Homeless Bunny 39 (Patreon)

Homeless Bunny 39

Cardin Winchester

My team and I sat in our room. The grimm tide had come and gone, but we’d done fuck-all. 

Team CRDL, dead last in the rankings, again. It didn’t matter that this wasn’t an assignment being graded. If it was, everyone knew how we’d fare. We were the weakest team; everyone knew it.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I was the son of a councilor. I’d been training all my life. I had the money for the good shit. Dust-forged plate. High-purity crystals for my mace. Sure, I wasn’t Weiss Schnee-rich, but I even had the allowance to get my team kitted out properly, just like a good team leader should. We had all the right resources. We were supposed to fucking dominate.

Except, we didn’t. Pyrrha “Invincible Girl” Nikos decided she wanted to come to Beacon. She fucking trashed us. None of us could even touch her. Sky’s halberd had the longer reach. Russel was quicker than her. I was stronger. Dove specialized in swords. Didn’t matter, the Invincible Girl lived up to her hype.

Losing to her? Fine. That was… Fuck, that wasn’t ideal, but I couldn’t lie to myself. That was expected. She was some kind of super-prodigy, the kind that showed up once every few generations. I was good, the best in my prep school, but I knew I didn’t have that kind of raw talent.

The worst part of this was that she wasn’t the best. She wasn’t “Invincible Girl” anymore. No, that was Amber Gale with her bullshit-broken Semblance. She could make wind blades that could cut through steel, press down with enough air pressure that even Pyrrha could barely stand, or just outright steal the air from our lungs.

No windup. No telegraphing her attacks. Just a snap of the finger and you lost. No one could even sneak up on her because “The winds whisper to me,” or some shit. And her aura pool wasn’t small, either. What the fuck was anyone supposed to do against that?

I hated it. I hated Beacon with its fucking star-studded students. Nikos. Gale. Schnee. Even Xiao-Long and Rose apparently came from a super-team of huntsmen, last generation’s legends. This year especially, it was like everyone important decided they’d enroll.

I thought my team and I were finally making some headway when I beat Yang Xiao-Long. Sure, she was no Pyrrha Nikos or Amber Gale, but she was pretty fucking strong, in a “normal people can achieve this,” kind of way.

The week after that, Russel and Dove beat Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren in a doubles match. Russel managed to out-duel Ren while Dove kept Nora busy before they jumped her. Up close, she couldn’t detonate any grenades without hurting herself.

We were doing alright. We were making progress. Team CRDL was slowly but steadily climbing the rankings to our rightful place. Once we got there, all we had to do was keep our stride and earn ourselves a recommendation to the Vytal Festival coming up. We could make a name for ourselves, prove we were the team to watch.

At least our team didn’t have any dirty animals. That was one thing we had going for us. We didn’t have any wild prodigies or infinite lien, but we were all good, human stock. No dead weights were allowed on CRDL. The cat and the gecko were flighty as fuck, could barely do anything besides run.

The bunny, so-called “strongest team leader,” was a fucking coward who refused to even come to class. I figured that someone must have started that rumor as a joke.

Then the Forever Fall Incident happened.

It was supposed to be a prank. Gale couldn’t take a fucking joke so this was supposed to give her a taste of some humble pie. We just wanted her to get off her high horse and stop meddling in shit that had nothing to do with her.

Except someone hated her more than we did. I didn’t know if the smoking hot, black-haired chick was an assassin someone hired or someone who had a hell of a grudge to settle, but she and her two cronies ganked Gale. She had a similar Semblance to Gale, pure elemental bullshit that made it feel as if nature was going to war.

And they died. Outside the arena, Gale could control more than one element. She beheaded that one girl, impaled the mint-haired one, and then gave the cripple the electric chair treatment. And when we got back, she didn’t even act like she cared.

“I know how to put a rabid bitch down,” she’d said. That was the most hardcore thing I’d ever seen. 

I looked at each of my teammates. They had the same look of awe even now. It was hard to describe. Strength. Confidence. The willingness to do what needs to be done, even against other people. Amber Gale was everything we wanted to be as huntsmen.

“That was so fucking metal,” Russel whispered. He didn’t have to clarify. We all knew what he was talking about.

“It was,” Dove agreed. He cleaned his sword, something he did whenever he had to think. I could respect it. “She’s just… What the fuck…? Could she always do that?”

