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Eskel’s woods were nestled against the western part of a small, middle-of-nowhere town that had been showing some growth in the last few years. He’d only called them home for the past couple of decades, having finally found somewhere of his own, far enough away from other monsters (so little fear of witchers coming about), humans (besides the small, if growing, community that neighbored his woods), and other leshens that he had found a little bit of peace in the hell his life had become.
There wasn’t a day that passed that he didn’t...miss people, though..Missed any sort of interaction, really. Sometimes he'd be drawn to the edge of his woods by laughter and other such sounds of merriment, watching at the small interactions he could watch but never participate in. A festival here and there would draw the people nearer to his woods, and he'd consider himself lucky just to be able to witness their fun, and luckier still that he’d never been seen.
Festivals were his favorite to watch. Music. Dancing. He loved it all even if he'd never been so inclined as a human, such social activities having never been his cup of tea but he longed for him then, now. Now that he couldn’t even politely decline the offer to join them, now that he had no option but to watch from afar.
As the town grew, so did the festivals. It took some years but he learned to tell the time of the year by them just so he could travel closer in the weeks before, listening as close as he dared, wishing, longing, yearning.
He traveled closer that year, but the music started early. It's curious. Eskel paused, standing between the trees, blending inand cocking his great head to the side as he listened.
No...no, it's not quite the festival music. But it is music, and it's in his woods.
Curiosity got the better of him. Or perhaps it's loneliness. Whatever it was, it made him draw nearer, forgoing the caution and threat of someone in his woods, following the sounds of someone plucking an instrument with their voice accompanying the tune.
Eskel stuck to the shadows as he peered around a tree, his clawed hand blending into the bark. There's a man - just one, just a single man creating music. Sitting cross-legged with a couple of notebooks open in front of him, a stringed instrument in his lap, his hair a fluffy mess that his fingers had been pulling through. He's grumbling, muttering curses under his breath, a few smudges of ink on his cheeks and nose. Scribbling notes into one of his notebooks, one hand idly still playing with the strings of lute.
He's...certainly a picture. Frazzled but colorful, with expensive looking clothes. And though Eskel knew little to nothing of musical instruments, he could tell his lute was an expensive one just from the intricate designs in the woodwork. Smudged up face with a bright doublet, hair messed up but his fingers so graceful. He spat curses like a sailor but his voice was angelic when he finally went back to playing.
It had been...far too long. Eskel shifted back, not even noticing the tiny buds starting to form on his antlers and arms. He's seen people from a distance but not quite this close up in-fuck he doesn't even know how many years, but this man was beautiful. Once, Eskel would have been ashamed for the way his heart beat at just the look of him (people are so much more than just the pretty picture they paint) but how long had it been since he'd been able to look at all? For any length of time? Know someone even this intimately when the man wasn't really doing anything at all?
Eskel couldn't help it. He watched him, for as long as he could. Watched as he sang and messed up, scribbled in his notes, tugged his hands through his hair in frustration. Tried to not laugh when he switched from the soft song to one that was raunchy enough that Eskel would be blushing if he could.
He watched him until the man packed his things up and left, and then Eskel was alone again. Staring off in the direction he left in, feeling even more alone now than before.
Eskel couldn't sleep that night. He did discover the buds and brushed them off, not wanting to deal with them - he didn't need any reminders that he'd fancied the pretty man and his pretty songs. It was a useless, passing fancy and nothing more.
But the man came back, and Eskel was drawn to him.
Every single day, though at varying times, the man returned. He always had his notebooks with him, always had his lute, and the songs were the same ones repeated over and over. Eskel learned to make himself comfortable as he listened, sitting with his back against a tree and towards the man, blooms on his bark and antlers coloring him pink and red as he listened to the songs steadily improving.
He must have been performing for the festival. Preparing his songs. Eskel thought, with much bias, that his would be the most beautiful
It had been a little over a week since Eskel had discovered him, and he'd steadily found it harder to stay hidden. The man was so alluring, his music enticing - it was tantamount to suicide to approach him, a witcher would be called to have his head, but..
B.Eskel was lonely, and this man sang so pretty. Hefound himself wanting - no matter that he knew he could never have him.
His antlers were in full bloom that afternoon, petals drifting down in the slight breeze. Eskel knew then why - mating season, something that happened only every few years, and he sat there yearning over a man that was less than half his height. It was pathetic.
