Sparks

(Come on, babe.
Why don’t we paint the town…)
“…and All That Jazz?”
— Chicago The Musical

 

Juvia woke up to the smell of food (breakfast, she noted), the sunlight streaming from the window to her face, and the sounds of activity nearby — familiar sounds of cooking, bustling in the kitchen, of utensils against plates, and unfamiliar voices in a distant conversation.

She was only able to make out some parts of what the strangers were saying.

“…you sure Gray…”

“…work late last night…”

“…didn’t tell you anything?”

“Oi, quiet!”

“…maybe some family…”

“…don’t disturb… asleep…”

Gray? Who were these people and where was-…

Everything finally came back to Juvia and she sat up straight, hugging the sheets to herself as she looked towards the floor first. Sure enough, there was the man who introduced himself as Gray the previous night. He was still fast asleep, although for some reason during the night he had… taken his shirt off?

She looked around and took in the sight in the light — beanbags and throwpillows everywhere, a coffee table nearby, scattered CDs, earphones, magazines and other things… and a TV set.

When she turned to look behind her, she saw a big dining table, people she didn’t know engaged in conversation and eating, while two women bustled around in the kitchen.

“Oh.” one of the occupants of the table, a man with orange hair tied back into a ponytail, looked back at Juvia. “She’s awake.”

Juvia couldn’t help but lean backwards a bit when all eyes turned towards her. Beside the orange haired man, there was a big bulky silver-haired guy busy eating breakfast, and another man, with black hair spiked up on top of his head, who tried to smile a friendly smile at her.

The two women in the kitchen also turned around. One of them had glasses and long lavender hair pinned up in a ponytail — she was stirring a large pitcher of orange juice. The other woman, who had long silver hair, looked a bit older than them. She had kind eyes and a motherly smile as she lifted a large plate filled with fried eggs.

“Well, hello!” the woman greeted. She passed the plate to one of the guys sitting in the dining table and wiped her hands in her apron as she approached Juvia. “Good morning! I’m sorry, did we wake you up?”

Consciously, Juvia ran a hand through her hair, trying to comb it with her fingers. “U-um… no, not really… uh—”

“I’m Mira.” — and then she smiled. “Apologies for the noise, it’s really busy here in the mornings. So, uh, we’re not quite familiar with you, so… would you mind… telling us about yourself?”

Juvia was about to answer, but she was surprised when she heard a deep voice from behind her.

“She’s mine. I mean—” Gray stopped because he couldn’t help but let out a yawn.

“Oi, ‘mine’ he says!” one of the guys teased. The others cheered.

“I mean mine, as in… I mean a guest… person. Of mine.” Gray answered grumpily. Juvia turned to look at him. He was rubbing his eyes, obviously still sleepy. “Dammit what time is it?”

“Seven.” the lavender-haired girl chimed in.

“Four hours of sleep.” Gray groaned, this time running a hand through his hair. “Mira, we got an extra plate?”

“Oh, no problem with that. Lisanna left early.” Mira answered with a smile. She only reached out a hand and squeezed Juvia in the shoulder. “Come on, dear — breakfast’s ready. You should join us!” Then she was back in the kitchen.

Gray only yawned again and nodded at Juvia. “C’mon, believe me you’d want to grab some food before the others come.”

Juvia simply nodded timidly and followed him towards the dining table. He sat down and she took the seat next to him.

“Juvia,” Gray started, and then proceeded to point towards his friends: ‘This is Jet, Warren, and Elfman.’ As he did this, they each smiled friendly smiles at her, Elfman even giving a small salute while eating. “You’ve met Mira. That’s Laki. Everyone, this is Juvia.”

“Good job, Gray.” Jet teased.

“Shut up, it’s not like that.” Gray rolled his eyes. There were several platters of various breakfast foods served in the table, and Juvia followed Gray’s lead as he grabbed a plate from a stack of empty plates and then started taking food. As they ate, Gray did a quick explanation about Juvia to his companions — the short version, that she got mugged and got lost the day before, and ended up in their garage because of the rain. As they listened, Juvia watched as the strangers looked at her in surprise.

“Man, that’s tough.” Jet shook his head in sympathy.

Warren nodded, “Sorry ’bout your bags.”

“It was a good thing Gray found you.” Mira said, obviously very concerned. “And you could’ve woken us up, Gray.”

