If by explaining this later on you mean they never revisit it or explain why it started when Yukito showed up and not when the feather flashbanged her…then yes thats exactly what happens.
Plothole and broken spoiler tag double whammy!
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Aaaaaaand I’m done! Now to put in my final timeline:
August 4
- We are shown the world of the lights again
- Yukito wakes up in the afternoon. Hijiri treated Kano all through the night
- Yukito realizes something after using Houjutsu and brings Hijiri and Kano to the shrine
- The padlock can’t be open because of Yukito’s messing around, so Hijiri just destroys it
- Yukito feels something upon getting the feather and lays it on Kano’s chest
- Lights burst into the room, and memories start pouring in from the feather
- A voice called “Shiraho” tells them a story, about her husband and her child Yakumo
- Yakumo had a birthmark on her wrist, and that it was a bad omen
- Yakumo got a feather that fell down, and it started glowing, and Shiraho wished for her child to grow healthy
- A war came along and her husband was forced to leave, but suddenly a large wind sunk all the enemy’s ships
- Sometime later, a government official was looking for anybody had touched a glowing feather, so the next day they left the village
- They eventually found and lived in the shrine in the village
- The priest in the shrine says the villagers see her child as a bad omen, and Shiraho decides cut her own wrist as an offering to save her child
- They are suddenly shown the festival, seeing Kano and her mom, and Kano telling her she wants to go home to Hijiri, Potato and Yukito
- Her mom asks Kano to come with her but Kano declines, and she tells Kano to be happy there
August 13
- Yukito falls in the stream again, and Kano reminds him they are going to the festival
- She still wears the bandana to hide the scar from August 3
- The festival is still empty, but they see Hijiri there
- Yukito tells Hijiri that his power hasn’t come back since that day, and he was asleep for 3 days
- The feather also disappeared and was replaced by a fake
- Hijiri buys Kano a balloon before leaving
Now first and foremost, how do I feel about this route? I feel exactly the same way about how I felt during Minagi’s Normal End. It felt so bad because Yukito so easily gives up his quest, and yet I feel soooo good because of how he ends up staying.
The last thing Kano says that makes him do that is “dame ka na? (That’s okay, isn’t it?)” which she says the first time Yukito decides to skip having flowing soumen with her and enter the Minagi route instead. This is like her final way of asking for something that she really wants. Yes Kano is selfish, Kano is spoiled, but in the end, she’s also innocent and lets Yukito have the burden of making those decisions for her. So when he does, it makes me feel guilty. It’s not what should be done but it is what Yukito wants to be done, or rather, by the end, it’s the only thing he feels that can be done. I can understand why many people would dislike her for it, but I don’t feel anything against it.
We can see towards the end how guilty she feels after realizing that she was the cause of both Yukito and Hijiri’s distress and tries to run away from it (which is kind of a very Japanese thing to do, pardon the stereotyping). So I can’t see her as someone bad just somebody very, very childish. Again, I don’t want to blame anybody for that, but Hijiri doesn’t really give her the opportunity to stand for herself…
It is a stark contrast to Minagi’s route, where Michiru drives Yukito to continue his search, Kano’s route drives him into the ground to stay with him. She even uses her “magic” to force Yukito to stay. Unlike Minagi’s Normal End, Yukito doesn’t give up his quest because he needs to. This time, he does it because he wants to; because he loves the village and loves Kano and treats them (incl. Hijiri and Potato) as his new family. That kind of signifies the two major outcomes of every generation of Yukito’s family: Either continuing their quest and dying in vain, or succumbing to human desires and pushing that responsibility onto the next generation. Which reminds meeee… @Takafumi you owe as a continuation on your theory about AIR being a warning about Japanese work ethic! XP
That being said, I don’t have much to respond to the other people in this topic about the route. A lot of people say that Kano’s character was uninteresting, which I feel is a bit subjective. I personally noticed many cues that make her interesting. Another point is that her route was badly written and, well… Yeah it kind of was xP So I guess I’ll skip on the arguing part that I love doing hahaha
My next comment is regarding the sex scene. I feel that it was an excuse for Yukito to remove her bandana. We know that she can remove it “once she becomes an adult” and sex is often seen as a stepping stone towards adulthood. It’s kind of something I could see a mile away even in the common route. But the whole point is that, after removing the bandana, Yukito sees that Kano is pretty normal. There isn’t any magic, there isn’t any scars, but Kano is just who she is, and what happens to her is just an unfortunate turn of events that Kano has become a victim of.
