Character Lounge

[Joat]

In a stroke of luck, I am not directly hit by any of the shards, though one does make a very small scratch as it passes by. As I see Aisha out of the corner of my eye, I think, “I don’t know about plans, but that girl sure has moves.”

I reach the flame monster and bite it in midair.

[Stygian]

That's when Aisha felt a hand on her shoulder...
   "Are you having fun, chica?" a gentle, but at the same time firm and steadfast voice said. The accent, and that very same way she sounded so self-assured, so certain... It couldn't be...
   "My, that is some vicious grin. Did I raise you to fight like that? No sabía que usted lo tenía en usted, my girl."

   Mel's ice sprayed the horrible dragon-thing in the face and cut into it, but it simply scattered, and turned from one great bonfire into a whole group of smaller ones, that avoided the jaws of the "wolf". They looked like dragons too, but moved like serpents... and there was nothing regal or statesteque about their wicked shapes, their movements or their cutter-jawed heads. They circled her, and spat streams of fire at her, while the stings and rakes at her back grew stronger.

   In the other side of the room, in the dug-out hole, the darkness began... concentrating.

[Joat]

*OOC: You missed the part where IC JOat transformed into a full-fox (or what looks like one).*

An epiphany. “Guys! I don’t think these monsters are real! They seem to be growing stronger as we grow more afraid of them! I really think these creatures are merely in our heads, which is why we cannot defeat them!” I say.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha's sword point stopped right above the chest, the tip in fact just a quarter of an inch from digging into the skin.  Her body had frozen completely from the voice...that exact voice, almost like it had popped out of the past, out of her thoughts.

With less than steady hands holding her sword hilt above the floored doppelganger, Aisha glanced around, biting her lower lip at who had touched her shoulder.  At the sight of the figure, she suddenly wanted to break down.

A semi-elderly but strong white tigress with stripes of bold ebony stood before her, a couple of inches taller than her as she had remembered.  Aisha looked into the same unyielding eyes of emerald set in a face that radiated dignity and power, held with a stern and serious look, disciplinary but motherly, the look of the healer.  The clothes she wore still in a long-ago-extinct tribal style similar to Mayan, with pearlescent white hair trailing down the back in the same style of braid that Aisha wore as a symbol of her tutelage.  She carried a long wooden staff that had at the top what looked like claws clutching an orb that radiated and used light energy.

The panther's eyes widened, slitted pupils going almost as round as large coins.  "Mistress Rynkura?  Señora..."

Suddenly she heard the strange doctor/fox's voice yelling out another idea of his, which seemed to help bring her back to reality.  She shook her head violently and turned back to the sword, about to drive it deeper into the skin of her twin.  "You can't be real."

[Joat]

*OOC: Again. He is currently in full-fox form. Okay, granted, it is not technically a fox, but something that looks like a fox, but still…*

[Stygian]

The tigress reached out with a strong yet careful hand, hardened by age and training, and stroked Aisha's cheek.
   "Oh, but I am real, Aisha. See me, standing here? What does a mere wolf boy know about the arts that we dabble in?" She looked at Joat with a disapproving face, then to Aisha again. "Things are happening here. Dangerous things. And while these "intelectuales" try and resolve it to no end, you have to take a stand and fight it." She placed that same strong hand as before on Aisha's shoulder.
   "You trained to fight the darkness, no matter the cost, Aisha. ¿Va usted a pararse ahora?" she said.

   Up in the ceiling, Salticia was entangled in a brawl with a cockroach-like creature of monstrous proportions. The thing had just come out of the woodwork and grown like a sponge with the darkness! But it was nearly finished, its body smashed and ripped by her claws, and entangled by her nets. She needed only deliver the killing blow. And she couldn't stay up here much longer. The shadows were coming alive too fast.
   When she heard the white tigress down below though, and saw Aisha's reaction, she nearly froze. Quickly stringing a web to the roof and swinging herself down, she shouted:
   "Don't listen, Aisha! If we don't try to get out, we're all doomed! We can't fight th... agh!" At the last word, a long tentacle of darkness reached down and swiped her back up into the ceiling.

   And from behind Joat, a cruel, rasping metallic voice spoke, distorted from behind a black and golden mask whose breathing slits had turned into the teeth of an eyeless, featureless skull.
   "In your heads, you say? That is where you are oh so terribly wrong..."

