"Hey Nabiki, have you stopped that story yet?" Ranma asked as he 
poked his head in her doorway.

"Well the first part of my plan was working but you know how 
stubborn he has turned out to be.  You know, this is turning out 
to be more expensive of an operation than I thought.  I had to 
pull a few strings, cashing in a few favors prematurely but I 
finally got him transferred to a different position that was just 
created," Nabiki told Ranma without looking at him since she was 
so busy typing away at the computer.

"You rewarded him with a promotion?  What kind of a punishment is 
that?  Geez, if we did that with everyone there is no telling what 
kinds of stories we would be put through," Ranma asked increduously 
as he walked up behind her.

Nabiki spun her chair around to look at Ranma.  "Oh no, no, not 
a promotion at all.  He was moved in a new position that was 
created to oversee the new scanning they will be doing.  To learn 
the equipment he has been putting in twelve plus hour shifts for 
several weeks.  Hahaha, and even better, since he is salaried he is 
only getting 50% of his normal rate of pay for all the extra hours.  
He is on the short end of the stick," she laughed as she enjoyed 
the first part of her plan.  "Unfortunately for you he still got 
the fifth part done."

"He WHAT!?!" Ranma started.  "Nabiki you were suppose to stop him.  
What happened to that 'brillant' plan of yours?"

"Simmer down Ranma.  I would've lost respect for him if he gave up 
so quickly, but don't worry this is only the first stage of my 
plan.  I just about have all the pieces I need to start the second 
phase, and it will kick-off very, very soon," Nabiki told him.  She 
spun back to the computer and started working again.  "Don't worry 
Ranma, after this next stage he will be so frightened of us that he 
wouldn't dare think of finishing it."

"I see how far he got," he said as he quickly read over the fic 
over her screen.  "It's bad. I didn't want to even get to that part, 
but I certainly don't want to see the part finished at all."

"Don't worry Ranma, I'm on the case.  Oh, by the way I have another 
job for you to do.  You see that costume over there?  Put it on and 
go to this address.  There's a professional photographer there and I 
want you to do exactly what he says.  You got it?" she asked as she 
stared straight into his eyes.

"Please Nabiki, please not that.  I will do anything you ask..." he 
pleaded as we leave the scene.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
Bonded

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
by Doug "daneel" Torneden
We all know who created the series but thanks and credit still
goes to the goddess Takahashi for creating it.

Chapter 5

The five youths entered the temple led by Akane who was gripping
Ryouga's arm in a vise grip hold that was preventing the blood from
flowing down his arm.  Ryouga didn't notice the pain,  nor did he notice
the increasing tingling in his hand.  Ryouga couldn't notice anything at
that moment since he was so lost in pleasure.  As he was dragged along
by Akane, he merely gave a weak laugh as his glazed eyes stared at
Akane.  "She's holding my arm.  She's holding my arm.  She's holding my
arm.  She's holding my arm.  She's holding my arm.  She's ...." Ryouga
constantly reiterated in his head.  All he could think of was that her
hand was sweetly wrapped around his arm.  He was amazed at the
gentleness in her touch as it laid lightly on his arm.  His heart
swelled at the realization that she didn't want him to get lost.

Akane stomped toward a young priest she saw in the grand hallway just
inside the entrance.  She stopped just in front of him and had to pull
Ryouga back when he tried to blindly keep going.  She heard Ranma and
the others stop just behind her.

"Airen, when you get cure you take Shampoo to date?" she said as much as
she asked Ranma.  She had her head lying gently on his left shoulder
while gripping his arm tightly to her body.  She knew Ranma could feel
her body because he was turning red and looked a little embarrassed by
her forwardness.  She knew that with the consistent reminder of what the
body under the dress felt like that sooner or later his teenage hormones
would take over and she would be able to show Ranma that she was the
only choice he had for a wife.  She was bound and determined to make him
happy once he made her happy by finally committing to her.

