Something I Got Carried Away With Last Weekend, I Love This Wonderful Little Game So Much

I apologize for my brief recommendation of the further novels, as it was without context and born out of my excitement for the books. Frankly, I wrote it with the assumption that whatever my feelings upon the matter you already had your own, and would do whatever you wished no matter what I said. Having said that, I will now write the reason I so quickly recommended the books without giving you context.

Reading Bujold, for me, is a baseline to expand one’s empathy for others. All books do this, to an extent, but Bujold does it with particular finesse, and with, I admit, a dry irony I very much enjoy. She writes humans who push the boundaries of how we define humanity and asks us to expand our definition of humanity to include them.

Within her books she discusses a wide variety of topics, frequently pertaining to ethics. She is at her best while writing ethical intellectuals. A shortlist of the topics Bujold breaches are, family, identity and self-discovery, redemption, ableism, patriarchy, the mechanics of privilege (from different points of view), tradition and innovation and how they relate, medical ethics, bioengineering, and more (not to mention a generous portion of science fiction ethical dilemmas). Within the world of her books she focuses more upon characters than she does upon science, giving a plausible future scenario in which she can discuss more topics more freely than she might be able to within the modern era.

Shards of Honor was Bujold’s first published novel, and therefore lacks some of the polish and skill of the later novels. She is an author whose writing gets better, not worse, as she progresses. This is even more impressive when you realize that Shards of Honor is no where near a ballpark that could be considered bad.

I do not have a reference for how much you know about the series, so I will now expound a little upon its format.

The protagonist of Shards of Honor, Cordelia, appears as the main third-person narrow point of view for one more book before a time jump and a change in perspective to her son, Miles. Miles is his own protagonist for the majority of the series, though in later books the cast expands. Miles is a complex character that I do not wish to spoil should you decide to keep reading, but he very atypical for a protagonist of his sort, and it leads to a lot of interesting things about the series at large.

In addition, it is important to note that not all of Bujold’s novels are romances. Barrayar, the next book, can be semi-classified as a romance given as Aral and Cordelia are both still present, but I find it more justly fit into a political thriller. All the novels in the series can be called space operas. Furthermore, depending on the book, she writes within the genres of horror, speculative fiction, comedy, mystery, and drama. While this has a potential to be jarring with a less skilled writer, with Bujold, the result is instead a cohesive, interesting universe with realistic societies.

The books do include trigger warnings on rape and torture, though the worst instances are in the scene you mentioned in Shards of Honor, and instances in Mirror Dance much further in the series. The most common just complaint I have heard of her books is a lack of understanding of gender and sexual orientation early within the novels. She does not handle the subject horrendously, as you have likely gathered from the nature of Beta colony, but there are some instances that reveal a lack of understanding into bisexuality and what in means to be transgender. However, this lack of understanding, too, improves as she continues to write.

The series itself is extremely important to me, which doesn’t necessarily mean it will be an extremely important to everyone. However, I would highly recommend you continuing to give it a chance. I did not receive the impression you particularly disliked it, but rather you enjoyed it well enough, but not enough to derail your reading for the next month as you finished the series. I strongly urge that you do. Personally, I find it some of the most poignant books ever written on human nature and on human hope, and have long felt the relatively insular community that knows of its existence should expand. It is a series I honestly believe would improve the world if everyone read and understood its messages. It is a story of finding joy in the darkest times, of changing the world, and of the power of human inspiration.

Read further. Just do it.

@unexpected-firestorms replied to your text post

Read further. Just do it

I’m not absolutely opposed to the idea, but I’m gonna need way more of a convincing pitch than that.

Yes pls

Instead of being Voldemort's daughter, Delphi may actually be the great-granddaughter of Isolt Sayre, the founder of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - and a Slytherin descendant.

The witch may come from the Irish branch of the Gaunt family, which J.K. Rowling introduced recently in her Pottermore article on Ilvermorny.

It’s still possible that Delphi actually isn’t Voldemort’s daughter, but only believes that she is.

Why? Because of what J.K. Rowling herself recently posted on Pottermore, with the entry for Ilvermony School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

J.K. Rowling wrote that the Gaunt family had at least one other branch, namely, in Ireland. Rionach Gaunt, a Pureblood witch and descendant of Salazar Slytherin, married the Pureblood wizard William Sayre in the late 1500’s/early 1600’s.

