Broken Wings: Ch 1: Birth of an Angel

Heeeeeeey I'm going to start up a new story and it's going to be titled Broken Wings. I saw a piece of art on tumblr a while back that I adored, and I decided to make a story based solely off of that (full credit for the art goes to 0blue-bird0). The actual image is already on the cover, but a direct link to the original drawing will be in the comments if you want to see that. So let's begin.

She stared at herself in the mirror. She stared at her torso, her head, and then her hair. Everything fell to perfection. Her skin was pale, almost to the point of being the same shade as snow. Her clothing was tailor made and the finest of fabric. From her tiara to her skirt, everything seemed perfect, as if nothing was wrong.

But that wasn't the case.

Something was amiss.

There was always something amiss.

And she knew it, even if no one else did.

17 Years Ago

Birth was always a joyous occasion for any family. The celebration of bringing a new life into this world, one that you were apart of making. It was especially exciting for this couple, as this child was their first.

The mother was a woman who was nearing her 30s, just holding onto the last of her 20s. But if you looked at her, you never would've known. Her face was angelic, pure, and beautiful. Her eyes were a faint shade of blue, as see through as ice.

The man was a gentlemen who was near the age of his wife, but he too held a youthful look to him, a very strong and handsome appearance. His face was strong set, with a good jaw line and incredibly stoic features. His eyes were a much darker shade of blue, especially in contrast to his wife's. He seemed like he was the guardian knight to his angelic wife, neither of them physically nearing each other's appearance at all.

But they shared one trait, one that would be soon matched by their currently unborn child. They had snow white hair, one the shade of ice.

The man's name was Ritter Schnee and the woman's name was Engel Schnee, having taken the name of her husband long ago. But now, a more important name was about to be given for their child.

Engel had endured hours of labor to reach this moment. It was the final push, and her smaller, more fragile hands, were attempting to crush those of her very powerful husband.

"One last push, Mrs. Schnee," the nurse attending to them said. "You're almost there." Engel let loose one final scream of pain, before she felt relief. The pain had lowered immensely, and her body was beginning to ease it's way back into a good state.

"You did it," Ritter whispered to his wife. "Our child is born." Engel was too tired to do anything but smile weakly, and she looked up at the nurse.

She was washing off the baby carefully, taking great care to make sure that the child was crystal clean before giving her back to her mother.

"It's a girl," the nurse said. "A very beautiful baby girl." She wrapped up the baby with a blanket, and very delicately placed her back in Engel's arms. Engel took one look at the child, and started to cry.

The baby had her mother's eyes, a soft, almost see through shade of blue, and most importantly she had her mother's face. The soft, angelic face. Her hair was, of course, as white as her last name would imply it would be.

"She looks like you," Ritter said happily, the normally very stoic man attempting to hold back tears as well. "Shall we name her Engel?" Engel shook her head, and pulled her child very close to her.

"I want her to have her own name," Engel said. "There are none of them in your family, I want to name her Weiss." Ritter just nodded in agreement, smiling even more at the name.

"So that shall be her name," Ritter said. "Weiss Schnee."

The happiness at that moment was overwhelming.

Everyone in that room could feel it.

But that happiness doesn't last forever with a child.

They just never imagined it lasting for as little as it did.

A Year Later

Life in the Schnee household was vastly different from any other house. The Schnee's mined and sold Dust, making them the richest and perhaps the most powerful family in all of Remnant. This meant that Weiss would not grow up in a home, she would grow up in a palace.

The Schnee Palace (or the Frozen Palace as many learned to call it) was large and intimidating. The building stood 10 stories up, had windows in every room, and was made entirely of gray bricks. It had a massive garden surrounding the entirety of the building, and that garden made things even more beautiful.

Engel and Ritter were both very happy with their child. Weiss was learning at a very accelerated rate, her vocabulary already surpassing that of a normal one year old. She could almost speak in short conversations. The only thing that wasn't growing at an accelerated rate was her size, the child still being very tiny.

This day, Weiss was being left alone in her room. She could walk fairly well, and she was aware enough to notice many things. Today, she noticed something that was out of place. It wasn't out of place in the room, it was out of place with her.

Not understanding what was going on, she walked out of her room. Weiss was intelligent enough to avoid the stairs, and instead she managed to find a woman very familiar to her, but it wasn't her mother.