[Aisha deCabre]

Again, Aisha froze.  The touch was real, too.  Her heart had started to well with sadness, and memories flashed through her head of Rynkura's training...she was a parent when her parents were dead.  Left behind when she finally decided to go off on her own.  Elation wanted to spring up at seeing her again.  But her mind was reeling, two sides of the same coin fighting over the subject...hardened discipline and knowledge versus instinctual search for a figure of protection.

Maybe she is real...anything is possible...
No, it's another trick!  Snap out of it!
She said she was real, your teacher wouldn't lie...
Trick!
Comfort!
Lie!
Truth!

Aisha in her own self-delusion could barely hear Sal's warning.  It was a shout, almost indiscernible, but it got her attention.  Something about not listening...to whom?  Rynkura?  The thought was impossible.

The panther gulped back tears.  This was too much.  Her knees were weak; the only thing supporting her body was the fact that she was still holding the blade's hilt.  "No puedo pensar..."

And yet a set of bloodred eyes scanned the area.  Everyone now seemed to have their own opponents.  And she couldn't even see where Gareeku was.  Her friends were battling the elements of the very house, and she was just standing there listening to her master...or a shade, she wasn't sure anymore...talk about fighting back.

It was then that her eyes fall back down to the doppelganger.  Her face scrunched as if in pain, teeth baring a snarl.  Was this really just her violent nature biting back?  At this rate, she didn't care.

"Oh, I'll fight alright..." she growled, jamming the sword down.

[Stygian]

The doppleganger screamed for an instant, as Aisha's sword impaled it. The next second, it burst into shadow, turning into ashes and smoke.
   Something throbbed in her chest, she realized. She had stabbed into the heart of that other thing... yet her sword was sticking out through her ribcage. She staggered for a moment, Rynkura's hands still on her shoulders.
   "You have vanguished the darkness, chica," the tigress said, as Aisha fell to the ground. Blood was trickling everywhere, but she could already feel the darkness tugging at her, seeping into her. The last thing she saw was Rynkura's face twisted into a grin in a way that her real Mistress' would never have, her eyes burning blood red.
   "Aren't you glad...?"

   ...

   Aisha was caught in complete darkness. She could feel her body, and looking down she could see it too, her red robe falling over her as it always did and her sword and boomerang in their places. But the ground was uttely black, just like everything around her. There was no light coming from anywhere; she herself seemed to be the only clearly illuminated thing anywhere within sight. There was no sound, no smell, nothing. Turning around did not reveal anything to her sight beyond the blackness. She called, and no echo came, no matter how long she waited. A second shout did not produce any other result.

   "Really, what do you expect?" said a voice from behind her.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha jumped around upon hearing the voice, the cape fluttering as it had been brought mysteriously back to her neck.  First there was pain, and now nothing, complete and utter darkness.  She tried to think, and her eyes widened.

Estupida!  Fool, it was a reflection!  Just like you!  Whatever happens to it...and you...damn!  Her head hung in shame with a sigh.  Wherever you REALLY are, Mistress, forgive me...

The place was encompassing, and her heart sank, knowing what the situation looked like.

"Whoever you are, show yourself," she demanded in a voice that sounded less than demanding...distraught.  "I'm dead, aren't I?"

[Stygian]

The voice chuckled from all around, and then it was behind her shoulder.
   "No. You are with me," it said. It was a man's voice, deep, a bit dark and coarse but clear and strong, and it carried a very slight accent, a barely noticeable tint of something in between british and german.

   Turning, she saw that face again. A bit older this time, perhaps, but still the same hard-lined face. That blonde hair, that straight nose, those deep eyes, that wedge-like jawline with a slight dimple in its chin... There was nothing inhuman about him, yet Sebastian just naturally gave off a feeling of determination and power.

   "And yes, you are dead. It might seem strange, but the two are not the same. Nor are you really with me. It's more like there's a similarity between us."

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha calmed down for a minute, after a bit of confusion at seeing Stygian.  She blinked and stood up straight.  She had a flurry of questions, but they seemed irrelevent...the ethereal feeling of...death, or whatever it was, something more by how he seemed to put it...was weighing on her.

