-Chapter 3-

"Not quite there am I Beryl?"

"No, your mana reserves just aren't big enough to protect you from what the Senshi were dishing out."

Ranma sighed and cooled down after her practice and training. She walked slowly toward the Tendo home when her danger sense pinged. She turned slowly scanning the area, nothing at all was there. She frowned and slowly walked back into the house.

Inside she ran directly into her father screaming, "Ranma do something about this boy!"

Ranma looked and shrugged, "It's Ryouga and Akane sittin together and doing homework what do you want me ta do?"

"She's your fiancée you have to do something!" His father yelled and Soun bawled in a corner asking why his daughters were so horrible to him.

Ranma just snorted and said, "Look old man Mr. Tendo has two other daughters and Akane and I get along about nothing. She's an uncute tomboy with about as much charisma as a gorilla."

Twin cries of, "What did you say!" echoed in the room and Ranma realized he had put his foot directly into his mouth again.

Sadly once in his mouth Ranma's foot wanted company and so he said, "I was just explainin to pops here that Akane and I ain't getting hitched on accounta the fact that she itches like a tick, her hair's a cowlick, and her face makes me sick."

Despite his vast skills Ranma was not able to dodge the much deserved blow from the two irate martial artists who had been studying together. Once airborne Ranma smoothed out his glide and landed on top of a telephone pole.

"Why do you do that Ranma?"

Ranma Shrugged, "I don't know. She's not a bad person it's like a reflex or something. I see her or pork boy and I have this irresistible urge to insult them."

"Do you think you could keep it down?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Ranma nagged at the thought a while and decided that he would indeed follow through. Maybe avoiding them and being nice would be best instead of antagonizing them. He pondered on it and realized that antagonism had been how he was trained by his father to insult and prod and get opponents angry and it did work in fights, but maybe it wasn't always the best option.

He sat up on the pole pondering once again how different his actions would be were he a female before and thus an Amazon. She would have left it alone her father's words were beneath notice and so were Akane and Ryouga's actions towards each other. Neither represented a threat to her status and nothing her father said held much merit.

Ranma sighed looking for another outlet to his thoughts. Something other than who he was and instead perhaps on the person he was sharing his body with. She had been in control once why didn't she try again. It bothered him and so he said, "Beryl I know I let you try using my body that once, why haven't you ever asked about doing it again?"

Beryl had been watching the whole thing awed for a moment by Ranma's inner reflections. She gave a wistful sigh in the back of his mind and said, "Because I would want more. It feels like my body out there and you are controlling it not me. That makes me feel jealous and angry and yet at the same time I like you and don't want to hurt you so I get angry at myself for being jealous and angry at you."

Ranma nodded and said, "I would offer more often, but. . ."

Beryl knew all too well where that statement should have finished off. Ranma liked the female form for its powers and abilities, liked it for the special times in the Amazon village that felt like home and family and yet at the same time Ranma was afraid that he would lose himself to it. That if he allowed too much of the 'Amazon' in he would cease to be Ranma Saotome.

Beryl knew all of that and it added to her own reasons to avoid trying to control the body. Something like that would be more than she felt this young martial artist could handle. If he had just been able to stay in the moment, just been able to stand and be happy with the dichotomy that was him, then she'd think about it. But from her vantage on Ranma's problems getting the boy/girl to fully come to grips with all of himself/herself would not be easy.

Beryl realized that they had been standing up on the pole silently for a while so she picked up and said, "I understand Ranma, maybe someday you'll feel more able."

"Yeah, maybe Beryl maybe someday."

The wind blew and he stood there staring out at the city. He still had so much to do, so many problems to conquer and he was just standing on a pole doing nothing. He sighed and turned hurtling into the air and landing on the sidewalk far below.

Arriving at the Tendo residence Ranma saw Kasumi sitting in the living room. The older girl was watching some nighttime drama about housewives or some such. Ranma came in, found his bag and set up in the area where Akane and Ryouga had been working some time back. The book was not his regular homework, but instead a more advanced mathematics text that Beryl had suggested he take from the school library. He worked on a few problems for a while, and then became frustrated tossing his pencil down and muttering lightly, "How does that even work?"

Kasumi looked over to what he was doing and said, "Ranma that looks like senior level math books. Perhaps you made a mistake when you brought it home?"

