"YOU WORTHLESS WASTE OF CRASH SPACE!" the young werewolf growled, sending a glabro punch to the apathetic rabble's face.

Whenever she'd let him, Alley-Fang usually found a way to solve most problems between garous in a non-violent matter and if he didn't, she mostly took the front and solved things her way, that is, brutally.

"SHUT UP AND LEAVE US ALONE, THAT WAS OUR DEAL!" the rabble werewolf howled as he took his war form to strike back.

But now she was confused, what was she to do when it was her appointed diplomat who got rowdy?

Alley-Fang had explained the situation to five of the local rabble but was met with their predictable apathy. None of them cared what was going to happen, it was "no their fight" they said.

After Alley-Fang, Sirine, Cry-the-red-tear and herself tried to appeal first to honor, which none of them had, then to pride, which they had little and finally to sense of duty, they had claimed not to have any duties: "The deal was that if we joined your tribe, we could just live as we wanted and not be bothered, we have no duty, not to you, not to this sept if it's not under attack and certainly not to any "nation". We're bone gnawers for God's sake, if the world needs saving go get the silver fangs!" was their final answer.

And before anyone else could react, Aaron was all over this youngster, beating him up, first in glabro and then in Crinos to match the rabble in power. He four other stood back, not wanting to get involved into what was growing to be a rather brutal exchange or claws and fangs.

"Alley-Fang, stop this at once!" the sept leader ordered. Sirine had, to the best of anyone's recognition, never solved anything not involving the Wyrm trough violence and was definitely not approving of the lower ranking ragabash's actions.

Aaron immediately tripped the younger werewolf and pinned him to the ground while raising his lupine head toward the elder and growling in garou tongue: "I know it is the tradition of our tribe, Sirine, but in dire time, traditions must be overlooked. We need them on our side and if they will not be convinced, then unfortunately they will have to be forced."

"Are you even listening to yourself, my friend, you spit on the teachings of mother rat by holding this kind of speech, we cannot force terrified, untrained youngsters in a fight against such powerful opponents, its unfair to ask that of them!" she replied.

"Rat as many aspects Sirine and one of them teaches us of strength in number. We need all of them, the odds are too great to just let them sit this one out, this may not be the apocalypse we have foreseen, but it is a dire threat to us all nonetheless. We don't have time to call the other tribes; all we have to work with here are our sept members and their packs. The sooner we drill that into their head, the sooner we can get them ready for the coming battle. It's harsh, I know, it's unfair to them, I know, but we have little in the way of alternative. Please, try to understand." He said as he transformed back to Glabro.

Sirine closed her eyes, frowned and gritted her teeth before answering, after a few seconds: "Curse that Leicher guy for what must be done…Alright, I hate to break it to you guys but he's right, when we accepted you, we said we wouldn't bother you as long as you kept to yourself, but that really only held until our final days, and it seems like it's this one, now I don't care that you believe what Alley-Fang said or not, but there is one and only truth you have to know: Like it or not, you will have to fight for your survival tonight!"

The crinos rabble tried to fling him off his back, but Alley-Fang nimbly dodged him and went back to where he was standing before this outburst. One of the other rabbles, a young girl with mousy hair who looked unhealthily thin stepped forward: "I…hum…I will go with you…" she said timidly.

"Yeah…us too" the rest of they said, not sounding entirely convinced.

The one who had fought Aaron shifted back to homid: "Not like we have a choice, is it?" he growled bitterly.

"Right, so now follow us, the sooner we gather you, the sooner we can get you battle worthy!" Alley-Fang cheered, going once again back from dead serious to overly cheerful.

"Impressive speech, I didn't know you could…" Cry whispered to him.

"Be all serious, resolute and convicted? Yeah, I hated that too…did kinda like beating some tribal values into that kid tough: "call the silver fangs" he said, right, that'll happen." The ragabash whispered back.

Sarika followed the rest of the group, wondering how it could be that after being in the same pack for so long, alley-Fang could still surprise her.

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"What do you mean "you have no idea", you tell me you saw the bane overlapping this fomori, that's impossible, human aren't supposed to see immaterial spirits." Asenka pressed on, completely at a loss for any explanation.

