diff --git a/prelude.ld b/prelude.ld
index 8230825..28ad049 100644
--- a/prelude.ld
+++ b/prelude.ld
@@ -663,7 +663,7 @@ fn at {
 		when {
 			nil? (raw) -> nil
 			gte? (raw, 128) -> panic! "not an ASCII char"
-			true -> raw
+			true -> base :str_slice (str, n, inc (n))
 		}
 	}
 	(_) -> nil