"What if we could help?" Shine asked. "What if your Semblance wouldn't matter anymore?"
"You keep saying that," Qrow said.
"And why do you never believe it?" Shine asked.
Another question Qrow couldn't answer.
Suddenly, it kind of hit him what Shine was getting at by asking him.
He never even let those thoughts in... or tried to picture his life without his curse. And why? It was too new.
After a long pause that made Wally fidget like crazy, Qrow looked around and then said, "I guess I have no real life outside of being this way. I wouldn't even know where to start. So... I didn't think about it."
"That is actually an honest answer, finally," Wally said. "Only took us weeks to get here."
"Hey!" Qrow said. "Gloating is not a good look for you, Mr. Flash-Is-A-Hero-Name."
"I still don't get why you guys think it's so weird," Wally grumbled.
Shine didn't bother to answer that for him.
"Why not just let it happen?" she said to Qrow. "Be reborn--in our sense, which is not like Ozpin's."
"It's hard for me to think I even could be," Qrow said. "I guess even with your God and your powers, I think I'm just too screwed up. I've never really been on the straight and narrow path my entire life, properly. Even the things I thought I did right, they were wrong."
"Oh, I know. We've pointed it out a lot," Shine said. "But I never meant to imply that nothing you have done was ever right. Anyone can see that is not true. Most importantly of all, you really do love your family. Even if you were ungraceful about it, that is something very valuable... and it's more graceful than you think. Even poor Raven would acknowledge that."
"Yeah, well, I didn't do so well with her there either." Qrow's mind turned to that. "Maybe you were right about that. I didn't give her a chance. I schemed against her the same way she did with me--heck, I started it. How did I get so lost so fast?"
"There has to be some grace--Ozpin did mislead you," Shine said.
"But I'm not responsible for myself?" Qrow said. "I should have asked more questions. I shouldn't have done things that sounded wrong in the name of serving him for the greater good. You two can see it. Why couldn't I?"
"Wow," Wally said. "I feel like it's been months and you've never admitted that to us once."
"Wally, sore winner," Shine hissed.
"Sorry." Wally made a goofy face.
Honestly, their couple-ness was grating on Qrow's nerves, like rubbing salt in the wound.
"If it would help, Qrow," Shine said, "I'll let you know something that I hate thinking about, myself. But it must be said... Many atrocities have been done in the name of our Lord also. Of every god, I think. But ours too. Murder and slaughter and theft. People have been put to death who were innocent, spared who were guilty. Sold out just the way you guys sold out the Maidens."
"What?" Qrow said. "But I thought it was all about mercy and life."
"Qrow, I am going to say something that you need to listen to carefully and remember," Shine said, "because it will matter in the future, I guarantee it: No matter how perfect the machine, human error means it will be misoperated. Yes, God's revelation is pure, and it is flawless. But He pours it through these vessels that are broken, and we have biases. And God does not heal them all at the same time. It's true that anyone who truly knows Him, they will change. But what is also true is that anything can be treated like a fad. And the more you make something sound like it's normal, and common, the less you truly understand it. The more people who know of the truth, the more it's diluted. Because people are selfish, and they apply their own bias to the Word. Lewis called it the 'Christianity and--' mentality. Using God as a means to an end. You see, people have tried to obliterate other nations of people that they hated, because they made it out that God hated them also. They've enslaved people and used God as an excuse. But the truth is far deeper than that."
"I don't understand," Qrow said.
Shine sighed and pushed her hair back. "God does not stop every human evil--you can't do that without stopping humanity. So He leaves some that are bearable, so that we can learn to deal with them ourselves. For every evil that has stood, people have also used His Word as a tool to undo it. The premise of brotherly love is from Christianity, even if the practice of it is sometimes lost by Christians, but that's the point of it. God is so big that His reach goes outside His own people, and if they miss the mark, He will find someone else who won't. That is always how He works. And His Word comes around again sooner or later. But if we didn't carry His Word, the other people wouldn't catch on. He makes us to balance out each other's flaws. That is why we are all so different. And yes, we fight, but that fighting is important. It's better to fight because you care about the truth than to not care about it at all and have peace because no one cares. The Apathy should have taught us all that much."
"Good stuff," Wally agreed with her.
"This is supposed to make me feel better?" Qrow said.