"I'm telling you, I don't know how I did it, I just did, I turned around thinking that man was maybe more than he seemed and it became crystal clear that this….bane you called them, was "over" him. What was that thing anyway?" Sarah said, no more able to explain the phenomena.

"A fomori…and a ghoul actually, both at the same time…fomori are human who are possessed by spirits of the wyrm, called banes and ghouls are human who were fed vampire blood to make them stronger and tougher…as well as a slave to vampires. It seems we've made more enemies than we thought, and they're either stupid of desperate if they're willing to strike in broad daylight…" the werewolf continued.

"Does that mean…they could be after my father?" Sarah asked.

"Maybe… we should go on, quickly, we can figure out how you managed to see the immaterial and overcome delirium later, for now we must make sure your father doesn't drive you back to this lab." She concluded, getting back up and walking back toward the street.

"Yeah, let's go…" the young human said with little conviction. Just when she though she was getting the hang of everything that was going on. Now she had to deal with weirdness even her new werewolf friend couldn't explain. It was then that she saw "it".

"Should there be a transparent weasel walking by your side?" she asked tentatively.

Asenka turned back, wide eyed: "You can see Weasel, our pack totem?"

"I can see a weasel…" she said as the spiritual animal turned its furry head toward her, watching her with the same inquiring look as the werewolf "…don't know about any pack to…" but she was interrupted by a high pitched voice that belonged to neither her nor Asenka.

"This young lady is definitely full of surprises; it's uncommon, even for shape changer to be able to peer through the gauntlet, let alone a human…" the voice said, and she could hear it as if it was told aloud by someone near her…but there was only Asenka and her lips didn't move.

But she did hear her voice however: "I didn't though it was possible, human are among the most spiritually dead creature on the planet. How can any of them develop such a skill…on such short notice?"

"Maybe she always had that gift, but it was dampened by her exposure to strong weaver taint…" the high pitched voice replied.

"But it's not like this city wasn't badly tainted too…" Asenka's voice went on, while her lips weren't moving at all.

"Sorry to interrupt Asenka, but how's it going with Sarah, we're having some marginal success with the rabbles over here…" that was Cry-The-Red-Tear's voice…

Sarah backed away, and shook her head violently, why was she hearing all this.

"Would you people stop talking about me as if I wasn't there!" she screamed, attracting some very weird look from the passerby…but the weirdest came from Asenka and the furry creature.

"You….heard all this…?" she asked, somewhere between scared and angry…

"Let me guess, I shouldn't have?" she answered nervously.

"You certainly should have not…" she said, grabbing her by the arm and hurrying her along on the street while keeping her close enough to whisper.

"…this was our totem bond, the spiritual link that unites our pack, only the four of us and Weasel can use it, it is a manifestation of our pack's unity through our totem's ideal, and you're telling me that YOU, a human, is capable of eavesdropping it!" she growled.

"I…I'm…I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" but she'd just about had it with this, what she being accused of here, it wasn't like she actually did anything.

"…Hell no, I'm not sorry, I have nothing to be sorry about, I didn't mean to hear any of this and I'm just as surprised as you. Something really weird is happening to me and the last thing I need is you getting angry at me about it!" she said, surprising herself and Asenka. Somehow, she felt less intimidated by the arhoun now. She still knew Asenka to be a short tempered shape shifter with a mean temper, but she seemed, for some reason, less threatening than when they first met…or maybe she was just pushing her luck.

"Alright." The young werewolf said, apparently annoyed. "Your right, this isn't your fault and we have no time to look for answers. Let's just go already…" she concluded as she resumed her fast paced walk.

"And…hum…" Asenka added hesitantly.

"What?"

"Sorry…" she said under her breath.

Sarah didn't answer she just followed the garou to her father's apartment building, wondering why so many insane things were happening to her in so little time.

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Back at the DNA lab, two scientists were running some observation on a sedated GLS-2's regenerative ability when the head researcher walked into the room, closely followed by his personal lab assistant and several armed soldiers.

"Sir, with all due respect, now is not a good time…" the first researcher said, dropping the scalpel he was about to use to cut the humongous crinos metis open with and turning to face his boss.

"Your experiment is discontinued, this test subject is to be transferred to another part of the facility and the two of you assigned to another project." answered Evan Leicher to his employee. "Miss Clark, please escort our friends here to thief new work station."

