Fangs: The Order

by Sapphic

Testing

When I entered the cell room once again, the smell of something distinct and pungent assaulted my nose. An unmistakable smell that I had become use to and could identify on a dime, even most untrained ponies knew this smell if they had enough time.

Blood. And lots of it.

My eyes widened as Vinyl came to mind.

I hastily trotted down the cell wall, hoof placed onto the wall to guide my way through the darkness. Thoughts and images of Vinyl face deep in the trough filled my head as I got closer, though when I finally got there I found that she was laying down with her head over her eyes with her ears tucked away. She was a lot closer to the front of the cell that before, a possible sign that she might have tried to be getting out.

Though if that was the case, why wasn't she out?

It was a sad sight, and I assumed it was just her self control conflicting with her instinct, but when I looked over to where the trough was, I found it empty.

'Why the hell's it empty? Are they not trying to feed her.' I thought, then a realization struck me.

They weren't trying to feed her. Yet.

Right now, they were trying to break her inhibitions before offering it to her. They were going to just let the sounds and smell of the others vampires feasting get to her so that when they actually offered her blood she would gorge on it instantly. This would make sure the blood was more potent in boosting her strength, thanks to being more fresh.

My eyes turned back to the huddled form of Vinyl, my heart wrenching as I took her in.

And judging by how Vinyl was looking right now, it would only be a little white before they fed her.

"Vinyl?"

Her eyes twitched and her back shivered at the sound of my voice, a sight enough to make me recoil a little.

Vinyl was like a spring when she was like this. A very unreliable and tightly coiled spring. She could occasionally loosen safely and slowly, though there were always the times that she would simple 'jolt' into a state of hunting.

And Vinyl hunting, was not a good thing to see.

In fact, the only time I had seen her 'lose' while she was hunting was when me, Octavia and my sister managed to get her drunk and beat her in the horn with a stick a couple times until she passed out.

"Heh, Octavia'd probably make things interesting right about now." I thought aloud, not realizing what I had just said in front of who.

When I turned back down to her eyes from the space I had been staring off of in thought, I saw that she had raised a single hoof to reveal a wide eye that was staring at me.

I could tell clearly what she was thinking through that eye alone.

She wanted Octavia, because she wanted to feed.

Her love for her was still there, but it was mixed in with her hunger and lust to form a new sort of emotion. As if all three were bunched together and forced to be one.

"H-Hey...Uh, try not to, you know, drink it." I stammered.

It wasn't too hard to believe that I'd be a bit uncomfortable in front of Vinyl right now. I mean, I brought her to prison and now she was being pushed beyond the point of inhibition and self control.

Not exactly two things you'd like to have going on at the same time.

The sound of the door opening behind me took my attention for a split second, causing me to give a brief look back to the entrance before returning my gaze to the now empty looking cell.

'Yeah, don't think my little speech helped her resolve to not drink any thing.' I thought to myself, turning back towards the entrance to see Care walking towards me.

"Salutations, cohort!" He cheered, reaching his hoof around to sleek it through his mane. It was around now I noticed the grizzled look he had, for his position.

Stone wore his beard well, a part of him, but Care's "beard" looked more like a lawn after getting mowed by a lawnmower with one wheel that was too big. It gave him a tired look, which went with the tone that he used to address everybody with perfectly. Tired and slightly sarcastic.

"A bit friendly today?" I asked, interested in his sudden change of demeanor from yesterday. He was a lot more casual.

"Indeed, a good nights sleep will do wonders for the body." He said, stretching his neck, "How's our guest settling in?"

"Well, I won't comment. But I will say you guys are really asking for it if you keep this depriving thing up." I said.

"Good. That's the point, but you probably knew that already."

"Yeah."

It went silence as we both stared into the empty looking cell of Vinyl's.

"She sure is a quiet one. Most the ones get in here are thrashing for a day or two." He commented.

"Are you ready?" I asked, interrupting him.

He turned to me and cocked a brow, though I kept staring at Vinyl's cage.

"For what, exactly?"

"For her mother and mare friend to come and try and get he back. Heck, sis might come join in too." I said.

"Three people? Well, her mother might be the biggest concern out of those three, her lover - from what I've been told from Flint and Stone - is still an unknown and your sister may be the least biggest threat; no offense." He said, taking a pretty levelheaded analysis on the spot.