"Of course," Shine said. "If it helps you realize that we can misuse even the real answer. Qrow, I've done it also. The main difference I see with what I believe is that some part of me knows I'm being untrue to it deep down, and even if I could be so deluded I don't see it, it's always right there in the Word for me. People just ignore it, that's all. That's why we trust it--because we have our blind spots, but God never does. And we need each other to point that out. That's all we've been doing for all of you. And you have pushed back at us. But that has been helpful in some ways. I have things to learn still."
"Me too," Wally added. "At least it makes us careful about how we were showing you. We didn't have a chance to get lazy about it."
"Definitely not," Shine agreed. "So don't feel so bad about Ozpin. It was wrong, but all we ever cared about is that you could be turned from it. And hey, that started even before we got here. That's good. Don't let it ruin the rest of your life. If you do that, we might as well have not come. Don't you see by now that this is not going to stop with Salem? Life and life more abundantly is supposed to go on forever. It's still a failure if you just stop here and then give up on everything else. And it's better to think of this now, before we get there... because she will know if you have no hope. I need all of you to have hope."
"That's also right," Wally said.
"Are you just going to echo her?" Qrow said.
"Well, Qrow, some people are worth echoing," Wally said.
That wasn't that clever of a retort, but it was just so fitting after Ozpin's many errors, that Qrow was hit by it anyway.
He laughed oddly. "Well... you've got me there."
"That was really sweet." Shine patted Wally's shoulder.
"It feels kinda cool to tag team this," Wally said. "We should do that more often."
[Cue more of their conversations in the later stories. I guess they did learn something.]
"Indeed," Shine mused. "Anyway, Qrow, the point is, even what we teach you is going to be misapplied. But God seems to think it's worth giving truth to people anyway. He'd rather us get part of it than none of it at all. And I'm well aware that you all will mess this up. But I do too. The point is that you get on the right track. Do you think you've done that yet?"
"If this is going to come around to what we talked about before," Qrow said, "then..." He paused. "I really don't know. I'm trying to..."
They looked at him dubiously.
Qrow felt like saying do the right thing would be a lie.
"Trying to do the safe thing," he amended.
They nodded.
"Been there," Shine said.
"I mean, what is safe, though?" Wally said.
"True," Shine said. "Qrow, let me ask you, if you're caught in a snowstorm, is it safer to lie still, or to risk going forward even though you could get lost or run into something?"
"It's safer to move." Qrow knew what she was doing but couldn't stop her. "Because you could find shelter. If you lie still, you'll die. Even moving keeps you alive longer--but, that's not the same thing."
"My point was the risk, while dangerous, is safer than inaction," Shine said. "And you know what I mean. So I'm asking you again, why not try? Why be paralyzed? You always fought our attempts to help you--whether it's self loathing or lack of faith, I don't know. Or both. But why? Someone who turns away from a good thing is a fool."
"It's just... it's not something I think is that important," Qrow said, "the happiness of one person, in the grand scheme of things, so I don't focus on it."
"I've heard that before," Wally said. "From--"
"Do not say Batman," Qrow said.
"Not just him," Wally said.
"Your friends are kind of depressing to hang around at times," Shine said to Wally. "But I think most of them don't believe that deep down. Well, I'll tell you the thing I told Bats, Qrow--you don't muzzle the ox as it treads on things, and those who plant a vineyard should eat its fruit. Or in other words... if you fight to protect something, you should get to be part of it. God spells it out for us pretty clearly. People who do right should be rewarded, not because we do good to get a reward, but because good should lead to good and that leads to more good. And it seems to me, sir, you're only thinking of the risks. But you're not asking what good could come out of trying to get good. You've no idea of the potential rewards on the other side of that risk. I take it you never thought about it."
She was right.
"I just... I don't know," Qrow said, sounding kind of young, considering. "What if it didn't work out?"
Wally and Shine exchanged another look.
"Don't take this the wrong way, all right?" Shine said to Wally. "But I'm going to be brutally honest, and I don't want you to think it's a reflection of anything you're doing."
"Got it," Wally said nervously.
