Cutcarne: The Thorn Birds

[cutcarne]

Park RP that ended up not so nice as it started... :(
Starring Cutcarne (cacturne), Blank (charizard), Aiko (mightyena), Yakarasu (unmorphed murkrow), and eventually Stardust (dustox)

Logfile from Pokemorph.

Rainbow Park - Central Walkway
The central walkway is a giant circle of concrete that revolves around a large statue of the Celadon Gym Leader, Erika. She is depicted sitting on her legs with her eyes closed and head bowed humbly, holding an open pokeball in her lap from which a flower sprouts. The wide pedestal upon which the statue sits has space enough for people to sit on and comes up about two feet off the ground. Etched around it are different frames in the animation of a skipping Vileplume. Pokemorph children are often seen climbing up and down on the structure, or just riding their bikes around it.
Contents:
Blank
Aiko
Burning incense

Bright sunny day, quiet peaceful park. Or... 'was' quiet peaceful park. Various morphs seem to grumble and make a steady beeline out of the area as the strums of unskilled guitarist along with the voice of a rather loud zard destroyed almost any sense of tranquility within the area. Add loud laughter every now and then, and it was not surprising that morphs left. "I can't play this..." Blank giggled and passed the guitar back. "I totally suck at this..."
"Aww, come on, giving up?" The cactus scarecrow chuckles to himself and takes the guitar back, with a friendly smile. He peers at the people that glare at them as they play the guitar. "Come on, all you need is a little more practice, huh? Can you watch how I do it?" He takes the instrument in his arms and strums. One hand on the base, and he taps. The other hand on the strings at the end, and he taps. He holds the string down, "Hold it tight, see?" Then plucks the string. With a stitched smirk he passed it back to Blank.
Aiko wanders onto the scene. If there's bad music and rowdy boys in the area, it's all one to the squat lil mighty. She seems to like the park...you'd never know she was living in it. Really! The bum is currently wandering around collecting cans, although she's not above trashing a lot of the discarded paper that careless morphs have left behind. That's just the good of her heart speaking. She doesn't have a job yet, though, so any small change cash is a plus. Hence the clattering bag of cans dragged along behind her. Isn't she just too cute?

Blank scratches his back of his neck, smirking at the stares and glares that come their way. "Aww... come on. I really can't do this... Music isn't my forte..." He playfully punches Cacturne at the shoulders in jest, shaking his head as he does so. "You make playing look so easy!" Blank just flops back onto the bench the both of them are sitting on, placing his hands behind his head and just letting the cactus take the limelight. His eyes slowly flutter over to the sound of clattering cans though.
The cactus take the punch to the shoulder with a hearty laugh and blush, soon realizing the strength of even a playful 'zard. Ouch. He's strong. Or is just that Cutcarne weak? He grimaces and goes back to playing. Effortlessly as Blank mentioned, Cutcarne strums the strings like they were not even there, a grin on his face as the sound gets more cheerful and easier on the ears. The random people in the area do stop to listen to the cacturne's new medley, pleasant and joyous. Realizing he's drawn a crowd, Cutcarne doesn't want to be a show off, so he looks over at the 'Yenamorph with the bag of cans and purposely slips. *ping* "Aww, see how even I mess up, Blank?" He smirks and peers at the 'Yena from his bench, citizens already going back to their business.
The mighty's clothes aren't completely dirty or patched. She has enough change for the laundromat, evidently. But she does have a bit of a scruffy look, as hard as she's tried to keep herself well-groomed for job interviews and such. She's just ill-prepared, honest! She's got a friendly enough expression on her face, and she meets every eye that catches hers fearlessly; no sulky looking away here. She even catches the cactus-man's, and meets his look evenly. Peer.

