Pub Crawl: The Disappearing Pumpkin Medallion

[Dair Ciúin]

These stories that appear from time to time in The Pub are just a bit of silliness that has been a tradition at The Druid’s Head and at The Foggy Duck for many years. In this story you'll see names of people you may recognize. Just because you don't see your name here doesn't mean that you can't participate. Please write yourself in if you'd like, and in that way we may get to know you. The only "rule," if there is one, is that we try to pick up the story from where the previous poster left it, and to include at least some of those elements in whatever comes next. Storytelling is a bardic pursuit, and although it’s hard to imagine Taliesin telling stories quite like these, it is entirely possible that by your participation, you could be immortalized in The Attic.

It was a seemingly normal Monday morning. Selene had just finished eating breakfast and was preparing for a stressful day administrating the OBOD message board... there were rumours of another "honesty" topic circulating throughout The Pub, you see. Sitting at her computer desk, she unlocked and opened the desk drawer where she securely hides the orange pumpkin medallion - an ancient artifact infused with Administrative Power.

Gasp! It's empty!

"This is very suspicious." Selene pondered, becoming increasingly worried. "I hope it hasn't fallen into the wrong hands…"

[Seeker]

Meanwhile...

Seeker looked out his kitchen window at the beautiful day that was starting to take shape, cracked a few more of his weary bones as he turned toward the wall cabinet, mumbled several of the infamous curse words he was known for and decided to have a little breakfast.

"Good looking day, today...wonder what sort of mischief I can get involved in?" he remarked with a chuckle. Gosh, it had been a long time since he met up with the old gang at one of the pubs in town. The gods know...whenever he did see them, something always went wrong. Funny, for a bunch of so-called intelligient druids, they sure could fine themselves in a boatload of trouble in the blink of an eye!

"Well, lets have a quick bite and see what the day brings, old friend. What do you say, Heyoka?" Seeker had this strange habit of refering to his walkiing staff by name...like they were old friends. He winked and...his staff winked back. He reached for his favorite cereal in the cupboard - Raisin Bran.

(sigh) At his age, he needed as much bran as possible...infernal human plumbing!

He opened a fresh box...started pouring it into his favorite Superman bowl (okay, okay...what are you laughing at!)...and out came a strangely familiar object. Thinking it was a toy surprise, he eagerly reached for the object! "Well, I'll be..this isn't right...this...this...this...this is Selene's
Orange Pumpkin Medallion! This has incredible power...any druid who has any sense knows that this sacred object is infused with Administrative Power!"
Just as he reached down into the bowl to examine the medallion, it vanished! He dropped his bowl on the floor and dashed out of the room, staff in hand, and charged out the door.

"This could be fun..." he chuckled as he headed out into the street.

Meanwhile...

[Kat Lady]

...Kat Lady was staring at her new boss with a glazed expression on her face. The old Crow was going on and on about responsibility as a moderator of a writing forum and blah blah blah about the eisteddfod and blah blah blah about every inane writing rule he could bring up to his new flunky Kat. She sighed and started counting the dots on the tiles on the ceiling when she saw something hanging from one of the cracks between the tiles. Was that??? No, it couldn't be! She narrowed her kat eyes and stared intently, using the 007 kat collar's radar to hone in on the object. Yep, it sure looked like the pumpkin medallion, the one Selene always wore with the Administrative Power.

"Um, Crow."

"What is it now, Kat Lady." Her questions never ceased. The old Crow wondered why he had ever agreed to have this woman as his side kick.

"Um, look up there." Kat Lady pointed toward the ceiling.

Crow followed her pointing claw upward. He gasped as he saw the pumpkin medallion dangling from the tile. And then it was gone. The medallion with the Administrative Power had disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

Kat Lady looked at the old Crow and grinned her cheshire grin. A disappearing medallion could only mean the beginning of another pub crawl. She chuckled in delight and said, "Let the adventure begin!"

Crow glarred at her and shuddered, saying to himself, I've got a bad feeling about this...

Meanwhile...

[Seeker]

...Seeker came to a quick stop in the middle of the street.

"Wait a minute. If there's going to be trouble or some darn new adventure taking place, you can bet Kat Lady is going to be around with that shiney 007 kat collar that some prentious pup gave to her as a gift!" he snarled.