"Weiss," Rosanne said. "What're you doing out of your room?" Rosanne was a relatively plump woman. She wore a standard white and blue dress that signified that she worked at the Schnee household. Rosanne's primary, and almost sole job was to take care of Weiss.

"Mama," Weiss managed. "Mama and Dada."

"You want to see your parents?" Rosanne asked. Weiss nodded, and then sat down.

"Up! Up!" She said. Rosanne smiled, and bent down to pick up the child.

"Oh, alright then." Rosanne carried Weiss down the stairs.

Rosanne easily navigated the hallways that she had been working at for a few years, and quickly found her way to the main living room. It was a single room of incredible size, just as most rooms in the palace were. It had a chandelier, fireplace, four couches, two tables with eight chairs a piece, and a single table in the middle of the couches. On each of the couches sat a Schnee parent.

"Mr. and Mrs. Schnee," Rosanne said. "I am terribly sorry if I disturbed you, but Weiss here was dying to see her parents."

"Oh, it's fine Rosanne," Engel said. "What is it that you wanted to see your mother about, Weissy?" Rosanne handed Weiss off and then departed instantly. Engel slowly brought Weiss onto her lap, and stared her daughter in the face. Ritter just watched from a distance, knowing that the bond between his two angels was far greater than anything that he could've hoped to achieve in any short period of time.

"Birdy," Weiss said. "Birdy."

"You saw a bird?" Engel asked, her voice full of that motherly exuberance that was so often displayed when she spoke to Weiss

"No," Weiss said. "Birdy. Back. Birdy back." Weiss tried to lift up her shirt, but was quickly stopped by Engel.

"Weissy, I need more help," Engel said. "Please, what do you mean by 'birdy back?'"

"Me," Weiss said with a giggle. "Me." Engel sighed, and kissed the top of her daughter's head.

"Ritter, she's not making any sense," Engel said. "What do you think?"

"I think that you should look at her back," Ritter suggested. "If she seems to keen on saying birdy and back, we can at least look at one." Engel sighed, slightly annoyed that she hadn't thought to do that. She slowly turned Weiss around, and gently lifted up her shirt. The mother's face was confusion for only a moment, and then it grew very, very pale.

"Ritter," she said. "Ritter, you need to see this." Ritter sighed, and walked over to his wife and daughter. He took one look, and then saw what had made his wife look so ill.

Wings.

A single pair of white wings.

So small, they didn't even add much bulk to Weiss' small form.

But they were wings, and humans didn't grow wings.

"Why is our daughter a Faunus?" Ritter growled.

"I don't know," Engel said, tears reaching her eyes. But these were not the same tears of happiness that they were shedding just a year ago. These tears were of pain, sadness, and disparity.

Without even a second thought, Ritter picked Weiss up. He carried her in his arms all the way to his study, until he was able to set her down on his table. He calmly plucked a sword off of the wall, and flipped Weiss over.

He didn't hesitate.

He didn't think twice.

And he would never come to regret it.

He brought the sword down onto the first of Weiss' small wings, and cut it off in one, strong, clean, stroke. Weiss let out a ghastly wail, one filled with pain and hurt. By now, Engel had reached the study to see her daughter bleeding on her husbands table.

But she did not stop him.

It didn't even occur to her.

And she would never come to regret it.

Engel watched as Ritter cut the second of Weiss' wings off, and listened to her daughter cry horribly.

"You cannot understand now my daughter," Ritter said. "But we had to get rid of those wings. It may hurt now, but long term it'll be easier. I swear it to you." He kissed his crying daughter, who desperately tried to thrash away from him.

The pain that she was experiencing at her young age was unbearable. Worse yet, she would remember it for the rest of her life. Pain like that, no matter how young or how old, would haunt your very being for the rest of your life.

"ROSANNE!" Ritter screamed. The caretaker was not far away, the deathly wails of Weiss attracting her to the study as soon as she could. When the caretaker got to the room, she only saw the blood and Weiss crying horribly. She immediately assumed the worse, but saw the lack of tears from both of the Schnee's.

"Yes sir?" Rosanne asked, her own voice sounding slightly held back from the tears that were in her throat.

"I want you to take Weiss to a doctor," Ritter started. "One that we can trust completely. Then I want you to have him patch up her back, and explain to him that we had to remove Weiss' wings."

