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 Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2011 5:04 pm
And so, An's plan was underway!
She probably should have explained beforehand to Naar and Heti exactly who their quarry was. She also should have mentioned that she only half knew of what plan two entailed. But An was a clever girl, and she didn't doubt she'd figure it out. Power of love, and all that. So long as no one lost an eye, it was all going to be smooth sailing!
That is, of course, if they could get Ea out of the wards. She fully anticipated this to be the trickiest part. Ea was every bit as savvy as they came, and when she was in a mood, she was almost immobile. She also routinely brow beat anyone who had previously attempted to lay amorous tokens upon her. An was hoping that the situation with Vlam had her off kilter. She knew Ea cared about the big quiet male. How could she not?
Curiously, An poked her head out from behind an outcropping of rocks. She'd stopped Naar with a wave of her paw, and now the two girls waited just besides the cave opening. But they had yet to advance. "Alright," An explained, turning around to face Naar. "The trick is to just be calm. Ea's sorta angry all the time, so if she acts angry, you just ignore it. She hates being ignored."
"Any questions?" She said, before throwing themselves into the dragon's lair.
---
Not too far off, Vlam trailed the two females at a distance. He might not have been good at much, but following silently was one of the few things he found himself capable at. The rocks surrounding the ward didn't hurt either. He might have been silent, but it wasn't always easy to hide a white lion in the desert.
He was too far away to hear what it was An had planning, he had the sinking feeling of dread that this was all going to get very bad, very fast. The similarities between that feeling, and what he'd been told he'd feel as a soldier facing war... were a bit too similar for comfort. He should have stopped An before she got it into her head to fix his problems.
Now he had a feeling it was too late.
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 2:30 pm
Leaving Heti behind in the 'meeting spot', Naar followed obediently a few steps behind An, quiet but seemingly a little happier now that she wasn't bumbling mindlessly around pride lands. Her head was held slightly higher, ears flicking casually around to draw in the surrounding noises. She was a large female but had never seemed to have a talent for much as a youth. And, due to a lack of self-esteem she hadn't even bothered to find out if she'd been a late bloomer, defaulting to nothing more than a mere huntress.
And she wasn't even very good at that.
Her large and chunky build made it more difficult for her to be as swift and agile as the sleek, powerful females in her team. She was also a little clumsy and often tripped or staggered during a hunt which earned her nothing but irritated glares. Her aspirations and hopes - small as they had been anyway - had truly been taken from her when her sister and brother had left. She thought of her sister, in particular, almost every waking moment, yearning to run after her and then cursing herself for being too weak to do so. Instead, Naar remained, wallowing in self-loathing that lifted only on very few occasions.
One of these occasions was now. Seemingly.
She quickened her step to draw up alongside An, who had paused an outcrop of rocks and then lowered herself into a crouch, seeming somewhat nervous. "Calm. Right. Got it." She spoke in a lowered voice that was not quite a whisper. Naar was slightly unpredictable with her emotions; flaring into anger when prompted by certain things, but she would do her best to tame her mood in order to help the poor broken-hearted lion. "I...I will...do my best." She straightened again, seeming to realise that her hunched position was a little silly and shook her head. "I'll follow your lead, An." The girl mad a good leader, Naar decided, following her despite the fact that she was afraid of the consequences of their actions. It was hard not to trust An's confidence.
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Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2011 3:40 pm
An smiled brightly. "You'll do fine!" she said with a wink. "Don't worry about a thing. You're my secret weapon." The blonde lioness took a few moments to compose herself, and then motioned for Naar to follow. The entrance to the wards was not far off...and Ea, just before that. The lioness was stretched out in the sun just in front of the opening. If Veru was still delirious, he seemed to be restrained and out of sight. That was good- An doubted Ea would be interested in leaving if one of her patients was not doing well.
She gave Naar another reassuring smile, before announcing their arrival. "Ea! Just got back from my trip. I didn't find any roots this time though," An lied casually. Although she was not a lioness accustomed to lying... when she did, she did so with a familiarity that was a bit off putting. "I think next time I'll go south. There are more grassy areas nearer to the borders."