“Apparently, yeah,” Sky said. He was lying on his back, staring aimlessly at the ceiling. “She’s been pulling her punches in class.”

“So has the bunny. Guess we know why he hasn’t been coming to combat class, huh?”

“Who cares about the bunny?” I scoffed.

“Everyone, bossman. He literally punched a new valley into existence.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t. You think he would have killed three people? You think anyone’s trying to assassinate him? Fuck no, Sky. It doesn’t matter how strong he is if he’s too much of a pussy to use that power,” I scoffed, even as I didn’t believe it myself. Maybe he wasn’t exactly a pussy, but he was too obsessed with his kitchen to do anything.

“You’ve got a point there. So what now? We… We’re going to stop fucking with the faunus, right?”

“Hell yeah, count me out of that,” Russel chimed in. “Amber. Tianyu. Doesn’t matter, I don’t want any smoke with either of them. You can say the bunny’s a pussy, Cardin, but Amber’s going to gut us.”

“Yeah… She’s a real one.”

“So, again, what next, Cardin? We’re still trying for Vytal, right?”

“We are,” I confirmed. “I don’t know about you, but there’s no way in hell I’m giving up that easily.”

Dove grinned as he set the whetstone aside. “Good. Wouldn’t have it any other way, man.”

“Same,” Sky said. He moved to his desk and turned his chair around before sitting with his chest leaning into the back. “And if we fight TAMM or VALN?”

“Then we give them a reason to remember us,” Russel told him. He dressed like a punk. Pops definitely wouldn’t approve, but he probably had the most to prove out of all of us.

“Damn straight,” I nodded. These were my boys. They saw monsters and decided to let it drive them forward. “We need to prepare. We’re doubling training.”

“No complaints from us, boss.”

“We’ll add teamwork drills at the same time. Get used to fighting in teams of two. I’ll pull in a favor with pops, get a huntsman to tutor us over winter break. Shit’s going to be rough.”

“We can handle it, but winter break’s a few weeks off. What do we do until then?”

“A bit of information would be nice,” Sky said. He was looking through the Beacon Handbook, along with our class roster. “Amber was hiding all that. Who knows what else she’s got?”

“None of the other schools are even here yet,” Russel pointed out. “What information?”

“You really think anyone’s going to hold a candle to TAMM or VALN? Amber, Pyrrha, and Tianyu are the guys to beat, not whatever chump crawls out of the other academies.”

“True…”

“Sky’s right,” I agreed. “We need to know more. I don’t think the bunny’s going to do anything, not even for Vytal. Hell, if he keeps failing combat class on purpose, he’s going to get his team disqualified from the festival altogether.”

“Or they’ll make a special rule that says he’s not allowed to compete.”

“Right. So either way, we can count him out. Between Gale and Nikos, I’m more worried about Gale.”

“So fucking metal.”

“For sure. Nikos? Pretty sure we can tire her out eventually. Gale? We need to study her.”

“That’s what we’ll be doing for the next few weeks.”

“Yup. Let’s get it, boys.”

X

Adam Taurus

The warehouses we’d taken over were on the outskirts of Vale’s agricultural district. They used to be used for temporary storage before the village along this route got overrun with grimm several years ago. Our hideout was close enough to the city that we could get in and out, but far enough to not draw attention from the local law enforcement.

I threw Wilt and Blush into a large bucket next to my desk. My old teacher would probably smack me, something about disrespecting the sword, but that was bullshit. A sword was a tool, nothing more. If it was a part of me, then so was my spoon.

I took a seat and ignored the way my lieutenant flinched at the noise. The White Fang was lost. I was lost. I hadn’t been sure about my next move for the past several months.

My goal hadn’t changed. The Schnee Dust Company had to pay. The only way the faunus would be respected would be if we were first feared. And if it so happened that I took a lot of pleasure in gutting those pigs, then that was no one’s business but my own.

Everyone knew that the best way to hurt the SDC was to hurt their bottom line. That’s what we did. We robbed trains. We collapsed their mines. We crashed industry conferences. Occasionally, when we got the chance, I sent a few of our brothers to conduct opportunistic assassinations. Executives were ideal, but managers were fine, too. Anything to grind the corporate gears to a halt.

