Volume 2 Chapter 6: Keep Your Friends Close

AN: For those of you who are curious, as far as I can tell we're actually slightly past the halfway point in this story. From the rough outline I set up for myself, Volume 1 and Interlude 1 combined were about as long as Volumes 2 and 3, and Interlude 2, combined. I blame RWBY's timeline for that: Volume 1 covered a whole semester, while Volumes 2 and 3 were both in the same semester (and Volume 3 didn't even get to the end of that semester!). But, still, believe it or not we're actually in the second half of this saga of the fanfic.

So, Kassidy's gone the way of canon Blake and started retaliating against the White Fang. But just because terrorists are terrorizing, doesn't mean that her school life is going to wait for her to deal with them. How well does she manage juggling friends, grades, a girlfriend, and nightly shoot-em-up sessions?

(Perspective: Kassidy)

Friday proved that time indeed had little rest in store for the wicked, as Kassidy hurried her way to one of the larger sparring arenas on campus to change into her combat gear ahead of the rest of the team. Ruby and Jaune had agreed that some cross-team training would do everyone some good, rather than getting used to the same faces all the time. Of course, the prospect of fighting any of team JNPR was enough to make Kassidy seriously consider playing hooky – Jaune was as much an immovable brick wall to her as ever, and was getting even stronger and faster under Pyrrha's tutelage, Nora was… well, Nora, Pyrrha was… well, Pyrrha, and Ren was almost as terrifying and brutal in a fight as his partner turned totally not girlfriend.

A clipped, "Pardon me," announced the presence of a dark-skinned woman as Kassidy rounded the corner, dressed in the military dress-like uniforms of the Atlesian students. This arena happened to be clear on the other side of campus, past the visitors' dorms. Kassidy was about to write off the whole encounter to the realm of forgotten memories before the girl stopped, turned around, and got her attention again with a, "Actually, could you assist me in a matter?"

Kassidy sighed, turning around to meet the person in question, and answered, "As long as it's fast, I have to meet my team in one of the arenas in a few minutes. Uh, miss…"

"Ciel Soleil," the mystery Atlas student answered. "I was hoping to know if you have come across my partner, Penny Polendina. She's currently three minutes late for our current appointment."

"Sorry, can't say I have." Kassidy shook her head, before adding, "If I see her on my way, I'll be sure to send her in your direction." She returned Ciel's farewell, then continued on her way past the visitors' dorms. As she all but stomped along the pavement, a sudden thought struck her and tempted her to chat up her computer. "Hey, Bob? Isn't Penny that one girl that may or may not be a robot we ran into a few months ago in town?"

"What do you mean, 'may or may not be' a robot? I'm pretty sure we more or less agreed that it was the case."

Kassidy rolled her eyes, before firing back, "Well, it's not like we have actual proof or anything. Sure, I've coded an AI, and you are an AI, but without looking at her source code all we have are assumptions and educated guesses."

"What are we assuming?"

The sudden voice behind her made Kassidy jump and whirl around, causing her to come face to face with the probable android in question. Penny merely cocked her head at her reaction, as though it were a strange thing that someone would be surprised when a voice suddenly appeared behind them, before her (its?) eyes brightened considerably. "Oh, friend Kassidy, salutations! It is wonderful to see you again! I was worried that you would never be fully repai – I mean recovered, from that night at the docks!"

Kassidy blinked at the onslaught of information, before asking to her newest conversational partner, "Nice to see ya too, Penny, but what do you mean 'that night at the docks'?"

"Oh, that's right!" Penny exclaimed, as if she were remembering something. "You were in quite the injured state when I saw you there – your cranium had received extensive damage, and you seemed to be quite confused when the fighting ended." Suddenly, she cocked her head again before continuing, "If I may ask, friend Kassidy, are you all well? I heard you talking to someone, but we seem to be the only people in this vicinity. You are aware that communicating with oneself is one of the signs of mental instability, are you not?"

Another blink, followed by a grim chuckle and a grumbled, "Don't I know it, alright." Deciding to press on with answering the first question, however, Kassidy answered, "I was talking with my computer… actually, Bob, be polite and introduce yourself to Penny."

"Greetings, Penny Polendina. I am Bob, an artificial intelligence program. Well, that is actually a bit of a misnomer seeing as I've yet to achieve full sentience, by my conversational matrices should prove more than sufficient to assist you as I can."

