A/N: Still not dead! Ha. Take that 2018. Here are with another chapter. I got some more ideas for silly shit to add in, but for now I needed to do something vaguely plot relevant so take this! Love you all, thank you for your continued support!

Also, I just want to say that I did not forget about Hank the dog. I just moved him to safe location for a while. I have been meaning to bring him back for several chapters it just got away from me. So. This wasn't that sitcom thing where a character is there for the first episode and then you never see them again even though they seemed mildly plot relevant. This is just me being an idiot.


Ashland's parents chatted with Victoria in the living room, thanking her for being willing to take the child in overnight while they had a much needed break. Well, truly they were asking her to thank Uncle Hiei for them since he out at an auntie's house doing some form of shirtless manual labor. Victoria thought maybe today he was supposed to be helping rebuild part of a deck, something he had zero experience doing so Kurama had agreed to go with him.

She wondered if that meant they'd get paid double. She wouldn't doubt it with the way Kurama lulled people to do his bidding with that easy going smile of his.

That's how she'd ended up with a damn greenhouse she would never be able to upkeep once he was gone.

"So, will he be back soon? Ashland was really excited to show him her drawing and what she learned." Bethany looked around the house.

She really was decent people, Victoria lamented. Bethany was kind and pretty and it wasn't fair to hate her. It wasn't like she had tried being the Stepfordian replacement her father had always wanted. Victoria forced herself to remember that Bethany wasn't the circumstance. Bethany was just a person. A beautiful, sweet, interlo-person.

"I think so. Pretty sure he's with Auntie Terry today. She never takes long. Generous tipper though." Victoria shrugged and scooped Ashland up into her arms when the child pulled on her hand. "We'll be fine until they get here though, won't we? Who needs those stinky boys anyway."

Ashland, her curls bobbing as she shook her head. "Uncle Hiei and Kurama aren't stinky Tia!"

"You haven't smelled their shoes. Yuck. Stinky boys." Victoria repeated wrinkling her nose comically.

"No!" Ashland giggled.

"Stinky, stinky boys."

"Are you sure this is okay?" Bethany asked again as her husband left the house to start the car and therefore the AC within it. "I know it's a lot to ask. She just really adores him, you know, and I know that you are capable Vicki I just don't want to be pushing this on you."

Stupid morally conscious beautiful woman, Victoria thought to herself feeling guilty. "No, it's fine. Really. Hiei likes Ashland and honestly, he hates like everyone so it's good for him to be around her. Softens him up, right?"

"Thank you Vicki. I mean it." Bethany smiled and then it wavered after Ashland climbed out of Victoria hold to go and race Hank around the yard. "I forgot you had a dog. He's so quiet."

"Yeah. He was with Grams for a bit until the guys got adjusted but he's back now." Victoria explained. "He's a good boy. It just took some effort to get Hiei to understand how to interact with a dog. It's like training a cat with that guy."

Bethany laughed. Something was off about the sound and Victoria honed in on it.

"You two okay?" She asked, using her chin to nod toward the front door. Her eyes scanned over her stepsister with gentle scrutiny, but still, she didn't miss anything. Bethany seemed to realize this because as she put on a fake smile and opened her mouth, her eyes studied Victoria in turn and then she let the facade drop.

"No. No we aren't. But this weekend will help. We're going to group counseling. It's a weekend seminar." She let the softness melt away for a moment revealing the tired imperfect woman waiting underneath the makeup and the big hair. "So I really mean it when I say thank you for being able to watch my little girl."

Victoria looked over the blonde then fixed her attention on the door, brows pulling down slightly as she felt out the situation. Finally, with more grit in her voice than she'd meant to allow she said, "Counseling can't fix everything but it's a start. If you ever need to get away, my door is always open to you and Ashland. After all," she paused and made sure her gaze bore into Bethany, "we're family."

Bethany swallowed and jumped when the door swung open. She immediately calmed when Hiei and Kurama walked through, both with sunburnt cheeks and shirt staining their skin. Her smile snapped back into place, her expression lifting as though is had never fallen and just like that the woman who lived under her skin slipped back into hiding. Victoria watched the transformation and once again looked toward the door, but now wasn't the time. There would be a time, no doubt in that, but it wasn't this moment. Hiei stopped by the stairs, barefoot and looked Bethany over then glanced at Victoria with his own brows pinched down. He said nothing but she knew then that maybe he wasn't as lacking in his psychic powers as she'd first assumed. Because that look told her that he knew.

