Blue Angel

by V-Pony

The Hurricane Story Arc Q&A Responses!

Ok, again I got some really good questions from you guys so I hope I return them with some equally good answers!

Camlio: Here's a question for your Q&A, was Volare's name chosen due to its meaning or for any other reason?
Well, let's see here...Volare is a Latin word meaning "to fly" and the reason why it was chosen by his parents was to reflect the family heritage of aeronautics (pilots, dirigible captains, etc.) His father and grandfather before him were also Blue Angels pilots during their flight careers, and his dad wanted that tradition continued with Volare. Volare is also the translated name of an Italian song, and I believe the English translation of the lyrics fairly well reflects what's happening to Volare in the story...which is interesting because I discovered this song about halfway through the Prologue Arc:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volare_(song)

"Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu" (Volare) Italian lyrics:

Penso che sogno così
non ritorni mai più,
mi dipingevo le mani
e la faccia di blu,
poi d'improvviso venivo
dal vento rapito,
e incominciavo a volare
nel cielo infinito.

Volare ho ho
cantare ho ho hoho,
nel blu dipinto di blu,
felice di stare lassù,
e volavo volavo
felice più in alto del sole
ed ancora più sù,
mentre il mondo
pian piano spariva laggiù,
una musica dolce suonava
soltanto per me.

Volare ho ho
cantare ho ho hoho
nel blu dipinto di blu
felice di stare lassù.

Ma tutti i sogni
nell'alba svaniscon perchè,
quando tramonta la luna
li porta con se,
ma io continuo a sognare
negl'occhi tuoi belli,
che sono blu come il un cielo
trapunto di stelle.

Volare ho ho
cantare ho ho hoho,
nel blu degl'occhi tuoi blu,
felice di stare qua giù,
e continuo a volare felice
più in alto del sole
ed ancora più su,
mentre il mondo
pian piano scompare
negl'occhi tuoi blu,
la tua voce è una musica
dolce che suona per me.

Volare ho ho
cantare ho ho hoho
nel blu degl'occhi tuoi blu,
felice di stare qua giù,
nel blu degl'occhi tuoi blu,
felice di stare qua giù
con te..
------------------------------------------
"In the Blue Painted Blue" (Volare) English lyrics:
I think that dream like that
Will never return
I painted my hands
And face blu
Then all of sudden I was
Abducted by the wind
And I started to fly
In the infinite sky

To fly ho ho
To sing ho ho hoho
In the blu, painted blue
Happy to stay up there,
And I flew and flew
Happy, higher than the sun
And yet more up,
While the world
Slowly dissappered down below,
A sweet music playing
Just for me

To fly ho ho
To sing ho ho hoho
In the blu, painted blue
Happy to stay up there

But all dreams
Vanish at dawn because
When the moon sets,
It takes dreams with itself
But I keep dreaming
In your beautiful eyes,
That are blue as the sky
Spangled with stars

To fly, ho ho
To sing ho ho hoho,
In the blue of your blue eyes
Happy to be down here
And I keep flying, happy
Happy, higher than the sun
And yet more up,
While the world
Is slowly vanishing
In your blue eyes
Your voice is a soft music
That plays for me

To fly ho ho
To sing ho ho hoho
In the blue of your blue eyes
Happy to be down here
In the blue of your blue eyes
Happy to be down here
With you...

So in short, Volare's name has Latin roots --------->and feel free to point out the parallels between the song lyrics and what's happened in the story so far as well ("abducted by the wind", for example)

Cry Havoc: My question: HOW MANY THINGS WILL EXPLODE?
Hrm, I haven't really given that too much thought....but I do know at least one thing DOES explode in an epic and crazy fashion, though I won't say what :P

enigmaMystere: Two questions for the Q&A:

1. does volare listen to every kind of music? and
2. who is his favorite of the CMC?

i know these have nothing to do with the current plotline, but i'm just extremely curious about it.

Heh, it's no problem.
1. Well, Volare's main passion in music rests in classic rock, though he's usually up for listening to just about anything with a good beat or message in it (so no "shoot da gangstas and slap da hoes" rap) XD;
He's also somewhat fond of the music of his favorite video game series, Ace Combat (go figure, right?)
Volare: But it kicks ass to listen to while flying!
Me: Heh, I gotta give ya that one.
2. As far as his favorite of the CMC...that'll be made fairly obvious pretty soon (if it isn't already), the reasons for which will also be revealed as part of the next story arc.