Now then! Onto the meat of the story, which was never explained! What in tarnation is the whole possession thing about? Yeah they never explained it. At all. So now we are left to figure out what the hell happened and how it happened. The way I see it is this: Kano, as a kid, wanted to reach the sky to reach her mother because she felt guilty about having left Hijiri to take care of her. This desire coincided with the desire of the feather. The feather, I believe, comes from one of the wings of the girl. I think it is natural, then, to think that the feather desires to return to the sky, to its rightful place, and Kano’s desire is the reason why it glows for her and not for Hijiri or any of the other priests.
But now, how does Shiraho fit into all this? I think this also coincides with her desires. Shiraho only desired a place where she and her child could be accepted without faults. I feel that the field of pampas grass was an abstract representation of that place that Shiraho wanted to reach. All these desires piled up and caused that possession. Her cutting of her wrists signifies Shiraho’s sacrificing of herself. Her strangling of Yukito represents Shiraho’s strangling of her child, because both Yukito and the child have this connection to the girl in the sky.
Long story short, the whole possession thing happened because all the entities were desperately trying to reach the sky, and after Kano realizes that she wishes to stay with her present family, the magic disappeared. She probably realized it early on, like @Misuzu said, but Yukito had to make that path for her. Kind of like how you need magic to counteract magic.
That is only my opinion on how the possession works, so I am excited to hear you guys discussing it, since @EisenKoubu did put it in as one of his keypoints. To be more specific on that keypoint. What do you guys think is the main driving force behind Kano’s possession, and why did it stop after Yukito made a path for her?
Lastly, time to go on to my keypoints! My first keypoint is this: Yukito doesn’t understand his own Houjutsu, but once he touches the feather, he is able to do something that he never seemed to be aware he was capable of doing. Does Yukito use his houjutsu with the feather, despite not knowing how it works? Is his connection with the feather unconscious? This might only contribute to, like, 5 minutes of discussion on the podcast, but I do want to hear some other thoughts about it!
Second keypoint is, as I stated before, How does Hijiri’s upbringing affect Kano’s personality? Could Hijiri could have done something different to have avoided this near-catastrophe? I think this might be another keypoint that would be worth bringing up again once we go on to the next part of the story.
I guess that’s enough for now. All in all, I didn’t dislike Kano’s route. It gave me some memorable emotions, which is the whole point of Nakige (points to Nakige thread), and while it could have been written better, it gives us a contrasting opinion on Yukito’s whole mission. Sure, it wasn’t all about Kano, but that’s okay, too.
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I’M NOT ALONE! I was scared I lost my Kano ally there for a while good to see you come out the other side.
[quote=“Pepe, post:35, topic:332”]
Another point is that her route was badly written and, well… Yeah it kind of was
[/quote]Aspi, Yerian, and I actually touched on this quite a bit on skype the other day. I think it was Aspi that mentioned the interesting idea of maybe it was written so poorly (ie the super amount of unresolved plot) for a reason that will be revealed later in the story. Granted yes there is a ton that is pretty inexcusable.
[quote=“Pepe, post:35, topic:332”]
We know that she can remove it “once she becomes an adult” and sex is often seen as a stepping stone towards adulthood. It’s kind of something I could see a mile away
[/quote]This becomes a kind of funny point and paints Yukito in an interesting light when you note how many times during the route he talks about how it won’t be long before she removes the bandanna.
[quote=“Pepe, post:35, topic:332”]
Her cutting of her wrists signifies Shiraho’s sacrificing of herself. Her strangling of Yukito represents Shiraho’s strangling of her child, because both Yukito and the child have this connection to the girl in the sky.
[/quote]I get the ties to what happened in the past and how each is represented but it still made no sense to me why she would do some of these things. I guess a good question to ask would be was Shiraho aware that she was possessing Kano? If so why would she want to harm Kano or Yukito? Also what was that ability to damage them below their skin with just her bare hands? The first time she used Hijiri’s scalpel but when Yukito finds Kano at the temple there is no knife.