This is what Rowling writes in the article:

Isolt Sayre was born around 1603 and spent her earliest childhood in the valley of Coomloughra, County Kerry, in Ireland. She was the offspring of two pure-blood wizarding families (OP: Gaunt and Sayre).

Her father, William Sayre, was a direct descendant of the famous Irish witch Morrigan, an Animagus whose creature form was a crow. William nicknamed his daughter ‘Morrigan’ for her affinity for all natural things when she was young. Her early childhood was idyllic, with parents who loved her and were quietly helpful to their Muggle neighbours, producing magical cures for humans and livestock alike.

However, at five years old, an attack upon the family home resulted in the death of both of her parents. Isolt was ‘rescued’ from the fire by her mother’s estranged sister, Gormlaith Gaunt, who took her to the neighbouring valley of Coomcallee, or ‘Hag’s Glen,’ and raised her there.

Isolt Sayre later founded Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, being a descendant of Slytherin, it’s heavily implied she could speak (or, at least understand) Parseltongue. Her “house” at Ilvermorny, Horned Serpent, was named after a [likely basilisk relative] she “could speak with and understand”.

According to J.K. Rowling:

Most fascinating of all to Isolt, was the great horned river serpent with a jewel set into its forehead, which lived in a nearby creek. Even her Pukwudgie guide was terrified of this beast, but to his astonishment, the Horned Serpent seemed to like Isolt. Even more alarming to William was the fact that she claimed to understand what the Horned Serpent was saying to her.

Isolt learned not to talk to William about her strange sense of kinship with the serpent, nor of the fact that it seemed to tell her things. She took to visiting the creek alone and never told the Pukwudgie where she had been. The serpent’s message never varied:

'Until I am part of your family, your family is doomed.’

Isolt had no family, unless you counted Gormlaith back in Ireland. She could not understand the Horned Serpent’s cryptic words, or even decide whether she was imagining the voice in which he seemed to speak to her.

Isolt had two daughters with her Muggle husband, James Steward: Martha, a Squib, and Rionach II, a witch.

Rionach II never married “in an effort to eradicate Slytherin’s bloodline”. However, her sister, Martha, did marry a Native American man from a local tribe.

According, again, to J.K. Rowling:

Rionach, the youngest of James and Isolt’s daughters, taught Defence Against the Dark Arts at Ilvermorny for many years. Rionach never married. There was a rumour, never confirmed by her family, that, unlike her sister Martha, Rionach was born with the ability to speak Parseltongue, and that she was determined not to pass on Slytherin ancestry into the next generation (the American branch of the family was unaware that Gormlaith was not the last of the Gaunts, and that the line continued in England).

[…] Martha, the elder of James and Isolt’s twins, was a Squib. Deeply loved though Martha was by her parents and adoptive brothers, it was painful for her to grow up at Ilvermorny when she was unable to perform magic.

She eventually married the non-magical brother of a friend from the Pocomtuc tribe, and lived henceforth as a No-Maj (Muggle).

In another interview, Rowling pointedly confirmed that Muggle-borns “are a result of Squibs intermarrying with Muggles, and magic showing up in the descendants of these unions several generations later”.

“Muggle-borns will have a witch or wizard somewhere on their family tree, in some cases many, many generations back. The gene resurfaces in some unexpected places.” - J.K. Rowling

Due to this, it’s entirely possible that Delphi is actually the long-lost descendant of Martha Steward, and thus, the other branch of the Gaunt family. She merely assumes she’s Lord Voldemort’s daughter, because she can speak Parseltongue.

If this is the case, Delphi would also likely be Muggle-born, or, at best, Half-blood.

If that’s the case, then why would Lord Voldemort and/or his followers have taken / stolen Delphi as a child?