"W-w-wings?" Rosanne asked.

"White wings," Ritter said disgustedly. "White wings that may belong to a beast." Rosanne's eyes widened as she realized what had just happened, but she kept silent. Ritter handed off his daughter to Rosanne, causing the caretaker to stare at the bleeding child.

"I will do this Mr. Schnee," Rosanne said. "Don't worry." Rosanne picked up a single cloth that was in the room, and then laid it across the wailing child in her arms.

"Sh," Rosanne sang. "The pain will end soon." Weiss could not hear Rosanne over the sound of her own cries, and instead just thrashed in her caretaker's arms. Just as Rosanne was about to leave, Engel grabbed onto her arm, and gave her a death stare.

"No one may know," Engel said harshly. "No one can know." Rosanne nodded, already having the intent of remaining silent.

She carried the screaming child out of the room, already with a doctor to visit planned out.

"Sh," Rosanne whispered to Weiss, doing her best to keep the child from screaming any louder. "It's okay, I will make sure that they never try to hurt you like that again."

Then time carried on. Weiss was patched up by one of the doctors, and he became the fourth person to learn of Weiss' wings. No others would, it would always just be the Schnee's, Rosanne, and that doctor.

Rosanne had done her best to keep her promise true. She knew, unlike the Schnee's, that the wings would not stay gone forever. Within a week, they had already grown back to a very small amount. But Rosanne knew that she was the one in charge of Weiss' baths, changings, she knew that only she would see those wings.

But then they grew in size. They started to become too large to hide, and Rosanne became panicked. The first time, there had been no remorse in Ritter or Engel's eyes. If they knew that the wings had come back, who knows what they would do?

So she took Weiss to the same doctor. She took Weiss down to the doctor, and had him knock her out before removing the wings again. It was as close to painless as removing those wings would get.

And then it continued. One year passed, then two, then three, and then many others. The ritual held true, Rosanne had a doctor remove Weiss' wings and the girl always knew why. Even though it had happened so long ago, Weiss still remembered when her father had cut off her wings. She always remembered, and she always would.

Weiss also quickly learned, at the age of nine, what her parents expected of her. They expected perfection, they expected everything to be top of the line, and they expected her to be the greatest Schnee to ever live purely because she had wings when she was one.

The demands became high, the work almost overwhelming, and it never ceased. It only ever grew, and it only ever got harder. Much, much, harder.

But in between that work, Weiss researched. She was tired of constantly having to go to the doctor to cut off her wings, these things that made her see herself as a monster. So she looked, she looked for a way to remove them, and a way to end her pain.

She never did find what could make them go away. All that she ever found was that being born as a Faunus to a family of humans was uncommon. It almost never happened. It made her view herself as an even bigger monster than she had already thought.

Soon, she was 13. That was the age that she made a very conscious decision in her mind, one that was influenced by the desire to leave the Schnee Palace, a place of torture for her to even exist in.

"Okay Weiss," Rosanne said quietly. "It's time again."

"No," Weiss said forcefully.

"I'm sorry?" Rosanne asked.

"I said, no!" Weiss shifted her focus to Rosanne, and slowly bent down. She picked up her father's gift to her, a Dust rapier named Myrtenaster, and slowly stepped in front of a mirror.

"If I'm going to leave, I'm going to have to do this myself," Weiss said. She very slowly took off her jacket, and extended her wings. They were still very small, Rosanne having done a good job of never even letting them get to the point of suspicion. But she fully extended them, and stared sadly at herself in the mirror.

"Weiss, please don't do this," Rosanne pleaded.

"Close the door," Weiss said. "I'll make sure that I don't scream." Rosanne kept her sad look on the girl, and complied with her wishes. Weiss very slowly leveled Myrtenaster with her wings, and then very rapidly brought it down through her wings.

She listened as the blade cut through the muscle.

She listened as the blade cut through the bones.

She felt as her wing slowly fell to the floor.

Weiss immediately crumpled to the ground and bit her tongue as hard as she could to avoid screaming in pain. She rolled on the ground, and did her best to keep her bleeding back from touching the floor. Rosanne watched Weiss, and looked ready to go and find a doctor. Just as she was about to leave, Weiss weakly palmed a single vial of ice Dust. She gently poured it on her back, and felt the cold replace the pain.

Weiss slowly stood up, and very carefully leveled Myrtenaster with her second wing.