[quote=“Pepe, post:35, topic:332”]
That kind of signifies the two major outcomes of every generation of Yukito’s family: Either continuing their quest and dying in vain, or succumbing to human desires and pushing that responsibility onto the next generation.
[/quote]Yukito’s decision shouldn’t really be taken lightly here though and just say “Well he wasn’t the first to fail”. While that is true its entirely possible he will be the last and he knows it. Yuktio himself is the one who tells us that the power is waning and that his might be the last generation that it manifests in at all. I feel like that would have weighed on his mind even more so when he was wrestling with the idea of abandoning his mission to go in search of his own happiness.
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I’m definitely more fond of the idea that she is just a lost spirit who happened to get stuck possessing Kano. It doesn’t sit well with me from a literary standpoint, but it seems to make the most sense. She has no motive for cutting herself or strangling Yukito other than “she’s unaware she’s doing it”. It’s like she can’t move on because of her regrets binding her to the Earth, and her soul ended up stuck inside the feather. It is odd though, that she possessed Kano instead of Hijiri.
Maybe that’s it… Maybe she possessed Kano because she saw Kano had the wish to fly to the sky and meet her mother. We know that the sky is synonymous with heaven in AIR. I can only imagine a spirit like that would only want to move on and ascend into heaven, rather than being bound to the earth. No doubt she’d even meet her daughter in the sky as well.
Again, from a literary standpoint, this is pretty botchy. But it’s the best explanation I’ve found so far.
I had it written up, I just haven’t gotten around to reading anything in this thread yet… Gonna have to catch up soon ><
Kano comes from what was once a happy family. They were never particularily wealthy, but they got by. Their father owned a clinic, but he didn’t make much money. Food wasn’t plentiful, and luxuries were rare. When Kano’s mother died, she and her sister Hijiri struggled. Hijiri couldn’t bare telling Kano what had happened to their mother, so they told her that her mother was watching them from the sky.
One day they decided to go to a festival, and using all of their pocket money, they bought a balloon… that very quickly flew away.
After some crying and walking, they went to the shrine, where they found a feather. After touching it Kano changed… She was cursed.
A girl who was told her mother was above, became obsessed with the sky, and then she was entrapped by the girl in the sky.
After all of this, their father dies.
A poor family was reduced to a parentless family.
Misuzu has a mother. Minagi has a mother.
All Kano has is a sister and a curse.
Her sister takes over the family clinic, and they manage to survive somehow, but their living condition isn’t good. However, compared to the other two heroines Kano is living the most family-focused life style. The family occupation has been passed down. The two siblings get along.
Somehow, despite being a family of two sisters, they are the most traditional family in AIR.
They have what appears to be the perfect balance. No overworking. No disconnect between family members. They are poor, but that is fine for them. Hijiri has to work throughout the night sometimes, but that’s not standard.
Despite losing a lot, they manage to keep on top of everything… But they are lost to the past. They might be living, but they are haunted by the past. They can’t focus on the future. They might be working, but what for? For family? For a family that is broken and plagued with problems they don’t understand.
They are hopeful. Waiting for a problem to fix over time. Until that problem miraculously fixes it’s self, they work, and they smile, and they slowly become more distant from their family values. They slowly lose the reason they are working for…
Eventually, they are just working.
But luckily we get Yukito butting in! So what path does he take this time around?
The common route is the one in which Yukito loses focus of his goal and switches to a focus on work.
The Minagi route is the one in which Yukito finds his resolve - something to resolve his search for the girl in the sky, even if it means leaving the people he loves behind.
Now the Kano route… The Kano route is the one in which Yukito starts to question his goal. It’s also the route where he realizes what he’s doing; half-heartedly following a goal set by the past, with no time spent thinking of the future. He is living life as he was told to, without even understanding the alternatives.
The girl in the sky.
The reason I continue my journey.
I’m probably the only one who could accept that reason.
A vague journey like something out of a dream.
It’s been my way of life ever since my mother taught it to me.
I understand.
I might not believe in a girl in the sky after all.