This answer, too, can be found easily within the Ilvermony article. Voldemort’s distant relative, Gormlaith Gaunt, also stole away Isolt Sayre as a child for the following reasons, and later, also sought to steal Isolt’s daughters:

As Isolt grew older she came to realise that her saviour was in reality her kidnapper and the murderer of her parents. Unstable and cruel, Gormlaith was a fanatical pure-blood who believed that her sister’s helpfulness to her Muggle neighbours, was setting Isolt upon a dangerous path to intermarriage with a non-magical man. Only by stealing the child, Gormlaith believed, could their daughter be brought back to the 'right way’: raised in the belief that as a descendant of both Morrigan and Salazar Slytherin she ought to associate only with pure-bloods.

[…] Gormlaith refused to allow Isolt to take up her place at Hogwarts when the letter arrived, on the basis that Isolt would learn more at home than at a dangerously egalitarian establishment full of Mudbloods. However, Gormlaith herself had attended Hogwarts, and told Isolt a great deal about the school. In the main, she did this to denigrate the place, lamenting that Salazar Slytherin’s plans for the purity of wizardkind had not been fulfilled.

[…] She intended to lay waste to the second Ilvermorny, slaughter the parents who had thwarted her ambition of a great pure-blood family, steal her great nieces who were the last to carry the sacred bloodline, and return with them to Hag’s Glen.

Likewise, in the article on Pottermore about Draco Malfoy, Rowling wrote the following:

Draco was raised in an atmosphere of regret that the Dark Lord had not succeeded in taking command of the wizarding community, although he was prudently reminded that such sentiments ought not to be expressed outside the small circle of the family and their close friends, 'or Daddy might get into trouble’.

In childhood, Draco associated mainly with the pure-blood children of his father’s ex-Death Eater cronies, and therefore arrived at Hogwarts with a small gang of friends already made, including Theodore Nott and Vincent Crabbe.

Like every other child of Harry Potter’s age, Draco heard stories of the Boy Who Lived through his youth. Many different theories had been in circulation for years as to how Harry survived what should have been a lethal attack, and one of the most persistentwas that Harry [Potter] himself was a great Dark wizard.

The fact that he had been removed from the wizarding community seemed (to wishful thinkers) to support this view, and Draco’s father, wily Lucius Malfoy, was one of those who subscribed most eagerly to the theory.

It was comforting to think that he, Lucius, might be in for a second chance of world domination, should this Potter boy prove to be another, and greater, pure-blood champion.

It was, therefore, in the knowledge that he was doing nothing of which his father would disapprove, and in the hope that he might be able to relay some interesting news home, that Draco Malfoy offered Harry Potter his hand when he realised who he was on the Hogwarts Express.

Harry’s refusal of Draco’s friendly overtures, and the fact that he had already formed allegiance to Ron Weasley, whose family is anathema to the Malfoys, turns Malfoy against him at once. Draco realised, correctly, that the wild hopes of the ex-Death Eaters – that Harry Potter was another, and better, Voldemort – are completely unfounded, and their mutual enmity is assured from that point.

How and why would Lord Voldemort be in America in the first place?

I think this is also for a reason explained by Rowling in the Ilvermorny article: Voldemort was looking for the wand of Salazar Slytherin, which was buried on the grounds of Ilvermorny. (Or heard of a “powerful wand” being at Ilvermorny, and assumed it could be the Elder Wand.)

From J.K. Rowling:

Next, [Gormlaith] uttered a single sibilant word in Parseltongue, the language of snakes. The wand that had served Isolt so faithfully for many years quivered once on the bedstand beside her as she slept, and became inactive.

In all the years that she had lived with it, Isolt had never known that she held in her hand the wand of Salazar Slytherin, one of the founders of Hogwarts, and that it contained a fragment of a magical snake’s horn: in this case, a Basilisk. The wand had been taught by its creator to 'sleep’ when so instructed, and this secret had been handed down through the centuries to each member of Slytherin’s family who possessed it.

[…] Isolt screamed at James to go to the girls: she ran to assist her adoptive sons, Slytherin’s wand in her hand.

Only when she raised it to attack her hated aunt did she realise that for all the good it would do her, the sleeping wand might as well have been a stick she had found on the ground.

[…] Slytherin’s wand remained inactive following Gormlaith’s command in Parseltongue. Isolt could not speak the language, but, in any case, she no longer wanted to touch the wand that was the last relic of her unhappy childhood. She and James buried it outside the grounds.

