application
[nick / name]: Jane
[personal LJ name]: mourir
[series]: Bakemonogatari
[character]: Hitagi Senjougahara
[character history / background]: Hitagi's history begins with her family. Her father is the model Japanese businessman who ran a multinational corporation - successful, wealthy, and never home. Her mother thus found social comfort in a religious cult. This is the foundation of Hitagi's life: an estranged yet wealthy family. Until high school, this suited her just fine.
In middle school, Hitagi was a very cheerful and very athletic young girl. She was the star of the track team and became friends with the star of the basketball team, Kanbaru. They were known as the "Baruhara" Combination, or the Valhalla Combination, referring to the Norse mythological figure.
In the fifth grade, Hitagi became critically ill. Her mother got her treatment, of course, but the procedure went horribly and Hitagi barely survived. Because of this, her mother involved herself even more with her religious cult, and toward the end of her middle school career, her mother invited a respected leader of the cult to their home. Said leader attempted to rape Hitagi, but she attacked him (while her mother watched). As a result, her mother was punished for the leader's injury. Her mother went a little crazier because of it.
Sometime between leaving middle school and entering high school, Hitagi met a crab. A "memory crab," to be exact, a god-like spirit who took her weight and her memory of her mother. After this meeting, Hitagi became only 5 kilograms heavy, and she uses office supplies to weigh her down. Even wearing clothing becomes too heavy for her. When her once-good friend Kanbaru discovered this secret and attempted to help her, Hitagi pushed her away and declined her offers to help, threatened her. From then on, Hitagi secluded herself from others, became quiet and often missed school. Many assumed this was due to her illness, but in reality it was due to her loss of weight.
Then one day, she slipped on a banana peel and fell from an upper floor - she seemed to float straight into Araragi Koyomi's arms, someone who was something of a half-vampire. He noticed her lack of weight immediately, and she knew that as well. Later, when she meets him in the hallways, Hitagi threatens him just as she threatened Kanbaru. X-acto knife on one side of Araragi's mouth and a stapler on the other, she made sure he would never tell anyone of her secret.
Then stapled his mouth anyway. Something of a warning.
But he offered to help anyway - she tried to retaliate with a slew of her office supply weapons, but upon demonstrating his half-vampire powers of quick healing, she followed after him to a man named Meme. Meme could help her, Araragi said, and Hitagi wanted to investigate.
And thus begins her love story with Araragi Koyomi. More on what happens to her within the series itself on wikipedia!
[character abilities]: Hitagi really has no special abilities. Because she's rather athletic, she seems to excel in fighting as well. She presents a strong challenge with her expert use of office supplies as weapons, and due to her star track athlete status, she's incredibly quick on her feet as well. She's not particularly strong like Kanbaru and her "monkey arm" - Hitagi's strength lies in her speed. And despite her absences from school, she's incredibly intelligent, ranking in the top ten of her class.
[character personality]: Hitagi is notably deadpan, voice soft but words harsh. Anyone's first impression of her would be an anti-social, sickly girl whose eyes are too dangerous to get anywhere close. Even when she is laughing or teasing or joking, her voice is the same monotone pitch, perhaps inclined this way or that just a little but. Perhaps she'll even add in a monotone laugh to let you know how amused she is.
But before she met Araragi - and even after - Hitagi does not trust. She is fiercely critical and judgmental of others around her, and most of all she does not appreciate others poking into her business. A helping hand will be quickly threatened with her x-acto knives, even if that helping hand is from an old friend. She closes herself off from others, and when approached her speech becomes blunt and abrasive. There's no telling just what aspect about you she'll criticize, take advantage of, and manipulate until you want to hide in shame. Basically, she makes herself quite unpleasant to be around, almost downright hostile, to the point where she can almost be described as "devilish." She doesn't want pity, she doesn't want help. She wants to be left alone, just wants others' silence and their indifference In this way, there's no sense of strangeness. Her lack of weight and her so-called incurable illness - they don't have to be weird things. She can bear the burden on her own shoulders, because nobody else understands and nobody else can help.