But he wanted to sing with him. Sounds that would scare him away for sure, but...fuck, he should have never approached even this close, should have stayed far away.
The man had taken to talking to himself the last several days. At first hesitantly, as if he was nervous, his words stumbling a bit. But now he spoke aloud with comfort, talking about what he was doing, his songs, the festival. He seemed to be one who liked talking to himself and it made Eskel more at ease when he did - he could almost imagine it was for his benefit, could almost imagine the man was talking to him.
Pitiful. He knew he was. But he felt less lonely when the man was around.
He was talking to himself again. Going over his notes, his voice a bit nervous once more. Eskel cocked his head and listened closely, wondering if it was nerves for his coming performance - though that shouldn't be for another week or so, so he had plenty of time to perfect his music.
Not that it wasn't already perfect. Eskel could have listened to it for the whole day, if only the man would sing that long. It had lulled him to sleep more than once.
"Right! Well then, that should be enough for the day."
Eskel's heart dropped a little at that, not ready for him to leave. Wasn’t ready for the loneliness to come back again. Over the past couple of days, every time the man left, Eskel would wait until he was certain he wouldn’t come back. He’d approach where he’d been sitting, where his notebooks had been scattered about and his lute propped up in his lap, and inhale the sweet scent that he’d left behind. Lose himself in it…
Fuck. Mating season was a bother. It turned him into a creep apparently. Though as embarrassing as that was, Eskel was still going to do it. It was the only good part of the man leaving.
But the man shuffled around more than usual. Talked to himself nervously about nothing of real importance, his papers rustling, his lute put away but he wasn't leaving. Eskel almost poked his head out to see what was causing the delay but he knew better than that. With the season putting him in bloom it was harder to blend in, with all the pinks and reds and yellows covering him, and he couldn't risk sending him running.
He wasn't sure how he'd ever lived without his music.
"You....you don't have to be shy."
Eskel cocked his head, listening to the man talk to himself, pepping himself up. The man paused for a while after that, nothing but the birds singing overhead, but he didn't speak back up for quite some time.
"I'd like it if- like to meet you. I don't mind if you're not..." The man paused, and Eskel's heart had dropped straight to his stomach, body as still as the trees around him.
"If you're not human," he finished with a whisper, and Eskel's hands trembled.
That...that couldn't be true- how had he discovered him? Eskel was in the middle of a panic that he didn't have time for, his mind and heart racing. But he could hear the man's hesitant approach and knew he had to do something sooner rather than later.
But what would he do? Run? Scare him off? Actually show himself? He hated all of his options, they all sounded horrible, what was he supposed to do?
"It's okay," the man said in a soft voice, facing a little off of the right direction, as if he knew the general area Eskel was in but not the exact spot. "It would be a little wrong of me to not meet an admirer, after all, especially such a dedicated one."
His voice held laughter, a light teasing tone, and Eskel's blooms rustled.
If he'd been in his right mind, Eskel would have left. Maybe even abandoned his woods since he'd been discovered. But it was mating season and he was pathetic, lonely, and desperate for a soft voice, someone (anyone) to treat him kindly. And the man smelled delicious and made him ache and Eskel was weak, far too weak for self-preservation when an offer to know him was on the table.
Eskel stood up slowly, careful to not make noise, though his antlers touched some of the branches above. He peeked out from the shadows towards the man who had still not noticed his exact location - he looked so small up close like this, less than 10 feet away, so real and fragile and he looked so warm.
He would run for sure, but Eskel was weak. He took a deep breath, counting his own heartbeats-
-and he stepped out from the shadows.
"Oh, b-big boy."
Eskel had been used to trying to look smaller even as a human, but there was no way to shrink himself down like this. Even if he hunched over he would tower over this man, even if he stayed back his antlers would be on threatening display. But he tried to look as calm as possible, as small as possible, as non-threatening as possible as he let the man look at him.
He looked. And looked. His blue (so blue, so very pretty, Eskel wished he could capture that color and keep it) eyes wide as he took him in. Fingers couldn't stay still as they played with themselves nervously in front of the man, his mouth slightly parted, and Eskel longed for him to talk, to say anything, the silence destroying him.