Chiman1293: 1. Are you going to set up a possible shipping connection with all of the mane 6 and/or other ponies? When I say shipping connections I mean how when the mane character (Oh my god I am starting to write mane when I mean main. I am sorry I had just say this.) spends an extended amount of time with another pony, it seems to always lead to a possible ship. This and when you consider the fact that the mares have been having all of those funny feellings. Plus all of the other this Twilight thought about when she and Volare were having her chat. When you take all of this, it just seems like every single time volare and somepony works together there is the possibity for a relationship.
2. How much of the ideas we bring up/suggest in the comments do you imply/impose/put into your story? How much of what we say effects the plot?
EX: How much explosions will happen do to our influence?

The "funny feelings" bit will be addressed...and it's not what you think :P
As for chipping connections...you'll see what happens! ^^ (but no, he won't be shipped with everypony; that's kinda the last thing on his mind at the moment, in all honesty. I mean, he yanked away from his dream job, lost his body, and is now having to keep secrets from the creatures that are now bound to be his new friends...so yeah, relationships are kinda far from his mind atm).
As for how much your ideas affect the story...well, they certainly help, especially if I hit a creativity wall (the music suggestion chapter was a good example). If he and Scoots hit it off, I may need suggestions for antics for them to get into too ^^:
And as for explosions....dammit, I'm gonna have to add more at this rate XD

TopNotchBrony: Okie dokie, I've got a couple questions for ya.
How long are you planning for this fan fiction to go for? And much darker are we going to get?
Well, I'm still scribbling down story arc ideas, but I think I've got something like 12-14 planned so far. And considering the previous two arcs averaged about 75k words...we're probably looking at somewhere between 900k and 1 million+ words at this rate (my fingers are like GAWD DAMN, MAN!) XD;
We'll see how things pan out.
And as for how much darker things are gonna get...well, let's just say if you could see what I've got planned, you might wanna hurt me ^^;;
It will get much, much darker sooner or later, trust me

enigmaMystere: Oooh, one more question: has fluttershy ever considered a relationship with either volare or iron will??
Heh, I was wondering when this question would come up ^^;
As far as Volare is concerned, I don't think so (she wouldn't seem to be the pony to immediately wanna date someone so soon after meeting them.) For now, she's just a good friend. As for Iron Will...heh, he might have joked about the idea, but nothing serious has ever come about between the two of them. He felt he owed her too much as it was and that it wouldn't be fair if he pulled a move like that. So, nah, they're just good friends.

Randombrony856: Will Volare ever get a party?
Yep, Pinkie's got something special planned for him. ;)

SovietBacon:
1, Is Volare going to be mutilated anytime soon?
2, Is there going to be a big fight?
3, How long is the story going to be?

1:
Volare: oO;;;
Um, he already had his wing torn off and reattached, what more do ya want from the guy?! XD;
Volare: Dude, this isn't funny! *smack*
Me: Ow...but to answer your question...let's just say any physical hurt he incurs will be nothing compared to other pain he'll endure...
2:
Heh, hard to have a fic with a military pilot without there being a big fight (though I wonder what your definition of "big" is)
3:
As stated above, probably in the 900k+ words territory ^^;

enigmaMystere: oh, one more question, but for rainbow dash!
do you think you'd ever tell volare about your feelings (because we know you have amorous ones ), as well as that patch you have?
Heh-heh, Oh yes, that's one of the reasons why she's spying on him: to see if she can find out any info about that (she kinda feels like that's fair since he must have known about her in someway before she saved his butt).

Okey dokey folks, if ya'll have anymore questions, just ask them and I'll answer them here up until the next chapter goes up!
The name of the next story arc:
The Running
(in which Volare gets help from a rather unexpected source...)

Comments

[Shpoople96]

He gets help from Doctor Whooves, doesnt he?

[FelixVerricht]

You magnificent bastard you're so frequently updating and I can't seem to keep up. Oh well that's good keep up the good work my hockey playing friend.
Also don't mess with the Apple family

i.imgur.com/1wSmb.jpg

[Woohoohoo2]

900k+ words!!