"Sorry Shampoo, Ran-chan was engaged to me first so if he is going to
take anyone out for a date it's going to be me, right Ranma?" Ukyou
asked from the other side.  She too had her head on his shoulder while
having her arms wrapped tightly around his right arm.  She enjoyed being
close to him like this.  It would have been better if she was alone with
him.  She cast a watchful eye over at Shampoo on the other side.  She
didn't trust her at all.  She didn't expect Shampoo to break their
truce; Shampoo really was honorable even if she had some strange rules
of honor.  Ukyou was more worried that Shampoo might take advantage of
the situation to try another potion or something devious.  She wasn't
worried about Akane right now since she was so upset with Ranma at the
moment that she was dragging Ryouga unmercilessly along.  She could
sense that Ranma was getting a little jealous with Ryouga so she tried
to remind him that she was right there for him.  "Ranma, when you're
cured I'm going to make you a special deluxe Okonomiyaki to celebrate
when we go back to my restaurant, how's that sound Ran-chan?" she asked.

Ranma looked eagerly over at her and licked his lips.  "Gee, Ucchan,
that sounds great."  It never dawned on him that she was trying to get
him alone so she could encourage him to take their relationship more
seriously.  She was happy to get any time with her fiancee she could.

During this whole time Akane tried to act like she wasn't listening to
them.  She wanted Ranma to think she couldn't care less about him and
that the attention he was lavishing on the other girls didn't make her
jealous.  Her knuckles soon turned white as her grip on Ryouga's arm
tightened further.  Luckily, Ryouga he had already blissed out so he
felt none of the torture his arm was receiving.  All he cared about was
that Akane was holding his arm.

"Ah, Ryouga, I see your friend Ranma has arrived.  You must be eager to
see the master so I'll show you to the temple's ceremonial room where
the master just happens to be," the priest said as he spoke to Ryouga
while looking over the group.  He was surprised at the look of total
happiness on Ryouga's face.  *His curse must plague him even deeper than
I thought if he's this happy,* he thought to himself.  *It's nice to see
the black mood that was surrounding him gone now.  And not as dangerous
too,* he added when thinking back to earlier.  He stepped up to Ranma
and bowed slightly.  "It is an honor, young sir, to meet someone who
holds friendship so tightly.  You do us all honor," he told Ranma then
turned around quickly to lead the master.

"What was that all about," Ranma asked no one in particular and received
only "I don't know" from everyone else.

Ranma finally was able to struggle out of the grasp of Shampoo and Ukyou
as he walked beside Ryouga and leaned to his ear.  "Hey P-chan," Ranma
whispered loud enough to make sure Ryouga heard him but not loud enough
that anyone else could.

Ryouga's trip through Never-Neverland was rudely ended as those dreaded
words entered his brain.  Shaking his head clear for a minute he snapped
his head to the side to look at Ranma, "How dare you call me that in
front of Akane."

"Yo Ryouga chill, I was just trying to get you back to the land of the
living.  Now how's this cure the curse thingie supposed to work," Ranma
answered back trying to calm him down.  "You didn't say much in your
letter ya know."

"Umm, well, the priest explained it to me but it all was so boring. 
Basically it takes two of us to get cured.  That's the strange thing
about this place, everything seems to work in two's," Ryouga told Ranma.

"As long as I get cured I don't care how many of us it takes," Ranma
finished as he stood back up straight which Shampoo and Ukyou took as a
signal to glomp onto each arm but with a grip that told him that he
wasn't getting lose again easily.

The priest led the group down the hall.  Each of them marveled at the
scale of the place.  From the outside one would think this hallway
couldn't fit in here much less leave room for anything else.  The
ceiling seemed to reach a height of 50 ft. with pillars reaching from
floor to ceiling.  The ceiling was solid black.  None of the group could
figure out if it was just painted or a dark ebony stone but the effect
was that there seemed to be no roof but just a dark void existing above
their heads.  The floor itself was a solid red carpet that ran the
length of the hall leaving no other part of the floor underneath
visible.  The carpet almost seemed to devour the sounds of their
footfalls.  It was amazing how quiet it was.  The pillars were an
unblemished white marble spaced on either sides of doorways leading off
the hall.  The sheer size of the place made Ranma feel small.  His curse
seemed insignificant in a place like this.  He wondered if the others
felt the same as he did.  Looking around at the stares of the others he
knew they did.

They finally reached the doorway at the end of the hall.  This door was
a double door that had to be twice the size as all the other doors
they'd past.  The door on the right was the same unfathomable black as
the ceiling.  If there wasn't a white handle somehow attached to the
door Ranma would have walked right into it thinking it was a dark
passageway.  The other door was the same red as the carpet and had a
white handle attached to it.  This handle didn't appear to be floating
in nothingness like the other handle.  The priest grabbed both handles
and pulled outward.  The doors opened soundlessly as they swung open to
reveal an altar room within.