“It was 3 AM.” Gray defended. “And I was beat from work.”

“D’you have somewhere you can stay in for now?” Laki asked, handing their guest a glass of orange juice.

“Juvia has… something to start with. Juvia was supposed to call a friend but… well, all those things happened.” Juvia answered before realizing what she said. She instinctively covered her mouth with her hand, but then noticed that none of her new acquaintances seemed to nitpick about how she talked.

“We’ll help you get to your friend then. Don’t worry!” was Mira’s simple answer.

Laki nodded. “For now, you go eat breakfast.”

Juvia watched as her companions resumed eating, Jet asking Gray what happened at his work the previous night, Warren reading the newspaper, Elfman gobbling up another plate. Laki sat with them and also began eating.

Then more people came to breakfast. A petite blue-haired girl sat next to Jet and greeted them all cheerfully, “Mornin’, everyone!”

There were several greetings back before she noticed that there was a new face with them. “Oh! Jet said Gray brought a girl home. I didn’t believe him. Hello!”

“H-Hello.” Juvia nodded.

“My name is Levy.” the girl introduced, extending a hand.

Juvia shook it and returned the smile. “Juvia.”

Then Jet leaned sidewards and did a quick recap of the story for Levy.

After that, another guy joined them, introducing himself to Juvia as Droy, and Jet just said, “Guest of ours. I’ll tell you the whole thing later at work.”

Droy accepted that easily and then started eating, seemingly to compete with Elfman.

Then two more joined them: Alzack and Bisca. Laki took the liberty of introducing Juvia to them and explaining the situation.

Again, Juvia observed, they all simply seemed to take it all in stride. They offered her their sympathies and told her they would help in any way they can, then they went on with their usual morning routine.

Mira set one last platter of food in the table before she looked at them all. Juvia noted that she seemed to be doing a head count. “Hm… Erza should be awake by now.”

“She spent the night at Jellal’s.” Levy said casually.

“Ah, okay then. Max?”

Warren answered, “Takin’ forever in the shower as usual.”

“Natsu?”

“With Lucy.” Alzack answered that one. “Saw them heading to the rooftop a while ago. They’re probably doing some kind of weird yoga up there again.”

“Let’s not disturb them. Cana?”

At that, Gray’s head snapped up. “Yeah, why was Cana in my room last night?”

He was answered by a new voice. “Because t’was rainin’ inside my room and I was too sleepy to do somethin’ about it. Pipe’s broken again. I really oughtta get that fixed.”

Juvia recognized the brunette as the one who was sleeping in Gray’s room the previous night. Now that Juvia has seen her in the light, the woman looked very familiar…

“Why didn’t you just sleep in the bed with me anyway, it’s big enough-…” Cana paused momentarily as she saw Juvia. Then her expression turned curious as she sat with them. “Ohhh, who’s this cutie in your shirt?”

Gray answered mechanically. “We’re helpin’ her ’cause she arrived in town yesterday, got mugged and stuck in the rain last night. Ended up in the garage. Juvia, this is Cana. Cana—”

“—Alberona?” Juvia asked, mouth open as she stared at the other woman.

Cana’s face broke into a grin. “The only! You’ve heard of me?”

Juvia stammered, looking in wonder at the brunette. “O-Of course! J-J-Juvia is a fan!”

“Aw, Gray. She’s so cute!” Cana laughed. “Look at her!”

Gray looked at their guest. Indeed, Juvia was blushing. Of course Cana looked different without make-up and with her hair pulled up into a quick messy bun, and wearing a simple tank top and cotton shorts, but… the voice and the expression — it WAS undoubtedly THE Cana Alberona.

“G-Gray-sama knows Cana Alberona-sama?” Juvia asked.

Gray rolled his eyes. “Unfortunately.”

“Grumpy-pants.” Cana pouted, poking the raven-head. Gray didn’t budge.

Juvia looked around and saw that the others have already resumed to talking about something else or eating breakfast. They looked like they were very much used to the Cana-and-Gray antics.

“What is Cana-sama doing in-… Does Cana-sama live here?” Juvia asked, confused.

“Well, technically I have my own flat now, tall building uptown, nice view, pool on the big balcony and all that—”

“—yet she still steals other people’s beds.” Gray butted in. Juvia looked at him, growing more confused.