[enigmaMystere]

i say his favorite of the cmc is sweetie belle.
nah, i know who his favorite really is.
not that i'll be saying who i'm suspecting, of course.

[Zanzibar]

Well, ten chapters. That was the most I could stomach of this fanfic.

I'm sorry, but Volair is such a classic Gary Stue that I'm amazed you don't even seem to be trying to tone it down. The only negative thing about how he's portrayed, would be the way he decided to not follow the commands of his flight leader. Which was odd in itself, since I have a hard time believing that the military would put someone who's so bad at following orders in a $200,000,000 aircraft.

Hell, I bet that before this story is over, Volair will be doing Sonic Rainbooms of his own, because he's apparently special.

Then there's character portrayal in general. Suddenly, everyone act as if they've never seen a colt before. From the descriptions so far, five out of six girls think he's a "hunk", and the only one who haven't shown such a sentiment is Pinkie Pie, but I'm sure there'd be an opportunity for that later on as well.

Then there's the whole fact that the character is apparently a brony. Sounds like wishful thinking on the authors side, but even then, for being a brony he comes off as woefully ignorant about the pony world. If he's really been a brony for years, as it claimed, then why doesn't he say anything about it? Heck, he never lets something slip by accident either. Why were we not shown his thoughts on how weird all this must have been? As it is, I can only figure that he must have been a Real fan of R34, considering he don't seem to have any problem at all with considering getting down and dirty with the locals. Nothing wrong with it, but it's never motivated.

Human in Equestria, or Brony in Equestria, stories aren't bad by default and I do try to give them a chance. Heck, I don't even mind when said OC or Brony hook up with the main cast, as long as it's got a good story behind it. Sadly, this story reinforces stereotypes about HiE and BiE being mostly wish fulfilment and cliché.

[TG divet3]

That moment when you see one of the co-hosts of your podcast has his questions featured and now you have no choice but to read the fanfiction for youtube.
And don't worry dude, this WILL get read after I get back to Texas and I read the two new chapters of one of the fics I'm getting requests from the author to continue reading. XD

[totallynotabrony]

720828
Come on, a Hornet only costs about $30,000,000

[Zanzibar]

721570
You're probably right, but I'd say my point still stands ;).

[Spiffers]

720828 Your argument appears to be that essentially you don't like the ponies being flustered, and you don't like light joking? Now, maybe I haven't read enough HiE fics to understand where you're coming from, but I actually quite like how there's all this light joking between them. Makes it seem more natural to me. However, everyone's opinion is their own, so I'll leave it at that.

[Zanzibar]

722588
I have nothing at all against jokes shared among friends, but honestly enough, if you met an alien shapeshifter, would your first reaction be to joke about how hot it looks when in human form?

Heck, do you tend to make jokes based on sex to people you recently meet overall?

Granted, if you're college aged then you likely do, but such jokes usually get to wait until you've at least talked to someone for more than ten minutes.

The main point didn't have anything to do with the joking anyway, but with how he had been in that world for less than a day and was already gathering a veritable harem of interested mares around him, and he did this without even batting an eyelash at such small and interesting issues as them being all ponies from a cartoon he was a fan of. Now that's a joke alright, just not a funny one.

[V-Pony]

Holy crap, I got alot of responses today

720357 ...perhaps

720417 Heh, no worries. This update was just the Answers portion of a Q&A

720428 Indeed, they could do something like that, but because Twilight doesn't know the ENTIRE (i.e. internal) anatomy of a human, she wouldn't be able to return him to his original self. (and even if she did know the basic knowledge of one, it still wouldn't be Volare, just a medical copy). Not to mention it's probably not the best idea to send RD out again so soon-I'm betting Twilight is thinking about WTF other trouble she might cause (cuz up to this point, although she's caused minor incidences on Earth, she kept those secret from Twilight, who likely would have told her to stop right after the first encounter with military jets, for fear of her friend's safety).
As for the fingers bit...well, he DID freak out pretty badly
I'm sorry you don't wanna read further (cuz things actually get MUCH worse for the guy) but I appreciate the input and the compliment on the writing style

720469 Or something around there

720470 Do tell who you suspect it is

720478 Not sure if that was a compliment or not (the descriptions being trash part) And Celestia knows I'm no Faulkner
But I hope you continue to like where it heads