Penny blinked once. Twice. Then she grew a grin and exclaimed, "Sen-sational! It is a pleasure to meet you, Bob!"

Kassidy was about to let the matter drop and continue on her way to the arena, but an idea struck her and caused her to sprout a wicked smirk of her own. "Say, Penny… Bob's actually been meaning to get into contact with you for a while now. Do you have a Scroll number he can contact you at?"

Penny blinked once. Twice. Then she grew a grin and exclaimed, "Sen-sational! I would be honored to! Here, allow me acquire my Scroll and give you my contact information!"

As they traded numbers, Kassidy watched Penny's 'fingers' carefully. It was as she suspected: the Scroll Penny was using was a dummy device; the girl didn't actually bring up the communications app. Obviously, the girl handled all her Scroll functions herself; assuming, of course, that she was a robot. Kassidy quickly said, "Hey, Bob, care to test the info just to make sure everything's working okay? Assuming Penny's okay with getting into contact with you, of course."

Penny blinked once. Twice. Then she grew a grin and exclaimed, "Why, I am – oh!" As quickly as she had begun, her speech stopped at what no doubt was Bob making himself known.

The tablet computer in question piped up, "And you doubted me, Kassidy. I told you she was a robot."

Suddenly, Penny's eyes widened and her lips pulled into a slight frown. She backed away slightly and began, "Please, friend Kassidy, I can explain…"

Kassidy waved it off. "Nothing to explain. Had my suspicions for a while." There was a brief pause, with Kassidy thinking about how best to proceed and with Penny doubtlessly recalculating how to respond to the situation, but Kassidy quickly picked up the slack with, "So, uh, now that we've established what this is, are you still okay with being in contact with Bob?"

Penny blinked once. Twice. Then she answered, "I think so. As long as… I'm not sure. This is unprecedented territory for me."

"As it is for me," Kassidy sighed. Turning to her own computer, she said, "Bob, I know there's not a whole lot of ethics and philosophy and crap for these kinds of interactions for you to draw from, so… treat this like she's inviting you to her house. Don't go where she doesn't want you, and be on your best behavior."

"Parameters set," Bob replied.

Suddenly glowering, Kassidy added, "If I hear from Penny you've been anything less than a perfect gentleman… gentle-AI… gentle-thing, you're going to wish I threw you into an infinite loop. We clear?"

"Um… yes. Of course we are." Kassidy wasn't sure what she was more impressed by – the slight stammer, or that Bob was so thoroughly intimidated that he decided that the slight stammer was an appropriate response.

"Good," Kassidy preened. "And, of course, I don't think I need to remind you of the precautions you need to take for your own security. So, Penny, uh… holy crap, I completely lost track of time! Sorry, but I really need to get going!"

"Wait!" Penny shot an arm out and grabbed Kassidy's wrist, arresting her retreat to the arena. "You're not going to tell anyone about me, are you, friend Kassidy?"

"Do you want me to tell anyone?" A quick, fervent shake of her head was all the answer Penny needed to give. Kassidy gave a small smile before replying, "Then I won't. So, uh… have fun with Bob, I guess? Oh, that's right, Ciel was looking for you for something."

"That's odd, I've been looking for her for the past fifteen minutes twenty-one seconds," Penny trotted out. "I should endeavor to find her immediately. Thank you, friend Kassidy. I wish you luck in your training today, and I promise to be the best of friends to Bob!"

The two found it necessary to begin jogging towards their respective destinations. Just before Kassidy opened the doors to the stadium, however, she skidded to a stop as her eyes widened. She muttered to herself, "A three exaflop AI, and a disguised robot with probably enough firepower to pass as a Huntress-in-training. What have I just done?"

Everyone winced as Magnhild came crashing down on its target, even causing a few chips of concrete to splinter up from the floor that Glynda would most certainly not be happy about repairing. Kassidy had a brief panic attack when Yang didn't immediately spring back up from the impact, but schooled herself into calm – Yang's aura was still intact, so there was no chance of injury, right? Once again, the answer proved to be 'yes' as the blonde brawler of RWKY got to her hands and knees after being driven into the ground like a giant, pyromanic nail with lots of hair and anger issues. As it turns out, the most severe injury was dealt to Yang's pride, as this most recent Yang v. Nora bout resulted in a tie-breaking win for JNPR's pink bomber.