Definitely the brains of the four so far. Then again, I hadn't really ever say down with any of them but Flint. Stone seemed pretty calm and rational, albeit a bit prideful. Care was definitely brains over brawn, and Flint was the exact opposite of that if you could consider magic a form of brawn.

And the last one, Silver, I had no idea.

She was probably silver.

That'd be pretty cool.

"Just saying, you can expect that 'thrashing' you're missing out on now to come when those three get here."

"I hope not. I'd like to see if I could get some out of her here in the next twenty minutes or so once this horrid smell gets to her." He said, sliding and letting me move past him, apparently wanting to remain there awhile longer. I noted his nose was wrinkled in disgust, staying true to his word.

"Just be careful around her. She's not that intelligent, but she's definitely smart." I said, leaving that as my final contribution to the conversation.

"Say, Miss Scratch?" I asked as we walked down a hallway towards what could only have been the weight room.

"Yes dear?"

"Do you sincerely not remember your name?" I had been teetering on asking that question for a while now, though always thought the timing rude, but I couldn't take it anymore.

I needed to call her something else. With Vinyl it was fine because she constantly insisted otherwise, but with Vinyl's mother she actually preferred it and it was now reaching my etiquette limit.

She stopped mid-stride and put a hoof up to her chin in thought.

"Hmmm..." She hummed.

'Does she actually have to think about it? Did she actually not remember it?'

"I'd like to say Concierta, but I just can't say for sure." She said happily, resuming her stride and apparently considering that a feasible answer. Which it was, just not what I would have thought.

"So how does Vinyl remember her name so well then?" I asked, getting a giggle out of her.

"Do you assume that's her name?" She asked.

"Is it not?" I replied.

"How long do you think vinyl records have been around Octavia? Much less the art of scratching it." She commented.

A good as answer as any. And of course by that I mean I just had someone beat around the bush and change subjects as to avoid the actual answer to the original answer, yet I somehow still felt as though I received it.

I should just stop asking questions. It only wastes my time.

"Do you suppose this is the gym the mentioned?" Mother Scratch asked, shaking me from my thoughts and drawing my gaze up to a metal door with spots of rust.

"I'd suppose so. it's the only door around us." I said, taking note of the lack of any other doors.

"Perfect!" She said, opening the door immediately and trotting in without a second of thought or hesitation.

Sometimes I am truly jealous of the lack of consideration vampires have.

I hurried in behind her, not wanting to lose her, though from what I could hear coming from inside the room, I already knew what it was we were walking into.

Rock.

Heavy rock.

There is not much that I can say I truly despise in this world, but subsections of the genre of music known as rock is most definitely one of them. It may be thanks to the respect and care for my instruments that I picked up on my path of learning the cello in comparison to how most rock groups treated instruments, or it might just be a dislike for them in general, but something about them just... irked me.

Whatever it was about it, it wasn't just my opinion of it, my body physically can not cope with rock music..

And I don't mean all of rock, but just the certain types of rock. You know, the ones where they shave half their mane and then grow out the center part they didn't shave. Or the type where everybody just screams and it sounds like a trash compact with a bag of razors in it?

Yes, that kind of rock.

My stomach would wind up in knots and my head would begin to ache. I can recall that there was a time a few years ago that I actually broke out because of a street band nearby.

It just wasn't for me.

My friends called it the "barbarians muse", which I couldn't agree with more.

Luckily for me, that's exactly what was playing.

Joy.

The gym itself was about everything I had imagined it to be. Colorless, slate walls with mirrors spaced out every here in there so someone could admire themselves. Blue mats were placed in a few places, though the majority of the floor was composed of dark grey looking material. Florescent lights lit the place, making the majorly grey looking room look somewhat lively. Well, that and the inspirational picture hung up next to the mirrors.

Then there was the equipment. Each machine looking like a torture device of its own sorts, and each of them color blue with black accents.

There were a few ponies inside, almost all of them were stallions, though there were a hoof full of mares inside as well. I noted that each of the people inside almost all strayed to two sort of stereotypes. The first was the typical jock, meathead like the two we had run into outside. The second, quite simply, just looked like someone either just out of, or still currently in, prison.

As we walked further in, I noted that there was a stallion sitting behind a desk reading a newspaper. He had what looked like a cigar sticking out of his mouth, and was sitting in front of a refrigerator filled with an assortment of what had to have been energy and protein drinks.