“—BUT there’s no place like home!” Cana finished, ignoring Gray completely. “For starters, I like my room here when it’s not raining inside it. S’more homey.”

“Her room’s the one next to mine.” Gray provided for Juvia’s benefit.

“Has been for five years.” Cana continued. “Before the big debut. Plus the big rich flat is too big for one person.”

It took a moment as Juvia let this sink in. She nodded slowly in understanding, still hardly believing her eyes. She never thought she’d meet one of the best and most celebrated actresses in the current stage musical scene in this shabby abandoned-looking building, sitting with a variety of other people, eating breakfast in the same dining table. These people were… Cana Alberona’s friends. Outside of her celebrity status. Even before her outstanding lead actress debut three years ago.

Maybe Juvia was still dreaming.

Yep — the pillow and blanket that Gray gave her the previous night was so warm and comfy… she must still be dreaming.

But dream or not, Juvia tried not to be rude, so she tried not to stare too hard as Cana grabbed a plate, took some food and started eating. Instead she quietly listened in as Gray and Cana talked about the broken piping in the brunette’s room, Jet and Droy talked about work, Mira started scolding Elfman about not talking when his mouth was full, Laki and Warren talking about the news and the others just hurrying to finish breakfast and start their day.

It didn’t take too long until Jet and Droy were hurriedly leaving to go to work, followed closely by Alzack and Bisca. Warren and Laki also excused themselves and went upstairs, back to their rooms.

Juvia thought about it. The building had a lot of separate rooms and a lot of people, but they all share the same living room and kitchen quarters so… instead of an apartment maybe it was some sort of dormitory?

She was snapped out of her thoughts when another person came trudging towards the dining table.

It was a guy with messy navy blue hair and thick glasses, and still looked half-asleep. “Hey, guysss…” he drawled, sleepily looking at all of them before yawning and stretching. If he noticed an unfamiliar face, he didn’t show it.

“Hey, Bixlow.” Levy greeted.

Everyone watched as Bixlow stopped by the table, took a plate and slowly began shovelling food in it. “I’m just gonna take a plate upstairs if it’s okay with y’all. I got this code fix I hafta finish ’cause it’s gotta make the QA deadline later and we hafta test that after and prod deployment’s next week already.”

Juvia was sure that she didn’t get most of that, but Mira nodded as if in full understanding. “Sure thing.” the woman said, even reaching out to pour a glass of orange juice for the guy. Bixlow accepted it warily. “How about Laxus?”

He yawned again. “I dunno, he’ll prolly sleep in. He OT’d… like, extra five hours last night, dude. But don’t worry ’bout him. Freed slept over so they’ll cook if they need to. Maybe. Or order pizza. why d’they always order pizza when I’m not here, Mira?”

“I’m sure it’s all a coincidence, sweetheart.”

“Huh.” he thought about it as he turned to go back to his room.

“Okay, then. Good luck with your… code thingy.” Mira said as the guy clumsily saluted to them all. “Catch a bit of sleep if you can.”

“Roger, ma’am…” was the weak reply as Bixlow trudged back upstairs.

He was then followed by a completely opposite scene:

“Good morning, world!” — was the joyful greeting that came from the pink-haired ball of energy who sat in the chair across Juvia’s.

Juvia blinked when the guy looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Then he asked, “Levy, you have a sister?”

“Nope, she’s our guest.” Levy answered absently. She was now reading the newspaper that Warren left with her. “Gray’s guest.”

“Gray, you have a girlfriend?”

Gray frowned. “That’s unfair, I can’t have a sister too?”

“Duh, she’s too pretty to be your sister.” the guy stuck his tongue out childishly, and Juvia looked down shyly.

Gray glared. “Drop dead.”

The other guy grinned. “Can’t do that.”

“What part of guest don’t you understand?” Gray deadpanned. “She got lost yesterday and stuck in the rain last night, we’re all helping her.”

“Ah, yeah. Laki was talkin’ ‘bout somethin’ like that just a while ago.” The new arrival nodded in consideration, then turned towards Juvia. “We’re all helping you, dude — don’t worry. I’m Natsu, by the way!”

“Juvia. Nice to meet you, Natsu-san.” Juvia smiled.

Then his eyes fell on the strip of bacon in her plate. “Are you eating that or not?”