"Weiss, please don't do this again," Rosanne said, anguish evident from seeing Weiss go through such pain.

"I have to," Weiss said, her teeth obviously clenched. Weiss carefully leveled Myrtenaster, and brought it down in one motion. This time, she remained standing to the best of her abilities, and she carefully froze the part where she was bleeding over again. Weiss did her best to remain standing and to move quickly, and she just stared at herself.

No wings.

Now there were no wings.

She had cut them off of herself.

She set down Myrtenaster, and slowly walked to the bathroom that was connected to her room. She tossed off all of her clothing, and carefully stepped into the shower. She turned the water onto cold, and then let it run over her back. She bent her head down, and stared at the blood being washed off of her.

Weiss knew that the ice would melt. She knew the blood would run freely down her back. She knew that she would have to somehow get ahold of flames to properly stop the bleeding. But she just didn't care. She had done it. She had gotten rid of those things that made her a monster. But for some reason, staring at the bloody water and thinking of what she had just done, Weiss cried.

Rosanne had watched as Weiss stepped into the shower, and just sighed. Weiss got most of her mother's looks, but she had also received her father's strong will. It convinced Rosanne that there was no way to stop Weiss from doing this herself, and instead Rosanne just picked up the two wings that were lying on the ground. She very slowly wrapped them up in a piece of cloth that no one would miss, and carried it downstairs. There she would find the doctor, there he would dispose of the wings, and there would be where this particular session ended.

But more happened. Over the years, Weiss got very good at quickly cutting off her wings, freezing over the wound, showering, and then permanently cauterizing it. It became like a second form of breathing for her. Every month, sometimes a month and a half, Weiss would cut them off. Then she would go on during her normal life as a Schnee. Lessons, combat practice to learn how to properly use Myrtenaster, instructions on what to do in the world of business, generally angry ranting from her father, and loneliness.

This carried on for four more years. Nothing ever seemed to change apart from the painful sight of scars all across Weiss' back, and one on her eye given to her by one of her father's tests. But then that fateful day came around, and Weiss turned 17. There was only one reason that this age meant so much to her.

She could finally escape.

The Schnee Palace was called the Frozen Palace, not just because of who ran it, but because of the rumors that surrounded the Schnees. The shady business deals that were done, the legally questionable actions preformed, and the most rampant one was the way that Faunus workers were treated. But that wasn't the main reason that Weiss thought of it as the Frozen Palace.

She grew up hated by her parents.

Without a sibling to share time with.

And hated by herself.

The palace was frozen because it was lonely.

The only person Weiss ever seemed to have was Rosanne, her caretaker. But that just wasn't enough. She didn't crave attention, she didn't want to be in the spotlight, she just wanted to know that there were people who cared about her beyond just their legacy as a family. It certainly didn't help her case that she just didn't know how to deal with people, she didn't know what to say, and so she went into her most guarded state that she possibly could.

But now Weiss could leave. She was accepted into Beacon Academy, the legendary hunter and huntress training school, meaning she could leave, become a huntress, and escape. That's what she saw. A chance to leave this dreadful place behind.

And now it was her last day there.

Weiss and Rosanne carefully packed away Weiss' many belongings, mostly consisting of Dust and spare clothing. Neither of them were speaking much, both of them simply too petrified of everything that could happen to do much speaking.

"Do you want me to grab one extra jacket?" Rosanne asked shakily, her voice sounding as though she was already crying with how unstable it was. "So that way, you can wear it while you're sleeping?"

"Yes Rosanne," Weiss said, her voice sounding completely even. "That would be exceedingly appreciated. Maybe if you could acquire one of the more comfortable ones, not something made of this substantially thicker material, that would make my slumbers significantly more tolerable."

"Weiss," Rosanne said, her mouth curling into a small smile. "It's me, you don't have to keep up the act. Your parents will be gone for a little while, remember?" Weiss nodded, and then immediately let her face go from the stone look that it was, to one filled with pain, sadness, and worry.

"I really want a soft jacket," Weiss whispered. "I can't... I can't show my back so I want a really soft one. Would you please get one?" Rosanne nodded, and gently hugged Weiss. She felt her arms be poked slightly by the wings, and she had to pull away from Weiss. She lowered herself towards the ground, and looked Weiss dead in the eyes.