As we walked by, he raised a brow and took the cigar out.

"How'd you two lasses get in here?" He asked, referencing to the two outside.

Vinyl's mother smiled and was prepared to answer, most likely with some sort of reference to the two outside, but the stallion suddenly changed his mind.

"Ah, know what? Never mind. We need some new faces in here. And if yah got past those two then you can't be too weak." He said, offering a smile before putting his cigar back in

I looked to Vinyl's mother, who's response was a simple shrug, and we kept on.

After getting towards the center of the gym, under the numerous lecherous, lewd, and judging looks of everyone inside the gym, Vinyl's mother suddenly turned to me.

"Alright, get on." She said, gesturing to a flat looking bench with a bar held over it.

"On that?" I asked, gesturing to the bench.

"Well I'm not doing it." She insisted.

"And what are you doing then?"

"Watching and providing excellent moral support." She said.

I could actually feel the deadpan in my face.

"Get it open." One of the guards said, causing one of the other guards to begin fumbling through a key ring.

General Care had deemed it time to begin testing on Vinyl, and so I was sent down with a group of guards to help escort her to the room where they'd be doing it. All things considered, they probably only needed someone to come down here and just ask her nicely. Hell, they wouldn't even need to unlock the door if they asked Vinyl, she'd probably just bust them down.

I was starting to feel like a mother who just realized how much there kid had grown. I had never expected Vinyl to be as strong as she was back on the ride over here. She must've been feeding for a little, it was the only logical answer. Even back at the castle when she was fighting, she seemed more intent on using magic and speed to fight as opposed to raw strength.

"Is she in there?" One asked, moving a bit closer to the cell.

"She is." I answered.

Seemingly at the sound of my voice, Vinyl emerged from the back of the cell and came towards the door. Her head was hung low, letting her mane sag in front of her face just enough that her eyes were hidden but her mouth was not.

And on her mouth was a sad frown.

The guards seemed to get a bit uncomfortable at the sight of her, but quickly shook it off and opened the door, bows and daggers held at her.

Vinyl walked out of the cell as if they weren't even there. She actually seemed to play chicken with on of the guards, walking closer and closer towards one of the daggers until the guard backed up as to avoid stabbing her.

She seemed content enough with that reaction and came to a halt, waiting for someone to lead her.

'Somethings...wrong.' I thought to myself.

It was obvious, but this time was a bit different than her 'scary' moods. It just...was.

The only guard who had spoke so far took the lead and headed towards the exit, Vinyl meandering along at her own speed and I followed that speed. It was almost like she was daring one of the other guards to push her to go faster. Luckily, none of them did. I

Once we were out of the cell block, the guard stopped at a intersection and looked to me.

"General Care wants you in the observation deck. We'll take her from here." She said firmly.

I gave Vinyl a look, hoping for her to return one to me.

She didn't.

'Vinyl...' I said to myself.

I sighed and simply nodded before walking off to where I thought the "observation deck" was.

What a stupid name. It was a room with a unicorn and some glass that looked over an empty room, not an "observation deck".

I gave the door a knock, getting a response composed of shuffling papers and what sounded like a cup breaking before the doors opened up with a disheveled looking Care in front of me. Even more disheveled than usual.

"Welcome." He said simply, moving aside and letting me enter into the room that looked slightly messy.

"Please excuse the mess, my assistant here spilled the coffee we had ordered." He said sheepishly, gesturing to Maple who was feverishly cleaning a brown puddle that was on both the floor and table.

"No problem." I said, sounding rather lifeless.

I found a comfy seat near the glass paneling at the side of the room opposite from the door, sitting there while I watched the general and Maple clean the stain up as a team. She seemed a lot more at ease around Care, which I guess would make sense a little since he seemed to be the least threatening outwardly. Stone was, well he was Stone, and Flint was as abrasive as always.

Care, on the other hoof, seemed a little bit clumsy and casual.

Thinking on the generals got me thinking about the still unknown fourth one, but I put it to rest as Care and Maple finished up their cleaning and got ready.

I noticed that the doors on the bottom floor opened up, Vinyl walking into the all white room and nearly blending in with the background. She probably would've been completely invisible if it weren't for her mane and the shadow around her.

