Vulnerable Souls (Jade v Arabella, Day 7)

........

Th-thump.... Th-thump..... Th-thump....

Th-thump, th-thump, th-thump, th-thump.

Her heart restarts.

A gasp of air.

Dark, cold eyes drift open.

Darkness surrounds her, her breath coming in shallow gasps. She had been dead, but as she gasped for air, life began to surge through her stiff limbs. She could feel the beating of her heart against her throat as her awareness slowly begun to creep in. Her fingers curled around an unidentifiable object, laid across her chest. She felt like a body on display at a funeral, her hair which had been streaked with blood and dirt, clean and brushed. Her uniform which had been dark and terrifying- ripped and bloodied. Pristine, white and flawless hugged her body.

Images of the moment Jamisons club crashed into her body, the sickening sound of her bones crushing, followed by the searing pain and loss of breath flashed in her mind. Panic began to surge through her, her body desperate to escape the small cavity that it had been laid in. It takes her a moment to realise that it didn't hurt to breathe. That the fire that was seared into her memory no longer burned. It was painless, easy. Wrong.

She should be dead. She had found peace. As her life bleed from her in Lysander's steady arms she had been ready. Ready to drift away into nothingness with hopes to find a world that she could only dream of. She should be in the arms of her parents, her birth parents who had been ripped away from her. She should see Cyro, his smiling face as he pulled her into a hug and told her that everything was going to be okay now. That he forgave her for leaving too soon. That he forgave her for giving up on his son.

Her life artificially brought back for the entertainment of those who had murdered her. Her skin felt too tight, her breath cold against her expanding and contracting lungs. Whats dead should stay dead. That was the word of the law. No exceptions. The capitol were playing Ripred, playing God and it made her skin crawl.

Ragged panic breaths and she flings herself onto the floor, the object that had been laid across her chest flung across the floor. The metallic sound of metal colliding with cement tugged her gaze towards it. It was a knife. Shaking fingers reach for it, ice cold to touch, it felt like death. Fingers curl around the hilt as she climbs to her feet, taking a few hesitate steps as she creeps through the dim light.

This must be another trick, another game that the capitol had constructed to ensure that their audience would be captivated. It made her feel sick. Sick to the stomach to think that the camera's would be stalking her every move, the her audience would either be betting for her or against her. Cheering when, or booing as she took her last breathes. Disgusting.

Then she see's her.

Jade Morin.

Cryo's face. Agony and pain flashing in his eyes as they meet her own.

His body falling.

Jade throwing herself at him, thrusting her blade into his flesh.

His blood dripping from her blade. 

Arabella's cry as she races to catch his collapsing body.

Tears in her mouth, running down her cheeks as her heart broke, as her last piece of home is ripped from her.

A tidal wave of anger, grief and pain crash into her, drowning her as she charges towards her. Tears fuelled by anger prick at the corner of her eyes. She remembers the way her shaking fingers had clung to the rock that hovered above her head that day. She remembered the urger to crash it into her skull, to end her. But she had been to weak, her mentality to fragile. Breaking as the stone fell uselessly to the sand beside her. Her knees had given way, and she had sucked in a wave of sobs next to the girl with his blood on her hands. Arabella had been to weak to kill her. It would have been a mercy, to end it there and then.

But that girl, the one who was weak, pathetic, died in Lsyander's arms. This girl, the new Arabella Shirley was fuelled by rage and anger and pain and she ran for the girl, a growl on her lips. "You" she spits, venom lacing the word. "You-" Suddenly she stops, her eyes widening in surprise, shock even, as Jades eyes meet her own. The weapon that had been clasped in Jades hands falls, hitting the ground with a clang that echoed around them. Jades eyes, ones usually calmed and calculating swirled with panic. The look that crossed her face reminded Arabella of being trapped. Like a fly caught in a spiders web, the more you struggle the tighter it holds on.

A frown knitted her brows, her own blade still clasped tightly in her hand. Why? Why was Jade so scared to face off against her? Why did she look like she had just woken from a nightmare only to be thrown into the burning pits of Hell?

"Arabella."