Maybe I’m just looking for a reason to stay on my journey.
Because I don’t know any other way of living.
I ask myself a question.
What do I want to do?
Where do I want to go?
I don’t have a clue.
On the other hand, he’s spending time with a girl who could possibly be cursed by the girl in the sky. A girl whose condition suddenly got worse after he arrived.
It can be said that the girl in the sky is an enemy in this route.
This is the one where Yukito realizes how much of an impossibilty his current way of living is.
Does he want to reach that goal? What does he do after reaching the goal?
Yukito wasn’t given a life. He was given a task. He was tasked with solving a problem, and stopping it from spreading into the future.
Save the girl in the sky, before the Houjutsu becomes too weak.
It’s such a vague goal though. How is he going to dedicate himself to finding a single person without losing focus on his work? What will his life be after that? A life with this mysterious person? A life alone? A life at all?
In Japan, the current generation is going through a similar thing. They are one of the generations that have to solve everything, before it gets out of hand.
Save the country’s population, before the economy becomes too weak. Find a partner and keep your family ideals strong.
It’s such a vague goal though. How are they going to dedicate themselves to finding a single person without losing focus on their work? What will life be after that? A life with this mysterious person? A life alone? A life at all?
Kano’s route is the story of a family plagued and obssessed with a past.
Contrast this to the story of Shiraho - someone who sacrificed herself for a hopeful future. A future that never came.
One loses to the past. One loses to the future.
And Yukito, who represents the present, has no idea where he should be going, or what he wanted in the first place.
Then… they make a decision… and the past and the future seemingly disappear from their world. They have a present.
The girl in the sky might be lost forever, and the work of the past may be left behind, but everyone can live their own lives this way.
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Despite not really liking the route, I do like Kano. She’s a good character, just not my favorite.
I find that the route has the most promise, and the most content to really talk about, but it falls short. It’s like the writers forgot what they were writing.
That thing was hell to work with. They had a bit of character development sandwiched in-between, but since it was a H-scene, none of the lines were voiced! The actual scene was out of the left field. Kano obviously likes Yukito, but she’s kinda bashful about it. That’s thrown out of the window in the H-scene. Yukito’s character was broken too. Maybe if he’d spent more time there it’d have fit him, but he’s the type of guy that really thinks about everything that’s going on before even humoring a person.
Compared to the Minagi one, it’s really bad. It’s worse than the Misuzu one in some aspects.
Sounds like they had the same problem.
I think this is similar to what you brought up about Misuzu’s way of speaking. It might not be translated as such, but the effect comes over in the voice acting. “Ne?” is probably the first thing to come to mind when I think of Kano.
Kano feels very curious, and some would call it needy. I think it makes her feel young too (just not as young as Misuzu.)
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I kind of find that hard to swallow because, well, I don’t believe in spirits or souls. I honestly viewed it more as the culmination of the desires of Shiraho and the feather imparting themselves into Kano. The feather was referred to as a “vessel” after all.
But that’s just my opinion
As for @Takafumi I do like your theory. Yeah, they are working but their only reason for working is co-existence. Hijri seems to have given up finding the meat of the Kano’s problem and also seems reluctant to bring her to a specialized psychiatrist. All for the sake of sweeping the problem under the rug. The same thing she did with the bandana; she tries to let Kano forget about her problems instead of fixing them. Gee all this introspection is making me like Hijiri less and less x.x
But there is one part I want to clarify:
This is because of Kano, yes? Because she is guilty about the death of her mother?
I noticed. Actually, I honestly wonder what the vanilla memorial edition is like. Some of the lines were actually voiced! Did you base your editing on what was in the memorial edition script, or did you edit it yourself based on what was important in the story?
I would imagine that the voice actors speak what is written in the dialogue word-for-word. So when the non-voiced dialogue has Kano saying “ne”, they also have the VAs saying that.
I’ve realised that whenever Kano is posssed, she’s reciting words she spoke in her lifetime. Either the song about her child (is that a real song btw?) or things like “This child is my life. She’s my only treasure.”, “I’ll do it with my own hands” etc. It’s less like a consciousness inhabiting Kano, and more like an echo.