"Qrow, I still ask if we're going to work out long term." Shine gestured between Wally and herself. "Because it's not certain. It's not that I really doubt either of us are good people. But our jobs are dangerous. This job is dangerous right now... and we're not guaranteed to come back anymore than you are, I hate to say. And at home there's lots more danger, and there's human error. No matter how much you trust someone, they are capable of doing wrong. But, if there was one chance in a hundred that wouldn't happen, that is worth fighting for, because when it works out, it's incredibly good. And it's for that chance that we do everything. Good outcomes are far more unlikely than bad ones, statistically speaking, if we take all the risks we take on a daily basis all together... but those risks don't amount to everything, because there's somehow plenty of risks that work in our lives. I call it God's hand--you may call it whatever you like. But it works. You all shouldn't have made it this far if it was based on luck. You notice how many things don't end well for you? But you go on despite them. And... even if this risk also was not to end well, it's not the end of everything. It's important, but it's not what we base our self worth on. Goodness is all you can base worth on. Goodness is not dependent on risk or success, it is dependent on intention and pure motives. But whatever chance He gives us at happiness, I think He wants us to take it."
"You've said many times there are no guarantees," Qrow said. "Why would anyone want to risk their own or someone else's happiness on that?"
"Because God risks all of us on it," Shine said. "And Himself. God loves us all. He even loves Salem, much as you might find that impossible to imagine. Because He knows what Salem was supposed to be, and what she was, and what her end is. Like we love children even when they're brats, if we're good parents, because we know how they got here. What was their doing. What we hope for them. That's all this is about. God suffers a lot, if you read the book. He is not happy when He has to punish people or when they harm each other. That's why it's called sinning against God when we hurt each other also. But, God also sees every act of goodness we do, because it is right... and there He seems to find hope, not in us, but in His will working through us even as imperfect as we are. And you are no exception to that, my friend."
It might not have been true that this was the kindest thing anyone had ever said to Qrow, but it felt like it, somehow.
Shine was serious too, he could tell.
And Wally nodded.
"Hey, I said already," he said, "I think you've inspired a lot of these people."
"They shouldn't want to be like me," Qrow mumbled. "I've done a lot of things wrong... and you know what? Some of it wasn't luck... I've had to admit that. It was me."
"And, Qrow, you have no idea how much of a relief it is to even hear you say that." Shine somehow did not make this sound like an insult. "Because that means that you were able to see something you couldn't see. That is incredible. All that remains is to just let it in, to not just feel regret but to see forgiveness and accept that love is still there, despite your best efforts."
"What if... what if I got into all this and my Semblance was still there?" Qrow said.
Shine and Wally exchanged another look.
"So?" Wally said easily.
"There are always risks with us also," Shine said. "No one is an exception to that. Yours is more obvious, but you could see that as a good thing... It won't catch you off guard so much. I really think it will not be as much of an issue as you think. But even if it is, God sometimes leaves us with weaknesses that we can't get rid of, so that we'll remember we need Him. The weakness of God is stronger than man's strength, and 'when I am weak, then I am strong.' Paul boasted of his weakness. David called himself a worm and no man. It's fine to be weak. It's fine to be cursed, even, if you are on your way out of it. We all are cursed anyway. Sin is a curse in of itself. But we're being purified daily... So my advice to you would be to take this thing and give it to God. Tell Him to either take it away or to use it for His glory. And He will bless you even despite it, in order to show everyone that nothing is so bad or so unfortunate that He can't make good out of it. In a way, that's a powerful story to have. I think you are painting it too narrowly. He is always doing things like that. Not everyone gets healed right away, because there is power in that too."
Qrow stared at her.
"Hey, I think you hearing us out says something already," Wally said. "You wouldn't do it before. Always blew us off. So am I wrong, tough guy, or are you already thinking that you need to do this, now--and you can't keep going like this forever?"
"Man, other people have already decided this is for them," Shine said, "for their own reasons. Why don't you? Ruby would be happy, I'm sure."
Qrow looked at the ground.
"Even Raven has," Shine said.
Though Raven had never told Shine exactly what she said or thought after Mistral, Shine could see the change herself.
Qrow looked up. "You're kidding."
"You haven't noticed she's been acting differently?" Wally said.
"I... well, yeah, but..." Qrow couldn't believe that was the reason... but then Raven did seem less angry than before, and she'd finally owned up to some of her mistakes... Could it really be possible?
"Holy s---," he said oddly.
"And we never thought she'd changed her mind," Wally said. "Talk about cynical."
"I had hope," Shine said. "Presently, I'll believe Cinder can."
"Heh... that's going to be a lot harder..." Wally said weakly.