"You...disappeared...but where were you?  Or...are we?" she sighed, shaking her head and despite the somber mood giving an ironic chuckle.  "Well, what's going on then?"  In all honesty she could have come up with a more intelligent question but her mind, the stupidity of her past actions, the way she just gave into her anger...it was all coming down fast.

[Stygian]

Stygian, or Sebastian, chuckled. He sat down in a dark leather armchair that just appeared, but somehow seemed to have stood there the whole time, and scratched his scalp with a large, hardened hand.
   "Hehe... It's a bit technical. I was really hoping you'd ask me an easier question... But I guess that I could skip the technicalities and just say that the darkness that was created from me is expanding and evolving within the existential disturbance in the mansion. Soon the whole of it will be enveloped. Already, I doubt anyone of those trapped in there can escape.
   As for me being here, I can just say that this is not I. This is the imprint left behind when I first came here. Part of my mind simply takes it on again, which is how I can speak to you right now. But I am not saying this. I am not even aware of it, just as you know all about it. Right now I am in pain in the core of the vortex, just like you feel nothing here at the heart of it. I am trying to stop it, by breaking it up and forcing my way through back. Which of course makes no sense at all," he said, and then laughed long and hard.

   When his laughter died down, silence fell again for a few moments.
   "Heh... I really don't think that it's a question of what is going on. It's all just a matter of time," he then said. He pulled out an onyx black etui from the backpocket on his pressed suit pants, flicked it open, and took out a cigarette, which he lit with a matching lighter. He then proffered her the etui.
   "Smoke? It's all in your head anyway."

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha listened to his explanation, shivering a little even though it was impossible to feel cold in a pit of black nothingness.  But she was feeling a little more disturbed, her gaze wavering down to the "floor", and all around.  To get her mind off of the events and bring back her focus, she just considered the surroundings some more.  It looked like the concept of directions was nothing but that...concept.  What am I even standing on...?

But despite her mood, she chuckled again at Stygian's over and waved her hand.  "Even so, I don't think my head will appreciate it.  But thanks."  She turned her back and slowly took a few steps ahead, then glanced back.  She hadn't gone any further from him.  The whole thing was still too strange.

"So...I'm pretty much dead, downed by a mirror version of myself, the house is being swallowed up, my friends are doomed to a grave of illusions, and I'm standing here talking to a shadow of your former self, while waiting in a self-inflicted purgatory.  Como bueno...and to think all I wanted was pizza."  She turned on him.  The question she really wanted to ask would probably be too convenient to answer...but she had to try.

"If there's nowhere to run...then at least tell me there's a way to stop it...or make you come back more easily...something."  She straightened up with a look of sincerity, feeling like she was about to decide her fate.  "Because, amigo, I just want my comrades...all of them, the innocents and even you...to live."

[Boog]

Meanwhile, back at the Lounge, Boogey had no delusions about his ability to use a sword. Barely hefting it both handed, he laced the blade with two arguments. It is made of glass, and the sword is heavy. Ergo, when the sword strikes the monster, the monster will shatter to nothing like anything else made of glass. The monster is made of blood as well, and blood is flammable. He hit the button on the hilt, causing the sword to burst into flame with a satisfying "Fwoosh!"
"Alright you 13 Ghosts reject, it's on," He grinned manically, "You don't LIKE it when I say stuff like that, do you? You think therefor I am, twinkly. You'll neeeever shut me up." And with that, he charged, whirling around and swinging the sword wildly. If I can use a bat, I can use a sword. Same general principle; hit the other guy with the implement.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel snarled at the voice shouting that it wasn't real. She had burns and someone wanted to be a philosopher? She could see and feel the burns, black ugly things that continued to eat into her like acid. The only way to stop it was to get back to her normal temperature. While a part of her remembered that there were warm-bloods she didn't want to hurt nearby the other part used her magic to begin ruthlessly dropping the temperature. Almost immediately the burns stopped progressing but the floor became a sheet of ice as the water from the fire versus ice battle froze. Whatever was pushing at her back managed to skid her a foot closer to the firedrakes. She lashed out with her tail and felt the wall behind her smash but the pushing continued. She drove her claws into the floor and continued to blast any drake that came near.

