[Amelia/Niran] - my preferred shipping name is clocksnake
Who:
Amelia
Niran
When: Same day as Amelia's post about explosions.
Where: Niran's pool at the Hour
Rating & Warnings: PG
Dear stalker who ships Amelia/Niran: For you!
Amelia needed to talk to Niran. She'd been putting it off because she still wasn't completely sure of her own feelings, and because him not coming to her made it easier for the whole thing to slip her mind while she had other things to concentrate on. But when Olinda reminded her after that explosion today, she decided that she needed to stop putting it off and go to him.
She cleaned herself up (stupid explosions!!!) and changed out of her work dress into one of her mother's old dresses, faded green with white embroidering down the bodice. She also made some effort to fix her hair up neatly before calling it a loss and just shoving it into a braid that ran half the length of her back. It felt like an occasion where she needed to look...well, a little less Amelia and a little more nice. Telling a boy you thought you liked him back called for that, didn't it?
As she took the stairs down to his pool, she tried to force down her nervousness and her anger at Erme for saying what she had, and reminded herself of what she was going to say to him. Niran would understand, right? He wouldn't like her if he didn't like her, the way she was, so it should be okay...
"Niran?" she called out, peeking around the corner into his room. He had to be in here. Where else would he be?
Niran had been putting off speaking to anyone since Ravindra had left. The lies spread about him by Ermesinda made him cross and despairing all at once. She was a stupid girl and he'd been foolish to hold her to the same higher stander as other Others. Amelia's prolonged absence only told him who she believed, and itself had been another - albeit bigger - blow.
He sat on the sand at the edge of his pool, pants rolled up to the knee and one leg kicking idly in the water. The other was tucked under him. On his lap was a book, one much like the one he'd given Ermesinda. Remedies. His back was to Amelia, but at the sound of her voice his head turned. "Amelia?" He frowned inwardly. At least she was decent enough to tell him no in person, finally..
He was there! Well of course he was there, where else would he be? Still, seeing him sitting at the edge of his pool made a tentative smile cross her face before she even realized it was there. "Niraaaan," she called back, hiking up a corner of her skirts to dash to his side. She crouched beside him, with her arms folded over her knees. "Sorry it took me so long to talk to you, I had to give it a lot of thought is all. You're the first boy who ever confessed to me, you know?"
He watched her run to him, silent. She looked cheery enough, but Amelia always looked cheerful. And talkative. Always talkative. She would let him down in the cheeriest of ways, it seemed.
"Am I?" he asked finally, one brow lifting. It took effort not to look away from her. So close, yet so far. "Surprising.." Amelia was young yet, and human. Still, he would have guessed there'd have been one or two (or ten) before him.
"Yup! Well... The first one who meant it seriously. Aunt Sofie set me up on a lot of dates with guys who would say things like that but they didn't mean it, they were just being creeps. Anyway!" She clapped her hands together and flashed him a smile, though there was a tinge of nervousness to it.
"I...thought about it a lot, and..." She paused, glancing away and reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, but it was just the empty motion--none of her hair had fallen out of the braid yet. "I...I do really like you, Niran. I just don't know if I like you, like that." Oh, that sounded like she was turning him down, didn't it? That wasn't what she meant at all! Her head whipped back to him and she added hastily, "But I'm willing to try, I mean!"
He couldn't stop the wince that came when she said she didn't know. Of course. Like family, she'd said before. It was still gutting to hear it again-
Both eyebrows shot up when she continued. His heart leapt and raced, the sound noisy in his ears. "Come.. again?" He wasn't sure if he'd heard her right at all. "I know that.. Ermesinda," he hissed the name, eyes narrow. "Said horrible things.."
She pulled a face. "Erme tried to tell me you were only interested in sex, but that's totally not like you at all. I don't know what her problem was."
Oh, but that reminded her, wasn't she going to lay out some ground rules about this relationship? "I'm not interested in it at all," she pointed out. "So if you're not okay with that then we probably shouldn't try."
His brain still buzzed at the new realm of Possibility with Amelia. It took him a moment for her words to register. Later, he'd be proud of himself for only looking stunned instead of outright disappointed. Niran leaned back, mouth hanging open and eyes darting to water as he tried to consider his next words. It made sense, in a way. Amelia thought in science and worked with machinery. She wasn't married. She'd screeched like a banshee when she found him in his bed. Either she fancied women or she was completely uninterested in being physical.