The young woman invited the two scientists to follow her out. They tried to protest that they were in the middle of something and near a major breakthrough, but Leicher wouldn't hear any of it, they both eventually left with Diana Clark, leaving the head scientist and the soldiers alone with the metis.

Of course, neither of them actually knew that the man they called Evan Leicher and his assistant, as well as a good number (but not all) of the soldiers were, in fact, werespiders. In fact, besides having studied werewolves firsthand for years, neither of them could conceive the existence of other kind of shape shifters.

The werewolf however, knew.

"Back again, Annanasi…" he snarled in garou, fighting against the sedative to remain conscious.

"It is hard for me to put reason behind most act by your highly irrational race, mule, but why would you fight the effect of a drug meant to ease the pain of this experiment?" Leicher asked, giving the helpless werewolf a cold, cruel smile.

"The wounds heal quickly, but the pain fuels my rage, it tempers my resolve and it keeps me from forgetting who I am." the garou managed to say weakly.

"And that would be?" the werespider asked without much interest as he reached out for another needle of tranquilizer and gestured the guard to stand ready.

"I am Woric Banecrusher, Philodox cliath of the Get of Fenris, son of Raging Blood, Arhoun athro of the Get of Fenris…" he recited fiercely.

"Blah blah blah, I don't care your tribe, your ancestry of your auspice, in here, you are all the same, that is, mere tools that will allow me to wipe out the Wyrm's influence from the face of the heart, taking your then made useless race along with it." The annanasi said, planting the silver tipped needle deep in garou's neck.

With a hateful howl and violent attempts to get free from his bounds, the Get finally lost consciousness. Leicher gestured to the soldiers: "Take him to the extraction room and put him in a pod, send another team to replace you while you are at it, we need to hurry."

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"Alright troops listen up, I know this sucks. I'm the first guy who would rather do something else tonight than go risk his hide, yet again, in a battle against seemingly insurmountable odds. But we do not have that luxury. As humans and wolves, we might have been content to just watch everything around us be destroyed by forces beyond our control, unable and maybe unwilling to do anything about it. But we are neither human nor wolves, we are werewolves! We are garou! We are the warriors of Gaia! We do not have the option to stand idle and let forces of the Wyrm and Weaver bring about the end of our day, and with it, the end of Gaia and the earth. To stand strong against them is more than duty, our fate and our curse. None of us asked for it, and many among you refused it, hell that's why most of you joined the gnawers, to stand aside from that battle as long as possible, to follow the way of Rat, to survive, by running and hiding if need be. But when a rat as nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, even he must turn and fight and this is what we, the Bone Gnawers of the Road Kill Smell sept must do today. We must take step to ensure not only our survival but that of our entire race, we must rise from the gutter were so many, even among us, have said our place lies and bring our number and our stubborn refusal to die to the enemy's doorstep and show them, and the entire Garou nation along with them, why not to mess with the sons and daughters of Rat!"

Alley-Fang speech seemed to have inspired at least half the assembled rabbles, some of them cheered for him, other had a look of grim resolve on their face, but they seemed ready to fight nonetheless.

The rest just weren't given a choice, this was war after all.

The ragabash stepped down from the dumpster as Sirine took over and organized the gathered werewolf so that those who had experience would teach all those who didn't the basic of combat as soon as possible. He turned to Sarika and Cry-The-Red-Tear.

"How'd I do?" he asked, smirking.

"That was... impressive, you ever though about changing auspice, become a galliard, you clearly have it in you?" Cry asked.

"What and loose my carte blanche at saying anything that pops to my mind to anyone I meet no matter how grossly inappropriate or disrespectful it might be?" he said.

"That is no exactly what being a ragabash entails…" Cry corrected him.

"No, that's just what I make of it, that's the way I am, and I just happen to be of the only auspice from who this kind of thing is remotely tolerated. Beside, while I may be able to pull out a good speech once in a while, I don't know squat about Garou history and I heard homeless dog howl more harmoniously than me. On the other hand, I excel as much in stealth, guile and finding unconventional solutions to problem as I do at stirring controversy and challenging traditions, thus, making new moon my moon!" he concluded proudly.