"Heyoka...I remember when Kat's head wasn't turned by baubles and gadgets and things. Remember, she use to wear that perfectly good terrycloth collar I..er...we gave her! Now, I read that she's also become some big-shot working with that Crow fella. He's a nice nice enough guy...but you know Kat...he better watch out or she'll scratch his eyes out."

Better him than me, he chuckled. That is one handful of a lady...I wonder if she'll even talk to me now that she's some important moderator or whatever you call them bigwigs. Add to that mixture, Selene's vanishing orange pumpkin medallion that wields the devastating Administrative Power, and who knows what will happen!

Seeker sighed "Better head on down to Crow's office and see what's happening. Bound to run into some others along the way."

Meanwhile...

[Crow]

Crow decided that evasion was his best option.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, he stalked over to his office window and straining every muscle in his feathery wings, shoved the thing open. Panting with the effort, he turned around to face his furry protégé, who again had lots of questions.

"Well, Crow, what do we do now?"

"About what?" Crow deadpanned.

"About the disappearing pumpkin medallion, of course."

"What are you talking about?"

"The pumpkin medallion, you know! There are only two in existence, and they belong to Kernos and Selene, yet there one of them was, hanging from your ceiling."

"I don't see anything."

"Of course not, it was there but then it disappeared. Not only are you a reporter for the Pagan Press, but we're both also moderators for the Bardic Pursuits. You said we need to write about interesting things, and surely a disappearing pumpkin medallion is something interesting. So what do we do now?"

"I tell you, I DID NOT SEE ANYTHING!" lied Crow. "Listen, can we continue this talk later? I've really got a lot of work to do. Deadlines, you know."

Crow felt relief as he watched Kat Lady run out of his office. Maybe, he thought, he really would escape this time. Yes, that medallion had been there, clear as anything. But there was no safe future in chasing after objects with Administrative Powers. Let Kat Lady do it if she wanted; she was younger, with fewer disastrous experiences to her credit. But she would learn.

Lying came easy to Crow, and he had lied about the deadline, too. Now the open window beckoned, and he had one thought: A nice perch in the shadowy rafters at The Foggy Duck, with a tumbler of Laphroaig nearby.

He flew out the window, pleased to have escaped. But he couldn't help wondering what would happen to Kat Lady ...

[Dair Ciúin]

As he entered Ye Foggy Duck for a few quiet drinks, Crow couldn't help but notice the ragtag group of patrons staring at him with a look of suspicion in their glazy eyes.

"Crow! Why are you wearing Selene's pumpkin medallion with Administrative Power?" Beith suddenly demanded, sitting beside several boxes of shoes.

"What are you talking about?" Crow replied, trying to make sense of the accusations. To his horror, he immediately noticed the pumpkin medallion hanging around his neck, glowing with a mysterious light. How did that get there? "It's not what you think!" He stammered, trying his best to explain.

Suddenly with a flash of light and cloud of billowing smoke, the medallion once again vanished into thin air, leaving Crow and the patrons feeling even more confused. That sacred medallion must have some sort of teleportation ability... and a penchant for getting stroppy reporters into trouble.

[wolf_spirit]

Wolf_spirit had been quietly drinking in the corner. She secretly wanted to be a writer and make really stunning posts in the forum, but her biggest problem was her lazyness. Fortunately, a few drinks made her real happy about her fate and made her forget her higher aspirations that could only lead to disappointment.
The talk of the medallion with Administrative Power woke her up from her happy daydreaming. What if she had Administrative Power...if only for a day...or a few days...that would help her promote her own posts in the forum a bit. For a moment she thought she saw the medallion shine inside her glass...or was it just the orange glow of the candle light ?
Hm, that Crow fellow seemed to know more about it. She moved out of the corner and towards the busy bar, where people and animals were all shouting and interrupting each other. But as yet noone seemed to know where the medallion with Administrative Power had disappeared to...
although most seemed to think Crow knew more about it...

[Seeker]

Just then, the doors to the Foggy Duck slammed open and a tired and out-of-breath Seeker came stumbling in. Panting and trying desperately to catch his second wind, he stumbled over Wolf_Spirit and fell to the floor.

Beith took advantage of the diversion, leapt for Crow, wrestled him from his perch, and placed him dead-center of the bar atop a box of her new, black suede boots with 8 inch spike heel. (Sigh...she did look great in black suede...too bad the midnight blue did not come in her size!)