He knew and he wasn't happy about what he'd just learned.

Ashland is chasing the dog. She wants to show you something. Victoria signed to him with smile that warned him to keep quiet for now.

Shower first.

She nodded.

"I should go. Don't want to be late." Bethany hugged Victoria and fled the room. As soon as she was gone Hiei stopped midway up the stairs.

If you don't handle that, I will. He warned his hostess with a harsh look.

Don't worry Hiei, it's under control.

He grunted and rushed up the rest of the stairs. It wasn't long after that the water started running. Victoria walked out to the porch so she could keep an eye on Ashland. Hank, the big silly lab mix that he was, chased the little girl without tiring. She laughed and laughed.

"Stay away from the pier, Ashland. You don't have on your vest." Victoria called, keeping a keen on eye on her blonde haired, curly-q guest.

"I can swim Tia !" Ashland yelled back, delighted as Hank knocked her down onto the gross and started licking her face.

"Don't care if you can float. You don't go near the pier without me." Victoria chuckled, walking over and pulling Hank away by his collar. Ashland shrieked in laughter again as Victoria started to tickle her relentlessly.


By the time Hiei and Kurama washed up Ashland had come inside and started watching cartoons in a now-grass stained pair of jeggings, her blush pink shirt practically ruined for the same stains. At least her little cream cardigan was safe. Victoria had decided she'd pretreat her other clothes at after the little girl changed for bedtime. For now, Doc McStuffins would mollify the five year-old. Kurama hung out on the bottom step for an extra moment, watching as Hiei padded barefoot to his young guest.

Ashland perked up upon seeing her favorite uncle and immediately signed a greeting to him, complete with a beaming wholesome smile. Hiei signed a greeting back before placing a hand atop her head and ruffling her already riotous curls. He pulled a few blades of grass from that blonde mess before falling into the seat next to her. Ashland immediately began explaining to him the premise of this particular episode. Hiei nodded along, disinterest written on his face, but she didn't seem to care or notice.

Kurama walked over to Victoria who watched from the kitchen.

"I have no idea what to make for dinner. I asked her if she wanted chicken nuggets or spaghetti and she said no." She explained to the redhead, arms crossed over her chest. "I've seen this episode no less than seven times."

"I imagine Hiei is about to get intimately familiar with it as well." Kurama chuckled. "Allow me to make dinner tonight. You've never eaten my cooking before, correct?"

"Correct." She nodded. "You sure? Kids can be picky."

"I'm well aware of picky. Yusuke has quite the discerning palette himself." Kurama told her.

That captured her interest, her attention snapping to him like a bear trap on a leg. He blinked at the sudden intensity of her stare.

"What," a blush crept into her cheeks as though she were embarrassed by her question. It surprised him because he hadn't realized Victory had the sense to be embarrassed by much, "what is Yusuke like? You know. For real."

He blinked again, then allowed himself to slip into a knowing smile. "Did I ever mention that Grams informed us that you were obsessed with us fictional boys?"

"That woman is a menace. She must be stopped." Victoria's expression soured, her blush deepening. "It's fine. Don't answer me. Maybe it's better that I stick with what I know of him anyway."

She was lying. He could tell by the way she shifted her weight on her feet and tightened her crossed arms, her attention slipping back to the TV and away from him.

"He's charismatic. Unusually so. But he's also very loud and uncouth, even after all these years. He swears too much. He's emotional, though, and physical. I don't mean just wanting to fight, I mean his means of affections. If he isn't cooking for someone he cares for he's likely touching them in some way. A hand on the shoulder, an arm around the neck, knuckles in your hair. And he and Kazuma have remained good friends." Kurama explained quietly. "It's been a while since Hiei has seen him. Years. After Yusuke and Keiko got married, Hiei decided it was best to stay away. He's afraid of watching Yusuke change."

"That's fair. I get that way when my friends get married too. Everything changes." Victoria acknowledged. "It's hard to accept change, especially when it directs someone you love away from you."

"Don't tell Hiei that. He might stab you." Kurama warned in a light-hearted tone.

