Firebird
by Tyria
Chapter One: The Crash
This is chapter one of my Gundam Wing fic, Firebird, and no, the title won't
make any sense for a while.
One tiny note, I know it's a common notion that Duo, Heero, Quatra and
Trowa are gay, but in this fic, for my own reasons, they aren't. I don't
have problems with the gay thing, and can even find examples of it in the
show, but, it's just better this way.
Another note, things written like =this= are over radio or other electronic
media. And I just can't seem to stop talking, can I?
Here it is, my long awaited (by Raleena, at least.) Chapter one.
The parc is always so quiet at night. The only people here at this time of
night are a few couples, some beggars, and me. Maybe some murderers and
stuff. After all, everyone hides something. And for me, it's a douzy.
I'm Duo Maxwell. An ex-gundam pilot. Ever since that fateful day when the
war ended, I've had a few problems fitting in. No one even knows what I've
been through. Except Hilde, and she's been in the hospital ever since she
was taken off of M.O.II, where she was put before the PeaceMillion's suicide
run.
She's been like that since she infiltrated Libra and got us vital info on
it. She made a great sacrifice, just to prove me wrong.
Actually, it's better that people don't know. Lotsa people have reasons to
ice a gundam pilot.
I often wonder what the other guys have been doing. I wonder if the one,
Heero Yui, is even still alive. From what I've seen, he's slightly suicidal.
And what about the others? The friendly Quatra Raberba Winners, the quiet
Trowa Barton and the secretive Chan Wufei. The other gundam pilots. Fifteen
year old boys who won a war. We couldn't have done it without our gundams.
The Death-Scythe Hell. My gundam. I haven't taken up my role as the
Shinigami since the war ended.
I look up at the moon. I've always been mesmerized by how it looks from
earth. From the colonies, it looks like a barren cemetery.
My vision is obscured as someone puts their hands over my eyes. "BOO! Guess
who, Duo!!!"
"Hi-hi-Hilde??!" She removes her hands and sits beside me. Her left leg is
in a cast. She leans her crutches against the side of the bench.
"Aw, man, you know me too well." She exclaims. She leans back against the
bench and smiles broadly.
"B...b....but I thought you were still in the hospital!!" I stammer in
surprise. I hadn't expected to see the ex-Oz soldier for days, at least. A
sharp breeze flies by, ruffling our bangs.
"Well maybe you shoulda visited more, Mr. Death-angel."
"Hilde, you know I..."
"Ya, I know Duo. Sorry. Where'd you hide dea..." I sharp glare makes her
re-think her words. I can't just have her blurting it out. "I mean, where'd
you hide it?"
"In the colonies, where it was before. It'll be save there, and..." I add
with a twinkle in my eye. "...That's why I didn't visit."
"But Duo, what if you need it! The world still isn't a save place! Especially not for you! I mean..."
"Wow. We really don't like letting each other finish sentences, do we? I
won't need it though. I'm done with wars and fighting and death, and I'm
sure they don't have fond remarks for me later. Besides, I'm a big boy, I
can take care of myself, y'know."
"Oh."
"Hilde, are you all right?"
"Besides my foot, ya. It's still busted up pretty bad."
'That's not what I meant.' I think sourly. Not much I can do 'bout it, though. We sit in uncomfortable silence for what feels like
a long time. I
start to fall asleep but before I can gain that comfort, Hilde nudges me.
When I look over at her, she points towards the horizon. "Do ya see that
bright light over there?"
"Bright light?" I look in the direction she's pointing. There's a bright
white light, steadily growing brighter and closer. All the couples look up
and speak in quiet whispers. Some of the homeless begin to wake, one of them
with a loud groan.
"Ya, I see it, Hilde. If I didn't know better... I'd swear..." The fiery
object comes into better view. One bright splinter breaks of, proving its
own self to be a burning wing. The mobile suit carrier, minus it's right
wing, is in its death throes. It begins to careen towards the ground, right
towards the tidy little park. The man who had groaned loudly noticed too,
and yelled out to all the current inhabitants of the park in a thick Russian
accent, "RUN, It's a suit carrier!!!"
Several of the women scream as men and women alike make haste to escape
their fiery doom. I jump up and grab Hilde's crutches and hold them out to
her. The craft finally begins to scrape along the ground sliding and
groaning swiftly towards us. 'Hilde can't get away in time, only one thing
left to do... and it ain't let her die!!!'