"Anyone can be redeemed," Shine said. "If they want it. Just... think about it, okay?"
Qrow swallowed.
"I will," he said. "I can't promise I'll exactly see it your way, but I'll think about it."
Shine hugged him--which caught him way off guard.
"All I wanted to hear," she said. "And remember... no matter what, we love you. And no stupid Semblance is going to change that. It's never bothered us anyway--make what you will of that. Maybe that's not worth as much as the natives of this world, but, you know, it's something."
She stepped back.
"I'm not going to say that," Wally said, "but you get it. Though honestly, Shine, from personal experience, I think the other world thing makes it better. The way I saw it was, someone who doesn't actually need me at all and has their own life still thinking it's worthwhile to care about me and what I do? That's pretty awesome. And I think it's kinda like the Christ-like thing."
"It's supposed to be," Shine said. "Just doesn't always seem to matter to people."
That was actually really sad, Qrow thought. That she thought it didn't matter to them.
But then what indication had they ever given her otherwise?
He wished he could say that--but it was too... awkward. He still wasn't there yet.
However, Shine didn't really expect any acknowledgement anyway.
"Better go check our progress," she said to Wally. "I've been watching Hazel check that map for the last several minutes. I hope it doesn't mean we're about to hit more trouble."
"Hon, we can count on that," Wally said wryly.
* * *
"The thing is, Salem is up towards the top of the continent." Hazel was pointing it out. "I think. It's not icy there, though, only on the wings of the dragon. I think she's more at its head. There's ocean not that far from her castle but far enough not to see it from there."
"She would pick the head," Raven said. "That sounds just like her."
"Why not the teeth?" Winter said dryly.
"We must be close to the part where it transitions," Hazel said, "but it's all so different from down here."
"Now you know how I feel," Raven said wryly. "I hate walking... but flying is starting to seem too dangerous."
She pointed.
Grimm had begun to tail them again some time ago. It never took that long after they broke camp.
"Salem is making sure we can't turn back," Winter said. "Shine was right. It would be suicide to do so."
"In my experience, if you're smart enough, you don't have to be a prophetess to know the future," Raven said. "At least some of it. People are predictable... usually."
"Hmm..." Winter had only too much reason to agree with her right then.
"We'd better speed this up again," Raven went on. "Can you make more glyphs?"
"I suppose." Winter formed more.
The team grouped up to get on them, and Weiss made a few more also. She and Meridian had been sharing the same one.
Winter didn't like that.
"Vara might need one," Raven said. "She doesn't look too good."
Vara's worsening condition was by now apparent to everyone. She looked pale.
"I think she hardly ate earlier," Winter said. "But honestly, I understand how she feels. Since that shrine, I feel almost ill just looking at this landscape."
"Wait till you see Salem's." Hazel said this with nothing of humor in his tone.
Raven laughed because he was so serious.
"Do you ever lighten up?" she asked.
"No." Hazel was brusque.
Raven stifled another laugh.
"You seem oddly different." Winter narrowed her eyes at her. "What happened to you?"
"I don't know, for the first time in 18 years I don't feel doomed," Raven said. "Which is almost hilarious, because I should--this plan is the stupidest thing I've ever done... but I don't feel doomed anymore."
She sounded oddly happy--and also concerned at the same time.
"Are you drunk?" Mercury asked her. "I think we're doomed."
"I don't, I saw a dark shell fried by lightning," Raven said. "I saw waters part. I actually got a half-a---d apology from my brother for years of misunderstandings, and--" She glanced at Yang but didn't finish that. "Maybe I've lost my mind finally, but I feel optimistic. Better pick up the pace. Can't wait to see the look on Salem's face when we arrive."
"Maybe you're too close to her," Sun said to Meridian.
"I'm not that close," he replied.
Raven took to the air, though not as a bird.
[Touch the Sky--Jeff Williams]
"Pick up the pace, Schnee," Cinder said, flying by her. "You wouldn't want to get left behind and eaten by Grimm. The gods forbid you'd make me happy."
Winter used a glyph to launch herself far ahead of Cinder but didn't bother giving her a smug look in response to that.
[When you're petty but don't want to acknowledge that you're petty.]
* * *
"Did you think about what Ruby said at all?" Emerald asked Mercury, since they were on the same glyph.
"Why do you keep asking me about it?" Mercury said. "Get off my back."