Ranma looked over at the brown haired girl, his heart pounded lightly in his chest and his breath caught. She was radiant just sitting there and he desperately wanted to tell her, wanted to say she was beautiful and more, but then it would cage her. She'd follow honor and tradition and marry him and he would have ruined her life. He pulled himself together and said, "Well it's hard to explain, but I kinda need to learn this."

Kasumi moved closer and Ranma smelled her, it was just a refreshing clean scent with a hint of lilac soap and conditioner, but it was deeply intoxicating just the same as when he moved close to her in the kitchen he ignored the scent like he did in the kitchen and hear her as she said, "Well if I remember my classes then you have to reduce this down like so."

She moved the pencil on his paper and he saw it the answer was clear and he could finish this page and continue progress in the book. "Thank you."

"It's no problem Ranma come to me anytime, you know I had these classes too not so long ago."

Ranma looked at her and said, "Oh, you're finished though right? Aren't you going to go on to university or something?"

Kasumi smiled and said, "Oh no, I think I'll just finish my correspondence courses, and then a year of practical work at a hospital and then I can be a nurse."

"Oh that's why you borrow those books from Doctor Tofu then."

"Yes, he's a nice man, but a little silly sometimes."

Ranma kicked himself as he spoke saying, "You know I think he likes you Kasumi. That's why he acts so silly."

The brown haired girl looked at him with a new understanding and said softly, "Well is that right? I didn't know. He's a few years older than I am though. Still. . ."

Ranma saw that Kasumi was mulling the idea over and Beryl was telling him to stop. She and his own self were saying he should quit torturing himself and tell the girl instead of just handing her over to some nice doctor. Still he persisted and said, "It's true, who knows maybe he'll ask you out sometime."

Kasumi sighed somewhat wistfully and said, "Thank you for saying so Ranma. I know you aren't interested in Akane does this mean you're not interested in me either?"

Ranma stared at her as his heart slammed into his rib cage. The question was unanswerable, unknowable. He was interested in her and Beryl sure thought the feeling was love, but he felt that way about Shampoo too despite everything that had happened. He stared at the brown haired girl and his mouth refused to move. Beryl shouted, "SAY SOMETHING!"

"Uh. . .well" words continued to fail and the girl had a frown on her face now. Finally he pulled it together and said, 'Well you know Kasumi, I just want you to be happy. I think you deserve that."

The frown disappeared and Kasumi smiled saying gently, "Why thank you Ranma. That was a very nice thing to say."

She stood up as the show on the TVs credits rolled and went off to her room. Ranma watched her go wondering if the entire conversation had been a good thing or a bad one. He asked Beryl, but the former Queen of Terra shrugged her metaphysical shoulders and said, "Sorry Ranma, but it seems that even women don't understand other women sometimes."

Ranma sighed, worked on a few more math problems and read the next chapter in his book. Once he finished with that the young martial artist went to bed. During the night he dreamed

A man stepped up to her dressed in flowing robes, "Your majesty if we can harness the mana of our planet the same way Queen Serenity's people have with the other planets we could have our own warrior."

She looks at him and says, "What about Prince Endymion of the Earth kingdom does he not already wield the powers of our planet?"

The man looks at her and nods, "Yes my Queen he does, but only a fragment. As you know mana is not as easy to channel for men. If he were to channel the full power of the planet it would destroy him, so the Earth Kingdom must have given him less."

"If we were to use the power what would happen to his?"

"He would lose his powers your majesty."

Anger coursed through her. How dare they even think to remove her love's powers? How could they? She towered over him with rage in her eyes, "Never speak to me of this again. I do not wish to know any more of this subject."

The man bowed and groveled leaving the room. She calmed down and walked away duty done and her Endymion's powers untouched.

Mists welled up and she was walking again with Kaolinite by her side. The other red haired woman was smiling and happy as she brought her to a room. "Look milady we have nearly completed the henshin. Soon we will have our own Senshi. She will be a protector of the Kingdom of Terra and the Kingdom of Earth."

Rage welled through her, magic came to her bidding and she lashed out with her most powerful spell. The room and its machines exploded around her and she smiled. This time for sure, this time no one would hurt her dearest love.