Her says her name like its a wound, seared onto her flesh as her voice cracks. Arabella falters, her frown slipping for a moment as her heart pound in her ears. This was a trick. Jade was playing games with her, pretending that she cared so that she could knocker her down when she was already on her knees. Arabella remembered so clearly the disgust that had laced her words in the dining hall. She remember the way her eyes had pierced her skin, like she was a piece of dog shit stuck to the bottom of her shoe. Her nose turned up at the stench as she tried to wipe Arabella's presence from her sole with few words to knock her down and remind mer that she was not worth her time.

So why now did she looked so pained?

Panicked eyes glance around them as Jade searches for something, anything to help her from this situation. "It's okay...it's going to be okay, we'll find a way out of here, we will, there has to be a way out of here for the both of us." It's going to be okay? How is any of this okay? They we're dead. Arabella and Jade had both died. Murdered in the name of entertainment. Nothing about this is okay. It's twisted, cruel and wicked. Yet Jade continues to move around the room, her fingers searching the walls, looking for an answer that Arabella knew she would not find. Arabella wanted to yell at her to stop, to beg her to stop. There was one solution to this situation. The Capitol had spelt it out as clear as day, lain it across her chest.

Death.

Jades knees give way and she is falling. Her knees connect with the ground and she just stared. Anger knots in Arabella stomach. Why? Why wasn't she fighting? She hadn't cared the day she had claimed her friends life. She hadn't cared as she had thrusted her blade into his flesh, watched as he crashed to the earth, watched as Arabella had howled in pain, before fleeing, tail between legs.

"Get up!" she screams, tears filling her eyes. She didn't get to pretend that she cared now.

"GET UP! Get up and fight-" her voice catches- "Fight me! I won't fight you on your knees!" She marches over to her, wrapping her fingers under her arm, attempting to pull the girl to her feet. "Get up damn it!" She cries, wiping her forearm across her face, determined to clear away any tears. "You killed him! You tore him away from his family, from his child! You don't get to give up now. Face what you have done! Face it-"

She stops, her eyes examining the girl before her. She didn't look like the girl she had come to know. She looked so small, so broken crumpled on the ground. She looked how Arabella's heart felt. Shattered. "Why?" she whispers, falling to her knees beside the girl, her knife places on her lap as teary eyes meet Jades. "Why do you care so much if it's me? I'm just a silly girl, remember? Your the career, the warrior..." She looks away, her eyes landing on the blade in her lap. "We have no choice. The Gamemakers have made that clear."

One of them would die today.

One childs life would be snuffed out for good.

Would she become a murder in her second life? Would that demon follow her past the grave, and into the this artificial life that she had been given?

If she wanted to have a second life... Then she had no choice but to become a killer once again. To coat her fingers, her heart, in blood. It pick up her blade and to bury it into Jades beating heart. She could, right now. She could lunge out at her, knife aim directly for that small organ that was her life source. She could sever her tether that her bound to the living once and for all. After all Jade didn't carry her weapon, it was discarded in her earlier panic. She say here utterly defenceless, her body, mind and soul breaking before Arabella.

"Isn't this what you wanted?" She had said before Arabella had dropped to her knees. Is this what she wanted? She wanted to make it home... She knew she wanted that more than anything else in the world. She had so much to fight for. She had Matthew. She had Ellen. She had Katelyn and Harbinger. She had Xander and her promise to her father. But she remembers the hollow, dark, cold feeling that had consumed her the moment she had taken Helle's life. It tormented her and she had had no connection what so ever with the tribute from Seven.

But... But Jade was different. Arabella had never had the desire to see her dead. She never had the desire to see anyone dead, but jade even more so. She believed with her whole heart the moment Cyro had been taken from her that she had wanted to see her dead. That she had wanted to see her face light up the darkness of night... But she knew, deep down, that when that moment came she would feel the pain of it. She would feel her heart ache for the girl who managed to stir so many unwanted- and if she was being honest with herself, wanted- emotions from deep down within her.

You wanted me to sit still and die.

No.

I was dying and you didn't care.

N-no.

She had cared. Hadn't she? Or had she become to heartless that she had been blinded by nothing else than the thought of losing the one person who she had fought to hold onto so tightly? She remembers now. She remembers the regret that had filled her each time she had thrown her knife. She remembers with each strike how it had slowly melted until she felt nothing except the desire to remove anyone who tried to take away her home. Had she had set her eyes to Jade she would have killed her. She would have, Arabella could feel it in her blood, the blood lust that had overcome her as desperation had consumed her to remove the things that were punishing her the most.