I grab Hilde's shoulders and roughly pull her to the ground behind the
bench. Both crutches go flying, and one breaks in half with an auditable
crack. I don't thing Hilde's even consious as the no-longer space worthy
craft slides to a halt about two meters away.
I wonder frustrated as to the fate of the carrier. Who had been on board
the unlucky ship? Had they survived? What was the cause of the fatal
flames? Was this a military craft, or civilian? I know that after the war
some shuttles were remodeled into passenger carriers. What had the crews
destination been?
I move off of the unconscious Hilde and instinctually check her pulse.
She's breathing, and her pulse is steady. She'll be fine. The fire is
gradually spreading towards what I know to be the fuel tank.
Just before the fire reaches what will be the end of the plane, a dark
figure jumps from the pilot side door and roles away from the fiery
explosion which soon follows.
The figure stands painfully. Looks like the landing was rough, but he's
lucky to be alive. The fire must not have been in the cockpit. That means
that if there was a passenger, he may of escaped the inferno as well, but
from my point of view, I can't see the opposite side of the wreckage.
The man has on black flight boots and, from what I can see, tight black
pants with blue vertical stripes, one on both the left and right side of the
leg, but not the front and back. I can't see much else of the stranger
because he's wearing a black trench coat. Covering his head is a black
oblong helmet with identical stripes. The vizor is a dark blue and can't be
seen through. He begins to walk steadily towards Hilde and I.
I draw my pistol and point it visibly at his head. He stops and puts his
hands up in the air. They were tinier than I had expected, and covered in
black and blue matching gloves. I'm starting to notice a pattern, you?
I stand slowly, watching the man carefully and keeping my gun leveled at
his head. 'If he tries anything, than I have a little experiment. Let's see
how many shots that flight helmet can take before his brains get blown out.
My estimate, two. Looks like the same things running through his head. Oh
well, no science fair project for me.'
"Stay where you are, and don't try anything. Take off your helmet than put
your hands back up where I can see'im."
The gloved hands remove the helmet and drop it to the ground. Her brown
hair with dark green highlights to tumble down loose a little past her
shoulders. 'So, the pilot is a girl. Bet she wore that just so she could
pass herself off as a guy. My second bet, she's running, and hopes she can
get away as a guy. Specially if they know 'bout the green dye.'
"Listen, Mr. Rice-a-roni. I been through a lot of shiat ta get here an' I
ain't gonna let no armed civilian stop me, y'hear? I'm lookin'' for a Duo
Maxwell, y'know him?"
"You're lookin' at'im, lady. Now why you after a nice guy like me an'
causin' all this hub-bub?" I keep my firearm steady at her pretty face.
"Listen, Maxwell. I don't have time to mess 'round. We gotta get outta here
before..."
"Before what?"
"Too late." One of her hands points straight up.
"Oh, com'n, you're not gonna..." I hear the unmistakable sounds of mobile
suits changing from flight mode to battle ready. Two Aries land, boxing us
in so the only way out is behind me. I lower my gun nozzle slightly. Looks
like I'm aimin' at the wrong person. I look behind me and there's a third
Aries right there. The lead Aries announces through his speaker, "Shareena
Tagger, surrender at once. Civilians, out of the way."
Then as a unnecessary warning, he shoots a giant mecha machine gun,
splintering the bench and cutting up Hilde pretty bad.
The pilot, Shareena, turns towards the lead suit, hands still raised in
defeat. 'Her arms must be getting tired.'
"Maxwell, get outta here. Go to North Bay, Canada. I'll take care of this,
go." She orders in a hushed voice.
"But..."
"The girl is injured. Get her outta here and to a hospital. Do as I tell
ya."
"They'll kill you..."
"Run, or I'LL kick your ass!!"
I unwillingly oblige her request to die alone and slip an arm around
Hilde's waist to start helping her back out of the way. Shareena unfastens
her ebony trench coat to unveil her outfit and lets the coat fall to the
ground.
I literarily gape at her outfit. It was so tight it fit her like a second
skin. Turns out her pants are actually part of a one piece jump suit. The
uniform was black and the exterior blue stripes on the legs went all the way
up each side of her torso and each side of her arms also share the lines.
