringendum application
Name: Cas
Livejournal: acesofspades
Contact: AIM: heart mrbubbles; or PM acesofspades
Other Characters Played: N/A
Are you 18 or over? Yes.
Canon: D. Gray-Man
Character: Tyki Mikk
Timeline:
Very early canon - Chapter 42 - when Tyki is first introduced. Arystar Krory meets Tyki and his hobo gang on the train during the ride back to headquarters, and is asked to play several rounds of poker. Being completely oblivious as to how to play, Krory bets and looses all of his clothing. Allen Walker comes to Krory's rescue, outcheating Tyki and his friends in several rounds, which results in him not only winning back Krory's clothing, but also all of the hobos' clothing as well. Despite knowing that Allen cheated, Tyki is fully prepared to get off the train and head to his next job (in the mines) without so much as a pair of shorts and a pack of cigarettes. Allen, however, had only wanted to get back Krory's clothes, and so he gives the hobos back his 'winnings'. Eaze, a little orphan boy in the hobo's group, tries to give Allen a silver button hanging from his neck as a thank-you, though Tyki stops him and tells him "That's your treasure." Rather than allow Eaze to give Allen his "treasure", Tyki gives Allen his pack of playing cards instead just as the train takes off.
Not forty steps away from the train, however, a nearby phone starts ringing and Tyki picks it up. It's the Millennium Earl, calling Tyki to a meeting under a nearby bridge. He bids farewell to his hobo-buddies, who turn to leave. Eaze scampers along behind his buddies, and it's revealed that the "treasure" around his neck is actually the button off the coat of a recently-deceased Exorcist general's coat that Tyki had killed shortly before returning to his hobo buddies while they hopped the train looking for work.
Tyki will have been heading for the meeting with the Earl under the bridge - to receive a list of people to kill - when he is pulled into Adstringendum.
Personality:
Tyki lives two distinctly different lives that he "escapes" to, depending on his whims and mood. This is not a split personality; merely just an exponential shift in desires, whims, mannerisms. Regardless of whether he's living his white life, or his black life, Tyki is still Tyki. Being the Noah of Pleasure, it allows him to flit seamlessly between both ends of the social spectrum; essentially, he strives to have his cake and eat it too.
White Life: While in white mode, Tyki is very much just one of the guys, your run-of-them-mill average joe. He spends his white life as a hobo, hopping from place to place with a small, close-knit band of traveling vagabonds looking for odd jobs during the day and a place to hobopile at night. He's cheerful and easy-going, meeting every obstacle that life throws his way with carefree amusement and making the most out of every curveball that life throws his way. A born and bred gambler and risk-taker, Tyki loves the thrill of not knowing what's going to happen next, whether it's when he's going to get his next meal or going to win his next poker hand; and he isn't above cheating, scheming, or plotting to get what he wants - just so long as said cheating, scheming, and plotting is relatively harmless. At the end of day, however, he's a hard worker, his white-life friends mean the world to him. He wouldn't ever want to do anything to hurt them.
There's lot to be said about who he is in the way he dresses and carries himself in both of his lives. When he's hobo-ing it up, Tyki has a tendency to wear workman's clothing that have definitely seen better days: usually patched pants held up only by a pair of suspenders, a raggedy shirt, dirty glasses and fingerless gloves. His hair is usually kept down in a wavy mop, and he's hardly ever without a cigarette between his lips. He saunters when he walks, slouches when he sits, and sprawls out in every direction when he's laying back. Just a travelin' man looking for his place in the world for himself and his friends, is probably the most accurate description of Tyki in his white life.
Black Life: In stark contrast to his white life, Tyki spends his black life as a refined gentleman, having tea in the garden with fellow politicians (his fellow Noah, Cyril Kamelot, for example) in the afternoons, and attending galas and dinner parties at night. He's snarky, vain, and very collected, taking a lackadaisical interest in the world and its happenings around him. Still very much a gambler and risk-taker, there is a shift in his demeanor and mannerisms that gives him a dangerous edge, like a shark circling the waters.Just as he enjoys gambling while in white mode, Tyki also enjoys gambling while in black mode; the stakes are simply higher: rather than gamble for money, clothes, or food, Tyki rather likes gambling for lives. He enjoys killing, the thrill of the hunt, and the rush he gets from making chase. To Tyki, there's no greater pleasure than to feel the delicate strands of life snapping beneath his fingers. His loyalties remain strictly to the Noah family, and he holds little to no disregard for anyone not a part of it.