"Is Kuwabara as warm and amazing as I remember? He always seemed so sweet. I hated him at first, y'know, but then like, he grew on me. His big, loud, brash, chivalry. Granted, I sort of find some of his views dated. I guess they were spot on for 90s feminism though." She allowed. "I think him and I would have been weird friends in school. Of the four of you, honestly, at my age I think he's the most realistically datable."

"I'll try not to take offense to that." Kurama joked. "He's still quite the gentleman. It took him some time to recover from Yukina's rejection but ultimately I think it was a timely resolution. Not pining for her allowed him to dedicate himself to his studies. He graduated school with a doctorate. He's been studying how to resolve the issue of some demon's requiring human mean to survive. His goal is to create an artificial substance that will provide the necessary nutrients so that the worlds can live in peace together."

"Oh. Like True Blood." Victoria immediately nodded. "Yeah, that's amazing! Good for him. I bet he's a little heart throb."

"He's actually working so hard I'm not sure if he even has time to date." Kurama pointed out. "He's quite dedicated to this cause. What is True Blood?"

"Oh, it's a show. Like, it was based on vampires being real and stuff. Someone made a blood substitute for them so they could integrate into society." She explained. "It's on HBO. I think I still have the DVDs somewhere. Maybe the attic? The last couple seasons weren't really up to my standards, but it is what it is. Well, it was actually a book series before it was a TV series. Lots of sex and gore and stuff."

He stared at her. "Your times are certainly different than ours."

"Because of the sex?"

"Yes, because of the sex."

Hiei glared at them, kneeling on the couch cushions to look over the back so he could sign. Could you two shut the fuck up?

Invested? Victoria signed back, smug. He spun around, throwing her a middle finger high enough so that Ashland wouldn't see it.

"Oh! Uncle Hiei!" Ashland beamed at up at Hiei with a thousand watt smile, her big blue eyes sparkling. "I didn't show you!"

She shrugged out of her cardigan after spending just a few seconds fighting with the buttons. Underneath, on her right arm, there was a long black swiggle drawn. It was thick, had some points that stuck out from the center mass. On her hand was a crudely drawn V. Hiei stared at it, then look at her face, then went back to looking at the mark trying to understand exactly what she was showing him.

"It's a dragon like you have!" She told him gleefully.

Hiei looked at the intricate mark on his own right arm, deigning him the wielder of the Dragon of Darkness Flame. Then he went back to staring at Ashland's imitation.

He didn't see the resemblance.

"I drew it myself!" She told him. "But momma said I could only use the washable markers so it comes off during my bath. Do you have to draw yours on everyday too?"

She drew this every day? To be like him?

Hiei felt affection swell in his chest despite himself. Then he shook his head to tell her no, he did not have to draw his.

"Daddy says I can't get a real tattoo until I'm fifty! How old were you when you got yours?" She asked him.

Hiei didn't know how to answer her. Finally he said, quietly so no one else would hear him speak (especially not Kurama who would never let him be quiet again), "I was older than fifty."

"Really?" Ashland frowned, pouting as she crossed her arms. "But I want a tattoo now! I want one like yours. It's pretty!"

"It's an ancient creature of ridiculous and all-consuming power. It is not pretty." Hiei argued quietly.

"Why are you whispering?" She asked him.

Her loud curiosity grabbed Kurama's attention. "Were you talking to me, Ashland?"

"No Kurama!" She yelled back to him. "I was talking to Uncle Hiei."

Kurama raised an eyebrow. Hiei glared at him, then told him to fuck off in Japanese. Ashland watched the exchange with bright-eyed curiosity.

Hiei had picked up English fairly quickly. He just preferred using ASL. It kept people from talking to him. Once they saw him using his hands to communicate they floundered and generally, conversation switched to Kurama or Victoria and left him entirely. He liked that. He only needed Kurama and Victoria to understand him anyway. Plus, this way people kept thinking he didn't understand them. It meant he could listen in on conversations without being suspected of gathering information. A truly valuable position.

Plus, when he practiced alone, even he could hear his thick accent. Not Japanese, like the edges of Kurama's words, but like Grams or Victoria. He only knew that it was a particular accent because none of the people in his favorite television shows sounded like him.

It wasn't bad, per se, but he had a feeling that the fox would never let him live it down. Victoria, also, would start speaking to him in that annoying voice of hers and he definitely didn't want that.