Mere hours later she was back amidst the rubble her mind awhirl. Endymion had spurned her and he was going to marry Princes Serenity. She would remove his powers and kill that hag, but the power of this planet wasn't enough. Metallia the demon queen of the un-heard lands she would give her power and youma minions. Preparations would begin right now and she would show them, she would show them all.

Ranma woke in a cold sweat and stifled a scream. He stood quietly looking around for the source of anger, hatred, and evil. There was none, no danger seemed imminent outside of him and he realized that what he felt was coming from Beryl. She hadn't been lying to him at all. Beryl had delved deep into the inner darkness of hatred and vengeance. She had planned the destruction of an entire civilization just for her own petty jealousy. She had walked a deep path into the darkness until her very final moment when she looked back, somehow she looked back and saw the light, but then she was killed for it.

Beryl slowly roused in his mind her thoughts awash with shame and guilt, "You see Ranma. The darkness is still within me, I still feel that anger and hatred and jealousy even though I know it is wrong. That path of darkness still tempts me, it tempts me every day."

Ranma nodded slowly in the darkness, "You're not alone Beryl we're together in this and I won't let it take you again. We'll stay with the light and we'll defeat whatever it was that killed you before you could realize your dreams."

"You're right Ranma. With you I have my dreams. You walk in the light and I can glide along the path behind you."

Ranma smiled and slowly put his head back down on his pillow. He and Beryl fell asleep again, but this time their sleep was not interrupted by dreams.

Morning found Ranma looking through the advertisements in the paper trying to determine what he might afford in the way of computer hardware. As he was scanning the pages Beryl said, "Wait that page just had the board for sale right?"

Ranma nodded and his inner voice said, "That's it we can buy only the parts we need, we don't need an entire computer just the chips and circuits inside."

With that Ranma started looking at different advertisements that had just the parts, chips, mother boards, hard drives, and that sort of thing. With Beryl's help he started tallying a list of all the components they might need and then adding up the price. The final sum was much lower than the original price he had quoted Nabiki, but it was still beyond his current means.

Ranma looked over at the second eldest Tendo girl and shuddered slightly as he realized just what he was about to do. Waiting for her to begin her walk to school Ranma followed and caught up saying, "Nabiki, you know about those pictures."

"Ranma as I recall you asked for a truly incredible sum of yen. Kuno may seem like he's made of money, but not that much."

Ranma nodded, "Right, but how much could you get for some shots that weren't nude. I'm not getting naked, but maybe just some poses in a bikini or something?"

Nabiki stopped a moment and looked at him, "I suppose we could arrange something," she paused and then added, "You know Ranma with your looks we could even do a set of photos to send to one of those teen magazines."

Ranma was perplexed by the turn in the conversation as Nabiki continued and said, "I tell you what we split the profits from the sale to Kuno 30% for you and the rest for me and then I'm your agent for any modeling gigs you might get?"

"Wait, what?" Ranma blurted out.

"Come now Ranma, w both know you need money and as I said Kuno isn't actually made of money. If you want to keep yourself funded for this youma hunting project of yours you need a steady supply of income and unless you're willing to enter into some pit fights where the yakuza hang about, I think modeling is your best option."

Still unsure Ranma said, "Well I guess."

Nabiki smiled and began walking towards school again, "Excellent it's settled. Meet me at the dojo after school. You'll have to leave off helping with dinner, but I'm sure Kasumi won't mind."

Ranma watched Nabiki walk off and said, "What just happened?"

"Trouble Ranma, definitely trouble."

Ranma sighed and walked to school as well thinking that Beryl was probably right. By the time he got home, made his apologies to Kasumi, splashed himself, and entered the dojo as a girl he was absolutely sure Beryl had been right. Somehow Nabiki had arranged for a near photo studio full of equipment and a full rack of assorted clothes.

Ranma stared at the place and she said, "What the hell?"

Nabiki walked to her with a sheaf of papers and a tiny black dress, "Ranma, just in time. Now, just sign this and put the dress on and we'll be in business."

"Now wait just a minute here. What's going on Nabiki?" Ranma's danger sense was up, but not really telling her that there was more here than a shady business deal. Beryl was agreeing to that last part as well.

Nabiki smiled like a shark and said, "Well for some reason you really attract guys in that form. So, I figured that we could do up some head shots and publicity photos. We'll send them to some magazine people and if they bite I'm your agent with a 50% cut."