Like in white mode, how he dresses and carries himself in his black mode does say a great deal as to who he is. In black form, Tyki dresses and acts like a Victorian gentleman. Pressed slacks, glossy shoes, overcoat, vest, tophat and gloves. He carries himself with an air of confidence, walks with purpose, and (usually) sits straight and proper - although he isn't above slouching. Instead of hobopiles, Tyki is rather a lone wolf, and prefers to be alone.
The rest of his characteristics are fairly consistent between both lives. Though not educated, he is rather clever, sharp, and observant when he chooses to be; it's all just a matter of motivating him enough to do so, and very little, save for a nice meal (white life) or an Exorcist strung up on a lamp post (black life) will motivate him. It's easy to mistake him for being dumb or simple, in that respect. Sarcasm and double-entendre are his best friends, and it's usually difficult for someone to figure out whether he's lying about some things, purposely misleading about others, and telling the truth about everything else.
It should be noted that Tyki will strive to keep his lives completely separate, even going so far as to claim that someone is mistaken, should they try to point out that he was a hobo last week. There's a reason that he lives two lives: Tyki prefers to have his cake and eat it too. He prides himself on his ability to make the world his little personal sandbox, and he enjoys playing it however he sees fit with every fibre of his being.
Background:
In brief: very little, aside from his Portuguese upbringing, is known about Tyki's life before he became a Noah. It's likely that his pre-Noah life was a rough one, and that he either doesn't remember very much of it, or, in the more likely situation, he simply chooses to ignore it completely. Perhaps a combination of both. Things like birthdays (with the exception of Rhode's) just aren't something he can't be arsed into giving a damn about.
That aside, Tyki is the third disciple of the Noah family, representing Noah's Pleasure; his Noah's name is Joyd. Being the Noah of Pleasure, Tyki enjoys living a double life, as it allows him to come and go through the social ranks as he pleases. He tends to be a derpy, sloppy, and unshaven vagabond when he's living his white life, and an eloquent, well-dressed, and straight-spined gentleman when living his black life.
Abilities/Additional Notes:
Phasing: Being the Noah of Pleasure, Tyki possesses the ability to "Choose" what he can and cannot touch. This can make him completely intangible to solid matter, allowing it to phase through him without so much as an afterthought. Furthermore, it also allows him to walk across water and air as though it were solid ground.
Reject: On the opposite end of Choice's spectrum, Tyki can also reject the atmosphere at a certain radius, essentially creating his own personal vacuum and leaving enemies with a lack of oxygen. While in this rejected atmosphere, Tyki can still move around comfortably, surrounded by his own atmospheric bubble within the vacuum.
Tease: The Tease are carnivorous butterfly-golems gifted to Tyki by the Millennium Earl to supplement his ability to Choose. Using Choice, Tyki can insert a Tease into his opponent's body without damaging their skin and command it to eat, making for either a slow death, as seen in his attempted murder of Allen Walker, or a quick one, as is the case with Suman Dark. The Tease feast on corpses, growing larger and stronger the more they eat. Tyki keeps an army of the things inside his own body using Choice, which he unleashes when he's feeling particularly nasty. Not just weapons, the Tease can also be used as shields or energy blasts.
Dark Matter: As a Noah, Tyki has complete control over Dark Matter (the opposite of Innocence) Like some of the Tease, Tyki can use the Dark Matter as a shield, or blast it at his enemies.
Sample Journal Post: I'm going to do two sample journal posts, one for his white life and one for his black.
[White Life Post|Audio/Video]
[Tap. Tap. Tap.]
Oi. C'mon, now.
[Tap. Tap... there's a sigh, followed by the sound of a striking match and the crinkle of a freshly-lit cigarette.] Hmm~
[Tap tap... tap tap tap. And finally a face full of five o'clock stubble and dirt beneath a mop of dark curly hair comes into view. The face grins, rolling a cigarette between his lips.] Ah!
He~ey~! There ain't anyone 'round here that might know a place where a guy could get a cigarette 'n some grub? I'm so hungry I could eat my left foot!
An' maybe a round a'poker or two? I'm gettin' a little rusty! Can't be losin' my clothes to the Cheating Boy again, yanno?