Within a year, an unknown species of snakewood tree had grown out of the earth on the spot where the wand was buried. It resisted all attempts to prune or kill it, but after several years the leaves were found to contain powerful medicinal properties.

This tree seemed testament to the fact that Slytherin’s wand, like his scattered descendants, encompassed both noble and ignoble. The very best of him seemed to have migrated to America.

But who could speak Parseltongue, aside from Harry, in the series? Lord Voldemort. A man who, even as Tom Riddle, as seen in Chamber of Secrets, had an unhealthy obsession with Salazar Slytherin.

“You see?” he whispered. “It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle Father’s name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin’s himself, through my mother’s side? I, keep the name of the foul, common muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry — I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!”

[…] “Well, he certainly kept an annoyingly close watch on me after Hagrid was expelled,” said Riddle carelessly. “I knew it wouldn’t be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn’t going to waste those long years I’d spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin’s noble work.” - Tom Riddle, Chamber of Secrets

Likewise, we all know that Lord Voldemort greatly coveted Founders’ items - and Slytherin’s wand would have the perfect object to turn into another one of his Horcruxes.

Had Voldemort not sought the Elder Wand, likely, he would have also done anything in his power to lay his claim to Salazar Slytherin’s wand. This is especially true, given that he robs Dumbledore’s grave just in order to obtain the Elder Wand.

Likewise, by finding out how (and why) Salazar Slytherin’s wand ended up in America in the first place, Voldemort would also learn…that he was not the last of Slytherin’s decendants. That Slytherin’s descendants may still exist, alive and well, in America, through descent from Martha Steward.

Likewise, during the books, Voldemort travelled far and wide, according to Harry. We know that he travelled to Germany (Nurmengard) to interogate Gellert Grindelwald. Voldemort also travelling to America wouldn’t be much of a stretch.

If she isn’t Voldemort’s daughter, then why does Delphi have blue-silvery hair and other magical powers?

I believe that this may be due to several reasons: namely, as a descendant of William Sayre, Delphi would also be descended from the Irish witch Morrigan. Morrigan was stated to be a powerful witch and an Animagus, one who took on the form of a crow.

In Irish lore, Morrigan was known as “the Morrígan”, which means “the phantom queen”, or “Mórrígan”, “the great queen”.

However, “Morrigan” also refers to a type of creature in the earliest source material - “a monster in female form, that is, a morrígan”. (“morrígna” is the plural term used)

Likewise, in traditional Irish lore, Morrigan could turn into other animals besides a crow.

In response she intervenes in his next combat, first in the form of an eel who trips him, then as a wolf who stampedes cattle across the ford, and finally as a white, red-eared heifer leading the stampede… (Wikipedia)

This would indicate that Morrigan, though believed to be a witch, may actually be something more along the lines of a Veela.

“Veela are semi-human magical beings; beautiful women with white-gold hair and skin that appears to shine moon-bright. When angry, Veela take on a less pleasant appearance; their faces elongate into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long scaly wings burst from their shoulders.” (HP Wiki)

Likewise, we know that Veela, as seen with the Delacour family, can intermarry and have children with humans (namely, wizards).

Veela have been known to marry wizards, although it is unknown whether any have married Muggles. Children of these unions are half-Veela, and they will inherit magical ability from their fathers and beauty and charm from their mothers. Veela traits seem to persist for at least a few generations. These traits only show up in females, the daughters of their offspring. Apolline Delacour is a half-Veela, thus her children Fleur and Gabrielle are quarter-Veela, and Fleur’s children Victoire, Dominique, and Louis are eighth-Veela; it is unknown if they have inherited any specific Veela characteristics from their grandmother. It is unknown whether half-blooded Veela can throw fire or transform into harpy-like creatures, as their full-blooded relatives can. (HP Wiki)

However, Delphi’s appearance may also point to Veela ancestry much sooner in her family tree. If this is the case, and Delphi is part-Veela, then that would also explain Albus Potter’s “crush” on her.