720514 Thank you very much!

720828 Dang...I'm sorry you feel that way
Forgive me for not giving away every plot detail in the very beginning
And if you stopped on chapter 10, I believe you stopped right before Volare's life enters a rather serious shitstorm that'll have him fighting for his life (and certainly put a damper on this Gary Stu image)
You DO bring up a good point on why he'd be allowed to fly in the Angels despite his habit of not following orders though....perhaps someone pulled a string or two in the past...and if so, why?
$200,000,000?!
That's nearly 20% of the cost of an Arleigh Burke class destroyer!
(but I think you over-reacted, so it's ok)
As for everypony thinking he's a hunk...it's mainly for the laughs (and those feelings Twilight described...well, the truth about those comes out as well)
And Lyra's comments about a "little session" later...perhaps you need to think with a more open mind instead of assuming this story is "just like all the others"
Again, you want me to spoon-feed you all the info all at once, but the problem is this is a slow-building story, and I like to keep a few things secret from not only the characters but the readers as well (more fun that way, in my opinion).
As for Volare not letting things slip, if you read up on Navy pilot training, they're specifically trained to be able to hide information in case captured (as are all military personnel) so really he's just using the training taught to him to fabricate a bunch of lies so he doesn't get caught (though those lies are SURE to come back to bite him in the ass later-yet another slow-building plot detail you just can't handle)
And as for R34...he thinks the majority of that behavior and art is disgusting (yet again, if you'd just read on before passing judgement on less than half the existing story, you'd see that was addressed....in the very next chapter, actually). He even felt uncomfortable about Dash teasing and messing with him, because he's a human and she's a different species, something he thinks is just morally wrong.
I'm sorry you feel this way about my story, but I don't think it's terribly fair for you to call me out on issues already addressed in the story just because "you wanted ALL the answers right up front", all because you can't handle a long, slow-building story. You want the 30 minute episode, not the 3 hour epic.
Oh well...thanks for the input anyway, I guess.

721120 I love'em too (the Angels) *smacked by RD* Ok, and RD!
Grew up watching them for years....I miss those days

721378 No rush dude! And you're coming back to Texas? Gimme a bro-hoof, fellow countryman!

721570 Heh, thanks for backing me up dude

721642 And what was that point outside of you want everything now and upfront?
Silly Applebloom

722287 Volare: Heh, nice to see you're sharing my pain, good sir
Me:
Volare: V-pony, you're an asshole

722588 My points exactly. Thanks for the backup

722706 Do me a favor and read the next chapters and you'll see his feelings on all the extra attention and how and why it's making him hella uncomfortable
Thanks!

[enigmaMystere]

722707
if you insist. i believe his favorite of the cmc this little filly right here: if i'm wrong...oh, well. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Rainbow_Dash.png

[V-Pony]

722729 Ooh, you're good, sir
You're very good....too good...who're you working for?!

[enigmaMystere]

722733
princess celestia. i'm gathering information for her to prepare for a battle against a strong foe. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/lolface_Celestia.png and derpy came along for the ride, with her muffins. she made chocolate chip ones today!~

(sorry, i'm tired, and when i'm tired, i say silly things )

[V-Pony]

722750 Volare: But I want muffins! Hrm...maybe it IS a pegasus thing...

[enigmaMystere]

722768
here, volare, have a muffin! it's double chocolate chip!

oh, and i hope your wing gets better soon! how else are you gonna get rainbow to like you?

i kid! or do i? nah, i do. she likes you plenty.

[Zanzibar]

722707
I'll admit that the price of fighter aircraft aren't my speciality. I just went to Wikipedia to check what a the price of a state of the art modern fighter jet was, and $200,000,000 was the sum I received. But even if the cost is "only" 1/5th of that, the main characters behavior here would have ensured that he never got to fly an airplane again. If they didn't decide to jail him for gross insubordination and carelessness.

I should also note that making a character fight for his or her life does not count as a character flaw.

What I feel is important is to be "spoon-fed" information when it is first relevant. A relevant place to at least hint at his discomfort at the whole inter-species thing when it is first aproached. Adding that several chapters later, after having totally glossed over it before, isn't something I can consider good character deelopment.

The same goes for him not telling anything about his world, his knowledge of Equestria etc. It's one thing to hide information from the characters in the story, but it's another thing entirely to just let it pass without mention to the reader. It's increadibly jarring.