"I can't really." Emerald was sitting behind him. "I'd fall off this thing... Riding Grimm is weird, even if it's a glyph."
"I rode a real Grimm once," Nora said, not far behind them.
"I don't recommend it," Ren said, wincing.
"Look, I just think it'd be good to use your full power." Emerald lowered her voice. "You never know when it might come in handy. Maybe I'm worried about everyone. And you could ease up on making fun of them. We don't need more negativity."
"I liked you better before you got on this nice guy kick," Mercury said.
"You say that, but that's not what you said to Ruby," Emerald said.
Mercury glanced at her over his shoulder. "Did you eavesdrop on that conversation?"
"What conversation?" Emerald was a terrible liar.
"You did. The frick, Emerald?! That wasn't any of your business!"
"I just think you're BS-ing me," Emerald said. "And if there's something you want to say, just say it already."
"I have nothing I want to say, and you're acting weird."
"I'm not the one being weird. You've said it yourself, I've always been a sap. I'm just not in denial anymore, unlike you."
"I'm not denying anything."
"You're denying that you're starting to care about people." Emerald said. "It's not the end of the world if you do--might be if you don't, just saying. What about that prophecy? I mean, maybe they're important."
"Get this straight, Emerald," Mercury said in a hard voice, "I never wanted to be important or special. I just want to do what I do and be left alone. So lay off and stop trying to make me into something I'm not."
He could feel Emerald frowning at him.
"That's what your dad did," she said. "I'm just encouraging you to be something that maybe you are."
Well... that did not go over well.
"Shut up!" Mercury said way too loudly, and he threw off her grip.
Now, though he was mad, he wasn't intending to do any real damage, but Emerald lost her hold on the glyph--they didn't have the best traction--and fell onto the rocky ground.
To make matters worse, Nora and Ren's ran her over because they didn't have an autonomous stop faculty like a real animal would.
Weiss couldn't stop it in time.
"Sorry! Are you okay?" she said. Hers turned around and faced Emerald.
Emerald had hit a rock with her back as well as getting stepped on, and she was not okay!
"What was that?!" Sun yelled at Mercury angrily. "You can't just do that, man. These things are dangerous."
Mercury felt guilty, but since he was too stubborn to admit it, he tried to act nonchalant. "Well, she should have held on."
"You pushed her, I saw it," Neptune said.
"Big deal," Mercury said.
Emerald shot him a dirty look.
"Here, you can ride with us." Weiss held out a hand and glared at Mercury.
Emerald took it with difficulty and climbed on behind her.
"You think he'd at least be nice to you," Weiss muttered indignantly.
Emerald rubbed her side. "I hit a nerve."
"Ouch," Meridian said. "You want Arc to take a look at it?"
"No, you idiot, I meant with Mercury," Emerald said.
"Oh..." Meridian said.
"Do they not have phrases in Vacuo?" Emerald said crossly.
"Hey, it's different everywhere," Meridian said. "I wouldn't make fun of you for not knowing what a caber was."
Emerald didn't know what it was but didn't admit it.
"I'm not liking the look of those Grimm," Meridian changed topics. "They're getting closer."
They were. Even though the group was moving pretty fast--but the thing was, the Grimm could always have caught them. They had just chosen not to.
"Great." Yang looked back. "We can't catch a break."
"Dude, can you stop shoving me?" Sun said to Neptune, rather irately for him. "There's enough room on this for both of us."
"I'm just trying not to fall off," Neptune shot back.
"Guys, hurry up." Ruby was running, using her Semblance, not riding.
"We can't make this thing go any faster. Why don't you tell your friend that?" Roman said peevishly.
Neo nodded.
"Hey, you try doing this for 20 minutes on end," Weiss called.
"Enough," Winter said. "Complaining will not make this go any faster."
"Why don't you, then?" Cinder said. "Or are you too tired?"
"Shut up!" Winter actually retorted this time.
"Uh, guys, fighting is not going to make the Grimm leave us alone," Wally said.
"We know!" a lot of people said snippily.
Shine glanced at them. "You're all being a little crabby, aren't you?"
"Well, we've barely slept," Blake said.
"And we're not eating that much either," Jaune said.
"I really don't know if that makes it okay..." Pyrrha said.
"Oh, shut up, Pyrrha," Yang said. "I'm sick of you lecturing us all the time. We're not all as nice as you."