If Ranma was awed by the hallway, he was mystified by the altar room
before him.  He smirked at the others when he heard the whispered 'aahs'
of the others until he realized that one of those voices was his. 
Ryouga was right about this place being a little strange; Ranma knew
that this altar room before him was just to vast to reside within the
temple he saw before entering.  If any place could hold a cure for him,
this place had to be it.  It screamed mystical power from every corner
of the room.

The young priest led the group down the low sloping stairs that were
still covered with red carpet.  As they walked the down the stairs each
of them started glancing around the room.  All of them that is except
Ryouga, he was still lost in his dream world as he was led by Akane.  He
didn't see the ceilings so high that they were lost in the shadows that
the light from the fire in the central altar or the numerous candles
lining the multi-leveled shelves on the walls could not reach into it. 
These shadows gave the black roof an even more ominous depth to them.

Ukyou unconsciously released Ranma's arm as she stared around the room. 
She tried to count the number of rows of benches she saw but couldn't
keep her mind clear enough to stay counting long.  The benches were on
all four sides of the altar.  *Why would they need so many seats in this
place, what goes on here anyway?* she thought to herself as the feeling
of smallness this place invoked in her started to make her nervous.  She
had to struggle to resist the impulse to run fleeing from this place. 
She took limited comfort from the fact that her Ran-chan was there
beside her, but it was enough to keep her from bolting.

Akane was still dragging Ryouga along but him and Ranma was far from her
mind at the moment.  She was staring at the central altar with wonder as
she slowly approached it.  The altar was a square raised platform
painted white.  There was an enormous fire in the center in a recessed
pit.  Surrounding the altar was a circular wooden railing with only one
entrance through the railing.  As she got closer she saw an older man
sitting before a red and black cloth laid out on the floor with various
bottles, bowls and other objects that could not be made out from where
she was.

Shampoo too slowly released Ranma's arm.  With the training her
great-grandmother had given her she sensed great power here.  It laid
heavy over everything here and there were symbols of it all around her. 
Midway on each wall above the doorways leading in was a large red and
black yin-yang.  She also noticed the temple guardians surrounding the
altar in a protective stance.  She wasn't surprised to see them in this
temple but whether they were here to protect the priests or the altar
itself she couldn't determine.  Looking closely at the older priest
kneeling before a red and black sheet she saw all the various elements
needed for powerful magic.  As the priest stood and turned to face them
she saw a red and black emblem of yin-yang over his heart on his
otherwise spotless white robe.  She then realized that all the priests,
acolytes, and guards there were wearing the same thing.  Well, she
amended to herself, the guards' are shorter to allow them to fight
easier.  She counted five acolytes standing in reverence and three
priests ready to assist the older priest.  Shampoo looked closer at the
altar platform and noticed two incomplete circles with arcane symbols.
One was drawn with red chalk and the other with black chalk.

"Ryouga, I see your friends have arrived finally.  Welcome to our little
temple, you must be Ryouga's friend Ranma.  We are honored to have you
here.  True friendship as yours' is hard to find in these days," the
priest said as he switched his attention from Ryouga to Ranma and bowed
to both.  "It's been a long time since I've gotten to perform the
ceremony but I still remember it well.  I assume he explained to you
your part in the ceremony?"

"He told me you needed the two of us for the cure to work so I got here
as fast as I could," Ranma said with a slight trace of excitement
building in his voice.  He was anxious for the priest to begin the
ceremony.  "How long will this take and what do you need me to do?"  he
asked hoping to get the priest to hurry along with the cure.

"So Ranma, you suffer from a Jusenkyo curse correct?  Since the ritual
is specific it must be a Jusenkyo curse," the priest informed Ranma to
make sure the ceremony will work as intended.  

"Hai," Ranma simply replied.

"I see you both are more than ready to get started.  Okay, Ryouga enter
the circle on the left, the black one, and Ranma you'll enter the circle
on the right in red.  Both of you need to mediate.  Can you do that?"