Ranma shook her head saying, "Now wait you're rooking me on the pictures to Kuno and that other cut doesn't sound right ta me," a brief consult with beryl and he added, "How about we split the Kuno pics fifty fifty and then if this modelin stuff works you can get 30% okay?"

Nabiki kept her grin made a few marks on the papers in hand and said, "Perfect, now let's get started"

Ranma looked through them with Beryl's assistance and finally sighed and signed them. "Right, let's go ahead and get this over with."

A few hours later and they were done and some of the students from the Photography club at school were picking up the equipment while the fashion club was picking up the outfits. Nabiki was talking to them about reductions of their debts to her and Ranma was back in his male form sitting near the koi pond silently.

As he sat there looking at the fish once again arguments washed through him. What he had just done was obviously feminine, but not dishonorable. There had been no nudity and most of the pictures would be sent o professionals while the others would go to Kuno. That was annoying, but he needed the money to find out more about the youma and sailor girls since there wasn't really a way to do so in his female form at the moment. Even so he sighed and looked at the fish.

The feeling of rightness in being a female Amazon wouldn't just go away even as he felt shame in it too. He was supposed to have been such a man or at least his father had always wanted him to be. He liked being Ranma Saotome male martial artist very much; it was just that being Ranma Saotome female Amazon was a good feeling too.

He sighed softly wishing in a way he could go back and yet realizing that if he did he would lose Beryl and his time in the village with Grandmother Cologne, Shampoo and all the others. He couldn't give up on that or his new quest just because it was a threat to what his father seemed to think a man should be. He stood up and went inside, still troubled, but continuing on anyway.

Not long after Ranma had taken his share of the money from the pictures sold to Kuno and was carefully working on a new project. This time it was a belt, she finished the last touches on the runic structures that interlaced with the multitude of circuits and chips, then she stood up. Taking the belt she put it around her waist and turned it on. A shield snapped into place around her and she nearly jumped for joy, but she wasn't quite done yet. She turned the shield off and then carefully poured hot water over her arms triggering the change. Once male he flicked the switch again and the shield sputtered slightly and then showed up. Grinning from ear to ear he spoke to Beryl, "Okay this should give me three minutes right?"

"Yes, the crystal mana capsule holds three minutes. It will prevent drain from youma, but it could overload from a Senshi attack."

Ranma nodded sagely knowing that an overload would be bad he said, "Well we'll just have to be real diplomatic and avoid cold water."

"Let us hope we are lucky then." Beryl said knowing that for some reason cold water seemed to seek the boy out at the worst possible times and there was no magic against it.

Soon enough Ranma was back in Juuban and using a slightly refined youma detector that was drawing off his female form's mana in a very, very slow trickle. Today the device pinged and he was off chasing down a street and coming upon the group of girls as the fought some strange admixture of a vendor's cart and a Honda. The creature seemed to be winning as it grabbed Princess Serenity in its car door hands and began to open its maw. Ranma rushed forward only to be brought up short as a rose stuck itself into the creature and embedded itself into one of its car door hands. The creature yelped in pain and dropped the princess while the guy wearing a tuxedo, cape, top hat, and mask spouted some poetry and then said, "Now Sailor Moon. Defeat it in the name of love and justice."

The princess proceeded to throw her tiara at the creature slamming it across the street where it was then pummeled by two other attacks. Despite that the creature continued moving, but by then Ranma was on site and hitting it with his staff. With his damage and another attack, this one lightning, the creature finally seemed to die and turned into dust.

The group of girls slowly and warily approached Ranma with the Tuxedo guy backing them up. Beryl was trying to place his name and face in her mind, but the outfit was so dissimilar that it took a few more moments before she said, "I think, no it must be. It is Prince Endymion."

Strangely enough love did not surge through Ranma for the man in the tuxedo. Indeed the rose throwing and poetry were so reminiscent of Kuno that even Beryl, who had once loved the man, was clearly turned off.

The group now surrounded Ranma still wary and Ranma could see why. Mercury was wearing an eye patch and Mars was missing three fingers. As they moved closer Ranma could see that Jupiter had a nasty scar along the inside of her right arm. Venus and the Princess didn't have obvious battle damage, but their wary approach and the instant attack the last time Ranma showed up was enough for him to realize that this group had been through very tough times. Mars finally spoke up and said, "Who are you?'