And so... we have a stare fest. Both the zard and his cactus friend on one side, and a 'yena-morph on the other. It didn't last long though. Blank wasn't good at this kind of thing. "Er... hi?" he said, turning his head away to look at the width of his own girth. It was rude to stare...
The scarecrow cactus does his best to give the 'Yena a friendly peer and polite-enough smile. Tipping his cati-hat up to her, Cutcarne continued softly playing on his guitar. "Yeah... uh, hi? Have a seat?" There's enough some room by them on the bench they're on, despite the hefty 'Zard taking up most of the room. Then again, there's always the other benches sided by them. The tune Cutcarne plays is friendly and inviting, if only to ease the meeting.
Meanwhile... high above, a flock of unmorphed Murkrow pass overhead, squawking loudly. far enough as to not be heard by normal ear, but one with exceptional hearing might. The flock starts circling over the park. Maybe a dozen or so fly anout, intentions unknown. But boy do they look suspicious. They begin swooping up high above, eyeing the area below.
Aiko blinks once or twice, and smiles. It's a full-fledged grin, delight shining as if the awkward silence never was. She hauls her bag over and dumps it by the bench, flopping down beside the 'zard and offering a friendly hand. "Thanks..really!" She means it! Mightyena chickie falls silent to listen to the music, kicking her legs like a child. Er...okay?
Blank smiled and edged to one side to give the Mightyena some room but found himself at the pointy end of a cactus needle instead. Sandwiched between the two, he just shifted his bulk the best he could so he could take up the least amount of space before offering a claw to accept the shake. "Hi... I'm Blank and my spikey musical friend here is Cutcarne."

Even with a stitched-up scarecrow mouth, Cutcarne does his best to give off the impression that he's really a green friendly smiling cactusman. Wait... what? Anyway, again, he tips his cati-hat and grins, whisking the hair out of his face with a single finger during a free second while he plays. As he continues to play his melancholy medley, he says, "Indeed, hello, how are you doing? Trying to earn yourself a few coins?" He asks this humorously, but not offensively, hence the makeshift grin. Whoops. He notices one of his thorns almost pricked his 'Zardy pal. Quickly, he moves over and falls over the edge to plop on the floor with a light and embarassed chuckle.
The Murkrow flock finally find their target and swoop down towards the green trees below. The trees surrounding the trio veil the scattered Murkrow as they perch upon their branches. From their own locations, they all peer in the trio's general direction. They remain mostlt quiet. Except for one. The (if only slightly) bigger of them all. Their leader. His eyes grow an extra bright crimson. Shuffling their wings, they perch and wait. But for what?
Aiko does not try to veil her horror. Ohdear! She quickly hops up from the bench, scuttling around the tubby Zard and offering Cutcarne both hands. "Oh, I'm sorry! I am! I didn't mean to hog the bench, are you okay? I'm sorry! It's all my fault, really..." Her tail lashes anxiously, ears back against her head. Poor Cutty! :(
The chubby zard just sits there with a nervous grin. He tries to keep himself calm and nervously rubs his claws together. Why wasn't anyone blaming him? "Er... sorry bout that..." Shrugging his wings a bit, he gets up and offers a helping claw as well, cheeks reddening fast. "They should make benches longer..." he tries to joke.
Still chuckling embarassedly, the prickly scarecrow uses his own ability to stand rather than relying on the 'Yena's strength, but takes her hands politely anyway. "Thanks, but you know... it's not your fault?" He neglects to dust himself off and flips his guitar onto his back by use of strap. "I just didn't wanna' hurt my buddy, y'know?" He playfully nudges Blank.
The Murkrow flock continue to peer through the trees. Finally, after a while, they start to make their prescence known. They flop out of the trees and all squawk at the same time. Their 'leader' is the first to caw loudly. Slowly, they waddle towards the trio. Several people become irratated by the sound. Many leave the area. Some just ignore them completely. Cutcarne however, EYES the approaching Murkrow flock, honing in from a dozen different angles.
Aiko gives the prickly hands a pat, not entirely reassured, but she'll have to live with it. Content that Cutcarne's indeed not injured, she nods vehemently in agreement with Blank's comment. "Yes, they should! What good's a bench if a body can't sit comfortably with his friends! It's completely insensitive." She stamps a paw for emphasis. "Really! I can't even stretch out properly on one. You're quite right!" Scowl! The mighty even gives one of Blank's hands a friendly squeeze, perhaps to ease his fears so he won't feel it's his fault. He can't help it, after all. She notices the Murkrows only as an afterthought, both ears perking. Lunch?
Time: Who the crap knows, seems nobody has a watch when you need one. Place: The park. Weather permitting - and indeed it was - a Dustox-morph has decided to take a stroll through the park. Well... if it can be considered strolling, or even walking for that matter. Approaching from the north comes a very animated figure. It's footwork is consistant with a dance routine of some kind, and indeed, this person was dancing toward the center of the park with a certain finesse... Impressive, were it not totally out of place and likely making a complete fool of him. Those with keener hearing could hear music playing through a set of headphones. It'd seem he's totally absorbed in his music as he approaches the crowd, entering the circular center of the park with a twirl. Oh brother.