"Well, it's good to know that she can take an initiative." Care mumbled, referencing that he hadn't signaled for the guards to let her enter.

"So, what exactly are these 'physical examinations' made up of?" I asked, getting a bit worried for Vinyl's sake.

"Well, I'll let you see." He said, nodding to the ever present unicorn mare who seemed to occupy the same seat, who then lit her horn.

I turned back to the testing floor and noticed a small panel on the ground that was wrapped in the same color as the mare's magic. The panel opened up, and an odd looking machine rose up from the ground. It had a rather thick looking barrel on it, about seven inches long and roughly an inch or two thick. The base of it was as sleek as the rest of the room -- pure white.

My eyes widened in realization.

I turned back to Care, eyes filled with the fear of him shooting what I assumed was a cannon at Vinyl.

He only smiled and pressed a button on the desk he was sitting at, a desk that was also pressed snugly up to the glass paneling of the room that looked more like the booth Vinyl sat in at the club back when she still had a booth.

"Miss Vinyl?" He asked politely.

I turned back to the ground floor and noticed Vinyl looking around in curiosity.

"We're up here, Vinyl." He said, waving his hoof and getting Vinyl's attention before continuing.

"We're going to be analyzing your physical abilities and prowess today, and to do that we are going to be putting you through a series of tests that we have devised. I hope that you are cooperative for both your sake and ours up here in the booth." He said, sounding surprisingly kind.

She nodded and took a seat on her haunches, and though it was hard to make out from my place up in the room, I could have sworn I saw a playful smile.

"Very good, we will begin now." He said, raising his hoof and inching it towards another button that I could only assume did one thing.

"No! Don't shoot!" I shouted, though it was too late. His hoof hit the button full on and the button lit up in a menacing red color.

I turned back to the ground floor just in time to see a vague yellow object fly from the machine's barrel and hurdle towards Vinyl. I could only clench my eyes shut and awaited the inevitable boom to come from the explosion.

Though it never came.

When I peaked my eyes open, I saw Vinyl sprawled across the ground, hooves clutching her head, and a yellow object nearby her that was slowly rolling off to the side.

"Owww~" I heard Vinyl whine from the floor below through what I assumed where the two way speakers.

I took my eyes off her and narrowed them on the yellow, ball shaped, object.

"Is that a..."

Two distinct made themselves known and my suspicions were confirmed.

"...a tennis ball?"

I turned back to General Care, not sure if this was a prank or not, and at a complete loss for word. Meanwhile, all he could do was throw his hooves up and huff in annoyance.

"Look, we're having budget cuts in the department okay? It's all we could afford in order to keep the labs in peak condition."

"But...a tennis ball machine?" I asked, still not believing that a group of trained assassins were using a piece of sports machinery to test the 'physical boundaries' of creatures of legend.

"'Ohhh~ A tennis ball machine, really? Wow.'" He said, mocking what I assumed was my voice before dropping to a deadpanned face and tone.

"Yes, it's a tennis ball machine. Get over it." He said, rolling his eyes back down to the testing floor and pressing the red button again.

"Miss Scratch? Are you okay?" He asked.

Vinyl got up and looked up at the booth, her face a vacant stare before her eyes landed on me. After that, her face turned to a drunken looking ecstatic one and she tossed a hoof up in the air in a heavy hoofed wave.

'Yep, somethings up with her.' I said to myself.

"Well, she didn't dodge the tennis ball, so I suppose I'll hold off on that test for now and go to the next one. We can come back to the agility test afterwards." I heard Care mumble to himself while rubbing his chin.

He pressed down on the button and spoke.

"Bring in the strength test." He said firmly, the doors of the lower floor opening as two ponies brought in a fairly large ball.

They didn't get too close to Vinyl, and instead laid the ball on the ground and rolled it towards her with a magical aura. Vinyl seemed mystified by the ball, and approached it like a dog would approach a new toy.

I, however, had a different reaction when looking at the ball.

"The hell?" I asked.

"Is that a medicine ball?"

I heard an angry huff erupt from Care.

"Look. If you plan to make fun of me, please leave and I'll call you back in once the tests are over and we head down to my lab." He said, exasperated.

"Up."

My hooves raised up, still grasping the metal bar.

"Down."

I lowered the bar respectively.

"Up."