Juvia jumped when someone hit the back of Natsu’s head. “Get your own bacon!”

“Ow! But Lucy!” Natsu whined as he and Juvia looked up to see the newcomer. “She’s not eating it! Bacon is… bacon!”

Juvia’s mouth fell open as she watched the blonde woman sit on the empty chair between Natsu and Cana. “Please don’t mind him. I heard from Laki. Really sorry ’bout what happened to you. This city can get all sorts of nasty specially if you’re new.”

Lucy extended a hand and smiled. “I’m Lucy, by the way.”

Cana giggled, watching their guest open her mouth to say something but failing to do so. She nudged Gray. “Aw, look at her face.”

“J-J-Juvia.” the blue-haired woman barely got that out. She glanced at Cana and Gray’s smug expressions before looking back at Lucy. “Are you… are you really…?”

Lucy blinked. Cana answered for her. “Yes, she is.”

“Lucy Heartfilia-sama!” Juvia exclaimed. Much like Cana, despite the hastily-tied ponytail and the very casual attire, Juvia would recognize the familiar face and voice anywhere.

Lucy laughed. “Oh, you know me already!” Beside her, Natsu sniggered as he ate his breakfast.

“Of course Juvia does! Juvia has watched… err… some videos. Juvia can’t really afford the tickets, but… Juvia is a fan! Lucy-sama and Cana-sama are great performers!”

Lucy and Cana exchanged a look before they smiled back at her.

Juvia REALLY must be dreaming. There was no way she was eating breakfast with not one but TWO famed musical theatre actresses.

She looked around at her companions. “Does… Does Lucy-sama live here too?”

“Sometimes.” the blonde shrugged, also starting her meal. “I have a lot of good friends here. And Natsu.”

Natsu then spoke up, face completely serious. “Okay, I don’t always get to say this. I mean, I don’t always brag but…” Juvia looked at him, and then he broke into the same happy grin she saw in his face earlier — “My girlfriend is Lucy Heartfilia!”

He held a hand up and Levy high-fived him without looking up from her newspaper. It was pretty impressive.

Meanwhile, Juvia looked simply amazed.

“Dork.” Lucy chuckled, shaking her head. She looked at Juvia with a more resigned expression. “That’s classified information, by the way. Don’t leak it, alright?” — then she topped that off with a wink.

Juvia nodded obediently. “Juvia would never.”

“You really like them, don’t you?” Gray asked, amused.

Juvia nodded again, this time looking down. She peeked through her bangs and saw Cana talking to Mira across the table, while Lucy and Natsu were fighting over the last piece of hotdog on Lucy’s plate. “Juvia can’t believe it. Juvia is eating breakfast with Lucy Heartfilia and Cana Alberona.”

“Hey, they might be big-shots but they’re human too. They gotta live and eat somewhere.” he mused. He was finished with his breakfast now, just taking his time sitting in the table with his friends. “Just… maybe you expected them to be in a better place that this old hole.”

“Juvia has been meaning to ask…” she started. “Is this place an apartment or dorm of some sort?”

Gray considered that, and for a bit, he looked at their companions before answering, “Well… short answer: it’s a house.”

Juvia nodded, knowing that there was a continuation to that.

“Long answer: it’s just happens to be… a really big house. We call it The Guild, actually. Who came up with that name again?” — he stopped to ask no one in particular.

It was Levy who answered, “It was Max.” Juvia wondered about the other woman’s impressive attention span. She seemed to hear and see everything.

“Of course it was.” Gray snorted. “There. This used to be an old abandoned building… an office or somethin’ like that, I think. T’was owned by Gramps. Err. Makarov Dreyar — he’s a really nice old man. At first he let us use this as practice grounds, but eventually we all just… sorta fixed the whole thing and moved in. We’re not all related, but most of us have no family or are from different places. Technically Laxus owns the building now, but we all contribute to everything so… yeah. This is a house, I guess. Just a really big one.”

Mira chose to add her own two cents: “There are still some empty rooms and lots of broken pipes and ceilings, but we make do. Everyone pays rent, but it’s not business. We’re like a family here already, anyway.”

“That’s nice…” Juvia considered. “Having a big family. Gray-sama said this was practice grounds. Practice for what?”

Natsu answered that part. “Dance, duh!”

Juvia blinked in surprise. “D-Dance?”

