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 Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:25 pm
In the movies the heroes always scaled the rooftops at night, and swept the roads with their x-ray vision for any sign of trouble. In the movies the heroes always had some kind of super cool ability or handy-dandy belts that made things like walking up the sides of skyscrapers very easy. In the movies the heroes always had some kind of yoda or sidekick who helped them make the right choices.
Vanessa could not scale rooftops because she would probably break her ankle, and she most certainly couldn't do it at night time because Mr. Rae had given her a strict 11:00 PM curfew. This both frustrated and embarrassed Vanessa, as she was eighteen and trying to jumpstart her career as a super-hero. But she knew that she couldn't tell her father that. He wouldn't understand that the bad guys only came out when the sun had gone down. Vanessa also had no super cool ability or handy-dandy belt, but she did have her crow-bar and skateboard; which contributed wildly to her sense of competency and helped her get from point a to point b at a much faster speed. Nor did Vanessa have yoda, but she did have somebody who was only a couple heads taller. John Jr was a more than capable ally. Even if he had to stay at home while she did all of the dangerous work.
As a family, they had never been able to afford much- hadn't ever really needed to. Vanessa knew how to get by with what she had.
It was the middle of the afternoon. The spring sun dazzled in the sky and Vanessa, who'd been busily patrolling since she'd scarfed down breakfast that morning, was taking her second break of the day. Her first had been for lunch, when she'd returned home to eat the macaroni and cheese John Jr had made and answered all of his excited questions to the best of her ability. The lack of stories she'd had to share had disappointed them both. It pained Vanessa that, so far, the day had failed to relinquish any real criminal activity.
She didn't like feeling so useless.
Vanessa huffed irritably, leered up at the sky through her sunglasses, and ungracefully defeated her greatest foe for the 50000 time that day- the dastardly wedgie. Absently wishing that her mother's old dance costume fit a little better, Super Van tucked her skateboard under her armpit and lolled to a stroll along the sidewalk. She had lived in Destiny City all of her life and knew her way around fairly well, but this territory was less familiar than what she was used to.
Crystal Academy stood proudly in the distance. Vanessa had been there a couple of times before for sporting events, but had never had any reason other than that to visit.
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Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 6:28 am
Fallon had been out of the hospital for three days. Her minor surgery kept her there much longer than it should have anyway, but her doctor finally felt comfortable releasing her into her mother's care. She gripped his arms, eyes pleading, and asked, "Are you sure?" He didn't get the message. Hugging Jada goodbye, Fallon was wheeled out of the hospital like a post-birth mother and loaded into the little green Honda her mother had rented.
The drive alone almost sent Fallon back to the hospital. Her mother was a terrible driver, and years and years of living in France hadn't made her skills on American roads any better. She overused her horn, either drove too slow or too fast, and had the nasty habit of breaking too hard. Not very nice to do to your daughter recovering from cracked ribs.
Mrs. Novette-Naim was staying at the nicest hotel within walking distance of Crystal Academy. Even though Fallon begged to sleep in her dorm room, her mother would hear nothing of it. She was stuck camping in a hotel room, listening to her mother's snores and longing to rearrange her marbles sitting in their tall glass jars. When she told her mother this, Mrs. Novette-Naim only frowned and said, "The marble thing?" She said she would have to call Fallon's psychiatrist, Dr. Price, about the persistence of her "marble fixation" to make sure it was healthy. Fallon didn't care. It meant her mother would be busy for the hour or so it would take Dr. Price to convince her that doctor-patient confidentiality meant he couldn't tell her anything.
Scooping her purse off the chair, Fallon slipped out of the hotel room, promising to come right back. She just needed to go get some clothes from Crystal Academy. Which meant that she really needed to go home and compulsively organize her room until all thoughts of her mother dissipated.
It was the middle of the afternoon, and the walk was brief. There was a short-cut through a couple alleys. Ever since her encounter with Wolframite, Fallon had avoided any enclosed spaces, especially alleys. She promised herself that she would overcome that fear, but she as she set foot in the mouth of the alley, a tingle of something rattled her neck.
It might not have been the product of her weird mystery Spidey sense, but Fallon wasn't taking any chances. She spun on her heel and began to run away, clutching at her ribs. It was a gawky run, like an injured gazelle attempting to flee a lion. A few people turned to stare at the crazy girl who appeared to be running from nothing, but Fallon didn't care. Her heart was beating fast, pulse racing, mind frozen with the image of Wolframite looming over her.
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Posted: Wed Apr 07, 2010 12:14 pm
In order to pursue her career as a super hero Vanessa had had to leave John Jr at home alone. He was a smart boy who was capable of looking after himself. He knew not to open the door to strangers and, unlike his sister, he always remembered to turn the burners off after he'd used them. Big Willy was also right across the street if John Jr needed the assistance of an adult, so the little boy was very safe- but this was a secret that the pair of them shared, and Vanessa lived in terror of what it would mean if her father ever discovered it. Grounding for all eternity, probably. It had occurred to her, more than once, that day that it might be wiser to just go home and babysit like she was supposed to. There were no criminals to apprehend. No distressed damsels to rescue-
An unnameable flurry sounded from the other end of the alley Super Van was passing by, and the wannabe super heroine's head snapped in the direction of the noise. It sounded almost like someone was running, but there was something off about it- the footsteps weren't in sync. Or something.