[Black Life Post|Video]
My, my.
[The PCD appears to be sitting on a table, just in front of Tyki, as he is completely within view. He's sitting back in a chair, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he shuffles a crisp deck of cards.]
[He tosses one card down; the Ace of Hearts. His face breaks into a satisfied grin, and the cigarette bobs as he talks.]
Tell me, boy. Have you ever experienced the feeling of holding someone's heart?
[Whoever he's talking to is murmuring quietly offscreen.] There's really nothing quite like it, that feeling. Finality. Knowing that a simple squeeze can just extinguish that little bit of life that keeps it beating.
Did you know.... [The next card he tosses down is the Ace of Spades.] ... that if you keep still enough, you can feel their fear? All you have to do is count the beats~
I wonder... [There's a long pause as he plucks the next card from the deck, examines it closely, then sets it on the table. A Joker. He takes a long drag on his cigarette, exhales through his nose, and slowly pulls himself.]
... just how many beats will I count before I squeeze the life out of yours?
[Tyki steps offscreen just as the feed times out.]
Sample RP:
The girl fit perfectly, tucked into the crook of his arm, her hair tickling his nose in a way that was once quite charming, but was now growing increasingly annoying. If her steady breathing along his chest had anything to say or it, she was fast asleep, trudging through the land of dreams without a care in the world. He wondered if she was dreaming of him. He hoped so. Did she really see him for the wandering coal miner he allowed himself to be tonight? The amicable chap in need of a good meal and a fine woman?
Humans. So easily fooled. And yet so very entertaining.
Tyki brought a hand up, glancing at his palm, and the callouses there. He needed a cigarette. Badly. And yet, his pack was stuffed into the pockets of his trousers, and those were on the other side of the room.
Pity, that.
He sighed, and let his hand rest on the girl's shoulder, letting his fingers tangle into her hair. He liked her hair, the way it curled into long rivulets and spread across her back. If he slit her neck, right now, would it look something like that?
Cigarette. Yes. He needed a cigarette. Now.
He let the girl pass through him as he sat up, and she wrapped her arms around the pillow that he had been resting against, the dark red of her hair a stark contrast to the white-gray of the sheets. She made a soft inhale, and settled right back into sleep.
Tyki raised an eyebrow, watching her. It was when he felt a gentle tickle on his wrist that he looked down. One of the Tease was resting just over his pulse. Did he have a pulse? He supposed he did; he was still (mostly) human, after all. Its wings opened and closed in a somber, weary sort of way, as if to ask, What is Master doing, still awake?
"Tease," he murmured, barely above a whisper. The golem's wings stood up. Full attention. Tyki brought his hand back and the golem instinctively crawled onto his palm, along his middle finger, and onto the skin of the sleeping girl's back.
She stirred, but only slightly. Tyki shook his head, "Now, now. It would be rude to wake her."
The golem fell still, save for its wings opening and closing. He watched for a moment longer before phasing through the bed, and padding toward his trousers slung carelessly over the back of a chair.
A cigarette and a match, first. He noticed the way her hair seemed to glow a deeper shade of scarlet in the light of his match. He flicked the flame out and took a long drag.
The nicotine was good. Very good.
He watched as the Tease opened and closed its wings, and occasionally spun a small circle along her skin. It was asking - begging - to eat. Or was it really just his own desire to ask the curious question if her hair was really as red as her blood that he heard? Maybe it was both. Either way, he knew what it was like, to be hungry; hungry for food, hungry for blood.
He was feeling it now.
Tyki smirked, not bothering to put his shirt on, or fasten the right suspender, and leaned over, rolling the lit cigarette between his lips. The Tease's wings flattened when he touched the tip of his index finger to its body.
They both could eat now, with just an ounce of pressure and a single command.
"Tease."
The sleeping girl's head moved, burrowing further into the pillow she was hugging. A lock of that red hair ghosted over the back of his palm.
He grinned.
And brought his hand down in front of the golem, palm turned upward. The Tease's wings opened and closed once, twice, before it crawled back onto his palm. Tyki brought the golem to his lips, brushing a kiss over its body, as light as he had kissed the girl's lips before she had nodded off to sleep.
"Come now," he whispered, turning around and creeping toward the door. "We really shouldn't overstay our welcome."