A few smiles, words of encouragement and a certain friendly nudge later, Blank didn't really feel that bad for causing his thorny friend to fall to the ground. Still, a red streak over his cheeks didn't really subside. "Remind me to go on a diet some time will ya? Then we don't have to find longer benches..." But all thoughts about dieting instantly fluttered away at the arrival of a certain Murkrow flock. "...or maybe not... I see lunch..." He grinded his teeth as a rather familiar looking bird waltz into view.
Several people in the area gasp or laugh at the approaching battalion of Murkrow. "Aw, snap!" some say. "Snizzap..." from others. *tribute to Stardust, duh-hurr* Why are they doing this? The 'leader', the slightly bigger of them all clears its throat, *ahem* Murkrow cackles. The rest of them all giggle accordingly. Cutcarne gasps, putting himself before the 'Yenamorph and Blank, "Blank... is that...?" the Murkrow interupts. A random Swellowmorph accidentally trips on the 'leader' since he was in the way and continues walking on. The Murkrow 'leader' squawks in sadistic pain.
One by one, the Murkrow swoop towards the 'imbecile' Swellowmorph and peck at him furiously. How... annoying. The Swellowmorph curses and runs off, irritatedly. Cutcarne dramatically glares at the Murkrow flock and leader with typical anime rivalry style and background/foreground flashing light flare. Or, he would... had a certain Dustoxmorph not twirled into the way. "Umm... excuse me?" Cutcarne asks, peering over the Dustoxmorph. The Murkrow just... blinks. Yay anticlimactic pose!

Aiko eyeballs the birds. These guys definitely don't look friendly, and...well, Aiko likes pigeon. Especially after they crap on--- er, uh, the statue. THE STATUE. She sliiiiides around Cutty, a devilish gleam in her eye as her entire body shifts into Intimidate mode. There's definitely a very ugly look in her eye. A throwback to carnivorous ancestors, dark tendencies, and a love of fried chicken. Fangs glitter nicely. "Nobody touches the cactus..."
The clueless dancing bug that is Stardust continues his waltz through the park. His headphones and the loud music that emanates from them ensure that speech has absolutely no effect on him. Of course, he's not -totally- oblivious... While he doesn't mind the park's occupants staring at him as though he were having a public seizure, the sudden proliferation of Murkrow did happen to catch his attention... as he almost dances into one of them, suddenly stopping in place mid-spin, an inch before impact. Frozen in place for several seconds, the formerly dancing Dustox removes his headphones, reaching into his pocket to turn off the discman to which they're attached, looking first at the bird which he almost ran over, and then at the others it appears to have brought along... "Whoa. Birds..." His antennae wave in the air as he observes his now Murkrow-filled surroundings... "... Hi birds!" He waves.
Blank blinks, and blinks, and blinks yet again. Now where did the Dustox come from? Anyway... "Yeah... first you spied on us all day long yesterday, now you bring friends and expect Cutcarne to come with you?" Slowly moving Cutcarne away from the Murkrow and behind him, Blank snarled and grinned. "No way birdies... Now if all of you would be nice little birdies and just fly away... I won't roast the whole group of you and then pick my teeth with your bones." Cracking his knuckles, Blank flapped his wings anxiously. He was more than ready to take flight and do some burning.
The Murkrow 'leader' laughs again. One of his Murkrow idly pecks at the floor before his own position. The Murkrow merely caws and flops away. The 'leader' CAWS loudly as the Dustoxmorph barely misses SQUASHing him. He shields himself with his wings and then looks around. He coughs and stares at the Dustoxmorph. <...Hello, moff-morph. Um... Actually, we were kinda in the middle of something...> He clears his throat and peers over at Cutcarne once again.
Cutcarne is getting blocked by his friends! Well... so much for personal battle. Anyway, Blank and Aiko look hungry. Might as well let them have it. The 'leader' however is his though. His to quell alone! The green scarecrow growls, "You're not taking me back!" By now all the Murkrow have begun their attack. <...You're all supposed to wait for me to say 'attack'... but whatever.> He flaps and swoops away. The others all take to the air and dive at their oppresors, aiming to peck out at them. The attack stretches to the gang of four, seeing as how they're out in the open and closest. Cutcarne clenches his fists and readies himself. Then, the darkness of feathers swarm at the group. Lunchtime!
Aiko tenses up and sucks in a deep breath. She throws open her jaws and lets loose a wild Roar, stretching those choppers enough as to seem almost able to dislocate her jaw. With violent agility she hurls herself skyward, slashing at feathered bodies and Biting at them with flashing, drooly-dripping teeth like a one-dog chainsaw. RAWR! n' stuff.