She has dynamite strapped around her waist. She unhesitatingly presses the
activation button. Red lights interspersed around the explosives began
flashing at regular intervals.
"She's suiciding, bail!!!" One of the Aries yells. Two of the Aries fly
away. The flashing is gradually going faster. "Get back here, I'll have you
two court- marshaled!!" The lead Aries yells. The two other Aries don't
stop.
I hear a loud crash and turn back to the wreckage to see the Wing Zero rise
up out of the dying blaze. It picks the fleeing suits out of the air. The
surprised remaining Aries manages one shot at the gundam, but misses in its
haste and hits the wreckage to the right of Zero instead.
"Shareena, what are you doin'!!" I yell as the Wing Zero walks out of the
cataclysmic devastation that was the mobile suit carrier to stand next to
the ready-to-explode girl. "Are you nuts!!!?"
The light ultimately flashes so fast it becomes a blur. The activation
button pops out as the light abruptly stops. A small rod pops out and a red
flag unfurls. In yellow letters, out-lined in black is the word 'BANG'.
The pilot giggles uproariously. "Works every time. Those ozies are sooooooo
stupid!!!"
"Huh?" I ask brilliantly.
She reaches behind herself and the explosives clatter to the ground. She
wraps them and her helmet up in the trenchcoat. "Yui, get down here."
The massive mecha's cockpit opens and Heero Yui jumps down, landing on the
ground in a crouch. "Duo, these are FAKE explosives. It'll take'em five
minutes to reload. Meanwhile, we gotta get the girl to hospital, then , we
scram."
"Hey, I don't know who you are or what you're doing, but I'm not going
anywhere till I know why you're causing trouble."
"Sheesh. Heero was easier. That reminds me. Heero, you got my sac?"
"Uh huh."
"Pass it here." He tosses the bag to Shareena. After catching it easily,
she turns back to Hilde and I. "Not very talkative, is'e?"
She pulls a pair of dark blue flare jeans out of the bag and begins to pull
them on over her flight attire.
"What's goin' on?" i ask while lying the unconscious form of Hilde down on
the ground.
"Hey, you find out in Canada like EVERYONE else. Including me. I just do
what I'm told. Occasionally."
"All right, Shareena, what now?"
"Hey, call me Shar. Everyone else does."
"Uh, ya. Sure, whatever." Shar's flares were so long they covered her boots
completely. She had put on a huge dark green sweater that was so big on her
that it hung off her hands. She is now in the process of putting her hair
in a ponytail. She is going very slowly, as if to make it perfect. "Why were
those soldiers after you two?"
"'Cause they're weenie boys." An angry frown from Heero makes her sigh.
"Ok. Short version, that carrier wasn't exactly mine. Long version comes
later." She seems to be done with her hair, but all the green streaks were
loose. The ponytail consisted entirely of brown hair. She dug through the
back pack and pulled out a plain baseball cap.
She loops her ponytail through and puts the cap on. It now looks like she
has plain brown hair. 'Smart way of hiding. Don't put on big fancy
disguises, just change the little things. They're looking for brown and
green hair, they find brown, they pass her by.'
"All right, I'll help Duo with Hilde. Heero, you take Zero and get us some
transport outta here. There's a base up north three miles. I should do. Take
our ride to the forest to the North-East of the base, 2 miles. We'll meet
cha there. Chow."
Heero turns to get back into his gundam. Shareena helps me with Hilde. As
we make our way slowly to the hospital, we get a chance to watch the mecha
fly off to the horizon.
Shar and I walk out of the hospital. "Shareena, where are we going to go
after this?"
"To the circus...."
"The circus?!!! Actually, I don't think I want to know. Are we walkin', or
catching a cab?"
The strange woman smiles and sings a few lyrics of a song. "'These boots
were made for walkin' and that's just a what they'll do.'"
I groan.
Ahh... I was right to follow 02. Ghost strikes again. That pesky rebel will
not escape again. =Commander, this is ghost, I have a report to make.
Send troops to the Famous Players traveling circus in the Ivory Coast. Tell
them to look for a girl with an oversized sweater and brown hair, in a
hat...=
Yeah!!!!!!! I finished the first chapter. You like?? I'm sure Raleena's
happy. BTW, Leena and I have been workin' on some projects, including and
original story and an RW fic. Keep our eyes open! Tyria. ^_~
by Tyria
Chapter One: The Crash
This is chapter one of my Gundam Wing fic, Firebird, and no, the title won't
make any sense for a while.