"Can't argue with that logic…" the philodox conceded.

"Still, have you ever though about challenging Sirine as sept leader?" Sarika said.

"Now why would I do that?" he asked.

"Had you not intervened, she would not have done anything to bring the rabbles to our cause, and when she failed to inspire them, you did it…" she observed.

"Sirine isn't a bad leader, she's just a little too stiffly anchored in tradition, which isn't all that bad, considering most of rat's tradition are about sharing, respect and survival. I don't think I have what it takes to be a good leader, too much responsibility, too much people looking at you, trying to figure you out. Nope, my place is in the shadow of a great leader, offering my sometime valuable advices and "would be insane if they didn't actually work every time" plans." He explained dismissively.

"And that great leader would be me?" she asked, somewhat flattered.

"Most of the time, yeah…" he said, winking.

"It seems I'm the only one who fails to see what it is I do to earn so much praise. I am a warrior, a very capable one with if I do say so myself, but what do I do as a leader, lead you into battle? I mean, anyone could do that…" Sarika wondered.

"Anyone can order me to charge a wyrmdrake and try to take it down, you're the only one I'd actually listen to. 'Cause you're the only one I can believe, without the shadow of a doubt, would be charging right beside me and never back down no matter how hopeless things may seem. You've been through more shit than any of us, this war as cost more to you than to me, Asenka or Cry, yet you fight on, and because you've lost so much, you would sooner die than loose us. You care for us like family and we care back the same way, you would die for our sake and we would gladly return the favor, you lead us in battle with zeal, courage and resolve and thus, you inspire the same in us. I honor you as alpha because in you I see hope, hope that no matter what the Wyrm does to us, we can always stand back up and fight back. By your side, the odds never seem too great, the victory never too far, and the future never too bleak. That, not your skill in battle, is what makes you a great leader." Alley-Fang said, with seriousness rarely heard in his tone.

Sarika's face didn't show it, it never really did betray any of her feelings…save anger, but she was deeply touched by what the ragabash had just said. The two of them had changed around similar times and were quickly putted together in a pack with Cry-The-Red-Tear. In the beginning, she had appreciated the quiet wisdom of the metis but the wiseass (and let's be honest, smelly) street drifter had first gotten on her nerves a lot and she remembered times when, driven by her newfound raging temper, she would have gladly ripped his head off. Hearing Aaron confess these things to her made her realize how far they had come together, and how much the bone gnawer had grown on her.

He was right, her life, even before the first change had been hard. Beside all the trouble the average Native American can have in regard of prejudice, she also had a rather lonely childhood; she lived alone with her aunt in a shack far removed from civilization, she was told her mother was dead and her father visited so little she had time to forget about him between visits. Sure, her kinfolk aunt though her many of the ancestral tradition of the Native Americans, while slipping a little of the lore of the Wendigo. She was, in a way, raised to her position in the Garou nation since childhood. When she changed the first time, in a violent battle with Wyrmspawn attacking her father, thing certainly didn't get better. First, she found out that her mother wasn't only dead; she had been embraced as a gangrel vampire shortly after giving birth by a leech that did it to punish her father for having slain his coterie. She tracked down her mother and, with grim resolve, struck her down with her own claws. Not long after that, a fourth werewolf was introduced to the pack, Ian Killswitch, a ragabash of the glass walker. On their first mission, Ian was killed in an ambush by a pack of black spiral dancers, something Sarika always felt responsible for because she had told him to stall behind to watch their back and provide cover fire with his fetish gun, which Alley-Fang (but now, unfortunately, Leicher) now carried. Shortly after this, her father died in battle.

So yes, she had pretty much just lost most of the thing she cared about to the Wyrm, and part of the reason why Alley-Fang got on her nerves at first is that he hadn't. He had had, by human standard, a very normal and uneventful life before the change; he had dropped out of college and was just going from one crappy job to another before one day, a bunch of mugging thug met a furious crinos… The change however hardly made him loose anything. He quickly severed regular connection to his family and his former friends and fully embraced his fate as a warrior of Gaia. His cheerfulness and his instance that being a garou is so great clashed violently with all the pain her nature had brought Sarika, at least at first. She was, maybe just a little resentful of the ragabash having the time of his life while her world crumbled around her from the same event.