Though she was once quite social, after breaking herself off from social contact, she became quite the strange one. It's clear after she meets Araragi that she's fallen out of habit with things like manners and social norms. She retains her sense of humor and other emotions, but they're a bit twisted. She finds it quite admirable that Araragi doesn't scream when she staples his mouth! She finds it funny to call him a dog and talk down to him like he doesn't understand! It's so funny the way he reacts, the way he squirms. She finds it so horrifying when she discovers that she's the reason he's realized that he's super stupid! Even her basic emotions are twisted to a very abrasive sense. Her surface emotions in everyday interactions, anyway.
Hitagi is also quite quirky. She can be seen referring to tropes, popular culture, and "character types." She labels herself as a "tsundere," and considers the name Meme to be quite "moe." She considers these things to be part of general education, too! Often she's made references to other shows such as Dragon Ball Z and Full Metal Alchemist (both quite popular series in Japan, so it isn't a surprise that she knows of these shows, but her specific references infer that she's also watched these series. She also mentions that she's not all that into music, suggesting that her attention to popular culture is very limited. Particularly to anime). Hitagi seems to think her "voice actress" is very nice (she may be breaking the fourth wall or she may simply be joking).
Going along with her quirkiness and lack of social skills, Hitagi is very, very much the opposite of shy and demure and modest. It isn't that she's particularly conceited about her appearance, she just doesn't seem to care about revealing a little skin. But she's not a harlot, of course! Not at all- she only does this on special occasions. Like when Araragi's helped her out or gets beat up - she'll get a little naked, let him watch her get dressed, and stand over his face while wearing a skirt as a wind kicks up. It's a special service, because she knows just how much super weird virgins like him enjoy that sort of thing. This suggests a detachment from her own body - while not quite to the extent of sexually molested children growing up to be sexually promiscuous, Hitagi's lack of weight (perhaps combined with her sexual assault) have helped her think quite objectively of her own body. As an additional service to Araragi, she seems to have absolutely no problem with making breakfast for him wearing nothing but an apron for a week! She realizes how sexual this situation is, but not quite how such a sexual situation would change how they saw each other. Sexual desensitization, anyone? Hitagi is just very, very, very comfortable (detached) with herself. And likes to see people, as a result, uncomfortable. And squirming. Again - her sense of amusement is quite different from most others'.
However, Hitagi is working on some of her stranger quirks, trying to fit herself better into the social mold. While at first she made demands, dragged Araragi here and there for her own needs (not in an ungrateful way, because she is clearly very grateful if her "services" are any indication), she very quickly started to correct herself. Though at first she tells Araragi that they'll be going on a date, she then goes on to piece together a question - she asks. Once she befriended Araragi, she became quite talkative, though her speech and way of speaking are tactless and abusive, and became much more comfortable with closeness, contact, and opening herself up. Mainly with Araragi, but it's certainly a step! She opens herself up so much that she eventually tells him that she loves him (and asks to know his feelings, too, because she dislikes unclear relationships - meaning she doesn't want that sort of insecurity or worry hovering over her when it's better to just clear it up then and there).
But in the end, Hitagi is also practical and logical - stemming from her own intelligence in her studies (she obtained honors status in a prestigious private school, after all!) In the end, Hitagi is still someone who can fight and sees everything as a fighting strategy. This is, after all, the girl who uses office supplies as a weapon. She's very resourceful in that way. She remarks that "If your hands aren't free, you can't be free to fight." Her intense paranoia, distrust, and suspicious nature lead her to believe that Araragi, after offering help, is drawing her into some kind of trap. She's so distrustful she feels she can't even occupy her hands - they must always be free.
She quickly learns the social practice of refraining and pretending, of reading other peoples' moods and responding. Though tactlessness continues to be a trending pattern in her usual speech, when it comes to deeper conversation, she can be rather sensitive. When Araragi sees a ghost (and is not aware that it is a ghost, thus Hitagi couldn't see it), Hitagi plays along. To deny seeing the ghost would make both her weird for not seeing what he can and him weird for seeing something that isn't there. And having been abnormal her entire life, that isn't something she wants to feel again, and it isn't something she wants him to have to feel either. She may have even made up a story about not liking children because she felt awkward around them, so awkward she belittled herself and apologized to one. But should this story be true, it suggests that Hitagi has a sense of pride, so prideful that not understand and not being able to gauge childrens' reactions bothers her. It also suggests that she feels rather uncomfortable when unable to read other people - their reactions, their thoughts, and so on. Hitagi doesn't like that kind of uncertainty, as mentioned earlier with her dislike of vague relationships.