This was the important moment Ranma and Beryl had gone over it a few times and he needed to basically tell the truth or as much as was possible while still concealing his curse and Beryl's presence so he said, "I'm Ranma Saotome martial artist and youma fighter."

Despite her wariness Venus looked at him with lust in her eyes and whispered something about "Sempai" while Jupiter next to her just rolled her eyes. Mercury had a hand to her visor and said, "He's got some sort of primitive shield against draining up, but no silver millennium energies. He might be legit."

Ranma switched off his shield and said, "I am. I saw you guys on TV and thought I could help. My shield will keep me from being drained and I'm the best martial artist of my generation."

The group of girls looked at each other and had a quick discussion. Prince Endymion was already gone by the time they finished and Mars pointed at a nearby alley and said, "All right meet us there in three days and we'll let you know what our decision is. In the meantime try not to get yourself killed."

The group departed and Ranma went to the train station. Riding back Ranma analyzed the fight and thought to himself, "They rely too much on their power and despite his corniness if Prince Endymion hadn't shown up in that ridiculous get up Princess Serenity would have been injured or possibly killed."

"I agree although they have probably increased their training some in light of their injuries."

"Not enough if Serenity was nearly killed like that and Endymion didn't stick around almost as if he's not with them or something. They need a lot more work on tactics and teamwork."

Beryl gave a metaphysical nod and said, "Yes, but we'll have to take it easy. So far we have a portion of trust and most likely in our next meeting we will gain some type of alliance. Although if that happens and they have a way to contact us when an attack occurs we will need a faster way to get to Juuban than this train."

Ranma agreed with that assessment and gave it some thought as he walked to the Tendo home from the train station. He could run rather fast and even roof hop, but that would get him there in about 20 minutes which was actually worse than the train which took five minutes plus another three in travel time to and from each station. A car was out of the question due to expense and he didn't know how to drive. He pondered the idea of a motorcycle, but again the purchase price was too much for him, especially since he was sinking money into spare computer parts. Between Beryl and himself the best answer so far was a hope that the modeling thing actually came to fruition.

Ranma sighed as he realized that and walked in the door of the house. Once inside he went to the room he was sharing with his father, only to find the elder Saotome awake and apparently in a berating mood. Genma didn't scream, apparently out of some hidden well of respect for the Tendos, but even without yelling the dressing down was clear. Of course Ranma had no plans to give up his trips to Juuban or to attempt to forward a relationship with any of the Tendo girls. Akane was still too much inclined towards anger and she had Ryouga. Nabiki was too mercenary and selfish for Ranma's tastes and, of course, Kasumi was potentially something he wanted, but to explore that relationship in any way might as well have been an engraved wedding invitation. He wasn't sure he wanted that and he was quite sure that the eldest girl did not want to be with a younger man like himself. By the time he finally lay down it took an hour for him to center and clear his thoughts so that he could sleep.

It was the next day that Nabiki was walking home near him on the sidewalk while he was on the fence. The short haired girl was saying, "Well we have a nibble with Karinta, that's a jeans company. They want you to come in next week on Tuesday and do some test photos in their jeans. If they like you they will draw up a contract and set a time to shoot the actual advertisement photos."

Ranma was half listening and he said, "Okay what day?"

"Weren't you listening Ranma? I said Tuesday, lucky you I'm here to help you with this." Nabiki had a partially annoyed tone to her voice as she spoke, but Ranma missed it because something was telling him he was in danger.

Sure enough the metal rail for the fence sheared off as something whizzed by in a blur, but he was already airborne and away from the fence. He tossed his bag to Nabiki and said, "Go Nabiki this is trouble."

Nabiki moved off, but not so far that she couldn't watch. "Damn it Saotome can't you schedule these things so I can make better book off them? I swear I'm going to have to start carrying a camera around."

Ranma wasn't listening at all as a blurred form whizzed in and slammed past his defenses sending him flying. In the air he tumbled and righted himself just in time to block a full set of punches at high speeds. The form bounced back from his block and the two landed a few feet apart. Once that happened he knew who it was and said, "Grandmother, to what do I owe the honor of your presence."

From her vantage Nabiki goggled at the very idea that Ranma was giving respect to someone, especially some old and tiny lady. That old lady with long silver hair just balanced on a staff and smiled directly at her. Then, she looked to Ranma and said, "I do not recognize any grandson. I am looking for my granddaughter. When she is here she will explain to me her actions and whether or not she has honored our village with them."