“We’re all dancers here.” Levy smiled. “Most of us, anyway.”

“What do you dance?” Juvia asked, this time turning to Gray. Juvia could hardly believe her luck. First: stumbling upon Gray who was nice enough to help her out, second: meeting a whole bunch of people who gave her food and promised to help her, third: meeting Cana Alberona and Lucy Heartfilia in the flesh, up close and personal! And now — she’s among dancers! She bit her lip, trying to keep herself from blurting out her thoughts.

“All sorts.” Gray shrugged. ‘Most of us do hip-hop. Levy, Jet and Droy do tap. Laki and Lisanna study jazz and contemporary. Warren’s an animator. Mira’s a ballroom expert.’ — at this, Mira shook her head and waved him off bashfully — “And Erza’s good at everything. She’s not home right now, but you’ll like her.”

“You’re a dance troupe?”

“Something like that.” Levy answered, chuckling nervously. “Not a professional one, we’ve never really gotten any offers… we’ve all got jobs, but we’re hoping to get a gig up sometime.”

“But what about that big dance contest? There’s still that, right?” Lucy piped up.

Levy nodded. “Well, dates are TBD. Max is keeping an eye on it, though.”

After that, they all launched in an animated conversation about some upcoming dance contest and the plans for it. Cana and Lucy were complaining that they want to dance with everyone while Mira apologized and said that the mechanics stated a ‘no professionals or celebrities’ rule. Natsu, Elfman and Levy all had things to say about it too.

Gray, Juvia was beginning to learn, was actually one of the quieter ones of the group. He preferred to watch them, but never hesitated to speak up when prompted.

So taking this opportunity without anyone’s attention on her, Juvia leaned a bit and asked the man beside her softly, “Uh… umm… Gray-sama…?”

Gray looked back at her.

Juvia didn’t know what happened, but her mind suddenly went blank. What was she supposed to ask again? She totally forgot. She froze — because he was expecting something of her and waiting patiently and she has nothing to say?

Doing a quickly look around, she then said that first thing that came to mind: “Can Gray-sama help Juvia… ask for autographs?”

At that, Gray laughed, and to Juvia’s horror he directly addressed two of their companions. “Oi, Cana, Lucy — Juvia wants to ask for your autograph.”

Both women looked towards them, looking genuinely touched. Lucy even brought a hand to her chest. “Oh gosh, I’d be happy to!”

“You like us that much?” Cana asked.

Juvia nodded shyly. “Juvia watched your audition video…”

“Which one?”

“The one for Glitter. You auditioned together and performed ‘Hot Honey Rag’ and ‘Nowadays’ from Chicago and everyone was blown away, because your dancing was on point. When the casting staff questioned your vocals because the song didn’t have much variety on the singing parts, you went ahead and sang ‘Take Me Or Leave Me’ and… and it was perfect! Juvia also watched your TV guestings from when you got the parts and played the leads. And some performance clips on the internet…”

She couldn’t tell them enough how much she adored them. ‘Glitter’ was the first big musical in years to have two female leads and it surprised the whole industry when two completely new faces owned the roles. From there, both of their careers just instantly took off.

“Shucks.” Lucy laughed nervously. “That audition really blew up, huh?”

“’Cause it was awesome.” Elfman chimed in.

Beside him, Levy put her newspaper down, a sign that she was joining in their conversation. “That one put you in the map, Lu-chan.”

Natsu also gave a thumbs up, unable to say anything because he was busy gobbling up food.

Juvia simply looked down. “S-Sorry if Juvia is being nosy…”

“Aw, don’t look so down!” Cana spoke, a confident grin on her face. “So you arrived in the big city and all sorts of bad things happened to you — what do you say we cheer you up a bit? D’you wanna see that audition live?”

Juvia gaped. Beside Cana, Lucy also looked surprised, while Natsu was already cheering and Gray just sighed and exchanged looks with the rest of their companions: Mira, Elfman and Levy. They were smiling conspiratory smiles.

“U-Uh… Sorry?”

“Would you like it if we performed for you?” Cana asked again, reaching over the back of her head to take off her scrunchie and let her hair down.

“Y-Yes, but Juvia can’t just ask—”

“Of course you can.” Cana said, running a hand through long brown curls. “Right, Lucy?”