Livejournal: acesofspades
Contact: AIM: heart mrbubbles; or PM acesofspades
Other Characters Played: N/A
Are you 18 or over? Yes.
Canon: D. Gray-Man
Character: Tyki Mikk
Timeline:
Very early canon - Chapter 42 - when Tyki is first introduced. Arystar Krory meets Tyki and his hobo gang on the train during the ride back to headquarters, and is asked to play several rounds of poker. Being completely oblivious as to how to play, Krory bets and looses all of his clothing. Allen Walker comes to Krory's rescue, outcheating Tyki and his friends in several rounds, which results in him not only winning back Krory's clothing, but also all of the hobos' clothing as well. Despite knowing that Allen cheated, Tyki is fully prepared to get off the train and head to his next job (in the mines) without so much as a pair of shorts and a pack of cigarettes. Allen, however, had only wanted to get back Krory's clothes, and so he gives the hobos back his 'winnings'. Eaze, a little orphan boy in the hobo's group, tries to give Allen a silver button hanging from his neck as a thank-you, though Tyki stops him and tells him "That's your treasure." Rather than allow Eaze to give Allen his "treasure", Tyki gives Allen his pack of playing cards instead just as the train takes off.
Not forty steps away from the train, however, a nearby phone starts ringing and Tyki picks it up. It's the Millennium Earl, calling Tyki to a meeting under a nearby bridge. He bids farewell to his hobo-buddies, who turn to leave. Eaze scampers along behind his buddies, and it's revealed that the "treasure" around his neck is actually the button off the coat of a recently-deceased Exorcist general's coat that Tyki had killed shortly before returning to his hobo buddies while they hopped the train looking for work.
Tyki will have been heading for the meeting with the Earl under the bridge - to receive a list of people to kill - when he is pulled into Adstringendum.
Personality:
Tyki lives two distinctly different lives that he "escapes" to, depending on his whims and mood. This is not a split personality; merely just an exponential shift in desires, whims, mannerisms. Regardless of whether he's living his white life, or his black life, Tyki is still Tyki. Being the Noah of Pleasure, it allows him to flit seamlessly between both ends of the social spectrum; essentially, he strives to have his cake and eat it too.
White Life: While in white mode, Tyki is very much just one of the guys, your run-of-them-mill average joe. He spends his white life as a hobo, hopping from place to place with a small, close-knit band of traveling vagabonds looking for odd jobs during the day and a place to hobopile at night. He's cheerful and easy-going, meeting every obstacle that life throws his way with carefree amusement and making the most out of every curveball that life throws his way. A born and bred gambler and risk-taker, Tyki loves the thrill of not knowing what's going to happen next, whether it's when he's going to get his next meal or going to win his next poker hand; and he isn't above cheating, scheming, or plotting to get what he wants - just so long as said cheating, scheming, and plotting is relatively harmless. At the end of day, however, he's a hard worker, his white-life friends mean the world to him. He wouldn't ever want to do anything to hurt them.
There's lot to be said about who he is in the way he dresses and carries himself in both of his lives. When he's hobo-ing it up, Tyki has a tendency to wear workman's clothing that have definitely seen better days: usually patched pants held up only by a pair of suspenders, a raggedy shirt, dirty glasses and fingerless gloves. His hair is usually kept down in a wavy mop, and he's hardly ever without a cigarette between his lips. He saunters when he walks, slouches when he sits, and sprawls out in every direction when he's laying back. Just a travelin' man looking for his place in the world for himself and his friends, is probably the most accurate description of Tyki in his white life.
Black Life: In stark contrast to his white life, Tyki spends his black life as a refined gentleman, having tea in the garden with fellow politicians (his fellow Noah, Cyril Kamelot, for example) in the afternoons, and attending galas and dinner parties at night. He's snarky, vain, and very collected, taking a lackadaisical interest in the world and its happenings around him. Still very much a gambler and risk-taker, there is a shift in his demeanor and mannerisms that gives him a dangerous edge, like a shark circling the waters.Just as he enjoys gambling while in white mode, Tyki also enjoys gambling while in black mode; the stakes are simply higher: rather than gamble for money, clothes, or food, Tyki rather likes gambling for lives. He enjoys killing, the thrill of the hunt, and the rush he gets from making chase. To Tyki, there's no greater pleasure than to feel the delicate strands of life snapping beneath his fingers. His loyalties remain strictly to the Noah family, and he holds little to no disregard for anyone not a part of it.