A caress of gentle fingers against her cheek surfaces her from her memories. "Don't cry," Jades voice is gentle, soft. "I'm not worth it, am I?" The words break her and the tears fall more freely. When had she become like this? In the past Arabella would never had been so cold, so callus towards a person who was broken. To a person whose body, mind and soul was ruined. She had promised herself that she would not let them change that part of herself. That no matter what happened to her, or what she did, she would always have that kindness in her heart. The one thing she believed with all her heart that she got from her mother.

Years in the orphanage where she was bullied and tormented hadn't managed to break her. She had still managed to smile and whisper kind words to those who put all their energy into attempting to tear her down. She had not let them win. But here in the Arena, in the matter of what, 8 days? She had managed to morph into a stranger, one that she didn't recognise. One that if she came across in the streets she would quickly turn and walk in the other direction.

"I don't know. Sometimes you annoy me so much I want to hit you, but there's more that I don't know. I don't want you dead. And I don't want to die, and I'd rather protect you, and I don't want you hurt, but I don't know why, because it shouldn't be like this."

I don't want you dead.

Jade Morin, the girl who had played the heartless career did not want to see Arabella Shirley, the little naive orphan girl, dead. Arabella had been adamant that from the moment Arabella had stolen her steak from right beneath her nose that she had wanted to stab her fork into her jugular. She had been so sure that the District One career had wanted to see her perish to the hands of the Games, that she would be delighted to see her face light up the night sky.

I don't want you dead.

I'd rather protect you.

I don't know why.

Jade cared about her. Maybe that time back in the dining hall hadn't meant to be completely malicious. The words that Arabella had confused as being condescending and harsh, maybe they really had meant to just be words of advice and nothing more.

Jades fingers dig through her pocket pulling out a letter, "that's the only life I know. I don't know anything else." She pushes into Arabella's hands. Arabella looks nervously from Jade to the letter. It seemed to personal. Arabella's mind flies back to her last moments bleeding out in the forrest. Of Lysander's fingers running threw her hair, of the words that fell from her lips and wrapped her in a warm embrace. Those words had been intimate and personal, she couldn't invade Jades privacy like that. But jade doesn't pull away, the note pressing into the palm of Arabella's hand.

Hesitating Arabella takes a deep breath before accepting the letter. Unfolding it she reads:

J. Morin,

If you don't make it back home, you'll be erased from the family register. Remember that. You won't be missed.

- Steel Morin

Breath catches, her heart beating loudly in her ears. "I- who wrote this?" She asks quietly, tearing her eyes from the letter she forces them to meet Jades. "Your father?" The letters contents were cold, harsh. I don't know anything else, she had said. And at that moment Arabella realised that she had judged her wrong. That she had been exactly like the kids who she had tried to escape back home. That she had judge the book by the cover and decided, without much thought about who she really was, that she was just a heartless career of district One. That she wanted what we are told that they want. That she wanted the crown to bring glory and victory to her district. But. But at what cost?mRaised by parents who had missed their chance, therefore force their dreams upon their children, forgetting that they were not tools to be manipulated, but children who needed to be loved and cherished.

Jade Morin wasn't an orphan in the truest form.

But she was an orphan in disguise.

A child who seemed what every child wanted so desperately: to be the joy and pride of their family. To be loved unconditionally.

Something Arabella had been so lucky to find in her short lifetime.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.. I didn't know. I'd always just assumed that coming from district One you would have it all. You wouldn't know what it was really like to struggle." she screws up the note in her hands, tossing into into the darkness behind her. "But Jade you don't need them. You are strong. You are resilient. Don't show them that they can break you. Don't give them that satisfaction." Dont let this be their last memory of you.

"Now, get up." She says more gently, climbing to her feet she walks over to where Jade had discarded her blade. Fear knotted in her stomach and her blood turned to ice as she picked up the knife. She was making a mistake. She knew that she was arming a girl who had been trained her whole lifetime in the art of welding a blade. But if Arabella was going to die here today, she wanted to be Jades equal. "There is only one way for this to end." Swallowing, she closes her eyes for the briefest moments. Deep breath and she opens them, turning to face the girl. Be brave Arabella. Be brave. "Ta- take this blade." She swallows her fear. "And attack me."