As I began to raise it once more, I began to feel a bit of irritation build up. I had been doing this 'exercise' for quite some time and it was beginning to grow more boring than tiresome. Especially with the weight that I was given to lift.

"Miss Scratch," I pleaded. "If you insist on making me do this any longer, may I suggest we use some the weights provided by the gym?" I said, voice strained as I was mid motion going upwards with the bar.

"Why is that doll?" She asked.

"The weight is a bit... inappropriate for me." I said, choosing my words as best I could in the current position I was in.

"Octavia! Are you calling me...fat?!" She said, sounding taken aback.

"N-No!"

She wasn't by any means fat, she actually had quite the figure, but what I had meant by what I said was that the weight itself was inappropriate, and not in the sense of being too heavy. Vinyl's mother had, for all her years of whits and experience, decided that the best weight to choose for me lift was herself. Not a weight that she had personally picked or used for her workouts - if she did any - but her physical body.

She had, since the beginning of the workout, positioned herself on top of the bar I was lifting; letting the bar itself rest along her spine while she was facing towards the ceiling in a way you'd might see someone on a hammock.

And quite possibly the worst part was the her flank just so happened to be near my face.

I imagine it would account for the weakness in my hooves, since most of the blood was now in my cheeks as I blushed bright red.

Luckily, it just looked like I was straining.

"Well, if you insist on leaving I'm not going to stop you." She said, moving off of the bar and hoping down onto the ground. A process that made me grunt as her weight shifted around on the bar.

"Thank Celestia..." I sighed, setting the bar on its supports.

"Well done dear, you aren't that physically strong but I will say you were remarkably determined. You also didn't bother asking when we were done, and asked it yourself; a sign of a job well done." She said, offering me a kind smile and a hoof on the shoulder as I sat up.

"Thank you." I said. It was a sincere thanks, as I found that her words did carry weight to me. Something that boded well for me and Vinyl's mother.

I found that getting up off the bench was harder than I thought, and harder than that was standing up. My legs were weak, despite Vinyl's mother only making me do lifting for our entire duration here, which was thankfully quicker than I had thought it was going to have been. Perhaps she didn't need too much time to make an observation of me. Or perhaps she already had one of me, and this was merely to mess with me.

As we approached the exit, we walked by a stallion lifting his own set of weights on a bar hoisted over his back. I wasn't exactly an expert on the ratio of size of the weight to the actual weight of it, but from what I could tell, he was lifting a lot. He had roughly four or so large discs on the each side of the bar he was holding.

It was a bit too much actually.

His legs seemed to give out and he fell down to the ground, the weight hanging in the air just for a second before it came toppling down after him, and with the bar being how it was, it was destined to nearly split him in two.

Though a single white hoof happened to catch the bar, halting the weight to a sudden stop as if it had the ground. The weight simply wasn't enough to even make the hoof give an inch.

"Consider learning your body's limits." She said, offering a friendly, closed eyed, smile to the stallion who was on the ground with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

I hadn't noticed it before, since I myself was a bit caught up in watching Vinyl's mother exercise her true strength, but the music playing in the gym had stopped and nearly every head had turned in our direction. Each of the people looking on had a similar expression to the stallion on the ground - slack jawed. Even the stallion who had greeted us had his mouth gaping, his cigar hanging onto his bottom lip for dear life.

Vinyl's mom moved her left hoof over towards the rack for the weight, hoisting it upwards and placing it effortlessly.

The room stayed silent as she went back to her trot, her goal the exit, and I followed mindlessly behind her.

It wasn't the first time I had seen something as supernatural as this, but I was still reeling from shock on the inside. It was the first time I had seen her preform an impressive physical feat, and even now she looked like it was nothing.

The brisk air of the outside world shook me from thought and shock, giving me the largest relief I had felt in a long time. I hadn't noticed, but the gym was extremely hot and humid.

I found my hooves moving on their own as I lifted my head back and took deep breaths of the outside air, smiling wide.

I didn't notice at first, but Vinyl's mother seemed to be smiling back at me at a certain point. Though when she saw me notice, she quickly turned away and faced forwards.

We kept this up for the remainder of the trip home until I neared a familiar bar.

It was around that time that my body seemed to catch up to my mind, tossing away the pleasant feeling of the late night breeze and replacing it with feeling of aching muscles and an upset gut.