Like in white mode, how he dresses and carries himself in his black mode does say a great deal as to who he is. In black form, Tyki dresses and acts like a Victorian gentleman. Pressed slacks, glossy shoes, overcoat, vest, tophat and gloves. He carries himself with an air of confidence, walks with purpose, and (usually) sits straight and proper - although he isn't above slouching. Instead of hobopiles, Tyki is rather a lone wolf, and prefers to be alone.
The rest of his characteristics are fairly consistent between both lives. Though not educated, he is rather clever, sharp, and observant when he chooses to be; it's all just a matter of motivating him enough to do so, and very little, save for a nice meal (white life) or an Exorcist strung up on a lamp post (black life) will motivate him. It's easy to mistake him for being dumb or simple, in that respect. Sarcasm and double-entendre are his best friends, and it's usually difficult for someone to figure out whether he's lying about some things, purposely misleading about others, and telling the truth about everything else.
It should be noted that Tyki will strive to keep his lives completely separate, even going so far as to claim that someone is mistaken, should they try to point out that he was a hobo last week. There's a reason that he lives two lives: Tyki prefers to have his cake and eat it too. He prides himself on his ability to make the world his little personal sandbox, and he enjoys playing it however he sees fit with every fibre of his being.
Background:
In brief: very little, aside from his Portuguese upbringing, is known about Tyki's life before he became a Noah. It's likely that his pre-Noah life was a rough one, and that he either doesn't remember very much of it, or, in the more likely situation, he simply chooses to ignore it completely. Perhaps a combination of both. Things like birthdays (with the exception of Rhode's) just aren't something he can't be arsed into giving a damn about.
That aside, Tyki is the third disciple of the Noah family, representing Noah's Pleasure; his Noah's name is Joyd. Being the Noah of Pleasure, Tyki enjoys living a double life, as it allows him to come and go through the social ranks as he pleases. He tends to be a derpy, sloppy, and unshaven vagabond when he's living his white life, and an eloquent, well-dressed, and straight-spined gentleman when living his black life.
Abilities/Additional Notes:
Phasing: Being the Noah of Pleasure, Tyki possesses the ability to "Choose" what he can and cannot touch. This can make him completely intangible to solid matter, allowing it to phase through him without so much as an afterthought. Furthermore, it also allows him to walk across water and air as though it were solid ground.
Reject: On the opposite end of Choice's spectrum, Tyki can also reject the atmosphere at a certain radius, essentially creating his own personal vacuum and leaving enemies with a lack of oxygen. While in this rejected atmosphere, Tyki can still move around comfortably, surrounded by his own atmospheric bubble within the vacuum.
Tease: The Tease are carnivorous butterfly-golems gifted to Tyki by the Millennium Earl to supplement his ability to Choose. Using Choice, Tyki can insert a Tease into his opponent's body without damaging their skin and command it to eat, making for either a slow death, as seen in his attempted murder of Allen Walker, or a quick one, as is the case with Suman Dark. The Tease feast on corpses, growing larger and stronger the more they eat. Tyki keeps an army of the things inside his own body using Choice, which he unleashes when he's feeling particularly nasty. Not just weapons, the Tease can also be used as shields or energy blasts.
Dark Matter: As a Noah, Tyki has complete control over Dark Matter (the opposite of Innocence) Like some of the Tease, Tyki can use the Dark Matter as a shield, or blast it at his enemies.
Sample Journal Post: I'm going to do two sample journal posts, one for his white life and one for his black.
[White Life Post|Audio/Video]
[Tap. Tap. Tap.]
Oi. C'mon, now.
[Tap. Tap... there's a sigh, followed by the sound of a striking match and the crinkle of a freshly-lit cigarette.] Hmm~
[Tap tap... tap tap tap. And finally a face full of five o'clock stubble and dirt beneath a mop of dark curly hair comes into view. The face grins, rolling a cigarette between his lips.] Ah!
He~ey~! There ain't anyone 'round here that might know a place where a guy could get a cigarette 'n some grub? I'm so hungry I could eat my left foot!
An' maybe a round a'poker or two? I'm gettin' a little rusty! Can't be losin' my clothes to the Cheating Boy again, yanno?