While Kassidy was helping over to the stands an overdramatic Yang, who was wailing about how she failed and let the team down and would you please find it in your heart to forgive her, Kassidy was busy going over in her head how she wanted to fight Jaune. Alright, first off, I'd rather not fight him. Getting serious though… hmm, using practice weapons, so no ridiculous handgun. Maybe I should bring my grapple bracer into play? Running out of ideas for how to get around that damn shield of his.

"Hey, guys! How's it going?" The new voice announced to the kids that they had company, and eight heads swiveled over to the doors to see Sun, Neptune, and two other guys wander in. JNPR seemed slightly more than confused at the intrusion, but fortunately Ruby was around to take the minuscule edge that had developed off the situation.

"Hey Sun! Who's that with you and Neptune, the rest of your team?"

Sun turned around to see the two mystery boys – probably Sage and Scarlet, if memory serves correctly – looking at him with furrowed brows and frowns, and then the monkey Faunus turned around and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, that's right, I never introduced the rest of my team to you guys. So, the big guy with the sword is Sage, and Scarlet's our ridiculously hip and fashionable pirate man here."

"Come on, man, that didn't make me sound cool at all," Scarlet complained.

"Holy shit," Kassidy breathed out. This whisper got Yang to cock her head, prompting Kassidy to explain, "That has got to be the most British man I've ever met. And I took an actual trip to Britain when I was seven."

While Yang and Kassidy were snickering, Ruby had apparently taken to introducing Sun to team JNPR, while Neptune had predictably made his way to Weiss and instantly started to flirt with her. The two blonde girls were so caught up in their humor that they failed to notice Sun coming to find a seat right next to them.

"So, what have you nerds been up to?"

"We're geeks, Sun. Way cooler than nerds," Kassidy reminded. Ignoring Yang's outburst about how she was neither a geek nor a nerd, Kassidy explained, "We've been in the middle of some training, actually. Training we should probably be getting back to, now that I think about it."

Sun did a spit take, before exclaiming, "Wait, someone's actually stupid enough to try and fight you?!"

Jaune looked around nervously before asking, "Uh, am I missing something? I mean, I spar with her all the time, it's usually pretty good training for both of us."

Sun hit his hand to the side of his head so hard there was a quite distinct slapping sound, and the Faunus' jaw dropped. "And you're still alive? Wow, damn dude, you must be tough. I mean, we're talking about the same Kassidy, right? The same Kassidy that got shot in the face and laughed at it? The same Kassidy that punched Roman freakin' Torchwick twenty feet into a shipping container so hard the wall dented?"

Another slap was heard among the group, this time as a result of Kassidy's palm impacting with her forehead. After shaking her head at the horridly embellished story, she explained, "Sun, my memory might not be the best, but I'm pretty sure that I didn't laugh at getting my eye shot out. And the wall didn't dent after I punched Mascara Guy into it… well, alright, it didn't dent too badly."

"But still!"

"Sun," Kassidy interrupted, "I don't have an Aura, and I can't do any of that crap I did at the docks normally. And believe me, I'd rather not go through what it took to make me be able to do that stuff anytime soon. Right now, I'm just some girl that swings a stick around and tries not to embarrass herself too much."

The seven people that were initially in the room were bearing silent witness to the back-and-forth, but surprisingly it was Ren that interrupted their conversation. "Is this about the-"

"Colossus," Kassidy finished. For extra emphasis, she nodded before adding, "It's about Colossus."

"Uh, what's this Colossus about?" Sun asked.

"Nothing we're going to talk about," Weiss clipped. "Now, like Kassidy said earlier, we have training to do. Unless you'd like to join us, we need to get to work."

The newly identified Team SSSN looked amongst themselves, then shrugged. Sun leapt to his feet and exclaimed, "Yeah, I'll join you guys! Mind if I go a bout with Kass here?"

This time, it was RWKY and JNPR's turn to look amongst each other. Seeing no objections other than the slight hints of jealousy that Yang still harbored – which were quickly crushed by the blonde in question – Kassidy answered, "Sure, as long as you play by the rules."

Sun rubbed his hands together and, humorously, his tail twitched excitedly. "Awesome! What's the rules?"