It was a thankless job. Some, some faunus even, claimed that we were putting them out of work. They had mouths to feed and no other options. I felt for them, I could see the desperation in their eyes, but the Fang wasn’t at fault. We weren’t the ones benefiting off faunus suffering. Better free and hungry than slaving away in cramped mines for a company that treated faunus lives like spare change.

But the opportunities for the Fang to lash out at the SDC have dried up in Vale. There was a new player in town, the Beacon Dust Company.

At first, it sounded like good news. Anything that took market shares from the SDC could only be a good thing. Then, I learned the truth: Weiss Schnee was the CEO and chairwoman.

I almost lost it. This wasn’t some new rival who might give more bargaining power to the faunus. This was yet another Schnee who lucked into yet another corporate position. I could buy that Beacon found a dust mine, but for her to be put in charge? Before she even got out of school?

No. This was a ploy. I didn’t know why the SDC didn’t just eat the newer company in a merger, but it was clear that Beacon was working with the SDC to preserve the status quo. Weiss Schnee was no doubt a figurehead, but she’d grow into her oversized chair soon enough. She’d graduate and secure Schnee dominance across two kingdoms.

The worst part of this was the announced employment contracts. Weiss Schnee decided that all employee benefits and compensation packages should be made transparent. Competitive wages. Paid time off. The full gamut of medical insurance. Matched retirement contributions. People were praising her as a champion of workers’ rights. They held her up as a progressive paragon who refused to be blinded by profit.

It was all bullshit. If it sounded too good to be true, that was because it was. Nicholas Schnee had promised the same, only to whore his daughter out to scum like Jacques.

All that talk about cooperation? All those promises of unity and progress? Gone in a single generation. Contracts were renegotiated. Unions were cast out and broken apart. Faunus like my parents were marginalized and exploited.

“Well, boss? What do we do about the BDC?” Banesaw asked. I realized I’d remained silent for too long. He’d been my lieutenant for a while now, always zealous, but not too good at staying still.

“It’s a farce. The SDC used to be ‘progressive paragons,’ too,” I spat. I tossed my mask across the room, revealing the brand over my eye. “I know how this story ends, Banesaw.”

“Yeah, I hear you. That’s not what everyone else is saying though. Especially not after Schnee picked up faunus for her advisory board.”

I growled in frustration. Of course I knew what he was talking about. “Blake…”

“She’s a traitor,” he scoffed. “A fucking sellout. Kali and Ghira would be disgusted with her.”

“No, they wouldn’t. They’d be thrilled. They’d do everything they could to make sure this dream stays alive.”

“It’s bullshit though. Trust a Schnee? In what world is that a good idea?”

“Doesn’t matter. They’ve always preferred to live in fantasy than reality. They’d probably call it a new hope for cooperation, like we haven’t heard that before.”

“The BDC’s apparently at odds with the SDC though,” he pointed out. “We rob them and we become the bad guys.”

“A smokescreen. They want to get set up before they make any big moves. We were always the bad guys, Banesaw. We have to be the bad guys to get some respect for the faunus,” I laughed derisively.

“Yeah, you’re right. We fight for what matters, not to win some prissy popularity contest. Even if we’re hated, we won’t roll over like dogs. Only… How do we do that? There isn’t much SDC dust coming in now that Vale signed on with the BDC–”

“And we don’t know how the BDC is getting their dust,” I finished for him.

There were rumors. Stories trickled out from the huntsmen-exclusive forums. Beacon students got chatty, but it was impossible to tell what was true and what was nonsense.

The most common story said that the god-bunny did something. It said that he drew up the dust from the earth to form convenient crystals across Beacon’s cliffside. Or, that he outright turned stone to dust of all colors in a supreme display of alchemy.

The most frustrating part was that it was impossible to confirm. We couldn’t get any agents out to Beacon’s mountain. Not only did they actually give a damn about their security, they doubled their auxiliary staff to preempt thieves and opportunists.

“The god-bunny–”

“Don’t tell me you really believe that there’s a magic bunny who turns stone to dust.”

“W-Well, that’s the story we’ve got,” Banesaw said. “And… He did make a new inlet.”

“He did,” I admitted grudgingly.

“What a fucking waste. He could have been a pillar of the faunus.”

“He could have. He has the power. But he’s not. He’d rather claim to be a Schnee bastard.”