"Well, I- hmm, you're..." Eskel lowered his head and tried to look a little smaller, some hanging blooms falling into his face from his antlers, but the man struggled with his words still. "You're big, I... I'm not entirely sure what you are, no offense! Well, I..."
He cleared his throat, visibly shaking himself, some of the surprise leaving his expression as he did. "My name's Jaskier. Jaskier the bard, the one and only, I'm sure you've....well, probably never heard of me- do you talk? Er, to people? At all?"
Eskel shook his great head, the hanging blooms tangling in the process, petals falling off in the movement. At least the man- Jaskier, at least Jaskier didn't seem too intimidated by a great beast with flowers all over it, for...for some strange reason. He just gave him a wide grin, flashing some of his teeth, his hands a little less nervous now.
"I don't suppose you could give me your name then..."
Eskel made a noise at that, not able to help himself - Jaskier was asking him his name. The gesture just...
"I could call you...oh! How about Elm! Spruce?"
Eskel growled a little, but even a growl didn't seem to scare him, Jaskier just tutting when he did. "Well I can't exactly call you 'Applewood', that would be ridiculous! You're going to have to settle on something."
It was all ridiculous. Eskel couldn't tell him that. He just shook his head, a rainbow of petals scattering; if he could give him his name he would but he was not going to be called Spruce.
"Oh."
Jaskier stepped closer, and Eskel went still. The man moved slowly but his eyes were on Eskel's blooms, pupils blown wide, his hand reaching out as if he was going to touch them.
"They're beautiful, all sorts of different- let me untangle them?"
Eskel's heart skipped several beats, but he couldn't say no. He bent down low and tried to breathe slowly as Jaskier approached him, his fingers brushing against the hanging blooms, gently pulling them apart as if they were the most precious and fragile things in the world. Soon Eskel's blooms were hanging as they were meant to, blooming even more, fresh buds sprouting and opening up in pretty pinks and yellows down his arms.
Jaskier was so close. So close. Eskel wanted to reach out to him, brush his hands against his face - but his hands were big, his fingers more like claws, and he could crush him so easily. And he had no right to anyway, no right to touch or even want to touch.
"You're a shy one, aren't you?"
Jaskier's voice was so gentle, his words so kind. He hadn't retracted his hands, not really, still gently playing with the hanging blooms he'd detangled for him.
"I've never heard you mentioned in the town before - you must not talk to anyone. Or, well...obvious, you can't talk, but- still, you stay out here on your own? Always?"
Eskel nodded his head, mindful of how close they were, but he still didn't frighten Jaskier off. But a breeze blew his scent near and Eskel inhaled him deep, remembering all of the times he'd drowned in his scent as he tried to work the season out of him.
"Can I?" Jaskier's eyes were on his antlers now, on the blooms there - he was a bold fucker, already reaching out to touch though they were still out of reach. But Eskel was weak and desperate for those hands to be on them, immediately settling down on the ground, tucking his head in so Jaskier could feel the blooms on them.
He felt every gentle caress of his fingers shaking through him. Never had he imagined his antlers would be so sensitive, bonelike as they were, but he was fucked - fucked from the first featherlike grace of those calloused fingertips against one point of his left antler.
Eskel tried not to shake. Was beyond grateful that humans did not have a strong nose because he knew what he smelled like, knew his heart was racing and his blood screamed for him to mate. But he stayed as still as possible, tried to keep his thoughts elsewhere, as Jaskier ran his hands all over the length of his antlers. Up, down, across each point. Cooing at the flowers that bloomed in his touch's wake. Back down all the way until he was at their roots, his touch lightening, until it was hesitant and barely there as his breath caught, just the tips of his fingers ghosting over the skull that was Eskel's face.
If he'd been more human, Jaskier would have been cupping his cheek. Eskel couldn't breathe.
"Very beautiful," Jaskier breathed, his eyes flickering all around Eskel's being. But then they flicked down low and Jaskier gasped, his face suddenly pink.
Eskel hadn't realized his excitement had been that bad. He tensed up, not wanting to look down, knowing exactly what Jaskier was looking at. Shame burned through him though he really couldn't- was it really his fault? He couldn't control how his body reacted to touch, especially not during mating season, and if his dick had decided to betray him and show itself what was he supposed to do about it?