Ranma swallowed hard and caught a thermos that was thrown to him by the old woman. He then carefully uncapped the thermos and poured the water over his arms triggering the change. Now, as a female she felt the rebuke even more strongly. A tribe elder was here to judge her actions and determine if her honor was true. Carefully she spoke in Chinese, "Honored elder I am ready to answer your questions."

Cologne moved forward stepping off her staff and walking she stood about a foot from Ranma, "Did you enter our village with the intent to deceive us?"

Ranma shook her head, "No, I did not intend to deceive. I had been recently cursed at the springs of Jusenkyo. Once I realized that I could not return to my male form without dishonor I avoided doing so."

Cologne nodded and said, "However, you did not tell your closest companion and Shield Sister why not?"

Ranma put her head down and said, "I thought doing so would hurt her, that she would think that my friendship with her was false. I placed myself into a corner and I wish now, that I had made the choice to tell her before I was taken away."

"Taken?" Cologne looked at the red haired girl carefully, "You did not leave on your own, but were taken away from us?"

"Yes, the one who would be my father found me after my lapse into the Neko Ken and brought me onto a ship."

Cologne noted that the way Ranma said that suggested that the young girl had no respect for Genma and no longer really wanted to consider the man as her father. The second part of the statement indicated that the elderly Amazon was correct about what had happened to Ranma on her last training session. "I hear your words granddaughter and you know what has happened due to your decision. Will you accept punishment to restore your honor within the tribe?"

Ranma nodded and said, "I will elder."

Cologne nodded and said, "Very well as punishment you will work every day for me, teach your shield sister the ways of this land, the ways of your schooling here. In addition you will cease to obey any guidance from the one formerly called your father."

Ranma and Beryl smiled happily at that, but then realized the last part was the most important part and Ranma said, "Genma Saotome has engaged Ranma to a family in this land. Should we keep to that agreement honored elder?"

Cologne looked at Ranma and said, "You should see if any hold interest for one year and if they do not we should return to the village."

The older woman smiled and stood back on her staff saying, "Now call me grandmother and we will find your shield sister." Then, she was off like a shot and Ranma was after her, first dropping next to Nabiki to take her school bag and then leaving the brown eyed girl far behind.

Ranma ran with abandon catching up to Cologne and then having to dodge and block attacks from the older woman's staff. "Not bad granddaughter, but you will have to try harder than that!"

From some inner reserve Cologne sped up again and Ranma had to push into her own chi to enhance her speed even more. A small Chinese Restaurant came into view and Ranma had to put on the breaks nearly as fast as she had sped up when the older lady went through an open door to the restaurant and then slammed it behind her. Ranma wasn't quite quick enough to stop herself, so to avoid a crash she jumped into the air and landed into the door with both legs out taking the impact that way. She pushed off the door and flipped into the air, then had to block as the door opened again and a purple blur whizzed out and tried to smash her in midair.

Ranma barely blocked the blow and then retaliated. Punches and kicks went back and forth between the pair as they circled in a spiral. Ranma smiled at the purple haired girl she was fighting and said, "I have you now."

Shampoo smiled back and said, "No shield sister Shampoo has you Hiryu Shoten Ha!"

Ranma woke up in a small bed looking up at Shampoo. The purple haired girl looked back at her and said, "Grandmother told me that you would not betray what we had Ranma. She said to prove it we would come and if you were false she would kill you, but if you were true she would bring you to me."

Ranma swallowed again as she realized once again what stakes had been at play with her conversation earlier. Gravely she said, "I am sorry Shampoo, I really never meant to hurt you."

Shampoo looked down at her and said, "We are even now."

The words harkened back to their very first fight when Ranma had defeated Shampoo and then the girl had surprised her and held a dagger to her throat. The same words had resonance with Ranma they were even now. The hurt from the fight would go away and the harm of the deception would fade with time. Once again they could be together and reforge their bond, this time without the flaws that had been there the first time.

Ranma smiled at Shampoo and said, "Yeah well you need to teach me that move."

Shampoo nodded and said, "Deal.

Author's Note: A Bit shorter than previous chapters, but I hope it is still good. Still trying to work on mys timing and such.