One tiny note, I know it's a common notion that Duo, Heero, Quatra and
Trowa are gay, but in this fic, for my own reasons, they aren't. I don't
have problems with the gay thing, and can even find examples of it in the
show, but, it's just better this way.
Another note, things written like =this= are over radio or other electronic
media. And I just can't seem to stop talking, can I?
Here it is, my long awaited (by Raleena, at least.) Chapter one.
The parc is always so quiet at night. The only people here at this time of
night are a few couples, some beggars, and me. Maybe some murderers and
stuff. After all, everyone hides something. And for me, it's a douzy.
I'm Duo Maxwell. An ex-gundam pilot. Ever since that fateful day when the
war ended, I've had a few problems fitting in. No one even knows what I've
been through. Except Hilde, and she's been in the hospital ever since she
was taken off of M.O.II, where she was put before the PeaceMillion's suicide
run.
She's been like that since she infiltrated Libra and got us vital info on
it. She made a great sacrifice, just to prove me wrong.
Actually, it's better that people don't know. Lotsa people have reasons to
ice a gundam pilot.
I often wonder what the other guys have been doing. I wonder if the one,
Heero Yui, is even still alive. From what I've seen, he's slightly suicidal.
And what about the others? The friendly Quatra Raberba Winners, the quiet
Trowa Barton and the secretive Chan Wufei. The other gundam pilots. Fifteen
year old boys who won a war. We couldn't have done it without our gundams.
The Death-Scythe Hell. My gundam. I haven't taken up my role as the
Shinigami since the war ended.
I look up at the moon. I've always been mesmerized by how it looks from
earth. From the colonies, it looks like a barren cemetery.
My vision is obscured as someone puts their hands over my eyes. "BOO! Guess
who, Duo!!!"
"Hi-hi-Hilde??!" She removes her hands and sits beside me. Her left leg is
in a cast. She leans her crutches against the side of the bench.
"Aw, man, you know me too well." She exclaims. She leans back against the
bench and smiles broadly.
"B...b....but I thought you were still in the hospital!!" I stammer in
surprise. I hadn't expected to see the ex-Oz soldier for days, at least. A
sharp breeze flies by, ruffling our bangs.
"Well maybe you shoulda visited more, Mr. Death-angel."
"Hilde, you know I..."
"Ya, I know Duo. Sorry. Where'd you hide dea..." I sharp glare makes her
re-think her words. I can't just have her blurting it out. "I mean, where'd
you hide it?"
"In the colonies, where it was before. It'll be save there, and..." I add
with a twinkle in my eye. "...That's why I didn't visit."
"But Duo, what if you need it! The world still isn't a save place! Especially not for you! I mean..."
"Wow. We really don't like letting each other finish sentences, do we? I
won't need it though. I'm done with wars and fighting and death, and I'm
sure they don't have fond remarks for me later. Besides, I'm a big boy, I
can take care of myself, y'know."
"Oh."
"Hilde, are you all right?"
"Besides my foot, ya. It's still busted up pretty bad."
'That's not what I meant.' I think sourly. Not much I can do 'bout it, though. We sit in uncomfortable silence for what feels like
a long time. I
start to fall asleep but before I can gain that comfort, Hilde nudges me.
When I look over at her, she points towards the horizon. "Do ya see that
bright light over there?"
"Bright light?" I look in the direction she's pointing. There's a bright
white light, steadily growing brighter and closer. All the couples look up
and speak in quiet whispers. Some of the homeless begin to wake, one of them
with a loud groan.
"Ya, I see it, Hilde. If I didn't know better... I'd swear..." The fiery
object comes into better view. One bright splinter breaks of, proving its
own self to be a burning wing. The mobile suit carrier, minus it's right
wing, is in its death throes. It begins to careen towards the ground, right
towards the tidy little park. The man who had groaned loudly noticed too,
and yelled out to all the current inhabitants of the park in a thick Russian
accent, "RUN, It's a suit carrier!!!"
Several of the women scream as men and women alike make haste to escape
their fiery doom. I jump up and grab Hilde's crutches and hold them out to
her. The craft finally begins to scrape along the ground sliding and
groaning swiftly towards us. 'Hilde can't get away in time, only one thing
left to do... and it ain't let her die!!!'