Well! It looks like someone found their way back to the bottom of the foodchain, as the flock of Murkrow begin their assault before he can even reply to the... unusually vocal Murkrow who seems to be the leader of the flock. How rude, all of these birds swooping at him unprovoked... Though it'd seem the other folks present can handle themselves well enough. And Stardust's response?
"... Oh crap!" Strong, moving words from such a- okay, enough drama, and over the word 'crap', too. Well, time to put his fancy footwork to good use. The same fluid, coordinated dancing from before transforms into a series of evasive maneuvers to dodge the swooping flock. The ever-evolving series of what would otherwise be dance moves becomes a rather elaborate show of skill... A spin here, a weaving series of steps there. His wings fold and unfold to avoid damage to them while he seems to dance his way out of what minimal danger the Murkrow currently present, barely recieving a nick... which is good, since rayon is a hard fabric to come by, and he really likes that shirt of his. >_>
"Flames..." Blank could only stare as the black cloak of feathers filled the skies before pouring down upon them like a giant blanket. "Flames! Flames! Flames! Flames! Flames!" he shouts as he desperately tries to bat away the birds with his claws and wings. Lacking the agility of the Mightyena and the Dustox, Blank was hardpressed to even defend himself, let alone fight back. All he could see was black feathers flying everywhere... "Don't make me scorch you!" he shouts again, squinting one eye as a Murkrow tried to peck his eye out. He promptly tore that one off and threw him away.

As the Aiko ROAR emits, the Murkrow crowd shuffles and becomes disoriented, causing them to fly off and lose their flight pattern. Cutcarne ducks and dives at the Murkrow 'leader' as the Murkrow swoops and dives at the cactus. The Murkrow then swerves and changes course from the /cactus plant/ to /Cutcarne/ himself. The scarecrow slashes with a -Cut- attack at the 'leader's' face. The Murkrow emits a -Night Shade- at him, causing Cutcarne to stammer backwards, but still land the -Cut- onto its beak and face. The Murkrow twirls and spins into a dizzying crash-landing onto the floor. He sees that Blank is having a rather hard time evading, so he -Cutcutcuts- at random Murkrow. He's careful not to get close to Blank's position though, as he could unleash a devastating -Flamethrower- at any second! After swatting a few more, he returns to the 'leader'. Gone. Shoot! Here it comes, aiming for his head from behind! Gasp.
Aiko is...gathering goodies for munching later, to put it nicely. Feathers fly, and while she can't really see the individual birds, that sharp nose can pick out individuals. Blank is reinforced by the agile Mighty, who leaps to his defense with violent energy. "Don't toast me," she snaps at him, stomping a mudhole in some burds. Okay, ew?
With the Hitchcock-esque bird attack unfolding rapidly around him, Stardust continues his dance of evasion. Indeed, it must be Hammertime. Or not. Either way, one of the Murkrow manages to peck at a rather sensitive area, nicking one of his antennae, eliciting a brief but very pained cry from him. Now, that's something that nobody ever wants to do, not simply because it will provoke him to immediately retaliate, but do so in a very painful manner. Suddenly going inverted - upside-down for the simple folk - to avoid further antenna-pecking, he spins again, and proceeds to kick the offending Murkrow very hard. Enter the punt.
A punt tumbles out of the sky. Where the heck did a boat come from?
Multiple claw and perk marks litter the zard's arms as he continues to fend off the Murkrows without much success. Blood flowed down his arms as he got angrier and angrier with each passing bird. "That's it!" he roared as a gout of orange flame burst from his jaws, dropping a half dozen unfortunate Murkrows which was in its way. A few more bouts soon followed. Jets of orange fire flashed here and there as the Charizard unloaded his payload upon the annoying Murkrows. It was when one of the flames flashed a bit too close to the Mightyena for comfort did Blank stop his pyromaniac rage. He almost had to resort to flailing his arms again but decided to try something else... a chomp and a swallow later gave Blank another way to fuel his rage... hunger...