Because she's insecure. Hitagi, behind her sharp wit and condescending nature, is one of the most insecure people in the entire series. She views herself as the reason her entire family broke apart. Though she's glad she was able to fight off her attacker, there's also this lurking wish that it had happened - perhaps, then, her family wouldn't have been so destroyed (she begs for her family to return, to be like it once was, though she's more than aware that it won't change, she still hopes). It's here that she is the most humble - begging, asking, bowing. And because she's so insecure, she's afraid of becoming too close to Araragi. She refrains from letting anything get too far due to the attempted sexual assault because she's afraid of hating Araragi and losing him. He's given her so much (he's saved her, he loves her, he's with her), and so-
Hitagi doesn't like to owe others. She pays them back, and she does it correctly. Like all her other 'services,' Hitagi's date consists of giving him everything that she has - a cute underclassman, an awkward father, and a starry sky that mesmerizes. In that way, they're even. This is what she can do for him for all he's given her. This is her way of showing her appreciation, because it's all she knows how to do.
And finally, Hitagi is insanely jealous. Should Araragi start talking about another girl too often, she'll point a mechanical pencil mere centimeters from his eyeball and demand to know where his loyalties lie. She'll force him to choose between herself and another girl by, ironically, making him and the other girl to get along and go to shrines together. While she doesn't like mixed signals, she quite enjoys sending them from time to time. But overall she does trust him and she does love him. She just happens to be a little new to this.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Post-anime
[journal post]: text
Araragi, you've lost me completely.
Sent 3:20 PM
You're not answering. I'd like to know where you've run off to.
Sent 3:21 PM
If you've gone to look for your virgin books, you can just forget about our next date.
Sent 3:31 PM
I'll never forgive you.
Sent 3:37 PM
That's not it. I mean to say that I'm worried. Please respond, Araragi. I don't know where I am, either.
Sent 3:51 PM
Would you prefer it if I sent you dirty lines instead?
Sent 4:01 PM
[third person / log sample]: He's warm laying next to her, their hands laced and pressed together and everything she wants them to be - there's something of a dearness in the way the grass pricks up underneath the blanket as they gaze at the stars (but imagine each other, she assumes, because that's how the girl's manga always depicts these kind of romantic scenes, and she knows she sees the shape of Araragi's curl of hair among the great constellations like a good, kind girlfriend should).
And there's a box of things tucked in her mind with all the things she wants to say - as it unpacks, spills from her mouth, a soothing heaviness rests in her limbs. It's pleasant, comforting, and human in the way it makes her heart clench and beat fast, in the way it seems to weigh Araragi's presence over her.
Not once does her voice crack or falter; not once do her eyes light up with a smile.
She makes something of a horrible heroine, and she understands this well (and she makes a silent promise to work better on her 'dere' characteristic while giving him what little, awkward pieces of things she has to offer him, and there aren't many but by the way he squeezes her hand, she knows he understands). But only a horrible heroine suits such an equally horrible mess of a hero who flusters and surely hides pictures of girls in cat ears and lingerie in folder after folder after folder after folder on his computer.
A pathetic virgin loser who happens to be her knight in shining armor (from her lack of normalcy, from the memories she didn't have, from the memories she did have, from the family she lost and broke herself).
She sighs happily, already quite looking forward to the date she expects from Araragi. She's sure he'll worry, fret, and make certain everything's perfect. Such a funny thing to watch, this boy as strange as she used to be wondering if she wants flowers and chocolates. All for her, not Kanbaru or Hanekawa because in the end he's made his choice (as he should, and the next time his eyes should stray, she'll make sure to pry them out with a colorful set of pens because she's at least generous enough to let him see a few colors before he loses his sight).
These days she doesn't feel so much of the dirty, wanting hands on her shoulders as she does the ghost of breath against her ear and the silhouette of her mother allowing it all. The presence of her father, however, his strong back and awkward conversation, reminds her, in a way, of Araragi (less virgin and less silly but a strength all the same).
And having them both in one night, to her, is something of a dream come true.
Add a few shooting stars, a few rosy backgrounds, and a few sound effects and perhaps the scene could be saved. She can almost hear the fangirls sighing, hands held over their hearts at the moe building within them.
She curls toward Araragi- only to roll straight into something that looks like a fountain.