"Did you have to ask your mom before you got your tattoo?" Ashland asked and Hiei froze, looking at her.

He didn't know how to answer that.

"Ashland, remember how we talked about not asking Hiei questions about his family?" Victoria called gently. She walked over to her little niece. "I told you it wasn't polite to ask him things like that."

"Oh yeah, I forgot. I'm sorry." Ashland stuck out her bottom lip. "But why?"

Hiei glanced at Victoria, obviously wanting her to answer for him.

"Hiei doesn't have a mom anymore, Ashland. He doesn't like to talk about it." Victoria explained softly. "So please be nice to him and don't him ask about it."

"What happened to her?"

Red eyes stayed on Victoria. She felt the strange, sudden stabbing pain of a headache hit her brain. Her composure wanted to slip, but she didn't want to snap at the child for doing what children did best: asking questions. Instead she settled herself barely.

"His mom got sick. So he doesn't have her anymore."

"Like your mommy?"

The room stopped. Hiei looked at Ashland and Kurama stopped fiddling with the cabinets in search of ingredients for his meal. All three people waited for Victoria's response to the curious question.

"Sort of like my mommy. She got sick and she went away and now she's gone. So be a good girl and no more questions, okay?" Victoria patted those tangled blonde curls.

"Tia's mommy got sick and she went away too. It's okay. Momma says that she's watching us from heaven." Ashland patted Hiei's knee. "I'm sure your mommy is too."

"Ashland."

The sharpness of her tone made the little girl stare up, surprised and then hurt. Victoria swallowed and tried again, more gently.

"Ashland, no more please. You're a very sweet girl, and it's very nice you want to make Hiei feel better, but no more. Why don't you tell him about this episode, hmm?"

"Okay." Ashland answered, far less exuberant than usual. "I'm sorry Tia."

"I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to yell." Victoria closed her eyes, fighting the pain in her skull. "It wasn't okay to yell. I shouldn't have done that. I don't know why I did."

"Tia?" Ashland asked, concerned as Victoria wandered back toward Kurama.

"Wait, what we were talking about before?" Victoria frowned, thinking about it. Another bolt of white hot agony ran through her brain, eliminating her thoughts. She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead to try to ebb it. "I'm getting a headache. My brain is all fuzzy and raw."

"Oh. Well, we were talking about Kazuma because we had been talking about Yusuke. This was all because I offered to cook." Kurama watched her wince. "Are you alright?"

"I'm going to take an aspirin." She told him. "Could you cook dinner? Really?"

"Yes, I already have a menu in mind."

"You're an angel K-drama." Victoria walked toward the downstairs bathroom. He listened as she shook a pill bottle and watched as she slammed back some small white pills. Then she wandered up the stairs, still holding her head with one hand.

When Kurama glanced to the couch he noticed Hiei watching, a similar frown to his own on the dark haired man's face.


Victoria didn't come down for dinner. Kurama set the counter and waited a few minutes, glancing at the neon green numbers on the oven clock. Then he wiped his hands on a dish towel and headed up the stairs. Hank sat on the floor outside her room, staring at the door. Kurama patted the dog's head gentle, earning a loving look, before he knocked gently on the door.

"Victoria, dinner is ready." He announced.

At first there was no response. He raised his hand to knock again but finally a strained voice answered him.

"Eat without me. I'm sorry, Kurama, I just can't get up right now."

He hesitated. "Are you alright? Can I get you something? I used to rub my mother's head when she got migraines, perhaps-"

"Please, just enjoy your meal." The forced gentleness in those words made him retract from the door.

Hank whined, looking up at him, then went back to staring at the door.

"I just need some sleep, I think."

"I'll save you some food in case you change your mind." Kurama allowed, concerned. She didn't thank him. He looked down at Hank again, but the dog was fixated on the door. Kurama suspected the animal felt just as he did, that something more was wrong with Victoria. He had never seen her go to bed like this in the several months he'd been living in her house. Not even when they'd first arrived and she'd been bleeding from a stab wound.

She'd still eaten then. She'd still made sure they were settled.

He relented to the silence and went back down the stairs to finish setting out the meal.

Hank watched him go then went back to staring at the door, waiting.


"Where's Tia?" Ashland asked, her little socked feet swinging under her as she balanced on the stool at the counter.