Both boys nodded and closed their eyes.  Ranma began to measure his
breathing as he relaxed and allowed his mind to peacefully release all
thoughts and troubles.  It was true that he generally had trouble
initially entering a mediated trance but that was because his dad's
training on it was flawed.  He used an ancient text to train his son but
failed to turn the page over and missed some of the relaxation steps. 
Ranma however found that with enough time he would eventually enter that
state.  With the importance of the situation he found this time he
easily slipped into it.

Akane, Ukyou, and Shampoo each took a seat on the first bench where the
priest showed them.  Each girl sat uncomfortably next to each other. 
They had agreed to a truce until after Ranma got cured, but each
exchanged wary glances.  Each girl turned her attention back to the
ceremony with quiet expectation believing that her fiance was about to
be cured and could then take her as his wife.

Soon Ranma and Ryouga were both deep in meditation and the other priests
stepped forward to finish the circles while the older priest was busy
preparing the ceremony.  He was muttering an ancient prayer in a
language none of them could quite hear well enough to make out.  He
poured water from a sacred urn into three bowls.  One he set to the
side; the other two he placed in the fire pit.  He then started mixing
into two more bowls, one black and one red, various liquids and powders
while still uttering an incomprehensible prayer.  Shampoo with her
limited knowledge with Amazonian spells was watching with interest as he
continued his ceremony.  She noticed though that each bowl was being
made with different ingredients.  She began to have a bad feeling about
this but couldn't quite figure out the reason for the uneasiness.

Not being able to shake the feeling she felt she needed to see if the
others noticed anything.  Shampoo whispered to Ukyou, "Spatula-girl,
Shampoo have bad feeling about this ceremony."

"What's wrong Shampoo?" Akane asked with concern creeping into her
voice.

"Shampoo not sure, something not right about ceremony."

Akane and Ukyou looked uneasily at each other.  Neither of them had any
experience with magic so had to accept Shampoo's trepidation.  Akane was
about to question further when one of the assisting priests looked
sharply at the three girls hushing them.

Finally finishing his prayer the priest removed a bowl from the fire and
poured the mixture from the black bowl into the hot water bowl. He
turned and walked up to Ryouga still speaking in a language none of them
could fully understand.  Shampoo tried to draw on the archaic languages
Cologne taught her to read.  She was beginning to start picking out a
few words like 'one,' 'cure,' and 'curse' from the priest but little
else.  The priest stopped in front of Ryouga and poured the hot liquid
over the markings of the circle.  The priest returned to the preparation
area and grabbed the second bowl of water and placed the last bowl into
the fire pit.  He retrieved the red bowl and poured the contents into
the second bowl.  He grabbed the new mixture and a thin red and black
cord.  He laid the cord out between Ranma and Ryouga.

Shampoo was still trying to put a finger on her intuition.  Looking
around the temple with its various symbols of Yin and Yang, the
predominant red and black colors.  She recalled the use of the colors
and symbols in the ceremony's preparations.  Things started to fall into
place slowly for her.  Phrases started to become clearer.  She started
to hear the phrase 'one cured, one cursed, both bonded together' in the
prayer.  She stood up suddenly, "Ranma, no go through with spell.  Cure
not for you!"

Akane and Ukyou hearing this sudden outburst followed Shampoo as she
rushed toward Ranma.  The guardians hearing Shampoo's exclamation
stepped forward to block the girls from interfering.  Ranma deep in his
trance heard nothing as the priest poured the water around him and
stepped back from the two.

Shampoo upon seeing the guards move to intercept her approach whipped
out her bonbori hidden somewhere in her outfit.  Ukyou grabbed her
battle spatula from her back and flipped the first guard that reached
her.  Shampoo blocked an attack from one of the young men with her
bonbori while planting a foot to the face of another knocking him
backwards.  Akane spun to kick an attacker and dodged a fist from a
second.  With a few more dodges Akane found the opening she was waiting
for and struck him squarely on the jaw crumpling him to the floor.  She
spun to see Ukyou's spatula crash down on the head of another attacker
then she swung hard behind her to hear the ring of the spatula slamming
her last attacker to the floor while Shampoo bopped the remaining guard
on the head.  All three girls turned to stop the ceremony.

The priest raised his arms as his prayer ended and shouted, "One will be
cured, One will be cursed, Both will be bonded together forever."  There
was a flash of light as the red and black cord flared brightly.