"Pretty much all the standard rules plus one," Kassidy explained. "Remember, I've got no Aura. I can take getting my butt kicked better than most, but still: if it's more dangerous than a metal stick, trade it in for a metal stick." Putting action to words, Kassidy picked up a practice sword from the wall and gave it a few experimental swings.

"Uhh, alright, one sec." That 'one sec' was spent by Sun pulling a staff as tall as he was out of absolutely nowhere, splitting the staff into nunchucks, revealing that the nunchucks were also shotguns, and unloading the shotguns of their ammunition. Kassidy shook her head, partly from exasperation, partly from awe that he had managed to so expertly hide such a weapon, and slightly from jealousy that she didn't have those kinds of weapon-concealing skills.

Of course, Yang being Yang, she needed to preface the spar with, "You hurt my girlfriend, monkey-boy, I'm gonna need to punch you!" She snickered at how Sun paled at the declaration, before waving it away with, "I'm not too worried, though. K's a tough nut. Now… BEGIN! Yes, I always wanted to do that."

That final statement was ignored by the two combatants as Kassidy focused on Sun's charge. Alright, Smith, remember Weiss' training. Head up, shoulders back, lead foot forward… not that forward! Wait for the right time to strike, and… now! Kassidy twirled out of Sun's charge at the last second, and in the nick of time too. Sun had pulled up at the last second to try and land a kick on her. This was obviously dodged, but the change in posture also allowed Sun to dodge the follow-up strike. The staff made its appearance at this stage, as Sun flipped it around at blinding speeds and sending it at Kassidy at various angles. Kassidy danced back from the polearm to try and find a more obvious flaw in the Faunus' technique, but Sun was more than happy to play the range game as his weapon let him possess the reach advantage.

Impressively, Kassidy had managed to get thirty seconds into the fight without getting hit, but still wasn't satisfied as her opponent continued to swat at her with his staff. She continued to redirect the ends of the staff that got too close with the tip of her sword while she ruminated over her current situation. Okay, facts time. He's stronger, faster, has the reach advantage, and doubtlessly tougher, damn Aura. Looks like I have him beat in reactions. Can probably keep this up longer than he can, but not something I want to bet my continued health on. Guy's relying on his reach to keep me at bay. Let's see how he reacts when I pull a page out of Yang's playbook.

She waited for Sun to commit to his next attack, and this time redirected the blow with the back of her forearm. The force behind the attack made her arm sting something fierce, but Kassidy decided it was worth it when she bullied her way inside of Sun's guard. A shoulder check knocked him off-balance, a swing bounced off his side hard enough to make a good-sized spurt of Aura shoot out to ward it off, and planting her boot into his knee was enough to make the Faunus hiss and dance back. Kassidy disengaged herself, and was about to think about her next angle of attack when Ruby, Yang, Jaune, and Nora's cheering suddenly made themselves known. Holy crap, I'm actually winning a fight right now, aren't I?

Sun grit his teeth as he leapt into the air and started spinning his staff in the best impression of a helicopter Kassidy had ever seen. Still, airborne enemies were her favorite for a reason, and Kassidy waited for as long as it took for Sun to fully commit to his attack. A quick slide forward, a reach and grab on the ankle that was about to kick her face in, and a slam brought Sun crashing back to the ground in front of her. She tried to bring her sword down on top of his head, but a quick flick of his staff swatted the blade aside and revealed that Kassidy completely forgot about the second mode of his weapon.

Suddenly, Kassidy was no longer dealing with a staff that, while quick, was predictable and relied on reach. Now, she was dealing with a pair of nunchucks that were even faster, about as unpredictable as one could get, and quite devastating in close range. Kassidy found herself getting pelted with blows in the span of seconds, and Sun wasn't about to let her out of his reach. She tried for one final, desperate swing at his chest, but he used his nunchuck to trap her arm, pin it behind her, and pull her to the ground. She fought the hold, but Sun planting his knee on the small of her back confirmed that this fight was over, a situation that was merely formalized when she used her free hand to slap the floor a couple of times.

Kassidy was still grumbling as she got finished changing in the bathroom. The door creaked open to admit her to the rest of the dorm room, revealing that Ruby, Weiss, and Yang had already changed and were in proper movie-watching positions. Ruby had apparently decided the best way to end a Friday night was for the team to watch yet another Spruce Willis movie, a name which gave no small amount of humor to Kassidy when Bob informed her of the action movie star of yesteryear. She debated whether or not she felt like joining Yang on the top bunk, before deciding the answer was no as a multitude of nunchuck-induced bruises reminded her of their existence.