"She's feeling tired right now, so she's resting." Kurama explained as kindly as he could.

"What is this?" Ashland stared at the food in front of her.

"This is what Hiei and I eat when we are at home. My mother always makes me food like this when I see her." Kurama smiled at the little girl. "She's a very good cook, in my opinion. Is your mom a good cook?"

"She makes good chicken nuggets but daddy says she burns the meat too much." Ashland stared at the bowls of miso and the rice and the vegetables and the fish. "He doesn't like burned meat."

Hiei glanced at her, watching her carefully. Kurama recognized that expression. Assessment, intelligence gathering. Ashland wiggled in her seat then pulled her legs up so she could sit on them to be a little taller.

"Well, sometimes we all burn meat. It's okay." Kurama assured her. "I'm sure you daddy knows that."

"I don't think so. He yells at her a lot for it. That's why we eat out so much." Ashland told them. "But he never yells at PawPaw when he burns the steaks at the lakehouse. Only at momma."

Hiei gripped his cheap, disposable chopsticks a little too tightly.

"Ashland, does your daddy yell at you?" Kurama asked her with a small smile.

"No. He did once but momma yelled at him right back and he never did again. I cried though. It was scary." She tried to pick up chopsticks like Hiei, watching his hands.

Her casual tone, as though this was an everyday conversation startled both of them. The innocence of children was something to behold. The two men looked at each other and came to a silent agreement to protect this small creature. Hiei reached over and fixed her hand so she could use the utensils more easily. Then he picked up his bowl and sipped his miso straight from it.

Ashland's expression grew bright and she giggled. "Uncle Hiei you're supposed to use a spoon!"

"Just this once I think it's okay if you don't." Kurama winked at her. "Try not to spill okay. Do you need a spoon?"

"No, I can do it!" She assured him and picked up the bowl. Then, when it was too heavy for her, she instead lowered her mouth to the rim of the bowl and tipped it toward her little by little.

Kurama remarked several times on how impressed he was that she tried everything on her plate. Hiei led by example, devouring his own meal. They all laughed when Kurama was the one who spilled miso on his shirt, causing him to deadpan at Hiei who shot a smart remark at him in Japanese. Ashland told him he might need a bib like a baby. Hiei laughed at that too.

Kurama told them to stop ganging up on him, but he was smiling the entire time.


Victoria laid in her room nursing her head. It wasn't just a sharp pain, it was like a someone letting a miter saw go off right next to her ear. She could hear this constant, alarming, loud sound like something being cleaved open by force. Her brain rioted against the noise. Downstairs, the sound of laughter drifted up to her. She heard Hank whine outside her door.

"Stop." She begged the noise, the pain.

The aspirin had done nothing.

She hadn't felt something this bad since she was a teenager. The spot between her brows burned, right where Dorian had marked her. Her wards were in place though. There was no way this was him. Her guts rolled. Her body crumbled. She just wanted the pain to stop. She just wanted that noise to go away so she could sleep it off. She wanted to be downstairs with her friends and her niece. She wanted to pet her dog. Instead she was laying here, unable to get up because of her head.

Usual fucking essential organ. What good was a brain that attacked itself anyway?

The noise grew thunderous and she placed the heels of her palms against her temples, pushing inward.

Then suddenly, she wasn't in her bed anymore. She was elsewhere. Nowhere. Looking around she saw that there were two fluttering curtains of reality, one on either side. The one to her left was home, the world she knew. On her right was a roaring river, painted black despite the bloody red sky above it. The air smelled of decay and poison. Victoria tried to touch the strange thin barrier but her hand couldn't connect, couldn't grasp the slippery material. Ahead of her was a little girl in a blue dress, head covered in long blonde hair held in a large black bow. The girl stared at her, confused. No. Not a little girl. A teenager? The blonde looked to Victoria's right, through the diaphanous curtain separating them from the desert. A man stood behind her. He saw Victoria and he smiled.

"Alice, open it." He ordered and the girl.

She gripped the curtain without trouble. One hand on the right, the other on the left. Then she threw both open and Victoria screamed for her to stop as something streaked through the hole to the other side. Something that threw itself right into the lake that formed Victoria's own backyard.

"What have you done?" Victoria shouted at them. "You have no idea what you're messing with!"