"I'm going to get the jacket," Rosanne said. "Do not start now, not until I'm back." Weiss nodded, and watches Rosanne exit the room.

She dragged herself to the body length mirror that was in her room, and stared at the reflection sadly.

Why didn't she look like a monster?

Why did she seem so normal?

Why did she inherit her mother's beauty?

Why did she have to be that statistical anomaly?

Why did she have wings?

Weiss slowly took off her jacket, and set it to the floor. She slowly extended her wings, and looked at herself.

She had been bad this time, she let the wings grow a little more then usual. When Rosanne had asked why, Weiss had said that she wanted to wait until the day she'd depart for Beacon so that they could be of minimal length. But the truth, the truth was different, the truth was worse.

Weiss had wanted to see them close to full length. She wanted to feel them, to feel that soft texture that rested on them. Weiss had always loved birds, in fact her mother had even let her have one as a pet for seven years before it died. She pet that bird all the time, she watched it fly, and she talked to it.

"I wish that I could do what you do," Weiss had said. "I wish that I had the option to fly away like you can. But I can't. You're supposed to have wings, I'm not. I'm not better then any of the White Fang. I wish that I could just get rid of my wings, or maybe become a bird like you, Eds. I don't want to be this stupid thing in-between." All Eds had done was squawk in response, but that's all Eds ever did.

But now Eds was gone. Weiss didn't have a bird to pet anymore, and so instead she painfully bent around her wing to pet. She felt over the smooth, soft, feathers and smiled. Her wings were at least a foot long a piece, and they ran down to maybe her lower back. It was painful to keep them bunched up, but the alternative was filled with more agony.

"Weiss?" Rosanne asked worriedly. Weiss turned around, and saw three jackets sitting her arms. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Weiss said. "I just... I wanted to feel them one last time before the new ones start to come in." Rosanne nodded, and placed the jackets in one of the suitcases.

"I think we should just do this," Rosanne said. "The sooner it's done the sooner we can stop worrying." Weiss nodded, and picked up Myrtenaster. At this point, the sword was more battle worn but just as sharp as before. Better yet, Weiss was stronger with the weapon. It wasn't really something that relied on brute strength, but it did require a certain level of skill and speed to use properly, both of which Weiss had more then acquired over the years.

She very calmly evened it up with her first wing, and brought the sword down.

She didn't even flinch as the wing hit the ground. Without another thought, Weiss carefully put some of the ice Dust over the wound, and felt it freeze over. She then hovered her sword around the second wing. She made sure it was lined up, and then she brought it down again. Once more, she placed the freeze Dust over the open wound.

She took in a deep breath, and stepped into her bathroom. Weiss set the water to the coldest temperature, so as to avoid melting the ice too quickly, and felt it run off of her. She, as always, stared at the bloody water as it ran off of her back. It had been two years since she last cried at the sight of her blood running down the drain, and this was the first time that she had been tempted to cry again. Maybe not because of what had happened, but because of what was going to happen.

Weiss finally turned off the water, and stepped out of the shower. She only took a few moments to reach into her personal cabinet and grab the fire Dust that rested inside of it. She put it over her wounds, and felt the slight sting of pain that came from that action. She flinched, and then set the vial aside. After one last wipe down of her back, Weiss stepped outside.

As usual, Rosanne had gotten rid of the wings before Weiss could return. All that was there was Weiss' suitcases and the caretaker herself.

Weiss grabbed one of the remaining clothing sets that she had in her room, and changed as quickly as she could. Weiss couldn't care less if she was decent in front of Rosanne, the woman had seen her naked from almost day one. Rosanne was one of two people who knew of Weiss' wings, and so Weiss didn't mind if she saw her bare back.

Weiss finished changing, and then sat down on her bed.

"This is our goodbye," Weiss said sadly. "My parents will return, and then we can't say goodbye like we want to." Weiss looked at Rosanne sadly, and the caretaker sat next to her. She looked at Weiss, her eyes also filled with sadness and pain, and gave her a hug.

"I'm going to miss you Weiss," Rosanne said. "I don't like the idea of you being out there on your own. I want to be there to help you, keep you safe, I don't want your wings to get exposed."

"They won't," Weiss said. "I won't let them. But I'm going to miss you, I'm going to miss your help. Thank you so much, Rosanne. For just... Just for being my friend." Weiss curled up into the caretaker a little bit more, and let herself cry.