The casual report of An's fake work day seemed to ease Ea's initial agitation. But to say she was welcoming would have been an understatement. She shot the girls a look, her face turning cold and imperious. "Well, then look harder," she said flatly. Her paws crossed, and she set her head down. "What does Naar want? Another casualty?"
"Oh no, she's fine." An said with a smile. She hopped up the small stone 'steps' that bridged from the sand into the cave. "Actually, she an I came to talk to you about something we overheard! I think it'll cheer you up."
Ea snorted, her claws sinking into the soft stone. "I doubt that very much."
"Aww, Ea!" An said, bounding a careful circle around her cousin. "You have to listen. We weren't supposed to say anything about it, you see... but, I know you'd want to find out! Isn't that right Naar?"
Ea furrowed her brow skeptically.
----
This was getting a bit hard to bear. Why had he agreed to this? Vlam covered his head with his paws, ducking far below the outcropping of rock. This was only going to end with Ea strangling him. [Although, to be fair, a lot of things ended in Ea strangling them!] None of this was going to tell Ea what he really wanted to say.
And perhaps that's why he felt so helpless. There would never be time to say the words he had to say. He couldn't. He couldn't tell her that he'd been a different person before. He couldn't tell her that the only bright spot in his life after the accident had been her. He couldn't tell her that he'd of done... he'd of done things differently if he had known! If he'd known anything about what would come!
But seeing Ea's confused expression, and those wheels in her strange mind turn, he knew no amount of mute explaining would ever fill in the blanks for what he needed. And now he was rely on An to do it for him, in this insane, convoluted plan that had no chance of success.
He crouched lower on the rock, as though to shrink away entirely.
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Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:24 pm
Secret weapon? Naar blinked and wondered whether An was going to be anything but disappointed with her so called 'weapon'. Naar didn't consider herself reliable, particularly in situations where subtlety was key. Even still, she was not about to back down now and, with a short nod, followed after the young female as obedient and placid as a puppy.
It was certainly a good thing that Veru was not about that day, since no doubt Naar would be distracted by him and probably fuss and weep and pity. The large female padded alongside the female, blinking in surprise at the dark-pelted lioness who was clearly their target.
Fia's sister. When they had been younger it had been near impossible to tell them apart. However, their difference in lifestyles and demeanour had become more poignant as they had hit full growth. At a distance they could still be mistaken, or if taking a sidelong glance, but a familiar eye would be able to spot them easily, now. Still, Naar felt a little nervous being in the presence of Ea. After all, the last time she had hung out with Fia she'd lost her temper and almost attacked her. What if Fia had shared that information with her twin? What if she was about to be on the receiving end of teeth and claws? Her pace slowed a little, her head lowering. She visibly flinched when her name was mentioned and had to force herself to stay put and not sidle to the right until she was hidden (or as hidden as she could be) behind An.
"That's right." The adult added. "Some secrets need to be shared. This is definitely one of those." She felt herself relax very slightly, noting that there was no look of anger being directed at her -- yet. "Besides, it is a nice secret. I know I'd be happy if I heard that someone admired me." And that was genuine, though there was nothing much to admire about her.
She drew up alongside the smaller female and sat slowly on the sand. "Tell her, An, don't keep her waiting." And she put on a playful smile - or something she hoped resembled it.
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Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2011 5:53 am
Vlam all but froze where he stood. Surely he'd known how the plan would go down, but in that moment he got the chilling feeling that Ea had seen through their plans with those strange eyes of hers. It wouldn't have been the first time- sometimes the young lioness seemed to have an almost uncanny grasp of things. She often showed up where there was an injured lion, long before even the patrols arrived. Could that same knack be applied to finding them out? He swallowed and decided to hide as much as he could among the rocks.
If An's plan failed, there was only one person Ea would go for. And he knew exactly who that person was!