In time however, she had gotten over it and instead had learned to cling to what she had and never letting it go. She devoted herself fully to her pack and in she felt she had surpassed all those hardship thanks to them. From Cry, she had learned wisdom, stoicism and temperance, some of Alley-Fang's cheerfulness and optimism had managed to pull her up after each hard blow, even, at time, allowing her to forget the pain of loss and the pressure of responsibility and enjoy genuinely enjoy herself. Later, when Asenka joined them, she found true kinship in another for the first time in a while, especially in both being headstrong arhoun with a score to settle with vampires; the two of them had grown something of a friendly rivalry. Today, as Alley-Fang said, she would gladly die before loosing her friends, her family: her pack.

While she was thinking about all this, both her and Cry stared at Alley-Fang…

"It's hum…been on my mind for some time…though I should tell you…" he answered, feeling a little awkward, rubbing the back of his head "Could you two stop starring at me, please…"

Sarika didn't smile often, but she did this time.

"Thank you." She said under her breath. Before anyone could add anything, she changed the subject: "Come on now, we need to help these youngster get ready for tonight."

Aaron and Cry complied happily.

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"We're here." Sarah announced.

"Finally…" Asenka answered.

As they both walked into Mark Hapkin's apartment, Sarah got the feeling that something was wrong. Her father was in the middle of the living room, looking at the ground.

"I'm sorry Sarah…" the aged man said.

Before anyone could ask why, 6 men holding guns got out of behind the couch, inside the kitchen and bedroom and even behind them in the all. Asenka let out a feral snarl while looking around, but she was obviously surrounded and outnumbered…

"Dad, what's going on?" Sarah asked.

"They say you helped one of the GLS escape, they want to know where it is, I told them they didn't have to threaten us…but they wouldn't listen, please Sarah, tell them so we can…" professor Hapkin started…

"The other one's a werewolf guys watch out!" one of the armed men said, causing all the others to point their weapons at Asenka…

"And you guys are…ghouls…" Asenka growled, sniffing the distinctive Wyrm taint from them.

"Ghouls?" Mark Hapkin wondered, confused at this turn of events.

For only answer, one of the nearby ghouls smashed the butt of his riffle in his face knocking him out.

"Dad!" Sarah wanted to go help her father, but with six guns pointed at them…

"Ok girl, here's the deal, you can get off the hook easy, we don't care about you, we just want the lupines. Now you tell us where they are, and you and you're father are gonna get out of this in relatively good shapes." The ghouls who had identified Asenka as a werewolf, who seemed to be the leader, said.

"She ain't telling you squat, bloodsucker wannabes, because you're all about to be nothing more than splattered mass of flesh and blood on the wall of this room" Asenka snarled, taking a defiant step forward.

"There's enough tranquilizer in our riffles to take out a herd of elephants, you might not want to get on our bad side…" the ghoul taunted.

Asenka felt fresh out of options, she had a plan, but it was bold and she needed Sarah to get out of the way…

"Sarah, do you hear this…" she told Weasel over the totem bound.

Weasel was the only one to react however…Asenka felt he was worried and was already contacting the others.

"Wait a minute…" the ghoul leader said, pointing his gun at Sarah instead of the most obvious threat to his life and limbs… "That girl's…one of those mages…"

He was answered by a quizzical look from absolutely everyone else in the room…

"A mage?" one of the ghouls asked.

"A what?" another said.

Asenka had heard of mages, human who could reshape reality to their whim, and perceive it on other level too, that might explain why she had been able to overhear the totem bound. Weasel's theory of her always having those powers but being too choked by weaver taint might have been true…

Sarah had been thinking the same thing, and just by thinking about it, she reestablished the connection and heard Asenka's voice calling her out for a third time.

"Please answer damnit…" she said.

"I heard you…" she said out loud.

The ghouls gave her a weird look…

"Don't answer out loud! Now listen, I'll try to phase out to the umbra to get out of here, you get to the ground as soon as I transform and try to find a safe place…" the werewolf said.