"I see." How did he even ask that without embarrassing her right out of his den? "Then I would wonder.. what it is you.." He found himself blushing instead, eyes still on the water. "Are comfortable with."
Ohhh gosh what a question. She looked away, focusing on the water the same as him. Again she reached up to tuck a nonexistent errant strand behind her ear. "Umm..."
What was she comfortable with? She...honestly had no idea. She'd never given any thought to this before. Hugging and holding hands and such all seemed fine, but she didn't really get the appeal of kissing... She brought one hand to her mouth, anxiously chewing on her thumbnail while she considered what to say. "I don't...I don't know," she admitted, finally. "Um, just let me lead, I guess, or you can ask first, and if I tell you no then don't?"
"Always," he nodded. "I will.. would.. always ask." It would be impolite to do otherwise. As far as sexual fantasy went, Niran didn't have any. Sex was like shedding scales: it happened at some point. It was only the thought of magical naga-babies somewhere down the line that was rapidly shrinking. Maybe if she loved him back just as fiercely, it would happen.
He wondered suddenly if she knew how much he'd be giving up, to commit to a relationship with her. A life permanently in Tyrol, branded as an abomination instead of a divine being. And should the city turn against them, what might Belief make him then? The city's inhabitants - even in the Golden Hour - seemed determined to push him off his even (if not sad) keel. Confessing to Amelia was not an act of desperation, he reminded himself. But a relationship with her would help things, at least.
"Okay." She gave him a smile, tentative and hopeful. "Good." Everything should work out okay, then. Either she'd decide she liked him back the way he liked her, or she'd decide she didn't, and she didn't have to worry about him forcing her into anything she didn't want to do in the meantime.
The honest answer was that she had no idea, whatsoever, of what he was giving up. To her he was just Niran, the snake-boy who came here from far away. His life back home was a mystery to her, and she hadn't stopped to consider just what repercussions them being together might have.
Well, there was one repercussion she'd considered, and it rose in her mind now as a concerned frown emerged on her face. "Oh gosh, how am I going to tell Uncle Ravi and Aunt Sofie that I'm dating a naga?"
Was that it? Was this a Thing, now? Just like that? Even as old as he was, human girls were full of whim and mystery still. He was halfway to kicking himself for not expressing feelings earlier when she brought Ravindra up.
"Ah.." Niran pulled a face and looked towards he water again. "Uncle Ravi. Ravindra. Came to see me. Brought me an apple." He smiled at the memory and scratched at the back of his neck, considering. "After Ermesinda told me what she'd spoken to you.. I did not hear from you. So I wrote to him.. wondering." His smile was shy when he finally looked back to Amelia. "I did not think it wise to lie to him.. he came. We talked."
Her eyebrows shot up. "He what? You what?" A pause, her eyebrows furrowed. "Erme what?!"
She held up a hand. "Wait, okay, one thing at a time. You talked to Uncle Ravi already? He brought you an apple?" That was so weird, why would he even? And wasn't she still mad at him? She was pretty sure she was. "What did you even talk about?" They weren't from the same place, right? Uncle Ravi was from India and Niran was from...somewhere else. Further east. The only thing they had to talk about was...her. She didn't know how she felt about that.
Niran nodded. "The apple was.. a gift. He acknowledges. What I am." He'd been so touched by the simple gesture. Apples weren't very good as far as food went, but it had been an excellent apple. "My kind live where he is from, too."
He closed the book on his lap finally and set it aside, hands folding loosely together. "We talked about what I am.." A corner of his mouth pulled up. "You, too. And what I felt, for you. He made me call him Ravindra. Not Uncle Ravi." The naga looked nothing but amused at the memory. "He is very different from you. Very... short." Yes, that summed up a lot of things.
A giggle escaped before she could catch it. "He is pretty short. I was so excited when I passed him, haha! I was twelve. Twelve years old and taller than Uncle Ravi!" Smiling, she shifted her position, sitting on her ankles and arranging her skirts around her legs. Settling in.
Bringing an apple as a gift to acknowledge that Niran was a naga still seemed weird, but she'd just ask Uncle Ravi about it--or she wouldn't because she was still mad at him, right, never mind. (She was bad at this staying mad thing.) "What did he say about it?" Suddenly she felt nervous. What if Uncle Ravi had said she wasn't allowed to date Niran because he was a naga?