But while Vlam cowered, An grew more confident. She may not have had the same vision sight that made Ea so unpredictable- but she had a few tricks up her own sleeve. For one, she grew bolder the more nervous she got. It was a convenient flaw. Particularly when dealing with tricky situations.
"You're right," she said to Naar. "It is a nice secret. If it had been about me I'd definitely want someone to tell me."
Ea furrowed her brow, her face looking no less than indignant. When Naar implored An to get on with it, Ea similiarly snapped. "Yes. Just tell me, An. I'm not one of your lackeys."
An continued on, nonpulsed. "You, have a secret admierer!"
Ea rolled her eyes and let her head drop back to her paws. "I am well aware of this. Get lost An, you're ruining my sunlight."
"No, I mean, another secret admirer. But you're always so angry!" To this, An clamored ontop of her older cousin. An was a growing lioness- and while she still carried much of her juvenile charm with her, the weight of a budding adolescent seemed to squish the wind out of Ea. Ea growled as An wriggled, putting her paws on top of the other female's head. "You're always so angry! So, he's afraid to talk to you."
"Is he?" Ea glowered. She referred to 'him' with no small amount of venom. It seemed for the moment, An's plan was working. Ea assumed it was Vlam still behind this. "Then maybe I don't want to talk to him."
"Aww, but you have to!" An lamented. "You'd break his heart! Naar and I were just talking about how fragile he is."
The wild-eyed lioness ground her teeth together. Rather than respond to An, she looked towards Naar. "Fragile, is he? And just how did you both come to find out about this?"
"Well, it's a funny story, actually-" An started.
"I was talking to Naar." Ea quipped.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 12:24 pm
Talking to...uh oh...
The panic on Naar's face was vibrant but brief and she managed to swallow it down a moment's later, pressing her front paws firmly into the sand as if to stop herself from simply melting away from the fright of it all. They hadn't had a chance to discuss details and Naar was not the best at thinking quickl;y on her paws. She fancied that Ea knew this and that was why she'd specifically asked for the orange-red female to give the details.
Whiskers drooping, she battled through the despair and managed to choke out a few words. "The...the lion in question. He's my...friend." Not really a lie. Heti could be considered a friend, though perhaps he was more an acquaintance. Either way, she knew his name and she found his openness a great breath of fresh air. She, who crushed her emotions down, found his ability to word his feelings something to admire. "He...told me there was this female who'd noticed his attention. Wouldn't mention a name or anything, just that there was someone he'd like to get to notice him. He...asked me how to get a girl's attention but..." She trailed, glancing down sheepishly at her paws. "Tell the truth, I don't rightly know the answer to that myself." She'd never even thought about the possibilities of being wooed by a male or what might attract her to one in the first place.
"I...we, I mean - An and I - we were chatting and we heard the lion...talking to himself. Think he was trying to practise approaching this girl and telling her how he felt. That's...that's when we heard your name mentioned. He didn't know we were there so we quickly dashed away before we noticed."
When she finished she realised, quite suddenly, that the story wasn't exactly that funny. Her heart sank and she would have given An a pained, apologetic look if the expression wouldn't have given her away completely.
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Posted: Sun Apr 10, 2011 12:59 pm
An could barely keep the compulsive 'awwwww' from spilling from her mouth. It might have been a made up story, but Naar had nailed it. An half felt bad that it wasn't true! It would have been nice to think they were helping out some poor lion too afraid to speak to Ea. Which, in a way she supposed they were! But she liked Naar's story. Grinning from ear to ear, she knocked Ea on the cheek as though to rub the victory in her face. No one caught An up in a lie! "You should have seen it, Ea. It was so sweet and so sad. I thought after all that's happened..."
Her voice trailed off. Somewhere, hidden behind the rocks Vlam couldn't help but feel his heart sink. "Well, I just thought it would be a good thing, that's all!" An chimed. "I mean, what better way to rub it into Armada's face if you-"
Ea scrunched up her nose and looked away. But horrified or not, An had struck a diabolical cord in Ea. Ea liked to win, this much was true. She hadn't liked the other female's words about her the other day. If she did have a secret admirer... well... "Fine. But I don't really care. I can't promise I'll be nice."