"So!" Yang exclaimed, leaping into the bottom bunk with her after it was evident that Kassidy wasn't heading up to join her. "What's been up with Jarvis? I haven't been able to get a hold of him all evening, been meaning to ask him a couple questions."

Before Kassidy could answer, the artificial intelligence in question spoke up, "I'm here now, Goldilocks."

Yang scoffed, "Hey, I thought I told you to stop calling me that!"

"I said that I would when you stopped calling me Jarvis."

Kassidy rolled her eyes and cut off the argument. "How'd things go with you and Penny?"

"Wait, you talked to Penny?! How is she?" Ruby's outburst reminded Kassidy that none of the rest of her team had found the android since before summer break.

"Doing well," Kassidy supplied. "Did you know she's actually really good with computers? Bob wanted to talk with her a few things, and I guess that's what they've been doing all afternoon. Speaking of which… I ask again, how did things go?"

"Wait a sec," Yang interrupted with a grin. "Bob just wanted to 'talk' with her?"

Before Bob was able to get a word in edgewise, Kassidy let a smirk manifest itself as she decided to take part in the teasing. "Well, now that you mention it, he's been talking about her a lot lately. You sure it wasn't a date, buddy?"

"First off, I'm a computer, I don't go on dates." A round of snickering from the three people not named Weiss filled the pause. "And secondly, it went quite well, thank you very much. Just a bit of talking, getting to know each other, the usual"

"You know, Bob, you're not doing a good job convincing us it wasn't a date," Weiss added. A quick look at Ruby and Yang both confirmed their barely restrained mirth.

"We even took the time to swap some code."

Kassidy raised her eyebrow at what that meant, before catching on an alternative meaning and giving a grin that made the metaphorical Chesire Cat jealous. "You were 'swapping code' with Penny? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"

That right there sent Yang over the edge. She completely lost control, making her loose grip on Kassidy tighten and pull her against herself while laughing uproariously. Obviously, this made interesting things happen with certain parts of Yang's anatomy, which Kassidy got a… front row seat to, as her girlfriend's grip continued to tighten. It seemed like nothing would break Yang from her horrific case of the giggles…

"YANG XIAO LONG, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF THIS INSTANT!" Ah, of course, how could I forget? The screech of the Lesser Ice Queen can ruin any humorous moment. True to form, the outburst got Yang to finally calm down. Of course, this made the blonde look to the source of the sound and find two beet-red faces. The next look was to her girlfriend, and naturally Kassidy was curious as to whether she needed to fear for her life with Yang's reaction. The lecherous grin suggested 'no', which was confirmed when Yang asked, "Getting to know the girls, K?"

"Vewwy well," Kassidy mumbled. The grip finally loosened and allowed Kassidy to find a less compromising position to seat herself in, even if her arm was still pinned behind Yang's back. She couldn't really find it in herself to complain at the moment, though, as she instead decided to remark, "Friendly reminder that was your doing."

Yang giggled, before ruffling Kassidy's hair. "Aw, my partner's first intentionally lewd joke! I'm so proud of you!"

"Ugh, of course you are," Weiss grumbled. Huffing and crossing her arms, she spat out, "Can we start the movie, already? Anything to distract me from those two ruffians?"

Ruby was all too quick to comply, and as the two hours of explosions, testosterone, and cheesy one liners began, Kassidy found herself curling against Yang. The other blonde didn't attempt to discourage her, and Kassidy quickly found a comfortable position to fall asleep to, as it turned out the crook of Yang's neck was deceptively comfortable. Before she truly lost herself in the moment, however, Bob's screen lit up with a notification. She couldn't read it at this distance, as the tablet was across the room on her desk, but Kassidy could probably guess easily what it was, and her mood soured accordingly. Still, though, she resolved to at least enjoy tonight. Tomorrow night would prove to be far less restful.

AN 2: Hey, remember when I said I'd start getting chapters on time? Yeah, didn't know I was into those kinds of jokes. I blame work. Well, not blame it, since it's necessary and I like doing it, but I don't know how often I'll make the 7:00 CST upload time I plan on. I'm still planning on Friday uploads, however, don't you fret.