In the meantime, Dair Ciúin, who had just walked in from the back entrance, had helped both Wolf_Spirit and Seeker up from the floor.

"Seeker...are you allright...what the heck is wrong with you? Calm down, old man! You're going to have a heart attack" DC shouted. And, let me tell you...when Dair Ciúin shouts, people stop and listen. Who would have guessed that from such a quiet, studious, and unassuming young man - after all, he is from New Zealand - a roar that shakes your bones, rattles your teeth, and pounds your eardrums is emitted! Deafening!!!

Seeker caught his breath, turned toward the center of the bar where Beith had her very delicate hands wrapped around Crow's throat, pointed his staff directly at Crow's head and said "I think, Mr. Crow, you have some explaining to do regarding Selene's orange pumpkin medallion and, what appears to be, your lust for Administrative Power!

[Crow]

Meanwhile, just as Crow felt that he was about to lose consciousness with Beith's delicate hands wrapped 'round his windpipe, Kat Lady was thinking big.

After leaving the reporter's office, she resolved to get to the bottom of this pumpkin-medallion caper through the use of her own initiative.

True Administrative Power, she knew, came not from the medallions themselves, but from the organization that bestowed them.

And so after a short bus ride, Kat Lady found herself staring upward at the 80-story steel and glass skyscraper known as OBOD Tower. She waited until she saw a druid enter through the revolving door, and being a Kat, nobody noticed as she ran inside at the man's heels.

Once inside the cool, marbled lobby, she ran to an elevator, waited for two druids to exit, then slipped inside just as the elevator doors slammed shut.

Using her 007 collar, she fired a dart at the panel, and saw with satisfaction that she'd expertly hit the button marked "80." She felt in the pit of her stomach that the elevator was moving and took just a second to yark up a hairball, which she kicked delicately into one corner.

At last the doors opened on an ornate office with the words "The Order of Bards Ovates & Druids" displayed tastefully in silver on the rich, oak-paneled wall.

There was nothing there but an empty desk with a telephone, and a sign that consisted simply of a red arrow pointing to the left.

Kat Lady looked in the direction the arrow was pointing, and on the wall she saw two more small signs. The first of these signs read, "All Visitors Must be Suitably Attired," and below the sign was an assortment of robes hanging on golden sickle-shaped hooks. Kat Lady shrugged, found a green, cat-sized robe and slipped it on.

Moving to look at the next sign, she read, "Please pass sunwise to the reception area." Kat Lady dutifully circled around to her left and saw a hallway, which she walked down, noticing that it was growing warmer with each tentative step.

At the end of the hall was a door that was partly open. On the door, in gilt letters were the words "Phlipp Phlopp." Extending the claws of her left paw, she gently pushed open the door and saw there, in the middle of the floor, an enormous hot tub, and in it was Phlipp Phlopp and the entire OBOD office staff, sweating and sipping champagne.

"Ah, Kat Lady," said Phlipp Phlopp, "we've been expecting you. You're here about the medallions, right? Well come along then, don't be shy, there's room for you. Don't forget to grab a glass."

Kat Lady noticed the silver bucket bearing a bottle of Dom Perignon. She got a crystal flute, poured herself a glass, shed her robe, pulled out a rubber bathing cap from her 007 collar, put it on and climbed gingerly into the tub.

"Ahhhh," she said, but decided to say nothing more just yet. She felt that she should just to wait and see what would happen next ...

[CelticDao]

CelticDao had been deep in meditation on an Island, seeking the knowledge of the Ravens, which resided there. After drawing the Yarrow Sticks, seeking the wisdom of the I Ching, to clarify the mystery of inverted power dives, he reached for his smallest Shakuhachi - the voice of the Goddess. Instead of a short bamboo flute, he found in his hand a glowing orange medallion. "Well, I have no need for Administrative Power", he mumbled, and set it aside. A Raven flew past him then, and he only assumed that the Raven had carried the medallion off. He began chanting Awen's...

[Lorraine]

Back at the pub, just as Crow thought he would slip into the darkness, help came in the most unlikely form...