Mel tried to fight the litany of doom running through her head but it was all true. She was going to lose because she was no fighter. She had never been trained. The midget, the sickly one she had been deemed too delicate to learn such things. Her training was run away and find a bigger dragon to protect her. Why hadn't anyone planned for the day there was nowhere to run? She heard a voice far away shouting to run, not fight. Didn't the voice understand she couldn't do either? But she didn't want to die, if only to have a roaring argument with her grandmother about the shortcomings of her educational plan. She called the ice forming on the walls to her as a sort of improvised armor. She'd keep trying until there was nothing left to try.

[Joat]

“Wonderful,” I think, “I’ve never been ice-skating before. Wish I could have fun doing it now. Well, maybe I should go for something a bit more powerful than a veron.”

I transform into a 2' tall, pink, bipedal bunny. A sword made of hard candy appears in my right hand and a shield made of a part of a large eggshell appears in my left hand. I toss the shield to Mel. I then look at the flame monsters and say, “Happy Easter, señors!” I pause. “Oh, great. Now I’m doing it.”

[Gareeku]

Through the unfolding of the recent events, Gareeku had been standing perfectly still, his eyes closed and his head bowed, seemingly deep in a meditative-like state. Beforehand, he had found himself being dragge by Karl, only to force him to stop by aggressively removing his hand from his person.

Now, however, the wolf was at peace, his breathing slow and deep as his remained in the meditative-like state. It was then that his body seemed to glow, a soft white light emitted from his body as he opened his eyes. Looking down at his arm, he observed the light bracelet on his wrist.
"Hmmmm...it seems the bracelet makes it easier..." the wolf muttered to himself. Hearing the scream coming from the ceiling, Gareeku looked calmly upwards, his glowing form suddenly jumping into the ceiling, to met with the scene Saltacia being attacked by the dark cockroach-like creature.

Just when it seemed as if the creature of darkness was bring a claw down for a fatal blow, a faintly glowing hand reached and grabbed the claw, stopping it in it's tracks.
"You will not harm her." Gareeku said calmly. it was then that a white coloured flame enveloped his hand and forearm. Still Gareeku's face showed a look of calmness. He was now completely in tune with the light magic flowing through his body. The cockroach creature screamed in agony. the light magic coming into contact with it would feel like the most painful burning sensation that one could imagine.

[Joat]

“Nice to know he’s awake,” I think as another shield materializes in my left hand.

[Stygian]

Sebastian, or the apparition that was part of him, looked almost completely mindboggled for a moment. Then he cackled laughter at Aisha, even coughed a bit in his armchair before settling back with a sigh and a smile on his face, contently blowing smoke through his nose.
   "I said that it's only a matter of time. That is a crystal clear answer," he said, and then his face became more serious. "Thank you for your concern though. But I still think that you will hate me after this ordeal. That you will hate us." He looked down at his own hand as it lay on the red leather of the chair. "We will have to wait. Either I break through, and perhaps we can find some solution then... Or, more likely, a friend is already heading to help us in resolving this."

   The little fire-drakes seemed to be slowing down, their movements becoming more sluggish and clumsy as the temperature dropped. A first one slipped on the icy floor, and crashed into a wall, becoming a shower of sparks. Two others were torn apart by Mel's icy blasts. But even as they died, Mel could feel the darkness creeping closer, changing in its nature. It had a will of its own, and it wanted blood.
   The ice under her feet reddened, and beneath the frosty surface it was as if Mel could see faces, twisted and screaming in fear, pain and hatred. She thought she recognized one, but they just moved on, keeping on flowing through the ice. Then, just as the last few drakes died in their attempts at assailing her, something smashed through the ice about thirty feet from her. A shape of darkness and cold, steaming white broke through the floor and lunged at her, followed quickly by a pair of others.

   Meanwhile, the Boogeyman was making slow progress with the glass-creature. While it managed to dodge the direct part of all his clumsy sword attacks with its liquid agility, the fire still singed it and it was steaming at several places, as it could not move all of its shape fast enough to dodge all of his flailing assault.
   The Boogeyman's problem solved itself rather quickly though, as suddenly the creature became slower and slower, its movements getting stiffer and heavier with each second. The temperature was dropping precipitously, and the Boogeyman could see his breath misting. More importantly, the creature had now almost come to a halt, its body and now all too humanlike face slowly twitching as it tried to move for him, parts of its body freezing to the floor.