Please don't draw this out longer than it has to be.

"And remember to hit hard Jade.

Don't make this harder than it had to be."

"Why are you helping me?"

Because I'm an idiot, she thinks to herself as she watches the girl climb to her feet. Because I won't let you die like a coward, on your knees.

Because she wanted to believe that she still had that heart filled with kindness, gifted to her by her late mother.

She wanders what Katelyn might be thinking. Would she be screaming at Arabella to stop messing around, to take the kill and be over with it? Harbinger would. Worry about yourself, he had said. He had told her that she needed to find that one reason to fight, to live and hold onto it with both hands. And Arabella had found that reason. She had to make it home, so many people were relying on her. Xander and her promise to Cyro. She had to make it home. She had to tell him, tell the boy just how much he is loved. She wouldn't allow him to be like her. To stare at the empty doorway and wait. To constantly nursing the empty hole in his heart where his father should be. She hoped that he would never have to know that feeling.

"I'm helping you cause you are not helping yourself." She says quietly as Jades shaking fingers take the blade from her hands. Panic surges through her and she forces herself not to lunge for it, to tell the girl that she had made a mistake and to take the first strike. Be brave. Stepping back she forces herself to smile slightly, "now don't drop it. I won't pick it up for you a second time, okay?" She jokes in a light hearted attempt to conceal the fear that had begun to creep its way into her mind, and her heart.

She turns her back to her as she moves away, taking a defensive stance a few feet away.

"I--" Jade stumbles over her words, her eyes dancing nervously between us. "I think I...love you. I don't know what kind. I don't know much about love. I don't want..."

Arabella's brows knit together slightly. Love. It was a weird thing to hear from someone who was about to kill you. Arabella didn't know what to say to her, her eyes searching Jades closely, hoping that the answer might just appear. But when it became obvious that she would not find them there she pulls her lips back into a small smile, nodding at her, "I don't want to do this either. I don't care to see you dead. But I need you to stand up tall now. I need you to hold that knife like you mean it. And you need to fight me with everything that you've got... Otherwise it would be unfair to me. Don't hold back." Wiping away the last of her tears she forces her face to fall neutral.

"Is...is there anything you want, if you die? I...I'll do whatever I can... I-if I die, don't let them forget me." the question catches her temporally off guard. So much as she misses the moment Jade moves. Her body is like a weapon, sleek, fast and deadly. Her strikes out like a snake, and Arabella tries to shield herself, her arms raised blocking access to her neck. The knife burying itself into Arabella's forearm. A searing pain bursts through her and Arabella has to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from screaming in agony. Instead she grounds her teeth, tears of pain well in the corner of her eyes as she cradles her arm, blood running between her fingers as her eyes dart to meet Jades.

She had hit her hard. Just like Arabella had asked her too.

She hoped she would not regret it.

She could see the pain in them, so similar to when she had first laid eyes on her and Arabella lashes out with her words. Refusing to allow the girl to collapse in on herself. She didn't get to break. Not now, not whilst Arabella stood here with her head held high. If she was going to break she could wait till Arabella's heart had stopped beating. Till her life had faded.

"Don't you dare give up now. Don't you dare go easy on me. I deserve better than that." She whispers, her fingers curling tightly around the hilt of the knife. "You break here and I won't ever forgive you."

When she moves she moves with intent, her knife darting out, aiming for the neck. But just as it connects Jade doges, her knife slinging threw the flesh that connected her ear to her face. Blood, warm and sticky, coats her fingers as she takes a step back, her chest heaving as she watches. the ear connect with the ground. For the briefest moment her courage falters, her eyes turning back to Jade, immediately drawn to the gaping hole in the side of her face.

But its not Jade's eyes she's looking into, its Meredith's. A smirk plastered to her lips, I've been told I have a hittable face, but not that it makes people sick. That's a new one. Quickly followed by Lysander's snicker, Hey Mer? Can you still hear me? DOES YELLING MAKE IT BETTER?! And suddenly Arabella is surrounded by their laughter, her lips pulling back into a slight smiles as she remembered how the two were constantly pulling each other legs.