At that moment Weiss knew that this was going to be the last time she cried for a while.

The last time in front of people for the next four years most likely.

If things went the way Weiss expected, it may wind up being the last time she ever cried.

Because now her heart had to turn to ice.

Later

It wasn't long that Weiss remained in Rosanne's arms. She knew that she had to cease the tears before her parents returned, and then she had to properly apply makeup to mask any signs of her sobs.

Now all that Weiss was doing was waiting for her parents downstairs. She sat on the couch facing the door, Rosanne and several other servants standing ready with Weiss' luggage. She never felt happiness or excitement when she was waiting for her parents. She only ever felt a certain sense of dread, dread because of how they were.

They never said it, but they still viewed Weiss as the Schnee with wings. The one year old that her father had so mercilessly cut the wings off of. Weiss still remembered it, she knew her parents knew that. She still remembered that day.

Birdy, she heard. Birdy back.

But her wisdom and combat weren't the only two things that had improved over the years. Weiss could keep up the mask of an heiress with no emotions.



The doors finally opened up, and Weiss stared at her parents.

Neither of them had physically changed much. There were no differences in the way they looked. Both of them still looked as though they could be in their mid twenties, despite having reached their forties by now. Her father always wore a white business suit while her mother typically wore a ground length white and blue dress. Her mother's hair was free flowing, showing it's normal shoulder length form. Her father's hair remained well cut and tidy. Both of them seemed like the consummate business professionals, not parents.

They looked just as the were.

"Welcome back mother, father," Weiss said. She rose to her feet, and gave them a polite curtsey. "How did everything go."

"Just fine Weiss," her father said. "Thank you."

"But we're already going to be running close to time," her mother chimed in. "Rosanne, if you could monitor the servants and make sure that everything runs smoothly, that'd be really appreciated."

"Of course, Mrs. Schnee," Rosanne said politely. "Come along, all of you heard her." The servants did not need any more encouragement, and they carried all of the suitcases outside to the waiting bullhead.

That left Weiss alone with her parents. Ritter and and Engel both stood there, saying nothing. Weiss stared at them for a few moments, but then had to look away. Just seeing them made her back fill with fire. Her father's face, it was so calm and even. It was the same face he wore when he cut Weiss' wings off of her.

"You really do wish to attend Beacon?" Weiss' father said.

"Not only do I wish to attend Beacon, but I wish to excel and complete Beacon's courses on being a huntress," Weiss said evenly.

"Why do you wish to become a huntress so badly?" Weiss' mother chimed in. "What is this sudden desire."

"I want to accomplish something positive in this world," Weiss said, using the excuse she had pre-prepared. "I want to be able to declare that I have accomplished the title of being a huntress. It sounds so tantalizing, I simply wish to reach this goal." Both of Weiss' parents seemed to accept this answer, and her mother stepped out towards Weiss. She extended her arms, and Weiss calmly walked into them. She hugged her mother, but it wasn't the same as her hug with Rosanne.

That one was filled with emotion, life, happiness, and some sadness.

This hug was cold, dead, and lifeless.

"I will miss you, Weiss," she said quietly.

"As will I," Weiss said.

Both of them spoke such empty words with ease.

"It is time to go," her father said. "Engel, please unhand our daughter."

IT'S A HUG! Weiss wanted to scream. I'M HUGGING MY MOTHER, THERE IS NO REASON FOR HER TO UNHAND ME!

But no words left her mouth. Weiss kept silent, she kept composed, and she kept unflustered. She was used to her parents by now, their ways no longer prompted a reaction out of her.

"Well, it is presumably better if we vacate the palace for Beacon instantly," Weiss said, unwilling to delay this any longer.

"Of course," her father said. "We shouldn't waste another moment." Her father hated what she had been so much, that he wouldn't even fake emotion for her.

The Schnee's walked outside, and walked all the way to where their private bullhead airship was waiting. Weiss' parents both said their final goodbyes, and then watched as Weiss turned her back to them. She walked into the large vehicle, and then took one last look at her parents.

They had already left.

End: So now there'll be head canon. I don't know if every chapter will be this long, but hey, all of you will love it if they are. Thank you to anybody that stopped by the live write :D I had fun doing it (once I got it working). So, any initial questions, comments, follows, favorites, and feedback is appreciated as always.