[Veela] magic creates an “entranced” effect, as noted in the books and hinted in the movie, wherein men (presumed to be heterosexual) fall into a trance-like stance, similar to the Imperio charm, in which they lose sight of their surroundings and focus solely on the Veela’s dance or appearance. Men are also prone to experiencing thoughts of strong desire to impress or be with the veela in question, and are strongly attracted romantically. (HP Wiki)

But a crow isn’t the same as an augurey, and Delphi is “the augurey”, not “the crow”!

True. However, the augurey physically resembles, and shares symbolic traits, with crows, such as black feathering with a green-or-blue hue, or being an “omen of death”. Likewise, you know what else the augurey is called in Harry Potter mythology? “The Irish phoenix”.

Morrigan is, her her core, an Irish figure. Likewise, Isolt Sayre came from the Irish branch of the Gaunt family, which was thought to have died out [Pureblood-wise] with Gormlaith Gaunt’s death. From what we know, Lord Voldemort came from the English branch.

From the HP Wiki:

The Augurey, also known as the Irish Phoenix, is a thin and mournful looking bird, somewhat like a small underfed vulture in appearance, with greenish black feathers and a sharp beak. Its diet consists of insects, fairies and flies, which it hunts for in the heavy rain. Intensely shy, the Augurey lives in a tear-shaped nest in thorn and brambles.

It is native to Great Britain and Ireland, but is also found in Northern Europe. It was long believed that the mournful cry of the Augurey foretold death, and wizards would go to great lengths to avoid Augurey nests. However, research determined that the Augurey merely sings when it is about to rain.

The term “augury” most commonly refers to a method of divination by studying the flight patterns of birds.

However, Morrigan also had a large connection with divination and death. In lore, she is also said to be a Seer and diviner, warning heroes of their impending demise:

Her role was to not only be a symbol of imminent death, but to also influence the outcome of war.

Most often she did this by appearing as a crow flying overhead, and would either inspire fear or courage in the hearts of the warriors. In some cases, she is written to have appeared in visions to those who are destined to die in battle by washing their bloody armor. In this specific role, she is also given the role of foretelling imminent death, with a particular emphasis on the individual. (Wikipedia)

Likewise, Delphi’s very name all but means 'prophecy’. Delphi [in Greece] is perhaps best known for the oracle of the Pythia, who would give prophecies in a trance, which equates with Seers in the Harry Potter world.

A Seer from history, mythology, and lore - just like Morrigan.

If that’s the case, what happened to Delphi’s true parents?

Likley killed by Voldemort and/or Voldemort’s followers, especially since Martha Steward’s decendants would largely be of Muggle ancestry, maybe with a Half-bloods and Muggle-borns mixed in. 

In Voldemort’s eyes, they would have “defiled” Slytherin’s bloodline.

I want to write this someday

if luke and leia were born during the clone wars

like, during season 4, not after when everything went terribly wrong

- Padme, 6-9 months pregnant, rushes into combat all the time. Anakin has an aneurysm. “YOU ARE A SENATOR. HOW DO YOU GET SHOT AT ALL THE TIME???” and yet she never actually takes damage because she is ~flawless~

- officially, Padme’s children have no father. In an interview with the press, she said “I wanted a baby, so I acquired one” and that’s that. unofficially, anyone with the Force knows Anakin is the father. Honestly, anyone with eyes knows Anakin is the father.

- because you know how Anakin and Padme are the least subtle secret couple? Yeah, that goes out the window when she gets pregnant. Anakin kisses her mid-battle and smooches her back at camp and watches her with stars in his eyes and professes his love for her all the time. When Padme asks about this, he just shrugs and says “well they haven’t kicked me out of the order yet!”

- which is mostly because of Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan is deliberately pretending he didn’t see his former padawan makeout with a senator. it’s like, okay, he knows he’s supposed to do something about this, but they are in the middle of a war, and if they have to kick Anakin out of the Order right now for knocking up a senator then they will lose this war. Obi-Wan has more important things to worry about than Anakin’s libido. 

- KIX  👐 TELLS  👐 PADME  👐 THERE  👐 ARE  👐 TWIN  👐 BABIES  👐 IN  👐 THERE  👐

- speaking of the clones, oh man, they are so fiercely protective of Padme. She is their general’s lady and their senator and they would gladly die before letting her or her babies get hurt.