Did Meredith end up finding Lysander? Were they together now, fingers poking each other in the shoulders as they teased each other mercilessly. She hoped that Meredith was okay, she wasn't here so that had to mean she was still alive- right? She hoped so. She remembers the way the girl had fell aspen on her shoulder. She had seemed so young then, her gentle snores had caused Arabella's lips to pull back into a gentle smile as she rested her cheek against the crown of her head and closed her eyes for the night-

Suddenly it was Jade again, her face contracted in pain. But she refused to cry out, her teeth catching her lip as she fought back the groan that danced on the tip of her tongue. Arabella flinched, her stomach beginning the familiar clench that signal she was about to vomit. No. No no no no no. She couldn't vomit here. Not now. Not after she had just demanded that Jade be strong. Cringing she swallow the cdidic taste of her inside as they climb her throat. She watched at the girl refused to give in, and despite the situation Arabella felt a little burst of pride at the way she managed to hold on. To keep herself together. Maybe Arabella would not need to pick Jade up, maybe she would surprise her and hold her own.

"I will give it my all, Arabella, you have my word," she vows as she stood taller, her gaze meeting Arabella's. "If we die, we die as Warriors."

Warriors.

The words causes her heart to clench, her lungs forgetting how to breath for a moment. From the moment she had stepped onto that train all she had wanted was to become a warrior. She remembers the first fight, against the three mutts and how she had failed. Her blade refusing to strike the beasts as they tore through her alliance. Ripping them to shreds. She remembers how desperately she had wanted to prove that she was reliable. That she was strong. That she was dangerous.

The next day she had sent her knife flying into Helle's eye.

And yet she still didn't feel like the warrior she had wished to become. She had thought the moment she proved herself she would morph into one of the characters of her dreams. She would feel strong and powerful and dangerous. But she had just felt empty. Empty and broken and cold.

And then dying in Lysander's arms she had felt like anything but a warrior. She had felt small and fragile as her life slipped away in the arms of death.

But standing here now, she did feel strong. She did feel brave. She felt fierce.

Maybe Katelyn had been wrong on the train. Maybe it did take more than blood, sweat and tears to become a warrior. Maybe death was also a requirement.

"Die as Warriors," she breathes, "we've come a long way from that first meeting. You've changed."

Jade moves again, but Arabella was ready, her body diving quickly to avoid the knifes edge as best as she could. It breaks the skin of her back, and she grunts slightly as she rolls on the ground, before quickly finding her feet. "Aim for the heart Jade, that's where I'm aiming."

Jade moves quickly, her lifetime of training kicking in. Arabella was no match for her. Not really, she was nothing but a farmer. The only way she had been trained to use a knife was to slice through the delicious fruit of her orchard. Matthew had shown her the best way to slice an apple, to remove all the seeds but waste none of the flesh. She wandered what he thought of her knife skills now, Jades ear forgotten in the dirt between them.

Her knife slices into the girls hip, Arabella stumbling forward with the momentum of the attack. The unsteady moment causes her to lose focus, Jades knife moving too quickly as it once again slashes down the flesh of her back. Arabella cannot hold back the whimper that escapes her lips, her hands pressed into her knees as she fights to breathe through the pain.

Exhaustion was beginning to ebb away at her, her muscles burning, reluctant to listen as she demands them to move. Grunting she stands tall, clutching her knife coated in a thick layer of blood as she turns to face Jade. Their eyes lock, "So have you. You're stronger." But not strong enough, she cries to herself, as she cradles the arm which had been punctured. The pain was burning through her now, setting her blood on fire she she desperately searched for the energy to stay physically and mentally strong.

Her lungs protest as she sucks in air, her arm braced against the catacombs wall as she felt her knees go weak, her head spinning as she fought to stay upright. "I- I can't-" she gasps, her knees breaking as her body gives way. Danmit! How could she demand Jade stay strong when she couldn't hold her own, her body refusing to fight, her desperate pleas ignored as she felt her energy sap. Chills ran across her skin as she watched the blood drip continuously from the gash in her arm.

But she was not ready to give up.

Get up.

Get up. get up get up GET UP

she screams to herself, her fingers digging into the rough surface of the catacomb wall as she drags her exhausted body to her feet.

Because I won't let you die like a coward, on your knees.

She couldn't allow herself to die a coward. No. She was a warrior. She was strong. She was fierce. She could fight this. And if she couldn't she would die with her head held high. She would not beg for mercy. She would not plead, she would be strong. She would not die on her knees, looking up at Jade. If she died she would be looking the girl in the eye. Her true equal.