Note, however, that none of this requires pages of text, but rather short signs of discomfort, or momentary glances into the head of the character. In all, it feels like you're trying for Chekov's Gun moments, without actually adding the gun to the story.

There's nothing wrong with slow and epic stories, unfortunatley, I'd rather define this one as slow and sloppy. And honestly enough, I read through 40,000 words of this fanfic before I gave up and told you exactly why I disliked it. That's probably conciderably more than what your other "nay sayers" did.

So nope, no trouble with long stories. Fallout:EQ still hold my top position and that one's around 600K words.

[V-Pony]

722810 Volare: Oh haha, that's so FAR from my mind atm
...I WILL snag that muffin though!

722858 Alright I'll admit I snapped a bit (had a rough day at work-still no excuse). I really shouldn't have called you on the value of one of those planes, cuz that's no general knowledge, so no biggie there.
As for the discomfort he's feeling....like I said, he finally tells SOMEPONY about it straight up in the next chapter, although his emotions run away with him and he acts rather rashly. (I figured it was more amusing to have his reactions to the jokes and teasing as him being humorously uncomfortable).

In regards to him not telling them about the show, I figured if I glossed over it, it'd be exactly what he's trying to do; ignore it and hope the subject doesn't arise. The jarring effect for the reader is somewhat meant to reflect how he feels every single time situations where he'd know about them from the show comes up...and as it's mentioned a few times, the longer he waits to come clean, the worse it's gonna get (another piece of the plot).

And finally, I forgot to address what you said about the Sonic Rainboom: NO, no other character in this story (or in the canon of the show) can do that but Rainbow Dash (again, for more specific reasons, I'll explain later in the story when the time comes).

In any case, I hope I haven't irritated you too badly in my replies (I just wish you'd stuck around because most of the issues you bring up have already been addressed in the posted chapters). And please, don't mention me in the same breath as Fallout: Equestria, for I'm not worthy AT ALL

PS: as for the other nay-sayers, I will say this: you're the first to give me criticism in such detail, so I do appreciate the effort put forth in doing so. I'll try to clean up my style as I go!

I hope you can go along your way without hating me or my story too terribly badly
Take care!

[TG divet3]

722707
_-T-/)
Texas brohoof!

[V-Pony]

723091 (\-T-_

[enigmaMystere]

oh, one more question, but for rainbow dash!
do you think you'd ever tell volare about your feelings (because we know you have amorous ones ), as well as that patch you have?

[V-Pony]

723266 Heh-heh, Oh yes, that's one of the reasons why she's spying on him: to see if she can find out any info about that (she kinda feels like that's fair since he must have known about her in someway before she saved his butt).

[enigmaMystere]

723469
i knew it!

...okay, maybe not "knew" it... ...but i had a hunch!

[jaked122]

You've written a good story.
Though one thing bothered me earlier, sometimes the gender pronouns were either wrong, or used in such a way that I could not distinguish which of the characters you referred to.
You've managed to create a narrative, despite the genre being done to death, that is unique and worth a good read, regardless of the occasional ambiguous or mistaken gender pronoun earlier.

[Shpoople96]

722707
i think it's doctor whooves because of the whole 'the running' thing :|

[Chiman1293]

900k Word Story.

That it!

[V-Pony]

723494 Very perceptive, grasshoppah

723528 Heh, yeah, this thing is chock-full of errors, but I'm glad you're enjoying it

723627 Heh, nah, The Running refers to The Running of the Leaves

723663

[enigmaMystere]

723813
thank you, mister miyagi! oh, and if you ever see rainbow dash, say hi for me!

[ExoskeletalEccentric]

Well, I like this! I admit, I still have my reservations about a few aspects of it (The whole turning into a pony thing, the more mature personalities you're giving the ponies) but overall, it's a good story! Good enough for me to favourite and bring your likes up to 140, at least!

(By the way, did you know that you were featured? ...For about 5-6 minutes, but still! It's how I found this fic! And I'm glad that I did! I can't help but feel sorry for Voltare, though, especially near the beginning. They were being so unsympathetic!)