[personal LJ name]: mourir
[series]: Bakemonogatari
[character]: Hitagi Senjougahara
[character history / background]: Hitagi's history begins with her family. Her father is the model Japanese businessman who ran a multinational corporation - successful, wealthy, and never home. Her mother thus found social comfort in a religious cult. This is the foundation of Hitagi's life: an estranged yet wealthy family. Until high school, this suited her just fine.
In middle school, Hitagi was a very cheerful and very athletic young girl. She was the star of the track team and became friends with the star of the basketball team, Kanbaru. They were known as the "Baruhara" Combination, or the Valhalla Combination, referring to the Norse mythological figure.
In the fifth grade, Hitagi became critically ill. Her mother got her treatment, of course, but the procedure went horribly and Hitagi barely survived. Because of this, her mother involved herself even more with her religious cult, and toward the end of her middle school career, her mother invited a respected leader of the cult to their home. Said leader attempted to rape Hitagi, but she attacked him (while her mother watched). As a result, her mother was punished for the leader's injury. Her mother went a little crazier because of it.
Sometime between leaving middle school and entering high school, Hitagi met a crab. A "memory crab," to be exact, a god-like spirit who took her weight and her memory of her mother. After this meeting, Hitagi became only 5 kilograms heavy, and she uses office supplies to weigh her down. Even wearing clothing becomes too heavy for her. When her once-good friend Kanbaru discovered this secret and attempted to help her, Hitagi pushed her away and declined her offers to help, threatened her. From then on, Hitagi secluded herself from others, became quiet and often missed school. Many assumed this was due to her illness, but in reality it was due to her loss of weight.
Then one day, she slipped on a banana peel and fell from an upper floor - she seemed to float straight into Araragi Koyomi's arms, someone who was something of a half-vampire. He noticed her lack of weight immediately, and she knew that as well. Later, when she meets him in the hallways, Hitagi threatens him just as she threatened Kanbaru. X-acto knife on one side of Araragi's mouth and a stapler on the other, she made sure he would never tell anyone of her secret.
Then stapled his mouth anyway. Something of a warning.
But he offered to help anyway - she tried to retaliate with a slew of her office supply weapons, but upon demonstrating his half-vampire powers of quick healing, she followed after him to a man named Meme. Meme could help her, Araragi said, and Hitagi wanted to investigate.
And thus begins her love story with Araragi Koyomi. More on what happens to her within the series itself on wikipedia!
[character abilities]: Hitagi really has no special abilities. Because she's rather athletic, she seems to excel in fighting as well. She presents a strong challenge with her expert use of office supplies as weapons, and due to her star track athlete status, she's incredibly quick on her feet as well. She's not particularly strong like Kanbaru and her "monkey arm" - Hitagi's strength lies in her speed. And despite her absences from school, she's incredibly intelligent, ranking in the top ten of her class.
[character personality]: Hitagi is notably deadpan, voice soft but words harsh. Anyone's first impression of her would be an anti-social, sickly girl whose eyes are too dangerous to get anywhere close. Even when she is laughing or teasing or joking, her voice is the same monotone pitch, perhaps inclined this way or that just a little but. Perhaps she'll even add in a monotone laugh to let you know how amused she is.
But before she met Araragi - and even after - Hitagi does not trust. She is fiercely critical and judgmental of others around her, and most of all she does not appreciate others poking into her business. A helping hand will be quickly threatened with her x-acto knives, even if that helping hand is from an old friend. She closes herself off from others, and when approached her speech becomes blunt and abrasive. There's no telling just what aspect about you she'll criticize, take advantage of, and manipulate until you want to hide in shame. Basically, she makes herself quite unpleasant to be around, almost downright hostile, to the point where she can almost be described as "devilish." She doesn't want pity, she doesn't want help. She wants to be left alone, just wants others' silence and their indifference In this way, there's no sense of strangeness. Her lack of weight and her so-called incurable illness - they don't have to be weird things. She can bear the burden on her own shoulders, because nobody else understands and nobody else can help.