Vinyl's mother seemed to notice it, though kept on walking. To her credit though, she did slow down a little so that it was a bit easier on me.

It was miraculous how quickly things changed. One second I was walking along fine, with a possibly numb body albeit, but I was still capable of moving efficiently. And within a half minute or so, I was now clenching my teeth as I walked up the steady incline of a hill up to my apartment.

I, at one point, asked Vinyl's mother if we could simply teleport home.

He response was not to my liking.

"Not on your life dear. You're still walking, so you can get their on your own." She said, a bit harsh for some reason.

I would've noted it a bit more and maybe investigated if it weren't for the unsteady feeling I had about me. I didn't have enough focus to question her, I had to focus on keeping up with her.

After a certain amount of time, things became a blur. At one point I was walking up the cobble sidewalk of the outside, next I was entering a building who's details didn't matter to me, and finally found myself opening a familiar looking wooden door and trudging towards a soft looking bed.

Even as I collapsed on the bed to rest, the upturned stomach feeling remained and I could only groan.

It was about that time I realized that the bed was mind.

I figured rest would be the best option about now, it only seemed natural. Even if I didn't want to rest, there wasn't any way in Equestria that I was getting off of this bed without someone else making me.

Although it was hard at first thanks to how I felt, I managed to doze off into a rather deep slumber after maybe half an hour of groaning, tossing and turning.

The pounding of wood rang out, going through my mind as the sound of a familiar white mare on the ground inside of my room. She was hunched on the ground with her hooves over her head and what looked like sweat coating her body. As another wave of knocks came about, she seemed to notice them to, and sat up slowly. As her head turned, the pounding amplified until she finally came full circle and looked at me with cold crimson eyes. They looked unfocused, but as an abnormally punctual knock rang out, her eyes widened and focused on me suddenly.

My eyes opened suddenly.

The sound of my own breathing made itself known as it came in heavy inhales and exhales.

I slowly sat up, holding hoof to my head as the image of those red eyes flashed through my mind every time I closed my own.

The sound of someone knocking on wood nearly gave me a heart attack, though a quick look to the side showed that someone was outside my door. I knew because of the two spots of darkness in the line of light that was at the foot of my door from the hallway lights.

"C-Come in." I said shakily, still a bit unnerved by the vivid images I had seen in what most have been a dream. It looked like Vinyl, but something about her was akin to a demon.

She just felt evil in that image, and it broke my heart to admit it.

The door creaked open, and a white mare stepped in.

I felt ice run through my veins as I thought it was the mare from my dreams, though the sight of closed eyes relieved me as I realized it was just Vinyl's mother.

"Ah- Hello dear." She said, sounding oddly sheepish.

"Y-Yes?" I said, my voice making me sound feeble.

"Um... would you mind if I shared a thought with you?" She asked.

I was too sleepy to question the idea, so I simply nodded.

"Well, it's more of an idea but... I'd..." She seemed to stumble on her words.

It wasn't like her to do that, despite me only knowing her for such a brief time, but I could tell there was something bothering her.

"Well, I was having a bit of trouble getting to sleep... and thought that maybe I could..."

I began to wrap my head around what she was going to ask, but decided to wait and let her ask herself. And consequentially, she took a steady breath before 'looking' up to me with a bit of resolve.

"Could I possibly sleep in here tonight?" She asked.

I was pensive about the idea, recalling that she had, in the past, told me that she couldn't wait to get a taste of my blood. Though, something was different about her demeanor. She seemed just as on edge as I was after waking up from my dream -- or nightmare rather. And in all honesty, I wouldn't mind having someone else in the room.

"S-Sure. I happened to be having trouble sleeping as well." I said shyly.

She smiled, genuinely thankful for my approval.

As she crawled into the bed beside me, she took great care to keep her distance between me and herself. Though, despite the distance between us, it felt comforting with her in the bed.

As I closed my eyes again, the same set of eyes appeared again. Though, this time they weren't a threatening to me.

My thoughts wandered as I began to drift off, the most prominent one being the question of whether or not Vinyl's mother had the same dream as myself. Would she also be afraid of that depiction of her daughter? Was the reason that we were seeing this image of her because we were both missing her?

I heard her mumble something that was intended to be just to herself, though I managed to make it out as well.

"Perhaps my daughter did make a good choice..."