Someone in the citizen side bellows, "MORTAL WOMBAT!" Several people blink and stare at him. Especially those on the phone trying to get in contact with the PIA. The rest of the Murkrow continue to get slaughtered by the others. Don't worry, they're EBIL Rocket Murkrow... OH NO! As Blank and Aiko pull up some scraps, Cutcarne manages to briskly -Pin Missile- the Murkrow in the eyes and temporarily blind him. The Murkrow continues its descent at him, though blindly, and smashes HARD into his chest. Sand, blood, and straw flies everywhere. Cutcarne struggles with the Murkrow on the floor, "Who the hell are you?!" The 'leader' cackles, The cactusman grabs him by the head and -Giga Drains- it. It doesn't do a hefty amount of damage, but enough. "Yakarasu, eh? Well, go back to him, will you?! I won't kill you... but wanna take a look at your friends?" He shows him the chaos that has been created. Feathers lie poofed throughout. Few Murkrow are left at all. Most having been munched upon. He then dodges a duo that dive at him, proceeding to launch Yakarasu into the sky, "Now get out of here!" Wow, he's never uttered a sentence that wasn't a question. This is new. Well... for him, anyway. To anyone else, this would not be anything of importance. But he's actually made a /statement/ withOUT a question mark at the end. The Murkrow continue their assault, and Yakarasu deviously makes his way out of sight. From there, Cutcarne sighs deeply and follows the attacks of the rest on the remaining Murkrow with -Needle Arms- YAY!