Jaskier continued to be...confusing. He didn't sputter over his dick being out, didn't shriek or stumble backwards. A truly amazing fiet, given how odd his dick looked compared to a human’s. He just looked, and looked, until he was biting his lower lip, and Eskel would be darker than Jaskier if he could actually blush.
"Eager fellow, aren't you?"
It was breathy, and Eskel needed a minute to himself. Or several. Or a whole week far away from him lest he do something stupid and really make him breathless.
"You're...alone out here, yes? That's...that seems like quite the problem to deal with on your own..."
Eskel trembled with the effort to stay still, the vines wrapped around his limbs twitching, his cock sliding just a touch further out of its sheath. And he saw Jaskier's pupils dilate at the sight. Eskel rumbled - could he dare? Could he? Was this human truly...?
"Would you..." Jaskier's tongue flicked out to wet his lips, his hand sliding down to Eskel's arm, his heart beating so fast and loud that Eskel could hear it now. "Like help with that?"
Jaskier waited for him to answer. Waited until Eskel gave a small nod, and then Jaskier returned it with a shy grin, stepping forward until Eskel had to look down to see him at all.
His hands couldn't wrap around his cock. Not all of the way. Jaskier sucked in a breath as he tried, Eskel swaying slightly at the touch - the first time anyone, anything, had touched him since he'd been cursed with this form. And Jaskier wrapped his hands around him as much as he could, stroking them up to the tip, aided by the natural slick that was produced all along his length.
"Th-that's a texture." Jaskier was talking to himself, his tongue wetting his lips again, and then his eyes were flicking up to look at Eskel through long blond lashes. "There's no way this could fit in me, is there?"
Eskel growled, finally brought into motion, leaning over Jaskier until he was on all fours - and Jaskier eeped, his hands still on his cock, Eskel still towering over him and barely making Jaskier bend to fit underneath him.
His vines twitched, and shook free. Unwrapping from his thick bark thighs and waist. Jaskier's breath hitched as he saw the control Eskel had over them, shaking, looking back up at Eskel with eyes so heated it made Eskel growl deeper.
"If I don't end today with your cock inside of me, my whole life will have been for nothing."
Eskel was more than happy to make his life worthwhile, then.
He was gentle when he reached out for him with his vines. Running them over his body, letting him feel them, feeling out Jaskier himself. Though it took him less than a minute to huff about the slick they left on his clothes, shooing them away so he could strip, making Eskel hiss at the lack of contact on his cock.
"Impatient, impatient," Jaskier tutted at him, but Eskel did not miss how quickly he'd tossed his clothes to the side. He wasn't the only one who was eager.
Once his clothes were off, Eskel's vines were on him. The one that reached for his cock was a bit shy, just teasing the base, Jaskier letting out a soft ‘fuck’ as he went back to reaching for his cock. Eskel let out a low bellowing noise, moving closer, bending down until Jaskier was on the ground and he was crouched over him.
Eskel couldn't watch Jaskier like this. His head wouldn't bend the right way, not with his antlers in the way. More and more flowers were sprouting all over his body, his excitement showing, almost every inch of him budding with color as his vines encircled Jaskier.
They left his limbs free to move, but still held him. Still wrapped around his legs, his arms, his waist. Jaskier moaned and stroked his cock, spreading his thighs, Eskel feeling every inch of him out and closing his eyes to imagine what he must look like.
A vine wrapped around Jaskier's cock, sliding around it. Squeezing gently in a soft, steady rhythm. Jaskier bucked his hips a little into it, shameless, cursing under his breath and drawing yet another billowing noise from Eskel's chest.
One of his smallest vines wrapped around Jaskier's thigh, then reached below his cock, caressing the hole that awaited him. Jaskier immediately spread his legs further, letting the vine have as much access as it pleased - and then Jaskier's sinful lips were pressing against Eskel's shaft, and Eskel growled at how delicious they were against him.
When Jaskier's mouth reached the tip of his cock, his tongue flicked out, licking a solid strip of slick off of him. He moaned something about sweet but Eskel couldn't process his words, could only feel the way his tongue pressed flat against him, how that little pucker was so willing to give when the small vine pressed against it and slipped in.
It wiggled and worked into him while Jaskier moaned against his cock, Eskel having to fight to keep from rocking down into him. He squeezed Jaskier's cock and worked yet another vine around him just to encourage him further.