I grab Hilde's shoulders and roughly pull her to the ground behind the
bench. Both crutches go flying, and one breaks in half with an auditable
crack. I don't thing Hilde's even consious as the no-longer space worthy
craft slides to a halt about two meters away.
I wonder frustrated as to the fate of the carrier. Who had been on board
the unlucky ship? Had they survived? What was the cause of the fatal
flames? Was this a military craft, or civilian? I know that after the war
some shuttles were remodeled into passenger carriers. What had the crews
destination been?
I move off of the unconscious Hilde and instinctually check her pulse.
She's breathing, and her pulse is steady. She'll be fine. The fire is
gradually spreading towards what I know to be the fuel tank.
Just before the fire reaches what will be the end of the plane, a dark
figure jumps from the pilot side door and roles away from the fiery
explosion which soon follows.
The figure stands painfully. Looks like the landing was rough, but he's
lucky to be alive. The fire must not have been in the cockpit. That means
that if there was a passenger, he may of escaped the inferno as well, but
from my point of view, I can't see the opposite side of the wreckage.
The man has on black flight boots and, from what I can see, tight black
pants with blue vertical stripes, one on both the left and right side of the
leg, but not the front and back. I can't see much else of the stranger
because he's wearing a black trench coat. Covering his head is a black
oblong helmet with identical stripes. The vizor is a dark blue and can't be
seen through. He begins to walk steadily towards Hilde and I.
I draw my pistol and point it visibly at his head. He stops and puts his
hands up in the air. They were tinier than I had expected, and covered in
black and blue matching gloves. I'm starting to notice a pattern, you?
I stand slowly, watching the man carefully and keeping my gun leveled at
his head. 'If he tries anything, than I have a little experiment. Let's see
how many shots that flight helmet can take before his brains get blown out.
My estimate, two. Looks like the same things running through his head. Oh
well, no science fair project for me.'
"Stay where you are, and don't try anything. Take off your helmet than put
your hands back up where I can see'im."
The gloved hands remove the helmet and drop it to the ground. Her brown
hair with dark green highlights to tumble down loose a little past her
shoulders. 'So, the pilot is a girl. Bet she wore that just so she could
pass herself off as a guy. My second bet, she's running, and hopes she can
get away as a guy. Specially if they know 'bout the green dye.'
"Listen, Mr. Rice-a-roni. I been through a lot of shiat ta get here an' I
ain't gonna let no armed civilian stop me, y'hear? I'm lookin'' for a Duo
Maxwell, y'know him?"
"You're lookin' at'im, lady. Now why you after a nice guy like me an'
causin' all this hub-bub?" I keep my firearm steady at her pretty face.
"Listen, Maxwell. I don't have time to mess 'round. We gotta get outta here
before..."
"Before what?"
"Too late." One of her hands points straight up.
"Oh, com'n, you're not gonna..." I hear the unmistakable sounds of mobile
suits changing from flight mode to battle ready. Two Aries land, boxing us
in so the only way out is behind me. I lower my gun nozzle slightly. Looks
like I'm aimin' at the wrong person. I look behind me and there's a third
Aries right there. The lead Aries announces through his speaker, "Shareena
Tagger, surrender at once. Civilians, out of the way."
Then as a unnecessary warning, he shoots a giant mecha machine gun,
splintering the bench and cutting up Hilde pretty bad.
The pilot, Shareena, turns towards the lead suit, hands still raised in
defeat. 'Her arms must be getting tired.'
"Maxwell, get outta here. Go to North Bay, Canada. I'll take care of this,
go." She orders in a hushed voice.
"But..."
"The girl is injured. Get her outta here and to a hospital. Do as I tell
ya."
"They'll kill you..."
"Run, or I'LL kick your ass!!"
I unwillingly oblige her request to die alone and slip an arm around
Hilde's waist to start helping her back out of the way. Shareena unfastens
her ebony trench coat to unveil her outfit and lets the coat fall to the
ground.
I literarily gape at her outfit. It was so tight it fit her like a second
skin. Turns out her pants are actually part of a one piece jump suit. The
uniform was black and the exterior blue stripes on the legs went all the way
up each side of her torso and each side of her arms also share the lines.