The problem is that I don’t see why they did this form a literary standpoint. Why go through the effort of creating this character, and causing her grief to give Kano so much trouble? Not only does Shiraho’s story have NOTHING to do with Kano, but sadly, Shiraho’s story never reached any kind of resolution. Not in her past, not in the present.
Except… Maybe, just maybe, the connection is how Kano’s mother died. Much like Shiraho, Kano’s mother could be thought of as ‘sacrificing herself to save her daughter’. They didn’t show us what happened to Yakumo after her mother died. Realistically, it’s likely that she was sacrificed, but by the way this story is presented, I think they want us to believe that her Shiraho’s sacrifice lead to Yakumo surviving into the future. Perhaps, even if they aren’t the same person, hearing Kano thank her mother for giving birth to her would have been some kind of salvation for Shiraho’s spirit, as if she’s hearing the wishes of her own daughter through Kano.
Either that or… I dunno, you could flip it around with the interpretation that there is no soul of Shiraho inside Kano. Instead, it’s like Kano’s taking on Shiraho’s memories due to her regret of causing her mother suffering. And by being able to thank her mother, she can let go of those regrets and stop being possessed by those memories that aren’t hers.
It’s still a very botchy route, but I’m trying to make as much sense of it as I can 
Also, I have a question for the history nerds here. Can anybody pinpoint what war might have been taking place during Shiraho’s story?
[quote=“Pepe, post:40, topic:332”]
I kind of find that hard to swallow because, well, I don’t believe in spirits or souls. I honestly viewed it more as the culmination of the desires of Shiraho and the feather imparting themselves into Kano. The feather was referred to as a “vessel” after all.
[/quote]If we borrow a little information from Minagi’s route this is still plausible without requiring her soul to be stored in the feather. Remember Michiru tells us the feather that she is using is full of sad memories for the girl in the sky and she is filling it with good memories to give her a small amount of happiness. If you carry that over and view this feather as a memory holder it’s possible that the feather is imprinted with the memories of Shiraho which are what possess Kano, which would explain her actions being the same as those in the past as well as her lines being carried over for example “This child is my life.” Hard to believe she is talking about Kano there considering she has tried to cut Kano’s wrist before.
[quote=“Takafumi, post:39, topic:332”]
Despite not really liking the route, I do like Kano. She’s a good character, just not my favorite.
[/quote]I have quite the similar view of Kano. I really liked her based on the impression from common, it felt like we had three states of energy with the three heroines Minagi was the laid back sorta take everything in stride character, Misuzu was the in between and Kano was the higher register always ready to go go go. After the route I still like her charcter and guess I just feel a need to defend it because it feels like a lot of people are coming out of the route with the impression of she has nothing to her character other than shes a spoiled brat who ties Yukito down.
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That’s kind of what I was thinking, and it agrees with what @Bowiie was mentioning.
The only thing I can think of that involved guns were the people who were involved during the Bakumatsu period, around the mid 19th century. That was one of the few times that Japan had a war with a foreign army. Wait, it was a foreign army, right?
Buuut at the end of the day:
That’s what they get when they make a former sumo wrestler write a VN route :v
Yes. Kano is the one obsessing over the past, but Hijiri is both the one who started it, and the one who appears most affected by it. Kano seeks, while Hijiri denies.
I didn’t have ME when I made the patch, so I’m not sure how they did it. I guess it was similar to what I did though.
Most of it was replacing HCGs with sprites, and then a fade to black. The only problem scene was the ribbon part, which showed up after the fade. It seemed important, so I kept it in, but IIRC it wasn’t voiced. I could probably add voices to the unvoiced parts, but I’d have to check the rest of the script quickly.
Did any of the old VAs return for ME? I might check if it has any extra voiced lines someday.
I think Kano’s route was the only problem route. The others were all just a matter of ending the scene before the HCGs showed up.
Pretty much.
Pinpon! I think you’re onto something here.
Oh, and the song is Shiraho no Komoriuta. It’s a play on the beautiful Edo no Komoriuta. You might recognize the melody from the Higurashi anime~
Feathers store memories. I think that Kano’s weird state is the memories from the feather surfacing. It isn’t a being possessing her, it’s her reliving memories that don’t belong to her - only faintly aware of what is actually happening around her in reality.