- (but also, preggars Padme makes them sad, because will any of them ever get that for themselves? probably not–they were made to die, and with the rapid aging…but maybe one day…)

- Rex has absolutely had to go get weird food combinations in the middle of the night for his general’s wife. absolutely. that is in Rex’s job description.

- also you thought Padme gave effective speeches before? Imagine pregnant Padme giving speeches about needing to end the war for peace for the future. 110% approval rating comes from soft pregnancy glow.

- the twins are born on a battlefield in a camp where there’s blasterfire and smoke not two feet away. Obi-Wan is there, and he intends to tell Anakin and Padme both that he’s sorry, that they’ll get the twins for a little while, but they’ll have to go to the temple, they’ll have to be raised in the creche–

- but then luke is born, and the Force screams at Obi-Wan this is your padawan and obi-wan goes “oh” softly.

- also, Leia comes into the world and Ahsoka watches and goes “oh look it’s my padawan. I mean I’m a padawan myself but that girl is going to be my padawan some day this is rad.”

- so Anakin relaxes a bit, ‘cause the Force is going to take care of its grandchildren okay, it wants it’s favorite son to be happy.

- which means Palpatine has lost any and all chance of converting Anakin to the dark side. It will never happen now.

- i’m not saying that after they are born, Anakin and Padme strap a twin each to their back and then head out into battle, but Luke and Leia’s first lullaby is the sound of blasterfire and lightsabers

Dragon Age comics

Halla | The Artifact | Cultural Divide

Mass Effect Comics

“Fist-fight” | Diplomacy | Downtime  | The Gala

yeah the Citadel DLC was great but where were the pretty dresses???? chekmaté

set in me1.  went very much out of my comfort zone on all levels with this one

this thing has been on the back burner for three months and that’s way too long for me to look at one project and feel confident with it. ultimately decided to finish it just to feel some sort of accomplishment, hence the rushed shading and overall rendering

Look I'm torn between wanting it to be amazing and thinking it won't be, and wanting it to be amazing and thinking it will be

Star Trek Discovery- Text Post Meme

pass it on!

(ID in alt text)

Do you think the Mighty Nein will forbid any new members because they’re too far into the nine schtick and can’t back down now.

Like it’s mostly clear that the nine nein are now Beau, Yasha, Jester, Veth, Fjord, Caleb, Caduceus, Essek, and Molly. Fan artists can finally draw three squares of three and have it look cool. But what happens if they pick up a new member?

Bam. Now there’s ten. How will they justify the name they meta gamed up on a whim that has become a centralized motif of the campaign now?

I just think it would be funny if shenanigans ensued.

and again i just don’t want to loose these okay

Vorkosigan Saga Characters As Onion Headlines, Part Three

Simon 

Boss Able To Seamlessly Blend Constructive Criticism With Personal Attacks

Night Of Uninterrupted Deep Sleep Really Throws Man’s Day Off

Alys

Right Guy To Fuck With Identified

Busy Mom Wishes She Had Enough Spare Time To Fuck CIA Director

Duv

Humanity Surprised It Still Hasn’t Figured Out Better Alternatives To Having Power-Hungry Assholes Decide Everything

Wrongly Imprisoned Man Won’t Shut Up About It

Mark

Kidnapping Going Pretty Smoothly

Panic Attack Counted As Exercise

Study: 80% Of Waking Hours Spent Plotting Revenge

How To Find The Right Therapist

Tien

Man Needs Emotional Support Only A Woman Can Feign

Ekaterin

Amazon.com Recommendations Understand Area Woman Better Than Husband

Woman Launches Into 4-Minute Self-Deprecating Preamble Before Speaking Mind

Sudden Burst Of Confidence Not Sure Where The Hell It Came From Either

Area Woman Not Listened To Again

Byerly

Man Suspected Of Being Bumbling Spy

Kareen Koudelka

Area Daughter Belittled Out Of Concern

Tej

Relationship At Point Where Woman Has To Learn Boyfriend’s Family’s Weird Card Games

legends and lattes ☕

Blue + The Raven Boys (DND Class Edition)

My brother and I collaborated on this piece by having him color and shade my lines! You can follow and support him over at his art blog @sonofkermit!