"But…"

Before Sarah could protest, Asenka shifted to crinos, but refrained from howling, seeing as they were in a public place. Just as all the ghouls tried to shoot her, she quickly pierced the gauntlet, but not before receiving two darts…who did indeed seem to be quite powerful as she felt a little knock out once on the other side. No time for this however, she had people to kill…

Meanwhile, Sarah dropped to the ground and covered her head, easy for her to say "find a safe spot, she was in the middle of angry vampire blood addict with guns and nothing left to shoot…

Asenka moved around the umbral reflection of the room, found a good tactical spot and attempted to reenter the physical world.

…Of course, she was all safe and sound in the umbra where none of them could reach her, Sarah though…

Asenka reentered the physical world in a ghouls back and managed to dig her claws in his back…but the others reacted faster then her rage enhanced reflexes could counter and she was, before she could do anything else, she took a full volley of darts in the chest…when she was about to loose consciousness, she looked around and didn't see Sarah…

"Good, she must have escaped in the confusion…" she though as she felt herself passing out. In a last ditch effort to save herself, she once again reached across the gauntlet…

And in the umbra, two being came over the unconscious body of the werewolf, her pack totem, the Weasel, who was glad she had made it to safer ground…

And a terrified and confused Sarah Hapkin who had no idea how she had gotten here…

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Woric Banecrusher awoke to find himself completely immobilized in his breed form in some kind of metallic pod from which only his lupine head was visible. He felt the coldness of metal running through is body at several places and above all, he felt the oppressive static atmosphere of a weaver tainted area.

He heard a raspy, weak voice in garou on his left: "Finally awake Gaian…"

It was a white skinned, bat nosed and eared crinos with and apparent taste for scarification, obviously a spiral dancer, trapped in a similar pod.

"I have nothing to say to you, Wyrmspawn!" Woric growled as he noticed that there might have been as many as fifteen like him and the tainted Garou in the same position.

"You would have been better off dying in whatever experiment they performed on you before this…I myself though my end had come, 4 silver bullets should have done it, but no, then wanted me alive…they…need us…" the spiral continued.

"Shut your trap!" the Get of Fenris ordered.

"There is still some fighting left into you I see, good. We never know, someone might come and free us before they harvest…" he continued.

"Harvest?" the philodox asked, eager to learn what was going on, even if it had to be from this monster.

"They need gnosis to power a machine that will…" He let out a raspy noise, hinting that he was in very bad shape "seal the gauntlet forever…"

"What! This cannot be, they can't, it's…" the fenrir was at a loss for words…this was…unthinkable.

"Yet it is what they will attempt and whether they succeed or not, they'll drain us of our spiritual energy to try…whatever happens with their plan, we wont be around to witness it…might be better off this way anyway…" the dancer continued.

"We have to escape, then! Stop them!" the Get raged.

"These pods hold us tightly, we cannot break free on our own, but maybe others will come…" the dancer replied.

"Like whom, no one must know we are here, of that this is going on, this is….unconceivable after all…" Woric answered.

"If Alley-Fang escaped, he must have warned others, he might come back, with reinforcement…" the albino metis answered.

"Who's Alley-Fang?" Woric asked "…he felt he had heard that name."

"A bone gnawer prisoner I though I was giving my life to help escape…now I am alive, I can only hope he is too…" Slice-The-Heart concluded, having exhausted himself just by saying this…

Woric wasn't sure he wanted to trust a black spiral dancer that a bone gnawer was his last hope…then again; this was the first hopeful thing he had heard in weeks as a prisoner in this damnable complex.

And so he prayed to Gaia that this Alley-Fang would indeed come to their aid.

(((Yes, Yes people. I'm still alive…It took me an awfully long time, but I finally did right a 9th chapter. In the meantime, the game from which this whole story is inspired ended with a final game session of the apocalypse…Alley-Fang died a hero but the Garou won, the wyrm was destroyed and the rest of the pack managed to live on. Rather nice ending if you ask me. I also haven't played any WoD game in a damn long time so I guess I was just a little out of inspiration.

Bien…what can I say, I'm flattered that fanfiction means so much to you, I'm tempted to wallow in pride and say its only my work…but I see I'm not the only one to receive your touching comments... well, hang in there, I can only imagine how hard it is to loose your main sense, I'm glad you found fanfiction to help you through.

'till nest time guys….'cause I gotta finish this thing eventually ;p )))