Akane watched with fear as the cord seemed to burn with a magical fire
that raced toward Ranma and Ryouga.  The circles suddenly blazed with a
bright light.  Akane could not see Ranma through the red light
surrounding him or the black light around Ryouga.

"You know, Akane, I don't think I've ever seen black light before,"
Ukyou whispered in awe.  "It more than just a little spooky," she said
as she shuddered.

Suddenly the lights flared brightly causing all present to shield their
eyes and then it vanished leaving those in the room blinking to regain
their vision.  Sitting on the floor was Ryouga to the left and
Ranma-chan to the right.  Ukyou saw the results of the ceremony and was
the first to reach the platform to grab Ryouga by the collar yanking him
to his feet.

"Alright you Jack-ass!  What did you do to my Ran-chan?" she yelled in
his face as Ryouga blinked slowly as the words sank in.  He hadn't had
time to think about the cure yet so looked over at Ranma.  His face was
frozen with his mouth gaping open.  His brain trying to recall the
priest's talks with him, but nothing came back except the priest's
insistence that two cursed individuals were needed for the cure to work.

As soon as Ranma opened his eyes he looked triumphantly down to check
his cured form and was startled to see he was in his girl form instead. 
Akane and Shampoo quickly reached Ranma and looked apprehensively at
her.  Ranma gained her feet and turned to Akane, "Quick Akane, get me
some hot water."

Nodding quickly she turned and shoved an acolyte that happened to stand
between her and the unused bowl still in the fire she saw earlier.  She
carefully retrieved the bowl from the fire making sure not to burn her
hands or spill the water.  A recovered guard tried to step in front of
Akane but a suddenly descending bonbori put the guard back down on the
ground as Shampoo was anxious for Akane to give Ranma the hot water so
she could see if her growing suspicion was correct.  Akane was a little
surprised at the help from Shampoo until she noticed the worried look in
her eyes and realized that she was just doing it for Ranma.  She gave
Ranma the water bowl and Ranma quickly dumped it over her head.  She was
anticipating the change to happen but it never came.

Ranma's fury exploded as the results of Ryouga's so called cure were
revealed to her.  "Ryouga!!  What have you done to me!?!  You'll pay for
this!!!" she yelled and launched herself at Ryouga.  Ryouga still
brain-locked just stood and stared as Ranma leapt through the air at
him.  Just as Ranma reached Ryouga a voice with tremendous power rang
through the altar room, "That is ENOUGH.  There will be no more fight on
the scared altar."

Everyone stopped and slowly turned to look at the priest.  He looked
around the group of youths that was generating this destruction in this
scared place.  "Now that everyone is calm will someone tell me what is
wrong to cause such a horrible display in this temple?" he asked.

"What's wrong!?! I'll tell you what's wrong.  I'm a girl!" Ranma tried
to keep her voice calm as she told the priest.  In her frustration she
clenched her fists and glared at Ryouga.

As the priest looked around he noticed that all three girls were glaring
at Ryouga.  "Of course you're a girl now you willingly made the
sacrifice of being in your cursed-form permanently so that your friend
could be cured of his curse," the priest explained to Ranma.  He looked
at the now young girl trying to figure out why they all were behaving
like they were mad at Ryouga.  
Ranma looked stunned as the words of being stuck as a girl sunk in.  Her
knees suddenly gave way underneath her and she sank to the altar
platform.

"Stuck as a girl?" she looked up to the priest with despair in her eyes
growing, "I.. I can't be stuck as a girl again."  Ranma's head lowered
to look at the floor as she tried to deal with this sudden switch of
being permanently cursed instead of permanently cured.  "I'm a guy, I'm
a guy," she kept uttering.  Ranma knew she should be more upset but
somehow the anger could find no direction to be focused at.  *Ryouga did
this to me, but why can't I make myself mad at him for long?* she
thought to herself as she realized that each time she tried to focus
that anger at him it just slipped from her hands like sludge oozing out
of a fist till nothing was left in the hand but a stain of what was
there and the sludge reformed whole again out of one's grip.

"Sacrifice?  What sacrifice?  This was supposed to be a cure for both of
us," Ryouga asked the priest as he started feeling guilty for Ranma's
predicament.  He was the one who brought Ranma here.