It was intoxicating, and they'd barely begun.
Jaskier felt so tight that Eskel was hesitant to add a second vine into him, but Jaskier was so eager to take his cock. He slipped it in alongside the first, growling deeper at Jaskier's effort to wrap his lips around the head of his cock - a valiant effort though he wouldn't make it far.
Eskel worked the two vines into him, easy work with the slick they produced, when Jaskier was so eager to take him. But long before it was time to press his cock into him he felt himself getting close, the bellowing noise low and never ending, his hips gently rocking down as Jaskier worked his hands and mouth all over him.
He had no real way to warn Jaskier that he was about to come. When he did it was a gentle crash of pleasure, long lasting, his seed coating the man beneath him without warning - but Jaskier just moaned louder, continuing to work him over as if he didn't care, clenching around his vines as if to encourage them further in.
Eskel stayed hard even after his first orgasm was spent. He panted, readjusting his crouch over Jaskier, still sliding his vines all over his cock, a third one gently pressing against his entrance. Others sliding over his body and finding any and every place that made him moan or whimper or mewl in delight.
The man was shaking beneath him. His hands and lips desperate things at his shaft, tongue lapping up every drop of cum it could reach. His moans morphed into keens when the third and fourth vine slipped in, back arching away from the ground, cock impossibly hard and breaths barely able to keep up with the pace of his heart.
"I- I need, fuck just, just please, I can't-" Jaskier broke off on a moan, his mouth still desperate on Eskel's cock, his body trembling and all of his noises turning to whimpers when Eskel found his prostate. He brushed against it with a steady rhythm, ready and desperate to make Jaskier come as well, though as much as the man writhed and begged he didn't seem to be able to reach that edge to topple over it.
He didn't understand why Jaskier couldn't come. Not until one of his hands was desperately tugging at one of his vines - the one wrapped tightly around the base of his cock, unintentionally preventing any effort to orgasm.
Eskel let out an apologetic noise, unwrapping the vine from his cock, Jaskier letting out a high pitched whine as at last, at last , he was able to come. It hit him hard and fast, ribbons of white splattering Eskel's bark and the flowers growing there, the squeezing around his vines making him grumble with pleasure in turn.
Eskel was far from done, despite the both of them coming. When Jaskier relaxed enough from his pleasure Eskel quickly slipped two more vines into him, grumbling softly as Jaskier whimpered from overstimulation. But if they wanted him to take his cock, he'd need it.
Eskel was tired of not seeing him, though.
With his vines, he scooped his Jaskier up, moving until he was sitting down and Jaskier was in his lap. He was thankful then for the amount of flowers bursting over every inch of his bark because they acted like a nice cushion between its roughness and Jaskier's bare skin, preventing any scratching or chafing, keeping him unharmed and safe while Eskel figured out how to hold him without his claws ruining that effort.
Jaskier helped a bit. He struggled about in his lap, making himself comfortable as Eskel held his arms wide away from him, just to be sure his claws were well out of the way. Eventually Jaskier leaned back against his stomach, straddling his cock, the vines not moving at the moment but in him, wrapped around him, holding him as if he were precious.
"We've got all day, big buddy," Jaskier sighed, patting his cock with one hand and making Eskel jerk at the touch, rumbling. "All night if we need it. Fuck, do you have any idea how hot- I'm never going back from this, whose measly little prick is ever going to compare to any of this? To you?"
When Jaskier was settled nicely into his lap, his little cock (in comparison) resting against the massive one he planned to take, Eskel carefully folded his arms around him. And then some of his vines wrapped around both of their cocks, pressing them together, stroking them as the others continued to slowly fuck Jaskier's tight hole loose and open and slick.
Eskel bellowed, soft and low, the sound reverberating in their tiny clearing. A breeze rustled the leaves overhead and scattered some of his petals, a few brave hummingbirds buzzing up to take some nectar as Jaskier panted in his lap. He was still covered and dripping with come, covered in slick as well; Jaskier sighed and moved with the stroking vines, pressing down onto the ones that were working him open, up into the ones moving against their cocks.
Jaskier came before Eskel this time. With more and more vines slipping into his tight heat, thicker ones joining the mix, one even slipping up to give his mouth something to suck on - between all of that and the ones stroking them together, he soon fell apart again, Eskel holding him a touch tighter to feel how his body shook and trembled and writhed with the pleasure.