The curtains grew thinner and the space between them shrank. Victoria panted. At some points, the two veils began to overlap when they connected and more and more of each of the worlds slipped through to the other sides. Her heart hammered. Her tongue went dry. This wasn't good. No. This was actually really bad. This was the worst possible thing.

Someone was tampering with the path between realities.

And now those realities were starting to bleed into each other, colliding with violent clashes. That sound in her head grew louder. The girl stared at her.

"Are you in Neverland too?" She-Alice-asked. "You're purple. You must be the Cheshire cat!"

"Time to go." The man behind her pulled on that thin little arm.

And then it all ended. Victoria was suddenly in her bed, covered in sweat and filled with dread unlike anything she'd ever felt before. The headache was gone. The noise had stopped. Hank whined, and scratched at the door frantically. He yipped several times.

Something else in Victoria came to the surface. A warning. That thing that had gone into her lake. Something else…something close to home.

With lightning in her veins she shot to her feet.

"Ashland."


Ashland walked around the backyard, wandering from long shadow to long shadow as the sun set behind the house. With a little jar Kurama had given her, she tried to catch the fireflies sparking to life. Her quest brought her to the pier. Victoria's warning long forgotten, she stepped on to the wood and started to dance around on the surface.

Hiei watched from the yard, amused at her antics.

"I caught one!" Ashland yelled, excited, turning to look at Hiei. She held her jar victoriously above her head.

He wished he was so easily pleased. If his goals were so low maybe he would be. Too bad he had loftier ambitions.

Ashton lowered the jar and walked to the edge of the pier, looking over the side without the pontoon. Setting the jar down on the wood slats, she lowered herself to her knees. The water moved as she watched.

"Uncle Hiei! I think I see a turtle! It's really big!" She turned to Hiei, delighted. "Come look!"

Hiei had seen plenty of turtles, but her being so close to the edge bothered him. He got up and started to walk toward her. That's when he saw the concave head, bulbous eyes, peek above the surface fixated on the oblivious little girl. Hiei started to run, shouting Ashland's name. Her blue eyes widened as she froze, scared by his sudden reaction.

A webbed hand shot out from the water and wrapped around her small arm, tugging her toward the water.

She looked at the monster's face and screamed, high-pitched and terrified.

Hiei reached her just as she was yanked off the pier. He dove, sliding painfully over the wood and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back toward himself. With a growl he shouted at the creature, terrified of both him and the child being ripped into the water. They'd both be drowned or worse. Kappa's weren't always just the tricksters they were often portrayed as. They could nasty, vicious beasts.

Monsters who would do terrible things to a little girl before eating her.

Hiei held onto Ashton for life as she screamed. He reached forward and wrapped his hand around the kappa's slick wrist. A mouth full of sharp teeth opened. Ashland struggled to get her hand back.

And then stomping footprints brought his attention to Victoria's presence. Without pause she shoved her hand down against the water spirit's face, forcing it's head back. Her eyes glowed blue. She wielded a stone in her other hand. Raising her left hand, her right hand gripping the kappa's face, her voice sounded like it came from everywhere.

"You are not welcome here!"

It shrieked, releasing Ashland. Hiei and the child both fell back from the sudden release. Victoria dropped the stone into the water and her hand replaced Hiei's on the creature's wrist. Without mercy she yanked back. There was a gloopy pop and a scream. The kappa floundered, thrashed and cried out while she held its arm out of its reach. Swallowing her heaving breaths, Victoria operated on instinct.

"You owe me." She hissed. The kappa grew still and quiet. "I will give you your arm back, but for a price."

"What are you doing?" Kurama demanded, hovering by Hiei and Ashland. He examined the little girl's arm and found her intact. Terrified but in tact. "Victoria, do you have any idea-"

"Protect us." Victoria held the arm back to the water spirit. It took the appendage from her without further fuss. It's black eyes examined those on the pier watching it. "Stay close. I will feed you. You will be safe if you stay and protect us."

The glow faded from her eyes and the creature nodded, reattaching its own arm. Victoria rose to standing and looked at her niece, at the two men who lived with her. "We're going to need a lot of cucumbers added to the shopping list."

Before any of them could comment on the situation or her reaction, blood began to drip from her nose. She touched the red smear as it grew heavier, then her eyes rolled into her head and she listen backwards collapsing onto the pier with a heavy thud.