“Maybe it’s even true.”

“Who cares? That makes him no better than Jacques. Just as pathetic. Just as guilty. What do you call a man with all that power, who does absolutely nothing for his brethren?”

“You’ve got a point. He could have been our ace. He could have made the kingdoms pay. But how do we know the stories aren’t true? That inlet’s certainly fantastical enough.”

By now, everyone had heard about the grimm tide. An ancient grimm had attacked Beacon, and been defeated, supposedly by the same Schnee bastard everyone was talking about. “But destruction isn’t creation. I don’t know what Semblance he used to break that grimm tide, but that’s it. That’s the effect. Make a new mountainside full of dust? That’s completely different.”

“I guess it doesn’t really matter how they got it. The dust is real enough for Vale to sign with them. How are we going to hit them? And how sure are we that the god-bunny won’t hit us back?”

“We take assurances. We get them alone. Blake is our way in.”

“You think she’ll come?”

“She’s always been a sucker for a sob story. Just as delusional as Ghira,” I grinned maliciously. “Then, once we’ve got her, we use her to draw out the Schnee bitch.”

There was a shift in the air. It wasn’t any singular thing, but both Banesaw and I were veterans. We dove out of the way as something big and black crashed into the desk. The desk, a flimsy thing that wasn’t much better than the ones my men used, shattered into splinters.

Banesaw swore. He wasn’t as fast as me and got clipped on the arm. The force of that glancing blow was enough to send him stumbling into a wall.

I grabbed Wilt and Blush from the bucket. Turning, I looked to my opponent and paused. For a moment, I had to take in what I was looking at. It was big, black, and… fuzzy.

A rabbit. I was staring at the ass end of a rabbit. It was bigger than any other rabbit I’d ever seen, big enough to collapse my desk and send Banesaw stumbling from its bulk alone. Its long whiskers twitched excitedly as it slowly looked around.

“Oi, I heard you say sumthin’ real intrestin’ just now,” it said. It had a weird accent that reminded me of pizza joints for some reason.

It would have been humorous. There was something so ridiculous about it that I wondered if I’d temporarily gone insane. But looking across the room at Banesaw, I knew I was of sound mind. My lieutenant drew his chainsaw with an angry growl. He was clearly seeing the same thing I saw.

The rabbit’s beady eyes bore into me. There was intelligence there, the kind that could be used for creative cruelty. I didn’t feel like I was staring at a rabbit. I felt like I was staring down an alpha goliath. I gripped the sheath tighter.

“What the fuck are you?” Banesaw asked, more puzzled than truly angry.

“Ah? I’m obviously a bunny, you fackin’ momo. What? You've never seen one of mine before?”

“It’s talking…”

“Capo Cuddles is the name,” it, he, said. The ridiculous name only worsened this surreal feeling. He began to tap his hind leg on the ground. There was a dull, rhythmic thud that made my teeth ache. “See, I was supposed to just observe, make sure you idiots don’t start nuthin’. Then you just had to go and threaten la principessa.”

“What? Who the hell is that?”

“See, as a loyal subject of il re, and a proud capo of the Moonlit Famiglia, I can’t let that kinda plottin’ slide, you hear?”

I heard. I heard that he was an enemy. I drew my sword first. Whether he was some smart type of grimm or someone’s mutant pet, I’d find out over his cooling corpse.

Blush, my rifle, would do no good in this cramped office. Wilt left its sheath. Its arc was perfect; the draw and the cut were one and the same.

Blake called it poetic. Iaido was the old Mistralian way of drawing and cutting in a single stroke. It was swift, orderly. She said it was the sword of someone who wanted to bring order out of chaos, someone who wanted to change the world.

Nonsense. I liked it because it let me strike before my opponent. So many battles could be decided in a moment. The fastest cut, the fastest draw, was usually the one that got to go home.

Wilt cleaved through the air. It should have carved into fur and flesh alike. Even without my Semblance, there wasn’t much it couldn’t cut. But it didn’t. It stopped against the rabbit’s inky, black fur.

The rabbit shot me an amused smirk. “My turn.”

He shrank. One moment, he was as big as a large desk. The next, he became so small that he could fit into my palm. That explained how he snuck into the office.