Blood stains the wall, as she moves from it, her body unsteady as she approaches Jade. "Don't worry. I'm not giving up either. You are going to have to hit me harder than that Jade." She clutches her knife tightly, so tight that her knuckles go white against the pressure. "I guess I will have to hit harder too."

The knife breaks through the skin above her above her heart. Her eyes flutter as it buries itself deeper, pierces her beating heart. A groan escapes her lips, her body giving way, shutting down as its life source is compromised. Her body slumps forward, pushing the knife deeper into her heart. "Ah, you finally found it," she breathes, as Jades arms come around her, breaking her fall.

"My heart."

Her head falls onto the girls shoulder, blood climbing her throat filling her mouth with the taste of iron. "I found it..." she echoes, her voice breaking. She wanted to tell her that it'd be okay, that she only did what she had too. But the words die on her lips as her body shutters, as her heart begins to breakdown. For the last time.

"Arabella," she says her name like a prayer, before chocking on a sob. Don't cry. She thinks, lifting her uninjured hand to clasp the girls wrist. I'm not worth your tears, remember? I'm just a silly girl. But instead she whispers, "don't cry. I'm still here. Remember you don't get to break." Pain surges through her as her heart clenches around the blade buried in her heart. "You promised."

Don't break your promise now.

I won't ever forgive you.

"Can you feel it?" Her voice is soft, quiet as her body becomes numb. As the pain began to fade. "Can you feel it clenching around your knife, fighting?" The knife slides deeper as her heart falters, its beating becoming weak, fading as the blood runs from her body.

"I can feel it," her words no louder than a whisper. "It's strong like you, Arabella."

"Lies," a chuckles escapes her lips, quickly followed by a bout of coughing, her body choking on its own blood. "It's dying. Just like me."

"You're a Warrior, Arabella."

For so long she had been telling herself that she was not a warrior. That if she just did this, or just did that then maybe she could be that one step closer to becoming one. But what was a warrior?

A warrior was someone who was brave.

Someone who is strong.

Someone who doesn't give up easily.

And wasn't Arabella Shirley all of those thing? Hadn't she been all of them for the majority of her lifetime? From the moment she was born she had to become strong. Through the loss of her family she had to become strong. Through being teared down and tormented she had to be strong. To continue on living with a smile and a kind heart she had to be brave. To find a new family, to leave the place that had given her shelter and food in the search for love and comfort she had to be brave.

To keep on fighting, through everything that had been thrown at her, through everyone trying to tear her down, she had to be resilient.

For years she kept searching, kept seeking that reason to call herself a warrior.

When she had been one all her life.

She was glad, in that moment, that Jade couldn't see her face. Glad that she couldn't witness the lone tear that ran down her sweat covered cheek. Glad she couldn't see the fear that danced in the fading light of her eyes. Because she was scared. Petrified of what waited her the moment her heart gave way. The moment the darkness dragged her away forever. She didn't remember a thing from last night, only darkness. A cold darkness. She had died last night, at peace, ready to leave this world in the arms of Lysander, with Ellens words singing her into eternal sleep.

It's okay to let go.

She had let go.

She had found peace.

Found a way to be okay.

But then she had been resurrected, and her blood had been set on fire with the chance to live. A bitter laugh escapes her lips, as she fidgets in Jades hold, her body shaking uncontrollably.

"Is there...is there anything you want? I'll get out of this arena, and I'll do anything you want."

Jades voice is distant, muffled. Arabella fights to keep her eyes open, fights to keep her heart beating, but she was no match for the worlds most elite soldier. Death was whispering in her ear now, wrapping her body in a tight embrace.

Come with me, it whispered. Stop fighting, it crooned as her vision begins to blur. Give up.

"It's okay, Bella. You can go now. It's okay." Lysander's voice dances over her skin. You can go now. She didn't need to keep fighting anymore.

Bella, thank you... I will love you till the end of time.

Tears fill her eyes, as her life slips away, as her lungs expand for the last time.

"I-" her voice fails her, just as her lungs do.

Tell them how much I love them.

Tell them so they hole in their heart can start to heal.

"I-" The light begins to fade, her eyelids drifting shut.

"Tell them... Th-that I..."

She's slipping, further and further into the abyss.

Love them.