It has been a really long time since I read the route (still need to get onto rereading it) so I’m not sure of the details, but I still searched for a while. Would it be the Genpei War? It wasthe start of the Feudal Era, which Shiraho’s story was from.
Stealing my post before I can post it! How rude!
Oh damn, they had guns? Well, all my searching was for naught. I agree then. It could have been one of the many revolts during the latter stages of the Edo Period. Those guys loved revolts and rebellions.
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Stealing my post after I post it! How rude!
Well, I’m on the 31st now. Pretty much everything I wanted to say (and more) has already been said here so far.
The part with Potato getting lost (and subsequently found again) was just… too obvious. It was entertaining though.
Right now Kano is somewhat enjoyable… @Kanon said this regarding Minase Nayuki (Kanon) “her and her route are just kind of there.” I feel the same way about Kano and her route. Overall it basically has nothing to do with the girl in the sky, other than the feather. (I’ll elaborate more after finishing this route to make sure I’m not forgetting anything.)
Key point: When did Kano start to fall for Yukito? It seems to me that, at first, she was basically just being friendly. As time went on he was more of a guy who she could play with, but didn’t really have any romantic feelings for. I’d like to hear more about this in the podcast. Looks like I was too late!
Some screen captures I took at various points I wanted to comment on…
Nothing profound here, but that part brought a smile to my face too.
This reminded me of @Takafumi’s state of work theory (which was continued above)
I seem to have neglected saving the screenshot of when Kano comes back with only one ice cream treat (after she said she’d get one for you too), or when she spills the bucket after Yukito just finished (or was mostly done with) mopping the floor. “I’m an adult, so I have to stay calm.” That frustration… you could just feel it.
That makes me wish I would’ve held onto my PSP… I wasn’t aware there was even a version of AIR for PSP. Definitely something I’ll be looking into soon.
Right now, I play AIR on auto-mode during lunch, and occasionally at night. I try to progress through two to four days for each real day I play it. Almost there…
Sorry to burst your bubble @NotKyon, but we finished recording the podcast yesterday. I’m hoping to have it published tonight. You’ll need to get in quicker next time! (before the second friday)
Well darn. Still looking forward to the podcast though.
http://kazamatsuri.org/kazamatsuri-org-air-bookclub-podcast-part-3-kano-route/ And here’s the podcast! I actually beat the deadline by an hour this time! 
This concludes the Kano route segment of the AIR Bookclub podcast. I look forward to seeing you all in the Misuzu Discussion topic!
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Kano was a considerably fun, cute and enjoyable character in the common route, so I had positive expectations going into her route. But hoooly crap this was a bad route. It has some moments (like Shiraho’s) that were interesting, and the moral isn’t terrible, but it’s pretty badly written. There’s virtually no conflict; Kano is inflicted with a supernatural condition because of her guilt for causing her mother’s death, and when Yukito tells her she should just stop feeling guilty and say thank you, that’s it. That kind of development happened way too easily, and kinda killed any feeling of tension for the route. The resolution was way too easy.
That said, the message of the ending is kinda nice. Just finding a simple happiness among family in that town is something Yukito was striving for, and to see him achieve it is nice. His journey may be over, but at least his wings could carry his own happiness.
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So, Yukito doesn’t leave town at the end of Kano’s Route (True Ending, which is the only Ending to her route) because he has an established job working for Hijiri and in a romantic relationship (love life) with Kano? I mean, he’s now living life without worrying about his quest anymore, as his mother stated that he can do. He’s living life in happiness now at the end of Kano’s Route with Kano herself by his side as a romantic partner and someone he has come to care about. Isn’t that right?
Do you think that Yukito is giving up on his quest to find the Girl in the Sky, as seen here so that he can live out his own happiness for himself and Kano? Of course, this is canon to Kano’s route only. I wonder, what is the stuff that he has seen to choose to stay in town with Kano. It’s romantic and sincere of him to choose to stay with Kano and live a happy life with her and her sister.
Just need some clarification here.
Probably all of the weird mystical spiritual stuff with the feather and the ribbon and all that stuff.