He launched himself towards me with enough force to crater the cement floor, sending plumes of dust into the air. He was a black blur, made worse by his size and dim lighting. Then, practically on top of me, his size changed again and I found myself taking a hit from a bullet the size of a wrecking ball.

I barely brought Blush up in time to guard. As it was, Capo Cuddles shoulder-checked me with enough force to punch clear through the brick wall. I felt my entire body groan in protest as I skipped like a stone.

Strong. Whatever the fuck he was, he was strong. Not even Banesaw would be much help against him; I was on my own. Still, some fire support would have been nice.

I looked around and cursed. There were more bunnies. Just four, but they were beating the shit out of my entire branch.

I had forty-two veterans when I arrived in Vale. We recruited dozens more. From guarding supply depots to managing logistics or reaching out to our brethren, there was always work for a faunus. Humans liked to act like we were all bloodthirsty killers, but I knew that many of us just didn’t have that vengeful fire in them.

Even so, I insisted that every last one of them carry a firearm, that they be drilled. Here at the outskirts, we all needed to be able to handle the occasional beowolf. And, if we got raided, the more fighters, the better.

That didn’t seem to matter. Four rabbits, each about the size of a small child, were throwing my men around like ragdolls. One wielded “gloves” of fur. Another had a “sword” made of the same. What the other two used, I couldn’t tell because I had to guard against who I assumed was their leader.

Capo Cuddles’ foot slammed into Blush. I’d temporarily sheathed Wilt so I could imbue my Semblance to it. The force was immense. Moonslice protected me from any attack, but I could feel its reserves fill with a single blow.

I felt my mouth spread into a wicked grin. This made life easier.

He rushed towards me again. Small, then big. It maximized his speed and mass at the time of impact, but it was a pattern even a child could recognize.

“It’s over,” I scoffed as aura gathered in my blade.

The world seemed to dim. All color faded but red as my sword imposed my bloodlust onto my surroundings. Wilt lashed out in a perfect arc, a crimson crescent set to cleave the annoying bunny in two.

Then, something glitched.

For an instant, I saw a ray of silver light shine down. It reflected along the rabbit’s black fur and I saw the ripple of each strand in slow motion. The shadow reached up to swallow the light, and with it, the rabbit.

It was like the moon itself had reached out to deny me. Wilt cleaved through where he’d been, only to cut empty air. Before I could react, the shadows beneath my feet darkened and Capo Cuddles jumped out with all the force of a freight train.

I managed to keep hold of Wilt and Blush. My ribs were no doubt cracked even with aura, but I’d suffered worse. I twisted through the air and brought Blush around and fired on my opponent.

“Ya know what I don’t get about you Fang types?” Capo Cuddles asked. He didn’t sound the least bit winded, more as if he was checking the clock. 

I landed and rushed forward. Shifting mass. Shadow-jumping. It was like fighting a perfect merger of Banesaw and Blake, stronger, faster, and more agile.

We exchanged more blows. I couldn’t cut him. He couldn’t hurt me. Now that I knew to expect his shadow-jumps, he didn’t have anything I hadn’t seen before.

“I don’t get why you try so hard,” he said as he casually dodged another Moonslice-enhanced draw. “You spout this tripe about inequality, but that’s not what it’s about, is it?”

“What do you know? You’re just someone’s fucking pet,” growled. I blocked one kick on my scabbard and used the momentum to spin its barrel towards him. The subsequent bullet missed, as I knew it would.

“See, if it was really about equality, you’d be up there shakin’ la principessa’s hand. You’d be lookin’ to make things good from the inside.”

“That doesn’t work! You know how I know? The blood of my parents and thousands of faunus like them painted it out for me!”

“That was then. She ain’t her daddy. You ain’t yours, either.”

“So what? What the fuck do you know?” I roared. My swings were getting sloppier but I couldn’t stop myself. This… This glorified roadkill acted like he had something wise to say, as if I hadn’t heard it a thousand times before. “You know how to get respect? Fear! Fear gets us faunus some goddamn respect!”

“Respect? Your doin’ this shit for respect?” he scoffed. “Wha the hell do you know about respect, boy?”

I brought my sword down in a heavy arc. His fur hardened into some kind of armor that deflected my swing. “Fear keeps shops from overcharging faunus. Fear keeps cops from searching random faunus. Fear keeps men honest. That’s respect. If humans won’t give us equality, we’ll tear it all down and rise above them!”