An smiled, and hopped off her cousin's back. She scrambled over to Naar, and half pounced on her in excitement. "That's okay! Brilliant! You should come with us right now then! We told him we'd see if you'd come, and he'd wait up over by the tall rocks."
Ea's eyebrow twitched. She was savvier then An gave her credit for. Her secret admirer just so happened to want to meet her in the spot Vlam most frequently went to brood? Ea didn't care much for coincidences. But for whatever reason, she kept her mouth shut. "Fine. Just lets get this over with," she turned her head back towards the wards. "He's asleep anyways. It's not like I'm doing anything."
An nodded. "Then, let's head off! Just follow us!"
Vlam suddenly became aware that his hiding spot was directly in their path! He sputtered in shock and started to scramble away, crawling off on his belly like some sort of strange lizard creature. This plan wasn't going to work.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:20 pm
Wait. Was this Ea agreeing? Actually agreeing?! Naar stood dumbfounded, clearly not expecting this plan to bear any fruit. An was certainly a good weaver of tales, certainly, but this was Ea! Naar felt a tug of pride in her heart to have been a part of something like this, smiling as the nerves began to fade away.
She turned to trot after An, pausing to make sure Ea was following them. Now, all they had to do was make sure the rest of the plan went as smoothly and they'd be home dry!
"He'll be so surprised!" She chirped, seeming now to be getting into 'character'. She just hoped that Heti would be prepared for the next stage.
Naar needn't have worried, however. Heti might have been a little nervous, but he was also confident in his abilities to play the love-struck male. After all, it wouldn't be all that hard. Ea was a bit scary, but she was beautiful and one-of-a-kind. Pretending that he had a crush on her would be easy. The only thing that made him nervous was the possibility of yelling and paws flying his way. His father was in enough trouble with the Regent family as it was. Heti certainly did not want to be next in line to anger their family anew. Hopefully, however, if everything went according to plan, Vlam would end up with Ea and all would be well in the world! If not...well...there were plenty more cats in the desert.
Thinking about Vlam, the striped firekin glanced casually around him, wondering if the white male was close by. He had not been aware that his uncle had snuck off after the girls to see how the plan was proceeding and assumed that he was lying in wait, hidden amongst the rocks and shadows.
The guard stretched, cast one last look about, and then stretched out on the rocks, doing his best to look like he was just enjoying the afternoon sunshine.
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 2:45 pm
Sure enough, not long after Heti had started looking... Vlam rocketed passed. The white lion hardly stopped to even acknowledge his nephew, dashing behind the nearest rock large enough to hide him. Once he was in position, he was all but invisible. He didn't even have the nerve in him to watch as the girls approached... but no doubt, he was carefully listening.
Not that they were making any attempt to their approach. Something which, at least on An's part, was largely intentional. "I think this is soo romantic!" She was rambling. "You have to be nice though, remember! He's very fragile and he-"
Just like that, Ea came into view. She pushed passed the blonde cub with a shove of her shoulders. "Whatever. Where is he?" By now, she had reached the rocks. There was very little hiding Heti, the slope of stones, and the wide desert below. Realizing that there was no one else standing there, Ea blinked in surprise.
An rushed ahead, skidding to a stop in front of her. "This is, uh-"
"Who the hell are you?" Ea said flatly. She looked around a few more times, as though Vlam was somehow simply obstructed by something. [Which, ironically he was.] But when she didn't see him, she simply furrowed her brow and stood her ground, unsure of what to make of the situation.
"Well, this is your admirer!" An took a few steps back, as though to let her pass. She settled down beside Naar. "You should say hello, Heti! Don't be shy!"
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 2:58 pm
Naar was relieved to see that Heti was still there - though why she would have thought he would have left them was uncertain. Drawing up alongside An and nodding in silent agreement to the young female's observations, she could feel her heart pounding inside.