Though she was once quite social, after breaking herself off from social contact, she became quite the strange one. It's clear after she meets Araragi that she's fallen out of habit with things like manners and social norms. She retains her sense of humor and other emotions, but they're a bit twisted. She finds it quite admirable that Araragi doesn't scream when she staples his mouth! She finds it funny to call him a dog and talk down to him like he doesn't understand! It's so funny the way he reacts, the way he squirms. She finds it so horrifying when she discovers that she's the reason he's realized that he's super stupid! Even her basic emotions are twisted to a very abrasive sense. Her surface emotions in everyday interactions, anyway.
Hitagi is also quite quirky. She can be seen referring to tropes, popular culture, and "character types." She labels herself as a "tsundere," and considers the name Meme to be quite "moe." She considers these things to be part of general education, too! Often she's made references to other shows such as Dragon Ball Z and Full Metal Alchemist (both quite popular series in Japan, so it isn't a surprise that she knows of these shows, but her specific references infer that she's also watched these series. She also mentions that she's not all that into music, suggesting that her attention to popular culture is very limited. Particularly to anime). Hitagi seems to think her "voice actress" is very nice (she may be breaking the fourth wall or she may simply be joking).
Going along with her quirkiness and lack of social skills, Hitagi is very, very much the opposite of shy and demure and modest. It isn't that she's particularly conceited about her appearance, she just doesn't seem to care about revealing a little skin. But she's not a harlot, of course! Not at all- she only does this on special occasions. Like when Araragi's helped her out or gets beat up - she'll get a little naked, let him watch her get dressed, and stand over his face while wearing a skirt as a wind kicks up. It's a special service, because she knows just how much super weird virgins like him enjoy that sort of thing. This suggests a detachment from her own body - while not quite to the extent of sexually molested children growing up to be sexually promiscuous, Hitagi's lack of weight (perhaps combined with her sexual assault) have helped her think quite objectively of her own body. As an additional service to Araragi, she seems to have absolutely no problem with making breakfast for him wearing nothing but an apron for a week! She realizes how sexual this situation is, but not quite how such a sexual situation would change how they saw each other. Sexual desensitization, anyone? Hitagi is just very, very, very comfortable (detached) with herself. And likes to see people, as a result, uncomfortable. And squirming. Again - her sense of amusement is quite different from most others'.
However, Hitagi is working on some of her stranger quirks, trying to fit herself better into the social mold. While at first she made demands, dragged Araragi here and there for her own needs (not in an ungrateful way, because she is clearly very grateful if her "services" are any indication), she very quickly started to correct herself. Though at first she tells Araragi that they'll be going on a date, she then goes on to piece together a question - she asks. Once she befriended Araragi, she became quite talkative, though her speech and way of speaking are tactless and abusive, and became much more comfortable with closeness, contact, and opening herself up. Mainly with Araragi, but it's certainly a step! She opens herself up so much that she eventually tells him that she loves him (and asks to know his feelings, too, because she dislikes unclear relationships - meaning she doesn't want that sort of insecurity or worry hovering over her when it's better to just clear it up then and there).
But in the end, Hitagi is also practical and logical - stemming from her own intelligence in her studies (she obtained honors status in a prestigious private school, after all!) In the end, Hitagi is still someone who can fight and sees everything as a fighting strategy. This is, after all, the girl who uses office supplies as a weapon. She's very resourceful in that way. She remarks that "If your hands aren't free, you can't be free to fight." Her intense paranoia, distrust, and suspicious nature lead her to believe that Araragi, after offering help, is drawing her into some kind of trap. She's so distrustful she feels she can't even occupy her hands - they must always be free.
She quickly learns the social practice of refraining and pretending, of reading other peoples' moods and responding. Though tactlessness continues to be a trending pattern in her usual speech, when it comes to deeper conversation, she can be rather sensitive. When Araragi sees a ghost (and is not aware that it is a ghost, thus Hitagi couldn't see it), Hitagi plays along. To deny seeing the ghost would make both her weird for not seeing what he can and him weird for seeing something that isn't there. And having been abnormal her entire life, that isn't something she wants to feel again, and it isn't something she wants him to have to feel either. She may have even made up a story about not liking children because she felt awkward around them, so awkward she belittled herself and apologized to one. But should this story be true, it suggests that Hitagi has a sense of pride, so prideful that not understand and not being able to gauge childrens' reactions bothers her. It also suggests that she feels rather uncomfortable when unable to read other people - their reactions, their thoughts, and so on. Hitagi doesn't like that kind of uncertainty, as mentioned earlier with her dislike of vague relationships.