Aiko is...well, she's not gonna need lunch. Feathers protrude from her muzzle, and as the last of the black feathers drift by, she stops leaping around like a grasshopper and tastes a breather. Something crunches in her teeth and she spits it out; a piece of beak. OMGEW!!!! Sniffing delicately, she dusts away some of the clinging black feathers, smiling sheepishly. Ha..haha... "What a mess..." she observes, perhaps trying to displace her own guilt. She glances back at Blank, towering behind her. "We make a good team! Dirty old birds." She spits another feather. Tasty, though. n_n v
With the flock quickly fading, the need for Stardust to continue to prance about like an idiot soon subsides... Of course, by this point, he has really gotten into it. This was getting to be fun! If only a flock of birds weren't trying to kill him, he'd be having a great time. With the last of his aggressors moving toward Cutcarne now, after executing one last bit of ground play, he rights himself. Okay, maybe they're not all gone. Of course, he learned his lesson the first time. Antenna-pecking is bad, and the moment he senses one nearing... Mr. Beak, meet Mr. Fist. Hi fist! Whap. One last less than elaborate maneuver spares him a great deal of pain... He stands there now, looking around. Feathers. Lots of them... "Whoa..." Real way with words, huh?
Binge time! Blank had actually lost count of the number of bird that found their way down his gullet. The only thing he knew was, 'See bird, eat bird'. Quite simple eh? As his jaws clamped down and swallowed another unfortunate Murkrow, the zard belched unshamefully, giving the few remaining Murkrows a still very hungry look. With his gut sticking out a good feet or two from what it normally was, Blank certainly was a Murkrow's nightmare come through. "Here birdy birdies..." he taunted as he slowly prowled his way to the remaining half dozen.
Well... lunchtime over then, eh? Cutcarne punts another Murkrow before stopping to sigh heavily in his angry yet worn battle stance. Sand and blood stains his face and chest from all the Murkrow whom nicked him during his battle with Yakarasu. That Murkrow has left certainly now, and he had left his battalion to loss the battle on their own. He's so much like Cutcarne's dad. Gasping for breath, Cutcarne feels a sharp pain in his fist. He opens his hand and reveals a very long needle shoved into it. It can't be one of his own; his aren't that long. Another thing: it's injected with -Toxic-. He quickly jerks it out of his scales and puts in into pocket. Grimacing to hide the pain... and infliction. "Heh, you guys were great, you know?" Cutcarne grins as Blank finishes the last of them with his jaws. He watches as 'Yena realizes the mess. Then he quirks an eyeball as the unknown Dustox dance-fights with the idle Murkrow. Actually... I don't think that was a Rocket Murkrow... oh well. "Thank you all for helping me defend myself, I really appre-AUGH!" Cutcarne pouts as the poison takes its effect and pains him. "Blank...?" He grabs his bloody sandy hand and shows it to him. "My father... was he here...?" The cactusman groans and falls to his knees in toxic pain.
The Mightyena..doesn't seem to have sustained too many injuries. Minor knicks and cuts, but she's none the worse for wear. She gives herself a shake and disentangles a ...body... from the chains on her pants, still dusting feathers from her shirt as her stomach gives a rebellious lurch. Too many raw birdies. Blurk. Without encouragement from Blank, she turns her attention to the focus of the Murkrow's attacks. She staggers over, only dimly comprehending that something is wrong. The adrenaline's wearing off. "Cu..Car...Cracrunt..?" she mumbles, reaching for his name. What was it again? "Crackarp.." Something like that. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" Concerned, and dazed, she kneels beside him, ears back. Aaaaaaand she's still ignoring Stardust. Poor buggy. :( "What happened?" Duncha just wanna hug him? ;_;
Rocket or not, ticked off birds were surely attacking him. Maybe he just looked like food and the others followed the act. Either way, the danger had passed... Well, for him, anyway. It now began to look like a cast member of the Wizard of Oz was in the process of passing out in the middle of the park. That certainly can't be good, worse still if the Munchkins were present. Quickly walking over to the kneeling cactus-thing, keeping about a five foot distance. He raises his goggles up and takes a good look, noticing that his hand was bleeding... "Oh snap." He steps closer to him, and kneels to meet Cutcarne at eye-level. "Dude, what's wrong? And what happened to your hand?" Apparently he didn't notice the removal of the needle.
Wiping his jaws upon his vest and picking a feather out of his mouth, Blank belched again, slightly content at his revenge method for all the claw marks all over his arms. Slowly breathing a flame over the arms, he cauterized each of the wounds slowly and carefully. "That finishes that flock..." he smiled, obviously happy with the results. "Too bad I didn't get that..." The smile vanished and was replaced by shock a slightly moment later. "Cutcarne? What happened?" Dashing over (or at least trying to) to his friend's side, he cradled the hand in his claws. "Cutcarne? Are you ok?"
The scarecrow cactus scans the area quickly. Could Jabberwocky be in the area? And if so, how could they not have noticed him? Well, simply, this /is/ a pokemorph isle. Who would care to notice another Cacturnemorph with all this chaos anyway? Several individuals brush by. Hundreds of color. His father could have very well been around. After all, Rockets don't exactly wear shirts with big 'R's pasted on them out while in the park and SPYing. Cutcarne gets too dizzy to concentrate on everyone. Was he here or not. He grows frustrated and discouraged. As the trio crowds him, he shows them his hand. "Maybe... the Murkrow flock found a way to pin this on me while I was busy with Yakarasu?" He shrugs and neglects to mention the needle. "Should I go to the hospital or something?" He leans on Aiko and Blank, peering at the Dustox, "...Thank you but... who are you?" Nevertheless, he shows him his injured hand as it bleeds. A PIA agent or two idly patrols the area, concerning reports of the previous assault.
Tilting his head to one side, Stardust, instead of replying, carefully takes Cutcarne's hand... and then proceeds to check his pulse, while examining the puncture wound. Was he just pulling this out of the air, or was he familiar with medicine? Who knows. More to the point, who cares. His brief examination confirms what he already believed. "We should get him to the hospital now. He's poisoned, something very strong." His usual carefree air had been abruptly replaced by something much more serious... In an attempt to stem the flow of venom from Cutcarne's wound, he removes one of the pieces of fabric from his wrist, keeping his shirt in check. He wraps it around Cutcarne's wrist, tight enough to slow circulation, but not cutting it off. His attention turns to the police officers patrolling, and then to Blank. "See if the cops won't help or something. He'll be a real mess by the time we get him to the Hospital on foot."
"Foot? Who says anything about going back on foot?" Blank bends over and slowly shifts the scarecrow's body onto himself, ignoring the few spikes that prick into his scales. "If the poisons as deadly as it sounds, I'm going to fly him there... Waiting for an ambulance might take too much time..."