She planned on staying. His eyes shrank to slits momentarily when his smile grew. Her laugh was so pleasing. "That some may not take kindly.. to what I am. Or that you would like one of my kind.." He was hesitant to bring it up. Things had been going so smoothly, he wondered if she'd even thought of it. "You have thought of things like this?"
A small frown turned the corners of his mouth down briefly. "Then he showed me his angriest eyebrows.. and told me not to hurt you. But that was. Not needed, I think."
Uncle Ravi did that? Really? Well actually it wasn't that hard to believe he'd threatened Niran, though she found herself annoyed by it. Did he really think she'd be friends with people he needed to threaten not to hurt her?
Her expression grew into a thoughtful frown. "No, I never really thought about that. You're just Niran, to me. You can turn into a snake, but you're still just Niran, it doesn't make you any different. And anybody who doesn't like what you are just doesn't know you."
"I am a naga," he corrected gently, and leaned down to pat the surface of the water. "From Siam. I was born from an egg. Before I came to Tyrol.. I lived in a river." Smiling, he flicked the water on his fingers at her. "But that is very kind of you to say."
She raised her hands to block the water, but it was only a tiny splash. The few droplets that fell on her dress wouldn't hurt anything, though she frowned at them nonetheless. "I know that, but still!" Actually, it was weird to think about it. He could turn into a snake, okay, he was from Siam, okay, he was hatched from an egg? That was where things got weird and she just started ignoring details so her mental image of Niran could fit the Niran in front of her.
But it looked like Uncle Ravi hadn't said anything that would totally ruin her relationship with Niran, so that was good. She could still be righteously indignant at him the next time she went home and demand to know what he was thinking etc etc. For now there was that other thing Niran had mentioned. "So what did Erme say?" she asked, twisting to face Niran.
Ah. Moment gone. His hands fell back to his lap, legs kicking again idly. "I saw her in the halls.. I meant to ask about what I had brought her.. a book. Of remedies. From my home." Niran frowned at the water. He thought she'd like it. She'd probably burnt it out of spite. There was a tug at his eyes, as if he wanted to roll them. He resisted. "She told me what you had written. In the ledgers."
He forced a smile to make it clear he wasn't angry that she'd done it. Maybe confused, but not offended. "That she had told you I only wanted to.. sleep with you."
"Uuuuuuuugh!" Amelia was angry, or annoyed at least, by the sound of it. She hit a fist against her thigh and glared out at the water. "Erme, that jerk! I was just asking for advice, why'd she have to go telling people. And it was really mean, what she wrote about you, I was really angry at her. I still am!"
Should he tell her about Erme's confession? He brooded it on it for a long, silent moment before he decided not to. Amelia had a way of taking things and complicating them like every other girl. He would not let some stray guilt get in the way of.. whatever this would be. "You know it it is false.. it is already happened."
He glanced down to the space between them and nudged her pinky finger with his. "It would be best to let it go." He'd shook and shoved Ermesinda. It was not something he was proud of, but he'd already forgiven her for her lies. "She is.. much younger than she claims. Foolish."
She heaved a sigh. He was right. Erme did stupid things for stupid reasons and that was just how she was. There was no use getting mad about it because everyone just ended up screeching at each other and that was basically the opposite of productive!
When Niran nudged her finger, she slid her hand over to lay on top of his. Experimentally! She decided it felt nice enough that she'd just let her hand stay there. "I guess you're right. She'll get over it, whatever it is."
His eyes darted between them at the new weight on his hand. She was trying. It made him smile. "We have not spoken.. since I have been back." They were settled in. Everything unpleasant had already been discussed. It didn't make sense to try and keep piecing it out. It would only make him more sour on the city and Ermesinda.
He kicked his legs again and curled his toes in the water. "The cats.." A subject guaranteed to make his head spin with half-understanding and mystery when he tried to follow her physics tangents, but he'd missed hearing her talk. "Tell me about them again?"
Amelia was more than willing to change the subject to her work. Her eyes lit up when he asked about the cats, and she launched into a ramble with no regard for whether or not Niran actually understood her. "Oh my gosh, those cats, today I was working on a rear leg and it just blew up in my face, I don't even understand how that happens, it's clockwork, it isn't supposed to explode..."