[V-Pony]

723895 LOL will do

727681 Heh, well hopefully the way the story pans out helps to remove some of those reservations
And I was featured? Thanks for the compliments!
And when you mean they were being so unsympathetic...whom do you mean? The other pilots?
And as far as feeling sorry for Volare...let's just say you ain't seen nothing yet!

Volare: Help me...

[ExoskeletalEccentric]

727729 I mean Rainbow Dash, mostly. Like, he's just lost his body, his world, and his family and friends, but LOL HE FAINTED DAT STUPID. It's alright now, though. Ms Dash has almost redeemed herself. As long as she tells the truth!

And my reservations are more to do with personal preference than anything else. I won't let them affect how I enjoy the story! By the way, when do you think the next chapter will be up?

[V-Pony]

727793 Ah I see what you mean...though you're getting a little ahead of yourself when you say what/who he lost...
And indeed, she needs to tell the truth, as does he, and stop this walking on eggshells business. Cuz like Pinkie said, the longer that certain secrets gets kept, the worse it's gonna be when they finally come out...

And I'm working on the next chapter as we speak!
Should be out tomorrow/Tuesday!

[kooarbiter]

727831

Finally got caught up, kinda sad though, on to my review...

Very funny story pretty much every single character was spot-on except Twilight kinda seemed like a bitch and RD reminded me of tequila from AVP 2010 with the whole flyboy/guardian angel type of thing

love everytime he gets embarresed and really love the parts where RD is talking to her conscience
that actually happens to me sometimes, including earlier today

btw does _-T-/) count for Tennesseeans as well, were your sibling state after all!

[V-Pony]

727841 Famous edition to what? There's a Deadmau5 pony?!

730729 Heh it's ok; it's a long story after all
Twilight is kind of a bitch for reasons I'll reveal later. Never seen AVP 2010, however (she just seems the type to assign nicknames to ponies...cuz she can! )

And yeah, I love putting him in embarrassing situations (the next chapter is certainly no exception-I laughed quite a bit while typing it)
Volare:
And as for RD talking to herself...I kinda figured she's a pretty independent pony most of the time and that she'd have to have someone to talk to
That and her sense of pride and sense of loyalty most likely often clash with one another, thus creating her little mental debates. She's not insane, I swear! (though she swears that it's all Volare's fault)
And yep, happens to me too

And it sure can count for Tenn. folks!

Glad you're enjoying the story so far and hope to hear from you again (next chapter up in a few hours!!)

[radiation_pony]

so ive never figured out was fluttershy trying to get Valare to eat the fish shae ceches? raw meet for a pony

[Epic07]

One million words.
I will read all of them.

[Lonewolf78]

Excelent story. I just found it not long ago so it's taking me quite a while to get through it.

It wasn't until I started reading this story that I knew what "Volare" stood for. I look at the name differently because I drive a 1980 Plymouth Volare. It does like to fly a little with it's 318 V8 engine.

[Biker_Dash]

Somehow, I suspect that this will GREATLY exceed the 1M word mark. (GONNA BE FUCKIN EPIC! )

1507456 Of course the car will fly! It's Mopar! Swap that 318 (probably a 2 barrel carb on it) with a 340 six-pac motor, and that thing will be a rocketsled on rails!!!

[Golden Script]

722750
you and me both brother.

(the sleepy thing, not anything else.)

[Matdat]

Whoa, this fic. I'm doing a reread of it .. yea, a reread. And when I was introduced to it, I was intimidated by the (by then) 500k words, and now I'm doing a reread for the fun of it .. times change, haha.

Oh well, I've just finished the second arc, chapter 26, and I'm again pretty stumped at all the work already put into this. V-Pony, even during a reread, I still am amazed at how well everything is playing out.
As this arc just was with "Hurricane" Fluttershy, I wonder, how did you choose where during the MLP:FIM seasons Volare would join Equestria? Because, him not seeing that episode fits so well, and is so well played out during this arc, heh.

Oh, and, would you be interesting in having typos and pretty minor errors (e.g missing words or punctuation) that I can find pointed out? Heh, pretty minor indeed, especially for 700k words, but if you'd like I could list what I find.

Anyhow, heh, anything in this comment that fails to make sense - I blame on the late hour! ^^
Thanks for writing this and putting it up for everyone to enjoy!

M

[Life Beat]

its over nine hundred thousand! (crickets chirping) i will show myself out