“And you’ll see how they like it on the bottom, eh? Anyone ever tell you that you’ll be rulin’ a nation of ashes?”

“Better a nation of ashes than a nation of slaves!”

“And where are those slaves? See, that’s the rub, ain’t it? If you really cared, you’d be out north, where the real oppression happens. If you really cared, you’d be working with la principessa to change things. But here you are, out in the sticks.”

“Shut up!”

“Because it was never about respect. Or fear, for that matter. I won’t say I know much about the Fang as a whole, but you? I think I got you figured out.”

“Shut the fuck up!”

“You’re a child. A child lashing out at the world in his petty bid for revenge. A child that desperately wants something of his own. Not equality. Not justice. Not hope for a better future. No, you just want something that’s all your own, don’t you, Adam?”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” I swung in a frenzy but cut only air.

“You just want a petty kingdom, something to rule over. And by the Seven Kings, it must feel good, doesn’t it? Ruling. Declaring war. Acting like you stand for something bigger than yourself.”

“You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve been through. You don’t know what I’ve sacrificed.”

Suddenly, he stopped dodging. Moonlight gathered in his paws. He reached out and caught Wilt. My Semblance shattered, its crimson light dispersed before glowing silver.

I realized now that he’d been holding back. I couldn’t even draw my sword from his grip. I brought Blush up to shoot him with the last of my dust round but a casual slap knocked it out of my hand. 

“Sacrifice doesn’t make you noble. Hardship doesn’t make you strong. Your choices do,” he said, voice soft and weighty. His eyes were filled with nothing but pity and contempt. “And you, you made yours. We’ve been watching you for a while now. You chose revenge over hope, bloodshed over your own people, hatred over your principles.”

I was running on fumes. Moonslice, as powerful as it was, was never the most aura-efficient Semblance. Still, I tried to fight, only to get kicked away like a ragdoll. Finally, my aura broke.

Capo Cuddles examined Wilt in his paw. He tossed it in the air. With a blur, it shattered into a million pieces.

“In the end, none of it matters. I just figured I’d hear you out, see if there’s anything about you worth remembering,” he continued. He strolled towards me slowly, more like a wolf taking his time with the kill than a rabbit. His footsteps were silent but I could imagine them ringing like gongs. “And what a disappointment you’ve been.”

“Who’s il re?” I asked tiredly. I had to know. I had to know who was about to kill me.

“‘Il re,’ the king. You call him the ‘god-bunny,’ though you have no idea how close that is to the truth.”

“Figures. He could have done so much for the faunus.”

“He’s not faunus, you momo,” Capo Cuddles scoffed. “He doesn’t care about the Fang one way or the other. He did ask us to keep an eye on every major gang, but you’re just one of many.”

“Then what’s all this? Why attack us? What the hell did we do to you?” I demanded bitterly. I’d lost. Not to Vale’s huntsmen, or to Schnee dogs, but to a bunny named Cuddles.

“Weren’t you listening? You threatened la principessa. Our princess. Weiss? She’s his majesty’s baby sister. You planned to kidnap her, hold her hostage against him. Wouldn’t have worked of course, but it’s our job to take care of his light work.”

“The Fang won’t go away. We’re never going to stop fighting.”

Cuddles said with a quiet chuckle. “This isn’t a war and you’re not a martyr. You threatened his majesty’s baby sister. That’s all there is to it.”

“Is that right? An execution? Is that what this is?”

“No, not that, either. This is pest control.”

His fluffy paw descended like the headman’s ax and I saw no more.

Author’s Note

Capo Cuddles follows the Don Fluffles school of combat: Blitz shit real fast.

Rabbits communicate through thumps. Their feet can sense vibrations. Cuddles’ thumps went something like, “Fuck ‘em up.”

Animal Fact: King cobras are not like other cobras. Taxonomically, they belong to the Elapidae family and Ophiophagus genus. Most other cobras belong to the Naja genus. Strictly speaking, king cobras are more closely related to mambas than other cobras despite their drip.

Or, I guess it would be more appropriate to say that “cobra” is a colloquial word rather than a scientific one. Kind of like how there is no clear definition of “tree” or “fish” in biology, even if we all know what they are.