Amelia
Niran
When: Same day as Amelia's post about explosions.
Where: Niran's pool at the Hour
Rating & Warnings: PG
Dear stalker who ships Amelia/Niran: For you!
Amelia needed to talk to Niran. She'd been putting it off because she still wasn't completely sure of her own feelings, and because him not coming to her made it easier for the whole thing to slip her mind while she had other things to concentrate on. But when Olinda reminded her after that explosion today, she decided that she needed to stop putting it off and go to him.
She cleaned herself up (stupid explosions!!!) and changed out of her work dress into one of her mother's old dresses, faded green with white embroidering down the bodice. She also made some effort to fix her hair up neatly before calling it a loss and just shoving it into a braid that ran half the length of her back. It felt like an occasion where she needed to look...well, a little less Amelia and a little more nice. Telling a boy you thought you liked him back called for that, didn't it?
As she took the stairs down to his pool, she tried to force down her nervousness and her anger at Erme for saying what she had, and reminded herself of what she was going to say to him. Niran would understand, right? He wouldn't like her if he didn't like her, the way she was, so it should be okay...
"Niran?" she called out, peeking around the corner into his room. He had to be in here. Where else would he be?
Niran had been putting off speaking to anyone since Ravindra had left. The lies spread about him by Ermesinda made him cross and despairing all at once. She was a stupid girl and he'd been foolish to hold her to the same higher stander as other Others. Amelia's prolonged absence only told him who she believed, and itself had been another - albeit bigger - blow.
He sat on the sand at the edge of his pool, pants rolled up to the knee and one leg kicking idly in the water. The other was tucked under him. On his lap was a book, one much like the one he'd given Ermesinda. Remedies. His back was to Amelia, but at the sound of her voice his head turned. "Amelia?" He frowned inwardly. At least she was decent enough to tell him no in person, finally..
He was there! Well of course he was there, where else would he be? Still, seeing him sitting at the edge of his pool made a tentative smile cross her face before she even realized it was there. "Niraaaan," she called back, hiking up a corner of her skirts to dash to his side. She crouched beside him, with her arms folded over her knees. "Sorry it took me so long to talk to you, I had to give it a lot of thought is all. You're the first boy who ever confessed to me, you know?"
He watched her run to him, silent. She looked cheery enough, but Amelia always looked cheerful. And talkative. Always talkative. She would let him down in the cheeriest of ways, it seemed.
"Am I?" he asked finally, one brow lifting. It took effort not to look away from her. So close, yet so far. "Surprising.." Amelia was young yet, and human. Still, he would have guessed there'd have been one or two (or ten) before him.
"Yup! Well... The first one who meant it seriously. Aunt Sofie set me up on a lot of dates with guys who would say things like that but they didn't mean it, they were just being creeps. Anyway!" She clapped her hands together and flashed him a smile, though there was a tinge of nervousness to it.
"I...thought about it a lot, and..." She paused, glancing away and reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, but it was just the empty motion--none of her hair had fallen out of the braid yet. "I...I do really like you, Niran. I just don't know if I like you, like that." Oh, that sounded like she was turning him down, didn't it? That wasn't what she meant at all! Her head whipped back to him and she added hastily, "But I'm willing to try, I mean!"
He couldn't stop the wince that came when she said she didn't know. Of course. Like family, she'd said before. It was still gutting to hear it again-
Both eyebrows shot up when she continued. His heart leapt and raced, the sound noisy in his ears. "Come.. again?" He wasn't sure if he'd heard her right at all. "I know that.. Ermesinda," he hissed the name, eyes narrow. "Said horrible things.."
She pulled a face. "Erme tried to tell me you were only interested in sex, but that's totally not like you at all. I don't know what her problem was."
Oh, but that reminded her, wasn't she going to lay out some ground rules about this relationship? "I'm not interested in it at all," she pointed out. "So if you're not okay with that then we probably shouldn't try."
His brain still buzzed at the new realm of Possibility with Amelia. It took him a moment for her words to register. Later, he'd be proud of himself for only looking stunned instead of outright disappointed. Niran leaned back, mouth hanging open and eyes darting to water as he tried to consider his next words. It made sense, in a way. Amelia thought in science and worked with machinery. She wasn't married. She'd screeched like a banshee when she found him in his bed. Either she fancied women or she was completely uninterested in being physical.