Lorraine's B&B for wayward druids was going through a quiet period lately. She’d thought to return to her other standby, the very occasional making of jewellery, as there was now an R in the month, but she was lacking inspiration. She asked her tree, Sicker Moore, how she could help coax the Awen back, as she always did when she was completely stumped.
“You worry too much,” said the tree. “Why don’t you relax a little? Go find inspiration in the bottom of a glass? Works for some druids,”
She shook her head. You have to remember that B&B proprietesses tend to be a little on the prim side at times, even those who run B&B’s for wayward druids. “Oh, I don’t know. It’s a slippery slope,” she said.
The other thing to note about B&B proprietresses is that the primness is a facade which takes as much time and effort to maintain as all those hanging baskets full of petunias outside their establishments. And Lorraine hadn’t had a good watering in quite a while.
“I suppose just the one can’t do any harm,” she said. Remembering the last time, she made sure to take off her apron, hanging it on one of the sycamore’s branches before she went.
The tree sighed. “Do I look like a peg? Hmmm? Do I? Oh, and watch out for the...”
He finished his sentence just as Lorraine slipped backwards on a mysterious patch of frosty ground and slid the rest of the way down the hill on her derriere. “...slippery slope.”

Wiping herself down, Lorraine walked through the doors of the Foggy Duck, just at the moment when Beith was gripping Crow by the neck.
“What is he up to this time? she wondered. Then she saw something materialize in midair... golden, pumpkin shaped, and radiating pure Administrative Power.
“Oh!” she exclaimed. “I want one! I wonder if I could make one of my own? It’s beautiful. It’s shining. It’s...”
“...Not authentically Celtic,” a man with a Welsh accent spoke up. Brochfael glowered at them all disapprovingly. “Honestly, it’s even less authentic than so-called Celtic knotwork!” His frown deepened. He was about to launch into an explanation of why this was, when Beith interrupted him.
“Now, now, haven’t you heard that the Irish invented the Amulet of Administrative Power? They found one in the Hill of Tara. Why, it was used to help formulate and uphold the Brehon Laws! And did you know, the...” Beith could not talk and hold onto Crow at the same time, and while she was preoccupied, Crow took his chance...

[Crow]

With spots swimming before his eyes, Crow used the last of his strength to flap up to his perch in the rafters. Once there, he rubbed the 10 indentations on his feathery neck and was silently thankful for the interruption that had likely spared his life.

If there was one thing Beith liked better than railing against abuses of power, it was talking about Celtic history. Unless, of course, you considered her penchant for spike-heeled shoes, which ordinarily eclipsed every other thought entirely.

From above, Crow watched as Beith held center stage. Wolf Spirit, Seeker and Lorraine listened as the redhead warmed to the task and spun a fantastic tale:

"Yes, it is absolutely true that the first Amulet of Administrative Power was found by archeologists on Tara Hill, and this should come as no surprise to anyone, since as everyone should know, the first pumpkins were grown by the ancient Irish after being given a gift of gourd seeds by the Tuatha de Danann. It was my ancestor, Seamus MacLoafer, who learned to turn some of the gourds into the most marvelous shoes -- that was before he was corrupted and started to make them from pooka hides. But other types of gourds were found to be richly imbued with magical properties, and the pumpkin was found to be the richest, most powerful of all the gourds. And so quite naturally the people of those times began to discover the ways of the pumpkin, and time passed, and as their knowledge grew, they learned to make fantastic amulets and other types of jewelry and pass the pumpkin powers into these works of art ..."

Lorraine, who was starting to doze, jerked awake at the mention of jewelry. "You say that jewelry really was inspired by pumpkins?"

"Shhhh, don't interrupt," said Wolf Spirit.

Seeker loudly banged his staff, Heyoka, on the bar to restore order, earning himself a glare from Gladys, who had just set out a bowl of salted slugs.

Beith continued: "Yes, as I was saying before being interrupted, the people found that they could not easily carry pumpkins around with them, and so they learned to pass the powers of the pumpkin into the jewelry. Unfortunately, this art was lost many centuries ago, but it survives in the two known examples that were discovered years ago on Tara Hill, the very pumpkin medallions that are worn by Kernos and Selene."

Wolf Spirit had a question: "If the medallions were discovered by archeologists, why weren't they placed in a museum? How did Kernos and Selene get them?"