Eskel couldn't help but please himself, too. Letting one of his vines play with the slit of his cock, encouraging the slick that leaked out of it. Finding just the right spots to rub and squeeze to make himself shake, the noise in his chest growing louder and deeper, until he too came again. Jaskier was covered in fresh come, moaning from it, suckling hard on the vine still in his mouth and squeezing his fingers onto one of Eskel's arms.
They continued on for much of the afternoon. Slowly working Jaskier open, Eskel's blood singing at finding a mate for the season, Jaskier panting and shaking and thriving at the experience. Until at long last Jaskier was open enough for Eskel's thick cock, the vines slipping out and making him whine from their absence.
"F-fuck, I- I need, I'm- empty, fuck, I'm ready, I'm ready, please-"
Eskel unwrapped his arms, careful with his claws - gingerly, carefully, he wouldn't hurt him - as he lifted Jaskier up out of his lap. He could have done it with his vines, but...but fuck he wanted to hold him proper, even with all of the vines that still comfort held his thighs and legs and waist.
For a moment, Jaskier was in front of his face. He was panting endlessly, his eyes hazy, his lips red and wet and Eskel yearned to be able to kiss him. But Jaskier reached out to ghost his fingertips on his cheek once more, leaning close, until he could press a soft kiss to the bone that passed as Eskel's face.
"Thank you," Jaskier whispered, earnest. As if he was the one being gifted something precious. And Eskel knew he'd break the moment Jaskier left him.
Eskel leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together, the hanging flowers swaying in the breeze and tickling Jaskier's cheeks. It drew soft laughter from him that warmed Eskel up from the tip of his points all the way down his bark covered body.
And then his blood sang too loudly to fuck, mate, breed, and Eskel was lowering Jaskier towards his cock. Lining him up and sinking him onto it, Jaskier's moan and Eskel's bellow echoing in the clearing around them.
Jaskier sank onto him, pushed slowly, his eyes rolling back and head lulling long before Eskel was done. It felt like an eternity before Jaskier had taken all of him. His stomach was pushed out from Eskel's length, his body hardly able to clench around him at all, but he fit snug and hot and right around Eskel and he never wanted to let him go.
Eskel gave them both a minute. Caressing Jaskier's body with his vine, soothing him, supporting him and making sure he knew he was safe. But then he had to have him, had to fuck into him, had to claim his mate and prove he could wreck him just as Jaskier had wanted.
Had to prove he was good enough, worthy. Needed to be good enough. If Jaskier wanted his cock, he would get it.
Eskel took him just like that. Held him up with careful claws and caressing vines, slowly fucking up into him, pressing Jaskier down onto each thrust. And Jaskier was sobbing before he even picked up the pace, overwhelmed, his cock stroked by vines and his prostate abused by even the smallest of motions.
His stomach bulged with every thrust in. His eyes rolled back, babbled words tumbling out of his lips, the only ones that managed to be coherent were the constant please please please that he gasped out like a prayer.
When Eskel picked up the pace, Jaskier came screaming, though he'd come so much already it was dry. Eskel was nowhere near finished, his bellow increasing in volume, his vines pushing Jaskier's sweaty bangs out of his face so he could better watch him and sear every second of this into his memory.
Soon, Eskel was desperate for his own end. He still took care to not hurt his precious Jaskier but he fucked up into him with a purpose, punching out sobs and screams of pleasure, lost to his tight heat and song.
One thrust. Two, three more, and he pressed Jaskier down onto him with a snarl, his seed shooting out and filling him up until he bulged so far he looked swollen. And it leaked out of him in a steady flow, around Eskel's cock, dripping to the forest flow beneath them. Eskel came and came and claimed every inch of his mate, his , hunching over him and snarling from the pleasure that shook him to his core.
His.
Jaskier passed out before Eskel pulled out of him. And though Eskel could have gone another round he slipped out of him carefully, holding him close, letting his chest rumble like a purr as he waited for his Jaskier to wake back up to him.
He'd keep him safe in the time being. Would keep him safe for as long as Jaskier allowed him to, because Eskel, despite how poor of an idea he knew it was, was smitten.
It was a good thing, then, that Jaskier was quite smitten in turn.