She has dynamite strapped around her waist. She unhesitatingly presses the
activation button. Red lights interspersed around the explosives began
flashing at regular intervals.
"She's suiciding, bail!!!" One of the Aries yells. Two of the Aries fly
away. The flashing is gradually going faster. "Get back here, I'll have you
two court- marshaled!!" The lead Aries yells. The two other Aries don't
stop.
I hear a loud crash and turn back to the wreckage to see the Wing Zero rise
up out of the dying blaze. It picks the fleeing suits out of the air. The
surprised remaining Aries manages one shot at the gundam, but misses in its
haste and hits the wreckage to the right of Zero instead.
"Shareena, what are you doin'!!" I yell as the Wing Zero walks out of the
cataclysmic devastation that was the mobile suit carrier to stand next to
the ready-to-explode girl. "Are you nuts!!!?"
The light ultimately flashes so fast it becomes a blur. The activation
button pops out as the light abruptly stops. A small rod pops out and a red
flag unfurls. In yellow letters, out-lined in black is the word 'BANG'.
The pilot giggles uproariously. "Works every time. Those ozies are sooooooo
stupid!!!"
"Huh?" I ask brilliantly.
She reaches behind herself and the explosives clatter to the ground. She
wraps them and her helmet up in the trenchcoat. "Yui, get down here."
The massive mecha's cockpit opens and Heero Yui jumps down, landing on the
ground in a crouch. "Duo, these are FAKE explosives. It'll take'em five
minutes to reload. Meanwhile, we gotta get the girl to hospital, then , we
scram."
"Hey, I don't know who you are or what you're doing, but I'm not going
anywhere till I know why you're causing trouble."
"Sheesh. Heero was easier. That reminds me. Heero, you got my sac?"
"Uh huh."
"Pass it here." He tosses the bag to Shareena. After catching it easily,
she turns back to Hilde and I. "Not very talkative, is'e?"
She pulls a pair of dark blue flare jeans out of the bag and begins to pull
them on over her flight attire.
"What's goin' on?" i ask while lying the unconscious form of Hilde down on
the ground.
"Hey, you find out in Canada like EVERYONE else. Including me. I just do
what I'm told. Occasionally."
"All right, Shareena, what now?"
"Hey, call me Shar. Everyone else does."
"Uh, ya. Sure, whatever." Shar's flares were so long they covered her boots
completely. She had put on a huge dark green sweater that was so big on her
that it hung off her hands. She is now in the process of putting her hair
in a ponytail. She is going very slowly, as if to make it perfect. "Why were
those soldiers after you two?"
"'Cause they're weenie boys." An angry frown from Heero makes her sigh.
"Ok. Short version, that carrier wasn't exactly mine. Long version comes
later." She seems to be done with her hair, but all the green streaks were
loose. The ponytail consisted entirely of brown hair. She dug through the
back pack and pulled out a plain baseball cap.
She loops her ponytail through and puts the cap on. It now looks like she
has plain brown hair. 'Smart way of hiding. Don't put on big fancy
disguises, just change the little things. They're looking for brown and
green hair, they find brown, they pass her by.'
"All right, I'll help Duo with Hilde. Heero, you take Zero and get us some
transport outta here. There's a base up north three miles. I should do. Take
our ride to the forest to the North-East of the base, 2 miles. We'll meet
cha there. Chow."
Heero turns to get back into his gundam. Shareena helps me with Hilde. As
we make our way slowly to the hospital, we get a chance to watch the mecha
fly off to the horizon.
Shar and I walk out of the hospital. "Shareena, where are we going to go
after this?"
"To the circus...."
"The circus?!!! Actually, I don't think I want to know. Are we walkin', or
catching a cab?"
The strange woman smiles and sings a few lyrics of a song. "'These boots
were made for walkin' and that's just a what they'll do.'"
I groan.
Ahh... I was right to follow 02. Ghost strikes again. That pesky rebel will
not escape again. =Commander, this is ghost, I have a report to make.
Send troops to the Famous Players traveling circus in the Ivory Coast. Tell
them to look for a girl with an oversized sweater and brown hair, in a
hat...=
Yeah!!!!!!! I finished the first chapter. You like?? I'm sure Raleena's
happy. BTW, Leena and I have been workin' on some projects, including and
original story and an RW fic. Keep our eyes open! Tyria. ^_~