[Black Life Post|Video]
My, my.
[The PCD appears to be sitting on a table, just in front of Tyki, as he is completely within view. He's sitting back in a chair, a cigarette dangling from his lips as he shuffles a crisp deck of cards.]
[He tosses one card down; the Ace of Hearts. His face breaks into a satisfied grin, and the cigarette bobs as he talks.]
Tell me, boy. Have you ever experienced the feeling of holding someone's heart?
[Whoever he's talking to is murmuring quietly offscreen.] There's really nothing quite like it, that feeling. Finality. Knowing that a simple squeeze can just extinguish that little bit of life that keeps it beating.
Did you know.... [The next card he tosses down is the Ace of Spades.] ... that if you keep still enough, you can feel their fear? All you have to do is count the beats~
I wonder... [There's a long pause as he plucks the next card from the deck, examines it closely, then sets it on the table. A Joker. He takes a long drag on his cigarette, exhales through his nose, and slowly pulls himself.]
... just how many beats will I count before I squeeze the life out of yours?
[Tyki steps offscreen just as the feed times out.]
Sample RP:
The girl fit perfectly, tucked into the crook of his arm, her hair tickling his nose in a way that was once quite charming, but was now growing increasingly annoying. If her steady breathing along his chest had anything to say or it, she was fast asleep, trudging through the land of dreams without a care in the world. He wondered if she was dreaming of him. He hoped so. Did she really see him for the wandering coal miner he allowed himself to be tonight? The amicable chap in need of a good meal and a fine woman?
Humans. So easily fooled. And yet so very entertaining.
Tyki brought a hand up, glancing at his palm, and the callouses there. He needed a cigarette. Badly. And yet, his pack was stuffed into the pockets of his trousers, and those were on the other side of the room.
Pity, that.
He sighed, and let his hand rest on the girl's shoulder, letting his fingers tangle into her hair. He liked her hair, the way it curled into long rivulets and spread across her back. If he slit her neck, right now, would it look something like that?
Cigarette. Yes. He needed a cigarette. Now.
He let the girl pass through him as he sat up, and she wrapped her arms around the pillow that he had been resting against, the dark red of her hair a stark contrast to the white-gray of the sheets. She made a soft inhale, and settled right back into sleep.
Tyki raised an eyebrow, watching her. It was when he felt a gentle tickle on his wrist that he looked down. One of the Tease was resting just over his pulse. Did he have a pulse? He supposed he did; he was still (mostly) human, after all. Its wings opened and closed in a somber, weary sort of way, as if to ask, What is Master doing, still awake?
"Tease," he murmured, barely above a whisper. The golem's wings stood up. Full attention. Tyki brought his hand back and the golem instinctively crawled onto his palm, along his middle finger, and onto the skin of the sleeping girl's back.
She stirred, but only slightly. Tyki shook his head, "Now, now. It would be rude to wake her."
The golem fell still, save for its wings opening and closing. He watched for a moment longer before phasing through the bed, and padding toward his trousers slung carelessly over the back of a chair.
A cigarette and a match, first. He noticed the way her hair seemed to glow a deeper shade of scarlet in the light of his match. He flicked the flame out and took a long drag.
The nicotine was good. Very good.
He watched as the Tease opened and closed its wings, and occasionally spun a small circle along her skin. It was asking - begging - to eat. Or was it really just his own desire to ask the curious question if her hair was really as red as her blood that he heard? Maybe it was both. Either way, he knew what it was like, to be hungry; hungry for food, hungry for blood.
He was feeling it now.
Tyki smirked, not bothering to put his shirt on, or fasten the right suspender, and leaned over, rolling the lit cigarette between his lips. The Tease's wings flattened when he touched the tip of his index finger to its body.
They both could eat now, with just an ounce of pressure and a single command.
"Tease."
The sleeping girl's head moved, burrowing further into the pillow she was hugging. A lock of that red hair ghosted over the back of his palm.
He grinned.
And brought his hand down in front of the golem, palm turned upward. The Tease's wings opened and closed once, twice, before it crawled back onto his palm. Tyki brought the golem to his lips, brushing a kiss over its body, as light as he had kissed the girl's lips before she had nodded off to sleep.
"Come now," he whispered, turning around and creeping toward the door. "We really shouldn't overstay our welcome."