"I see." How did he even ask that without embarrassing her right out of his den? "Then I would wonder.. what it is you.." He found himself blushing instead, eyes still on the water. "Are comfortable with."
Ohhh gosh what a question. She looked away, focusing on the water the same as him. Again she reached up to tuck a nonexistent errant strand behind her ear. "Umm..."
What was she comfortable with? She...honestly had no idea. She'd never given any thought to this before. Hugging and holding hands and such all seemed fine, but she didn't really get the appeal of kissing... She brought one hand to her mouth, anxiously chewing on her thumbnail while she considered what to say. "I don't...I don't know," she admitted, finally. "Um, just let me lead, I guess, or you can ask first, and if I tell you no then don't?"
"Always," he nodded. "I will.. would.. always ask." It would be impolite to do otherwise. As far as sexual fantasy went, Niran didn't have any. Sex was like shedding scales: it happened at some point. It was only the thought of magical naga-babies somewhere down the line that was rapidly shrinking. Maybe if she loved him back just as fiercely, it would happen.
He wondered suddenly if she knew how much he'd be giving up, to commit to a relationship with her. A life permanently in Tyrol, branded as an abomination instead of a divine being. And should the city turn against them, what might Belief make him then? The city's inhabitants - even in the Golden Hour - seemed determined to push him off his even (if not sad) keel. Confessing to Amelia was not an act of desperation, he reminded himself. But a relationship with her would help things, at least.
"Okay." She gave him a smile, tentative and hopeful. "Good." Everything should work out okay, then. Either she'd decide she liked him back the way he liked her, or she'd decide she didn't, and she didn't have to worry about him forcing her into anything she didn't want to do in the meantime.
The honest answer was that she had no idea, whatsoever, of what he was giving up. To her he was just Niran, the snake-boy who came here from far away. His life back home was a mystery to her, and she hadn't stopped to consider just what repercussions them being together might have.
Well, there was one repercussion she'd considered, and it rose in her mind now as a concerned frown emerged on her face. "Oh gosh, how am I going to tell Uncle Ravi and Aunt Sofie that I'm dating a naga?"
Was that it? Was this a Thing, now? Just like that? Even as old as he was, human girls were full of whim and mystery still. He was halfway to kicking himself for not expressing feelings earlier when she brought Ravindra up.
"Ah.." Niran pulled a face and looked towards he water again. "Uncle Ravi. Ravindra. Came to see me. Brought me an apple." He smiled at the memory and scratched at the back of his neck, considering. "After Ermesinda told me what she'd spoken to you.. I did not hear from you. So I wrote to him.. wondering." His smile was shy when he finally looked back to Amelia. "I did not think it wise to lie to him.. he came. We talked."
Her eyebrows shot up. "He what? You what?" A pause, her eyebrows furrowed. "Erme what?!"
She held up a hand. "Wait, okay, one thing at a time. You talked to Uncle Ravi already? He brought you an apple?" That was so weird, why would he even? And wasn't she still mad at him? She was pretty sure she was. "What did you even talk about?" They weren't from the same place, right? Uncle Ravi was from India and Niran was from...somewhere else. Further east. The only thing they had to talk about was...her. She didn't know how she felt about that.
Niran nodded. "The apple was.. a gift. He acknowledges. What I am." He'd been so touched by the simple gesture. Apples weren't very good as far as food went, but it had been an excellent apple. "My kind live where he is from, too."
He closed the book on his lap finally and set it aside, hands folding loosely together. "We talked about what I am.." A corner of his mouth pulled up. "You, too. And what I felt, for you. He made me call him Ravindra. Not Uncle Ravi." The naga looked nothing but amused at the memory. "He is very different from you. Very... short." Yes, that summed up a lot of things.
A giggle escaped before she could catch it. "He is pretty short. I was so excited when I passed him, haha! I was twelve. Twelve years old and taller than Uncle Ravi!" Smiling, she shifted her position, sitting on her ankles and arranging her skirts around her legs. Settling in.
Bringing an apple as a gift to acknowledge that Niran was a naga still seemed weird, but she'd just ask Uncle Ravi about it--or she wouldn't because she was still mad at him, right, never mind. (She was bad at this staying mad thing.) "What did he say about it?" Suddenly she felt nervous. What if Uncle Ravi had said she wasn't allowed to date Niran because he was a naga?