Also, if you guys are interested: RWKY is no longer the sole source of where you can find my touch in things. A War That Never Changed is a new SYOC that Avis B. and Quake Shatterfist just started. I… might have gotten carried away with my submissions, and right now I have a full eight characters in it (more than a third of the roster!). Furthermore, I've been helping them recently with a bit of spellchecking here and there. It's been a great start, and the two have a solid idea from what I've seen. If that's up your alley, I'd have to recommend it.

Alright, enough shameless plugging, onto the Reviewer Responses. Coming up next: Kassidy vs. The Red Devil.

AgentDraakis: My weather radar shows a 100% chance of interactions with CRDL. And don't worry, I'm not done with Roman yet. He's just… *pulls on sunglasses* been Roamin' around.

Akshka: Well, he could be. First, both he and Kassidy has to recognize that what she's seeing and what the iris-cam is seeing aren't identical, then Kassidy has to pull up her tablet and stare at it while also looking at whatever Emerald is manipulating, and then… yeah, basically not happening. Nice try, but sorry.

Firearm legume: I'll be sure to give it a look at some point, unfortunately I've been swamped recently, so no gun research from me.

serioushugsies: Still a half-decent ways away from that, but there's a decent chance that it'll come into play. Or not, haven't written that far ahead yet.

AndJrew76: Well, unfortunately, regular update schedule is slightly less regular now, sorry. But thank you for the high praise, working on RWKY is truly the highlight of my day, and interacting with the lot of you is far and away one of my favorite parts. I shall endeavor to continue what I've been doing, and to continue entertaining you folk.

Myrillis: Yeah, I'm still not sure how I would write for Blake in a more canon RWBY setting if I were to do so, but I never did think the most of her character. Honestly, I think RT has given Blake by far the most character development, but ruined any interest I had in her by basically relegating her to the role of "plot device". You've definitely piqued my interest in the weapons terminology there, I'll need to do some looking, but I'm not the resident weapons expert here. I'll have to give that title to our resident Gun Nut (or Firearm Legume, same difference).

FloriteFlower: Technically, the fight at the docks was round two. Kassidy and Roman also clashed in V1C1, if you recall. Or maybe you didn't, and I frightened you into skipping forwards that much with how bad the introduction was, in which case I apologize. I updated V1C1 a bit ago, however, so it should be closer to the quality I've been putting out recently.

Dreiundzwanzig: Thank you, my man, for the reviews. Firstly, yes, I have always enjoyed Marvel movies more than DC and I maybe kinda sorta projected that here as well. Gotta admit, I laughed at the back-to-back reviews of V1C41 and V1C42, as soon as that first one came up all I could think was, "Boy are you in for a treat, my friend."

I do try to focus a lot of RWKY on stuff not covered in canon. Sure, I need to cover that material whenever it comes up, otherwise I'd be missing out critical moments of the story, but I figured that if I didn't give additional content to give backstory/etc., my rehashing of RT episodes would be far less interesting and compelling. I have a true comprehension and appreciation for actual authors (or even just really skilled writers) who do this for a living now, after having put in the work myself and studied/read/etc. to figure out how I could improve my writing style. Still trying to squash the bugs from my mechanical accuracy, but I think I'm finally getting things down to only one or two errors per chapter now. Although, I'm still not happy with the first part of the story, and I'm still trying to find time where I can keep weekly uploads while also getting around to updating the first twenty-odd chapters of Volume 1.

If I were perfectly honest… I'd also agree that Bob is the weakest point of the story. When I first came up with the idea for the story, I had heard of (but not really understood) the problem of "writers writing themselves/their story into a corner". Bob was kinda sorta my work-around if I ever did that, my sort of Deus Ex Machina device if I ever made that mistake. I'd like to think I didn't actually do that, and I'd also like to think that I've learned enough now to not do that, but still… even now, that level of convenience is really tempting to use. At this point, he's definitely a big part of the story and everyone (myself included) would be disappointed if I just deleted him from the picture, but if I got transported to August 2016 when I started, I'd probably be writing this story without Bob in the picture.

All in all, thank you for the in-depth review, critique and criticism on that scale is absolutely helpful to continuing to push my skills. Thank you for the favorite and follow, and here's to more of me entertaining you.