"I'm so glad you asked that," said Beith, "because I DO have an answer! You see, the medallions of course were really the property of the Irish people, and it was felt that tokens of such power should not simply gather dust in a museum, but should be used for the betterment of all people, but especially the Irish. And so after much debate, they were turned over to OBOD, and my understanding is that they were then in turn loaned to Selene and Kernos. But now it seems there is a problem, because one of the amulets -- as we all clearly saw -- is floating around without an owner. And ... where is he?"

Crow gulped painfully as Beith turned and glared at him in the rafters. "There he is," she said. "Clearly he lusts for Administrative Power, and is trying to obtain one of the amulets, though I admit I don't know how the amulet has fled its proper owner, though I suspect fowl play."

Crow wondered about a lot of things. He wondered how the amulet had gotten away from Selene or Kernos. He wondered if Beith had any idea what she was talking about. He wondered why everyone assumed that he had something to do with all of this. He wondered how it was that everybody's voice turned orange whenever they said Administrative Power.

But mainly he wondered what would happen next ...

[Seeker]

First...a short time-out and commercial...I must congratulate Crow on his last installment of this epic saga..truly well-written and funny! You rock!

Okay, where were we...oh, yes...

"Harrumph! Harrumph!" came a voice from the crowd.

"Hold on, everyone, it looks like Seeker is trying to get our attention!" said Lorraine.

"No" growled Wolf Spirit "I think he's choking on the salted slugs Gladys just put out. "For Pete's sake...someone help the old fart. He's turning blue!"

Crow watched anxiously from the rafters, relieved again that the attention had been drawn off him. Beith started to beat Seeker's back with the palm of her hand. Whoa...she sure was hitting him rather hard! But, then again, Beith didn't like someone taking center stage over her. Not when she was poised to deliver her most recent hypothesis linking the Song of Amergin with the ability to wield Administrative Power!

Crow sighed...he had to have been set up. But, who would do this to him? Better yet...who wouldn't? He could only hope Kat Lady would come back soon with some information to help him out. In the meantime, he looked through the rafters and spotted an open window. "Better make myself scarce..." he thought.

But then...

[Lorraine]

Amid the coughing and slapping, a strange noise was to be heard. A gurgling... or was it bubbling?
“What’s that?” said Wolf spirit. “Is that you, Seeker?”
“I wonder if the slugs gave him IGS?” said Lorraine.
“IGS?” asked Dair Ciuin.
“Irritable Gastropod Syndrome,” chorused all of those who’d tried the salted slugs before.
Beith raised her hand for one more slap.
“No!” gasped Seeker. “It’s not me making that noise, or the slugs!”
But what could it be? The bubbling sound was becoming louder...

Crow had been just about to fly away when he spotted something strange on one of the tables. There was just one glass of beer which was not currently attended, that which belonged to the hapless Seeker. The pint glass had taken on a strange orange glow, and the beer inside had begun to fizz more urgently. Like a pan of water going from a simmer to a boil, small bubbles turned to larger ones, and an image began to form. Crow focused on the glass, from his perch, then allowed his focus to blur slightly. Figures began to form among the bubbles, most of whom appeared human, but one appeared feline... and wearing a rather fetching rubber swimcap. One of the humans, a man of great presence, leaned nonchalantly against the side of the glass, wearing nothing save for some rather distinctive footwear.
“Look!” Crow squawked. “Look inside Seeker's glass!”
“Ah,” said Beith, happily. “Now this is interesting. Did I ever tell you about the ancient Irish form of divination, Beeromancy?”

[Crow]

And before the story continues, yet another commercial message (don't you hate how they sucker you in, and then the commercials start appearing about every 5 minutes?)

Thanks, Seeker, for your kind words, and if I may return the compliment first to Dair Ciúin for starting this Crawl, and also to all of you who are taking part thus far. You all rock! Lastly, I wish to thank Beith. The fact of the matter is, she really IS a Celtic Studies expert, and if there's anyone out there who would know of a Celtic connection to pumpkins, or about the intricacies of Beeromancy, it would be her. I have much to thank her for, the very least of which being that she's a good sport. Thanks, Beith. Now, on with the show ...