This was it!!
Was An as nervous as she was? A quick glance confirmed that possibility unlikely and Naar's ears sank back against her head. So lost in her own thoughts, she barely even heard the exchange or the sound of Heti getting to his paws and moving cautiously towards them.
The red, striped lion put on a nervous smile and took a few steps towards the girls, lifting his eyes to glance at Ea's face. So far she just looked miffed, which probably meant he was safe from a mauling at that particular moment. So, with a widening grin, he threw caution to the wind and opened his mouth to greet the fair, wild-eyed maiden.
"Oh! Um...hello." He gave An and Naar a glaring look as if to pretend that he was embarrassed and couldn't believe what they were doing. "Um...I don't know what they told you, but--"
"--We heard you, Heti." Naar butted in, finding her paws once more. "Talking about Ea and...and please don't be mad. We thought we could help so..." She trailed casting a look back to Ea, wondering what was going on in the female's head. It would be quite a shock - she imagined - to realise that one had an admirer, particularly one that you hadn't really paid any attention to at all.
"I'm...really sorry about this." Heti threw Ea an apologetic look. "I'd have much rather you found out from me..."
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Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:51 pm
Ea seemed bewildered by all of this. For one, she hadn't been expecting anyone except Vlam trying to apologize. The notion that An had been telling the truth hadn't even entered the equation. Now she was standing here, trying very, very hard to replay what had been told to her. She suddenly felt as though she hadn't heard a word the other two girls had said. "You... you are..."
An grinned, and tried to mend the situation. "Naar is right, it's not his fault Ea. We're the ones that sort of set him up here. But, we just couldn't let him sit around and suffer all day! We had to do something!"
Ea blinked her strange eyes, and turned to Heti. He was also in the middle of apologizing. "I'm just..." she squinted. "Very confused here. An said that..."
No, An had told her that she had an admirer. And so here he stood. She supposed An hadn't exactly told her it was a set up. "Oh," she half-coughed, as though figuring something out. "Well, that's... uh... interesting. I mean, not... well, it's sweet anyways..."
Somewhere, in the background An was rubbing her paws together. Now, onto part two!
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Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 10:52 am
Was he mistaken or did she sound sort of disappointed? Perhaps there was a spark of something between his uncle and she, after all? He dared to hope, for a moment, that this was the case, and took another small step forwards.
Naar, still next to An, was smiling a little now. She wasn't perceptive to note any sort of disappointment but Ea seemed calm enough - which was certainly a good thing! With a small smile, she leaned a little closer to the younger female and, in a lowered voice, asked: "An, what's the next part of the plan?" She wondered whether Vlam was nearby, whether he was seeing this and feeling hopeful, too. It would be nice, she thought, for this all to work out. Something for her to be proud of for a change. After all, she had done nothing noteworthy in the lands as far as she was concerned. To bring two people together...
Yes. That was a good thing.
Heti, head lowered a little. "I'm sorry..." He was apologising again. "I must not have been what you were expecting..."
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 7:45 am
"Next part of the plan is where things get risky!" An remarked, her eyes practically glimmering. Although, how risky she didn't care to elaborate. She was already moving towards the other two, her golden tail bouncing around behind her like some sort of dog creature. She had to admit, Heti was really good at selling this. For a moment even she felt sorry for him! And she'd orchestrated the whole thing!
That was acting!
"Eaaa," the little lioness said, rounding around her. "Bealittleniceyouknowitsnotlikeyouvegotabadreputationoranything."
Ea narrowed her eyes, and flicked the smaller lioness out of her path with a thrust of her paw. An rolled, and looked rather reminiscent of a tumbleweed. "I'm just surprised." She said flatly, her eyes scanning over the area. Where was Armada? This was her doing, wasn't it? She moved over towards the rock ledge, peering down below suspiciously. No one was there. Were they actually telling the truth? "Surprised you're not a big fat white lion."