"Excuse me?" Pyrrha said. "Is expecting you to treat people nicely so much to ask?"
"I said lay off," Yang said.
"What's wrong with this team all the sudden?" Wally said. "A few minutes ago we were just trudging along. Does everyone suddenly have PMS?"
"Wally!" Shine said.
"Sorry... I don't know why I said that," he said.
"It wasn't couth," Raven said, "which normally wouldn't bother me, but making jokes about that, when you're a man, is just a little too cocky.
"I'm willing to bet money that you make jokes about men and their problems, and you're a woman," Wally said.
He was so right, and Raven looked miffed.
"Wally," Shine said oddly, "doesn't this seem familiar to you?"
"Yeah, it's like when the League had a losing streak," Wally said.
"No, I mean, this is reminiscent of what happened before," Shine said. "Either I'm losing it, or this mood spike came out of nowhere. We should be wary of that."
"Yeah, but this doesn't seem like hypnosis," Wally said. "They're just bickering. I don't really see anything malicious in it. It's pretty petty stuff."
"The other things started petty." Shine couldn't explain why she felt off, but she did. She also felt kind of irritable herself, but she was tired, and it had been a long few days. It was hard to say if that was just how she'd have felt anyway.
Still, Wally had a point. Maybe it was just that they were getting close to the Grimm land and everyone was nervous.
But Shine's instincts were not usually wrong.
Still, she had no time to think about it, because the Grimm, probably drawn by the bickering, picked up the pace again.
Now that they were close, they could see they were much like the ones that had attacked Vacuo. They were a pack of flying gorillas... What they were called in Salem's weird, Grimm code was unknown.
And these ones looked bigger, angrier, and violent.
Also there was more of them than before.
"Great, Salem's being cocky again," Meridian said.
While that was kind of funny, no one laughed.
"Those things are bad news," Emerald said nervously. "Can we take cover? I feel like they're going to attack us."
"None have so far." Meridian was the only not acting snippy. "But we're almost to those hills there."
"S---, I think that means we're almost to the dark area," Emerald said.
"Ugh." Weiss rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure that's much better, but anything to get away from those big apes."
"Are gorillas apes? Or monkeys?" Meridian asked.
"Apes," Weiss said. "They don't have tails."
"They're too big to use 'em anyway," Meridian said. "Can you picture using a little tail like that to swing from trees?"
His attempts to lighten the mood didn't work on Weiss.
"Be serious," she said.
"Well, what's gotten into you all the sudden?" Meridian said. "West is right, you do sound like it's that time of the month."
"How dare you!" Weiss snapped at him. "You take that back!"
"That's what you want him to do? Not slug him for saying something that sexist?" Emerald said crossly.
"Sexist or not, he should take it back," Weiss said.
"Oh, you can't really take words back--that's a stupid saying," Meridian said. "But no need to get so uppity. I was just messing with you. Normally you'd just dish it back. What's up with you?"
"Stop asking me that and shut up," Weiss said tightly.
She knew she was being mean, but she didn't care.
Meridian wisely shut up anyway.
The gorilla Grimm were gaining on them--and making loud noises of anger to boot.
"Well, these are in the book also." Theo had it out, to Vara's annoyance--for some reason.
"Theo, shut up," she said.
But since she was like that all the time, Theo didn't notice it. "They're older than I thought," he said. "But this picture makes them look a bit more ugly and less like real gorillas. Salem must have upgraded them. Also it makes it look like there's only one of them instead of a bunch. Did the fool only see one and think that was the end of it?"
"That's kinda how it works," Vara said, through gritted teeth. "Remember? You see one, you study it. Don't be a moron."
"Who spat in your stew?" Theo said. "I'm trying to read, Var."
"Maybe you could try to help," Vara said.
"I am. Listen to this--these things are strong enough to rip a chunk out of a mountain... They don't look that big to me. Something's not right. Salem must have changed them more than one way. This person called it Irasci. Weird name."
[If you know your latin, you've got this already.]
"Like irascible?" Vara said.
"Maybe...huh... What is that word even from?" Theo puzzled.
Vara couldn't answer that.
[I never get tired of language jokes.]
At this juncture, the apes, or Irascis, caught up to them for real and swarmed around them, blocking their path.
Their loud screaming drowned out thought.
"Oh crap!" Wally summed it up.