   Joat though, was in serious trouble. With him being closest to the shadows, that was only to be expected. The moment he turned into his new form, he felt something grab around his neck and arms. Little shadow-creatures, black and red-eyed imitations of his current form, swarmed all over him.
   "Get the presents! Get the presents!" they chittered disturbingly.

   And amid all this suddenly Gareeku had appeared, shining like a beacon of holy light. Around him a hallowed ground seemed to have sprung up, the otherwise so intense darkness pushed back by light from within about five steps from him. Salticia, who had dropped back to the floor, stared at him in awe.
   But the darkness reacted with speed. It had barely begun to spread, and had been playing with its prey while gaining its strength. But now here was something that truly defied it, that fought back, so close to its heart. It had to destroy it!
   Somwhere inside the accumulating darkness, another pair of red eyes lit, and a familiar shape started forming...

[Joat]

I look at the shadow bunnies and transform back into my fox-like form. I begin to breathe fire at the shadow bunnies.

Sylver, meanwhile, does not look very well. He looks as if he is about to be sick as flakes of his armor begin to chip off and dissolve into thin air. He begins to glow white.

[Aisha deCabre]

((Gah, everyone else knows how to add a tilde to their letters... o.o And I call myself the manic hispanic.  XD ))

"A matter of time...yes, I heard that.  You'll have to excuse me, I never did train my patience among other things."

Oh, there's no doubt I'll hate you after this...but still, you're keeping my sanity intact at least.  Aisha just replied to him with a light smirk to hint at her thoughts and rubbed her forehead.  She couldn't argue with him, nor ask him any more questions, for it didn't seem to help.

It all seemed calm in that little void, but she wondered about what was going on in the outside.  Was her body just lying there, or was something else happening...?  And her friends...the panther wished that she could see again.  But then, maybe the blindness was a blessing...she never wanted to see them become decimated.

However she did send out a thought, even though she was sure nobody could hear it.  "Buena suerte, amigos.  Good luck."

[Joat]

*OOC: ñ=alt+0241*

Sylver’s armor is chipping off and evaporating much more swiftly now.

[Boog]

"Nice one Mel," Boogey said, backing up from the glass thing and retreating to shelter in the pool of light Gareeku had created, "Nice trick you got there." Turning outward, toward the chittering bunny-things, Boogey exhaled deeply, another Argument spreading out with his breath and intertwining with Gareeku's light. This is light. The enemy is made of shadow. Normally, this would bolster the shadow, since shadows cannot exist without light against an object to cast it. However, there is nothing casting these shadows, so light should be very, very lethal to it. He thought for a second about his other options. He didn't have time to make a body, but he could try creating nightmares; little independant beasts made out of whatever materials are handy with a lifespan typically measured in hours. Unfortunatly, this... Not-Stygian, as he'd decided to call it, had the same trick, and the whole house was material for it to work with. Unless... His attention returned to the now-frozen bloody-shard beast, the ice having turned it into a crimson, crystalyne statue. A smirk played across Boogey's face as he sent a tendril of thought to examine his prior foe.
Waste not, eh?

[Joat]

Sylver’s armor has now completely disappeared. After that, the inner mechanics disappear all at once. All there is left of Sylver is a glowing, white, intangible version of him; his soul. “Never underestimate the power…” he says with a grin, “…of the soul unleashed.”

I am not looking at Sylver, but I do manage to hear that, though not well. “What’s this about a soul unsheathed now?”

[Stygian]

Sebastian tilted his head to the side. He didn't say anything, but...
   You know, if you're looking for sanity, you won't find it here. The voice was in her head, just behind her shoulder, and echoing over a distance at the same time. Luck only holds half of the time. But We guess We could give you a glimpse of what is going on, seeing as how We're finally getting through.
   With that, the darkness around them flickered, and Aisha could feel something of a familiar chill spreading through her, as suddenly her vision changed...

   As Joat was burning up the shadows around him, something extremely fast struck him with force like a thunderbolt, both him and Sylver, and sent them flying into a wall.
   "I refuse to be ignored! I will have my vengeance!"

   The blood-and-glass creature was still suffused with dark energies, but that only made it easier to assemble something out of its structure, seeing as it was still trying to fight back but had no idea why or how. In short, it was near enough perfect for the Boogeyman's altering techniques, although some of the nightmares and thoughts tangled in it were enough to make him feel nauseous and would have to be removed...