She planned on staying. His eyes shrank to slits momentarily when his smile grew. Her laugh was so pleasing. "That some may not take kindly.. to what I am. Or that you would like one of my kind.." He was hesitant to bring it up. Things had been going so smoothly, he wondered if she'd even thought of it. "You have thought of things like this?"
A small frown turned the corners of his mouth down briefly. "Then he showed me his angriest eyebrows.. and told me not to hurt you. But that was. Not needed, I think."
Uncle Ravi did that? Really? Well actually it wasn't that hard to believe he'd threatened Niran, though she found herself annoyed by it. Did he really think she'd be friends with people he needed to threaten not to hurt her?
Her expression grew into a thoughtful frown. "No, I never really thought about that. You're just Niran, to me. You can turn into a snake, but you're still just Niran, it doesn't make you any different. And anybody who doesn't like what you are just doesn't know you."
"I am a naga," he corrected gently, and leaned down to pat the surface of the water. "From Siam. I was born from an egg. Before I came to Tyrol.. I lived in a river." Smiling, he flicked the water on his fingers at her. "But that is very kind of you to say."
She raised her hands to block the water, but it was only a tiny splash. The few droplets that fell on her dress wouldn't hurt anything, though she frowned at them nonetheless. "I know that, but still!" Actually, it was weird to think about it. He could turn into a snake, okay, he was from Siam, okay, he was hatched from an egg? That was where things got weird and she just started ignoring details so her mental image of Niran could fit the Niran in front of her.
But it looked like Uncle Ravi hadn't said anything that would totally ruin her relationship with Niran, so that was good. She could still be righteously indignant at him the next time she went home and demand to know what he was thinking etc etc. For now there was that other thing Niran had mentioned. "So what did Erme say?" she asked, twisting to face Niran.
Ah. Moment gone. His hands fell back to his lap, legs kicking again idly. "I saw her in the halls.. I meant to ask about what I had brought her.. a book. Of remedies. From my home." Niran frowned at the water. He thought she'd like it. She'd probably burnt it out of spite. There was a tug at his eyes, as if he wanted to roll them. He resisted. "She told me what you had written. In the ledgers."
He forced a smile to make it clear he wasn't angry that she'd done it. Maybe confused, but not offended. "That she had told you I only wanted to.. sleep with you."
"Uuuuuuuugh!" Amelia was angry, or annoyed at least, by the sound of it. She hit a fist against her thigh and glared out at the water. "Erme, that jerk! I was just asking for advice, why'd she have to go telling people. And it was really mean, what she wrote about you, I was really angry at her. I still am!"
Should he tell her about Erme's confession? He brooded it on it for a long, silent moment before he decided not to. Amelia had a way of taking things and complicating them like every other girl. He would not let some stray guilt get in the way of.. whatever this would be. "You know it it is false.. it is already happened."
He glanced down to the space between them and nudged her pinky finger with his. "It would be best to let it go." He'd shook and shoved Ermesinda. It was not something he was proud of, but he'd already forgiven her for her lies. "She is.. much younger than she claims. Foolish."
She heaved a sigh. He was right. Erme did stupid things for stupid reasons and that was just how she was. There was no use getting mad about it because everyone just ended up screeching at each other and that was basically the opposite of productive!
When Niran nudged her finger, she slid her hand over to lay on top of his. Experimentally! She decided it felt nice enough that she'd just let her hand stay there. "I guess you're right. She'll get over it, whatever it is."
His eyes darted between them at the new weight on his hand. She was trying. It made him smile. "We have not spoken.. since I have been back." They were settled in. Everything unpleasant had already been discussed. It didn't make sense to try and keep piecing it out. It would only make him more sour on the city and Ermesinda.
He kicked his legs again and curled his toes in the water. "The cats.." A subject guaranteed to make his head spin with half-understanding and mystery when he tried to follow her physics tangents, but he'd missed hearing her talk. "Tell me about them again?"
Amelia was more than willing to change the subject to her work. Her eyes lit up when he asked about the cats, and she launched into a ramble with no regard for whether or not Niran actually understood her. "Oh my gosh, those cats, today I was working on a rear leg and it just blew up in my face, I don't even understand how that happens, it's clockwork, it isn't supposed to explode..."