[Dryadia2]

It was at that very moment, that Dryadia2 decided she had been hibernating long enough...and it is time to 'take action' and 'do something constructive' to clear Crow of the accusations about the orange pumpkin medallion with Administrative Power. Being a noob to this Pub Crawl thing, she decides to ask someone to fill her in about what's going on. And since it is widely known that Dair Ciúin is an Ally to the Ents, and a friend to Dryads near and far, she decides to ask him to accompany her to go fetch Kat Lady, who would most certainly be able to testify in Crow's behalf. So after uprooting herself, Dryadia2 lumbers over to the window of The Foggy Duck, and gently scratches her branches (screeeeech screeeeech) rather eerily on the glass pane to get someone's attention.

Lorraine (with her intuitive Greening Gaia abilities) immediately recognizes the sound of tree branches scratching, and opens the window.

Wolf Spirit thoughtfully helps Seeker over to the table, where at this point all eyes are focused on Seeker's glass. Everyone is eagerly awaiting Beith's "Narrative on Beeromancy: The Ancient Irish Form of Divination". But just as she begins to speak, the glass with the strange orange glow gets brighter, the orange pumpkin medallion with Administrative Power faintly comes into view inside the glass, as the bubbles begin to churn faster and they rise into a frothy head then overflow onto the table, as the images of human, feline, and medallion fade and disappear. "Oh no!", everyone exclaims. "We have lost the vision!" "Whatever shall we do?"

"I'll go fetch Kat Lady, and bring her back here." volunteers Dryadia2. "Who wants to come with me?" "I will" Dair Ciúin replies eagerly. So they begin their journey down the road to the OBOD Tower, not knowing what dangers may await them...

[Dair Ciúin]

As Dryadia2 and Dair Ciúin opened the door to Phlipp Phlopp's luxurious office, they approached the group of Druids in the hot tub and asked Kat Lady if there was any news regarding the medallion.

"Yes, actually." Kat Lady replied. "Phlipp Phlopp was just explaining the situation. You see, once the pumpkin medallions were given to the Order, the Druid Council proceeded to enchant them to increase the medallion's Administrative Powers. However, when the time came to enchanting Selene's medallion, the Council suddenly all became ill, and had to find a replacement to carry out the process. After looking inside the newspaper, they stumbled upon this advertisement..."

Kat Lady handed Dryadia2 a soggy edition of the Pagan Press from the hot tub, with a circled paragraph:

Billy Joe Bob - Texan Spellcaster for Hire
That's right, I'm a magician!

Upon reading this, Dair Ciúin sighed. Suddenly this was all making sense – Billy Joe Bob must have used the wrong spell. Magician, indeed!

Crow will not be impressed with his rival's latest escapade, and neither will the members of Ye Foggy Duck's premier magick guild: "Spell and Craft".

[Kat Lady]

Kat Lady sighed. She guessed it was time to leave the nice, warm hot tub and the wonderful company of the OBOD office staff. She glanced around the hot tub, a slight wimper leaving her lips. There was Susan Jones scribbling with a waterproof marker in a large waterproof book marked “Tutors”. Next to her was Unikorn who was reciting some of her poetry and beside her was Dracule, beaming at his Kiwi friend. She closed her eyes again and could hear the lilting music of Damh the Bard in the background. Ah…this was the life, peace, tranquility, no Crow…

"Um, Kat. We need to get going." Dryadia broke the reverie. She stood looking at Kat Lady, arms crossed, foot tapping.

Sigh! Dryadia was right. It was time to get going and tell the others and set them all on Billy Joe Bob. She waved good bye to the Office Staff and trotted off behind Dair Ciúin and Dryadia who were both humming the Mission Impossible theme song.

Meanwhile, back at the Foggy Duck, Beith continued her story. "When my ancester, Seamus MacLoafer, first discovered the powers of the Great Pumpkin medallions, it was under the dark of the moon...."

[Phlipp Phlopp]

Greetings! I really do hate to disturb such a unique story. I am especially enjoying the history of the Pumpkin Medallions and their Administrative Power as related by our own dear Beith. But I do find we are in desperate need of a hot tub cleaner. It seems that there is a lot of black fur clogging the pump! So if anyone knows of a good plumber, please contact the office. Thank you!

Now, please continue this entertaining Bardic tale.

[Dair Ciúin]

The pumpkin medallion peered through the window of Ye Foggy Duck, watching the patrons inside, and wondering what form of mischief it should cause next. Pumpkin medallions, especially those enchanted by so-called Texan cowboy magicians, can be quite unruly at times.