Because she's insecure. Hitagi, behind her sharp wit and condescending nature, is one of the most insecure people in the entire series. She views herself as the reason her entire family broke apart. Though she's glad she was able to fight off her attacker, there's also this lurking wish that it had happened - perhaps, then, her family wouldn't have been so destroyed (she begs for her family to return, to be like it once was, though she's more than aware that it won't change, she still hopes). It's here that she is the most humble - begging, asking, bowing. And because she's so insecure, she's afraid of becoming too close to Araragi. She refrains from letting anything get too far due to the attempted sexual assault because she's afraid of hating Araragi and losing him. He's given her so much (he's saved her, he loves her, he's with her), and so-
Hitagi doesn't like to owe others. She pays them back, and she does it correctly. Like all her other 'services,' Hitagi's date consists of giving him everything that she has - a cute underclassman, an awkward father, and a starry sky that mesmerizes. In that way, they're even. This is what she can do for him for all he's given her. This is her way of showing her appreciation, because it's all she knows how to do.
And finally, Hitagi is insanely jealous. Should Araragi start talking about another girl too often, she'll point a mechanical pencil mere centimeters from his eyeball and demand to know where his loyalties lie. She'll force him to choose between herself and another girl by, ironically, making him and the other girl to get along and go to shrines together. While she doesn't like mixed signals, she quite enjoys sending them from time to time. But overall she does trust him and she does love him. She just happens to be a little new to this.
[point in timeline you're picking your character from]: Post-anime
[journal post]: text
Araragi, you've lost me completely.
Sent 3:20 PM
You're not answering. I'd like to know where you've run off to.
Sent 3:21 PM
If you've gone to look for your virgin books, you can just forget about our next date.
Sent 3:31 PM
I'll never forgive you.
Sent 3:37 PM
That's not it. I mean to say that I'm worried. Please respond, Araragi. I don't know where I am, either.
Sent 3:51 PM
Would you prefer it if I sent you dirty lines instead?
Sent 4:01 PM
[third person / log sample]: He's warm laying next to her, their hands laced and pressed together and everything she wants them to be - there's something of a dearness in the way the grass pricks up underneath the blanket as they gaze at the stars (but imagine each other, she assumes, because that's how the girl's manga always depicts these kind of romantic scenes, and she knows she sees the shape of Araragi's curl of hair among the great constellations like a good, kind girlfriend should).
And there's a box of things tucked in her mind with all the things she wants to say - as it unpacks, spills from her mouth, a soothing heaviness rests in her limbs. It's pleasant, comforting, and human in the way it makes her heart clench and beat fast, in the way it seems to weigh Araragi's presence over her.
Not once does her voice crack or falter; not once do her eyes light up with a smile.
She makes something of a horrible heroine, and she understands this well (and she makes a silent promise to work better on her 'dere' characteristic while giving him what little, awkward pieces of things she has to offer him, and there aren't many but by the way he squeezes her hand, she knows he understands). But only a horrible heroine suits such an equally horrible mess of a hero who flusters and surely hides pictures of girls in cat ears and lingerie in folder after folder after folder after folder on his computer.
A pathetic virgin loser who happens to be her knight in shining armor (from her lack of normalcy, from the memories she didn't have, from the memories she did have, from the family she lost and broke herself).
She sighs happily, already quite looking forward to the date she expects from Araragi. She's sure he'll worry, fret, and make certain everything's perfect. Such a funny thing to watch, this boy as strange as she used to be wondering if she wants flowers and chocolates. All for her, not Kanbaru or Hanekawa because in the end he's made his choice (as he should, and the next time his eyes should stray, she'll make sure to pry them out with a colorful set of pens because she's at least generous enough to let him see a few colors before he loses his sight).
These days she doesn't feel so much of the dirty, wanting hands on her shoulders as she does the ghost of breath against her ear and the silhouette of her mother allowing it all. The presence of her father, however, his strong back and awkward conversation, reminds her, in a way, of Araragi (less virgin and less silly but a strength all the same).
And having them both in one night, to her, is something of a dream come true.
Add a few shooting stars, a few rosy backgrounds, and a few sound effects and perhaps the scene could be saved. She can almost hear the fangirls sighing, hands held over their hearts at the moe building within them.
She curls toward Araragi- only to roll straight into something that looks like a fountain.