   Aisha saw out from the darkness at the group of people who were coming together around the glowing shape of what she recognized as Gareeku. They were battling more and more shadow-creatures that started swarming practically out of the walls now. Actually, one of the walls behind them was turning into something rather horrid itself, skull-like faces and hands and tentacles growing from the smooth surface. But even though the shadows were taking on form themselves now, disgusting and twisted beasts starting to come out of nowhere to throw themselves at the group, they did not make it into the aura that Gareeku emitted.
   She realized that from where she was standing, she ought to be precisely behind where the portal had opened before, at the very heart of the darkness. That was strange... How could...?
   Her chain of thought was broken as she felt herself take a step forward, and unimaginable fury building within her, along with even more undescribable pain. She wanted to rip that light asunder, to tear into it and corrode it and leave nothing but taint and darkness behind. And she knew it wasn't her own thought, or feeling. But it was so hard to keep at bay! And she couldn't control herself! She was trying every step to stop, to slow down and think. But instead, she began running faster, loping against that light...

   Something threw itself out of the shadows at the heart of the room, a great shape of black that smashed into Gareeku like a freight train. It roared as it tore into him with claws the size of kitchen knives, and lashed him with tentacles coming from its arched, powerful back.

[Joat]

“Bunny power!” I yell. I launch a great many eggs at the shadow bunnies.

Soul Sylver sees the dark thing heading toward Gareeku. “I don’t THINK so!” Soul Sylver launched himself at the dark being. In doing so, he goes THROUGH the dark being, forcing the being’s dark energy out of its physical body. But he was fully aware that the dark energy he just took out wold not be too happy and would want to strike back at him. Soul Sylver readied himself to do battle with the dark energy.

*OOC: Gee, I sure hope I was clear enough with that.*

[Stygian]

Much to his and Joat's surprise, the dark creature did not dissolve or knock out of balance. Sylver hit it allright, but it simply stretched out a muscular arm and caught him with a clawlike fist easily the size of a man's head. His force and light power smashed into it, but somehow there seemed to be no separation between the darkness' physical and energy form. And it was stronger than him. Much stronger.
   The thing then smashed back at Sylver with a long tentacle, sending him packing, and resumed its assault on Gareeku. It knew the threat.

   You cannot stand in our way. We will consume you!

   Aisha felt so absolutely helpless. She knew that this was simply what Stygian, or what he had become, saw and felt. But it was as if she too wanted to kill her friends, to crush them and their spirits and drink their blood warm from their bodies in such a sweet...! No! That was not her thought!

[Joat]

Soul Sylver glows brighter. “Brute force won’t work. Maybe if I tried some sort of distraction tactic…”

“Look, is that some sort of demonic duck!?” Sylver yells. Since that obviuosly doesn’t work, Sylver decides on the more direct approach and atempts to ram into the dark being.

[Aisha deCabre]

Despite the fact that even a second after she wanted to give the sense of sight up, Aisha couldn't keep her eyes away from the horrid scene.  It was like a train wreck...you don't want to watch, but something...a force, a curiosity, what have you...keeps you there and you can't look away.  She looked over her friends battling, and the pantheress could do nothing but sit and watch, useless.

Then she caught sight of Gareeku and hope welled in her heart.  For once, he was using a great power that didn't involve him going incubus...the light shining across the room and blocking the monsters that charged him was like a beacon, a guide for everyone...a paladin with the power of blessing.  She stared and tears welled in her eyes, her hands leaning against an invisible "wall".  He's alive...keep it going!

But that hope was drenched, falling away quickly like a waterfall, as soon as she realized that it was her possessed body leading an assault, attacking relentlessly at the hope that everyone had...she felt and saw it all and tried desperately to wrench free, but couldn't.  Aisha couldn't even close her eyes, or resist the power that controlled everything.  The voice of darkness spewed its threats, each syllable a meteor strike to the psyche.

"Put me back in my head, now!  Please!" she yelled.  "Put me back!  I won't watch this fight!"

[Joat]

“Maybe I can do something,” Sylver thinks. He focuses and his body rematerializes next to the dark being, waiting for a soul to inhabit it.

*OOC: Maybe Aisha can’t be put back in her OWN head, but…*