"Ryouga I explained the cure/curse ceremony to you multiple times.  How
could you think that both would be cured?  You know that one must accept
their curse for the other to be cured," the priest explained to the
young man with bafflement showing on his face that Ryouga didn't know
this.

"Ryouga's cured?" Akane asked the priest, "cured of what?  He doesn't
have a curse like Ranma."

"Of course Ryouga had a curse, how could I've of cured him otherwise?"
the priest answered.  He was being to get a mild headache as these kids
kept asking him the obvious.

Akane's eyes light up as the pieces fell into place.  Ryouga seeing the
look on Akane's face knew that his darkest secret he held from her was
known at last.  *She knows* he thought to himself.  She wouldn't ever
want anything to do with him again.  He saw all his dreams of their
future together shattered into a million pieces so small he'd never have
a chance to re-construct them again.

"Ryouga?  Are you really cured of your bad sense of direction?" Akane
asked Ryouga with complete honesty.

Ryouga for his part just stared at her.  This was not what he was
expecting from her.  His dreams that had been shattered so badly that he
knew he couldn't fix them miraculously reformed again strong as ever. 
"I.. I.. I don't know."

"Wait, Ryouga do you suffer from another curse?" the priest asked Ryouga
quickly.

Looking at the priest Ryouga answered while putting his hand behind his
head and laughed slightly, "I wouldn't call it a curse really.  It's
just that my family all take a little longer to find our way to where we
what to go.  It's been that way for generations in my family."

*Another curse?* Akane thought to herself but was interrupted from
following that up when the priest spoke again.

"This is not good.  If you had multiple curses and Ranma only had one
the spell is unbalanced.  There's no telling what the unexpected results
will be."

*What have I done?* Ryouga thought to himself.  "I'm so sorry Ranma.  I
didn't know.  I really thought the cure was for both of us," he said to
Ranma.

"Obviously this ceremony shoulda never been performed.  Had I known that
either Ryouga had two curses or that both didn't realize that one was
here as a sacrifice I would have refused to perform it," the priest
responded with regret.

Ranma looked up suddenly to the priest, "reverse the cure," he simply
stated.

"You can't.  I can't.  It's permanent.  The forces used are so powerful
that trying to reverse it would be catastrophic.  You will have to learn
to live with your new lives and the bond that was created," the priest
answered Ranma.

Ranma felt like the other shoe just dropped.  "What bond?  What are you
talking about now?"

The priest just shook his head and felt that headache grow in size.  "I
guess since Ryouga didn't hear the part about the cure and curse he
didn't hear the part about the bond created between the two
participates.  Since one is left in their curse-form a bond is created
between the two with the cured becoming a sort of protector.  When the
curse-form is an animal it generally takes the form of human and pet. 
In this case the two are human, and in particular male and female.  I
would assume that the two of you will become tied together," the priest
said while trying to leave the possible bond unspoken but known.

"Me, Ranma's lover?  There is no way that'll ever happen," Ryouga
snapped back.

"Oh don't worry Ryouga," Ranma said with nervous tones in her voice,
"there's no way I'm letting you near me.  In fact I wouldn't care if I
never saw you again for the rest of my life."  Ranma just knelt on the
platform trying to restore some kind of order to her thoughts.  She knew
she should have been angrier but it just wasn't there.  That worried
her.  She was afraid that somehow she was changing and the possibility
that she would some day love... She yanked her thoughts from that
direction.

Ukyou and Akane both knelt down beside Ranma trying to comfort their
fiancee.  Shampoo, however, walked up to the priest.  "Shampoo need's
talk with priest," she told the priest as she decided she needed to get
more information so she could talk with her great-grandmother.  She just
knew that she would know how to cure Ranma if anyone did.  Ranma then
would be so grateful with her that he'd marry her.  She had the perfect
opportunity to finally gaining Ranma's complete love.  Shampoo and the
priest walked off to the side to talk.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
end of chapter 5
in the next part Ranma learns what type of bond is between him and
Ryouga.

Author's notes:  Yeah, got chosen to be the one at work to oversee the 
implementing and training for our new scanner at work.  I was working 12
hour days five days a week for several weeks so it took sometime to get 
this part finished and out.  I still finished despite the doings of two 
certain people.  Please C&C wanted as always.