An pushed her paws up against her jaw. "Why would you think that?"
"Because you're an imp," Ea muttered. "And you-"
She seemed at a loss for words to accuse Heti of. She pulsed her paws awkwardly. He did seem sincere. She hated sincerity. It was hard to rage against it without ending up looking like a b***h. Which was becoming something of a reputation for her. "You, I... don't know you really? Wait a second. You're Azar's kid, aren't you?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2011 5:26 pm
An's response had Naar tense with concern. Risky was never good. Risk meant trouble and if she got into trouble... She gulped, eyeing the fiery, wild-eyed female nervously. She'd definitely not want to be on the receiving end of that anger. Why had she agreed to this plan, again? Oh, that's right...to be helpful.
Heti, meanwhile, was not so concerned. He chuckled at Ea's declaration and thought of poor Vlam, wondering if he could hear that. He smothered the grin as Ea turned back to him - clearly done with her snippet of conversation with An.
His head dipped again with an apologetic air and, at her observation, he gave a slow and wary smile, the expression almost pained. "Ah, yes, my Father...honestly, I love him and all but I am so glad that I'm not anything like him. Well...not really. We're both guards but...that's about all we have in common." That was truth, certainly. Heti was a proud male, of course, but he'd never anger as quickly as his father did and would much rather laugh off an ego-beating than explode into rage like Azar so often did.
He threw Ea another smile. "You might not know it, Ea, but a lot of people admire you in the pride - me included. You've taken on a noble role and a hefty responsibility, too. I can't say I know many who would do that."
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Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 8:32 am
Ea pulled back, as if her next line had been unknowingly cut short by Heti's surprisingly compelling exposition. Her brow furrowed. Vlam's nephew. Too apparent. But she had a hard time deciding if he was in on the scheme, or if An and Vlam were throwing him under the bus in some crazy scheme. Her teeth ground against one another, and she gave a heaving sigh. "I..." How was she supposed to be mad at kind words like that?
And then, she remembered. "You're very sweet. Thank you." Then, with a certain level of swiftness, Ea turned around and stormed towards An and Naar. "But you two are a bunch of imps! What sort of half assed plan is this?! What, did you hold a casting call?"
An laughed nervously and held out her paws. "Now, Ea...! This is totally sincere! Why would we lie to you?" Even as she said that, she gave her most adorable kitten-face-kitten ever. Unfortunately, seeing often had given Ea something of an immunity. If her black heart could be even tempered by such a feigned gesture.
"Don't you use that face on me, you little blonde rat!" Ea snapped.
An gaped, and realizing the gig was up, started to scramble out of reach. The wild cat lept and danced around the stumbling juve, ignoring Naar for the moment as she struggled to catch her. For what it was worth, An was rather fast- and kept the pace up into a stumbling half circle until Ea finally grabbed hold of the blonde cat's tail, and hoisted her partially upright with a firm jerk.
"Ouch! Hey-" An started.
But, at around this point Vlam realized that maybe it was best to leave his love life to himself. As Ea was shaking her cousin back and forth, the big white lion stumbled out of where he had been hiding. He looked a bit nervous, and maybe just a little bit pathetic, but he crossed the space between them with a sort of awkward grace. Ea hadn't noticed him yet [most likely because at this point she was enjoying throttling the little trouble maker], but a quick scoop of his paw and An went tumbling side. Leaving Ea glowering at Vlam and Vlam doing his best to look serious.
Ea narrowed her eyes, and snorted sharply in his face. There were no words said- after all, their relationship had never been one of talking or admitting things. For a long moment she seemed like she might strike him... and then, her face softened, and she hung her head. "You all are a pain in my side," Ea lamented.
Vlam lowered his head and gently knocked it against hers. Ea pulled back and grumbled to herself, shooting a warning look at the three who remained, and trotting back to the med wards. Vlam stayed where he was for a moment- and then followed behind.
An, still wiping off the dust from her fur, seemed pleased. "and alls well that ends well."
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