Lucy seemed to look down at her plate in mourning before she just shrugged and asked, “What are we doing? I can’t remember all the steps to Hot Honey Rag anymore.”

“Something we both know by heart…” the brunette considered. Juvia watched as the woman contemplated for a full five seconds. When Cana opened her mouth again, the strong, full sound of her singing voice was what came out:

“Come on, babe — why don’t we paint the town?”

Juvia stifled a gasp. Cana was pleased at the reaction — of course their guest would recognize a classic — and sent a wink towards Lucy.

“…and all that jazz?”

Lucy chuckled before quickly picking up, her voice perfect:

“I’m gonna rouge my knees and roll my stockings down…”, she snapped her fingers twice. “and all that jazz!”

Juvia watched as Cana made a quick gesture and Gray, Natsu, Elfman, Mira and Levy all moved to take the plates and glasses from dining table.

As they did this, the two women sang together:

“Start the car, I know a whoopee spot, where the gin is cold but the piano’s hot!
It’s just a noisy hall where there’s a nightly brawl…”

As if in perfect sync, the two raised both their hands, their fingers ready to snap.

“And all… that… jazz!”

Juvia looked around to find Natsu whistling to the familiar tune of the instrumental break as Cana held out her hand to Gray, who took it and helped her step up into one of the chairs and then on top of the table.

Cana strided across the table, singing and projecting as if she was in a real stage.

“Slick your hair and wear your buckle shoes — and all that jazz!
I hear that Father Dip is gonna blow the blues — and all that jazz!”

Lucy followed her partner’s lead, letting Levy and Mira help her up the table to stand beside Cana as she sang the next verse:

“Hold on, hon’ — we’re gonna bunny hug!
I bought some aspirin down at United Drug,
In case you shake apart and want a brand new start to do… that… jazz!”

Juvia couldn’t help but get goosebumps as she heard Lucy’s high note.

This time both Natsu and Levy were whistling and snapping their fingers to the beat. Mira, and Gray watched in amusement and decided to join by clapping.

Cana started singing again:

“Find a flask, we’re playing fast and loose — and all that jazz!”

Lucy continued:

“Right up here is where I store the juice — and all that jazz!”

Then both divas sang together:

“Come on, babe! We’re gonna brush the sky!
I betcha Lucky Lindy never flew so high,
’Cause in the stratosphere how could he lend an ear — to all that jazz?”

Cana then picked up the singing while Lucy danced, shaking her hips playfully. Juvia recognized some classic broadway steps from the two women dancing. They might as well be wearing flapper dresses, fishnet stockings and high heels — they carried the song so well even in their sleep wear.

“Oh, you’re gonna see your sheba shimmy-shake! — and all that jazz!
Oh, she’s gonna shimmy ’till her garters break — and all that jazz!”

This time it was Lucy who sang as Cana danced:

“Show her where to park her girdle! Oh, her mother’s blood’d curdle —
If she’d hear her baby squeal — for all! That! Jazz!”

Juvia was floored — how much confidence does it take for one to pull off those classy and sultry moves all in improv? She knew they were great performers, but seeing them like this — improvising and yet still owning it… It was another thing entirely.

After that, the snapping and clapping became faster. Cana sang as main vocals while Lucy harmonized with her.

“Come on, babe — why don’t we paint the town? And all that jazz!”

They exchanged roles, Lucy taking lead this time:

“I’m gonna rouge my knees and roll my stockings down — and all that jazz!”

They sang the penultimate verse together, voices in perfect harmony:

“Start the car, I know a whoopee spot, where the gin is cold but the piano’s hot!
It’s just a noisy hall where there’s a nightly brawl—
And all… that…”

It was amazing and said things about how versatile their voices were when from a strong verse, they were able to reduce the last line into a whisper, before again shifting their dynamics and singing the finale:

“No, I’m no one’s wife but, ohhh, I love my life!
And all! That! Jazz!”

When they finished, Juvia clapped her hands along with everyone else who cheered for the two. Cana and Lucy bowed but as soon as they were finished, Cana scratched her head mumbling about ‘overdoing it a bit’ and Lucy just crouched down and covered her face saying she might have gotten ‘too carried away oh my god Natsu help me get down from here!’

Juvia was totally convinced that she was dreaming. Yep. There was no way that just happened for real.

But on the off-chance that it’s all real — then this should more than make up to all the misfortune from the previous day.