On the alert now, heart pumping adrenaline into her veins, Vanessa let her skateboard clatter to the ground and stepped onto it. Wielding her crowbar in her hands like a baseball bat, Super Van's eyes narrowed with purpose as she used one leg to propel herself forward. She pushed faster and harder, and her cape billowed out behind her as she zipped down the alley and curved gracefully around the corner.
A gasp escaped from between her lips at the site of the injured girl, who she could not recognize from this distance, and Super Van called out to her in the best impression of heroism that she could muster;
"HALT!" The wheels of her skateboard rattled across the ground, and carried Super Van ever closer to the awkward gait of the fleeing girl.
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Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 5:10 am
Something was approaching fast behind her, but it didn't sound like a youma. No one was screaming, or running away in fear. The sound of a human voice behind her stopped Fallon dead in her tracks. Her chest hurt, and her ribs were still sore, despite their healing. She pressed a hand on her side and made a noise like whimpering.
In the bright light, it was hard to see, but what rolled into view did not bode well for a girl who'd just come from the hospital. Fallon's pursuer was a girl in spandex, wearing sunglasses, and riding a skateboard. And wielding a crowbar. A ******** crowbar. And shouting.
Instinct kicked in, and just as SuperVan neared, Fallon swung her purse hard. She knew enough to see that this girl was most definitely not a youma, but that didn't mean she wasn't dangerous. "Leave me alone!" she shouted, squinting her eyes as the purse swung like a baseball bat in front of her.
The few people in the area who had stopped to watch her run were still looking. The arrival of a spandex-clad warrior spouting orders and chasing down a girl with a crowbar was certainly cause for concern. If this were any city BUT Destiny City, the cops would probably already be called. Instead, a pudgy woman gripped her cellphone, watching the scene, and waiting for the sign that she needed to call 911, that this was more than two high school girls playing around.
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Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2010 12:50 pm
Her intentions were not to cause the already injured girl further harm. As unintelligent as Vanessa was, even she could tell that Fallon was running from something out of fear and not towards something with malicious intent. Super Van had her eyes and ears open for any sign of the thing that had spooked the girl, unaware of how very threatening the crowbar and costume made her look. The weapon she wielded was meant to instil fear into the souls of her enemies, and not into the hearts of their hapless victims.
Fallon could not run very fast with her injuries, and it did not take long for Super Van to catch up to her on her skateboard. She reached out to the girl with a confident hand, meaning to grab her by the shoulder."Don't be afraid, I'll save y- WHAT THE-
Behind her sunglasses Super Van's golden eyes went as round as saucers as, for a split second before the purse made contact with her face, she screamed in surprise. And then it connected with her jaw. Teeth clanged against teeth and sliced into tongue. Her head rang with the impact of Fallon's swing, and Super Van lost her sense of balance. The amateur super heroine's feet flew out from underneath her and, scrawny arms flailing madly at her sides, she fell backwards onto her a** with a painful smack. Her grip on the crowbar went slack and it clattered to the ground nearby, while the skateboard, which had not stopped to wait for its mistress, disappeared somewhere further down the road.
Tears prickled at the back of her eyes, and Vanessa sniffed them back determinedly; suddenly angry about finding herself so vulnerable. She had always been, and would always be, shamefully in tune with her personal set of waterworks. It wasn't something she was proud of- in fact, it was her deepest, darkest, most embarrassing secret.
Vanessa hated crying but, sometimes, there wasn't anything she could do to stop it. Which made everything worse.
Her tongue stung where she'd bitten it, and she could taste blood. Vanessa spit it out. It made her feel tough.
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 8:02 am
To Fallon's fearful eyes, Super Van looked like a Negaverse agent. Okay, so sure, she had drawn the short end of the stick when it came to costumes, but the crowbar clutched in her hand screamed Nega to Fallon. Wolframite wasted a youma with the flick of a jump rope. The cautious girl was not taking chances.
The heft of her purse swinging made Fallon recoil in pain. The doctor had asked her to resist the precise kind of motion that she had just done, and now she was paying the price. Gripping her chest, Fallon squinted, her own eyes springing up with waterworks. The skateboard skittered by and something hit the ground with a thud. Fallon cracked one eye, half-expecting to see the glowering face of a monster.
Instead, she saw a girl around her age on the verge of tears. The force of her purse had set the sunglasses askew, and from behind their darkened shades, Fallon could see wide, golden eyes. The voice was familiar too. Towering over the fallen girl, she realized all at once that this was not a Negaverse agent. This was just a stupid girl, a stupid-stupid girl who was obviously playing some kind of joke at Fallon's expense.
Rage popped white-hot in her vision.
"What is your problem?" she hissed, voice wet and choked by the pain in her chest. Her deluge of words would not stop there. Super Van had pressed a button, caused physical pain, and now Fallon was going to explode in a flurry of rage, profanity, and feelings. "What are you doing carrying around a <******** crowbar, you sadistic s**t? Do you have ANY idea how stupid you are? How much you could have HURT me? Or yourself?" Fallon jabbed a painted nail at her. "THIS IS NOT A ******** GAME. PEOPLE GET HURT IN DESTINY CITY." Tears welled in her eyes, but didn't spill.
Fallon was breathing heavy, eyes narrowed, hand shaking. Not more than two weeks ago, she had been attacked and hospitalized by the very thing that Super Van appeared to be pretending to be. In Fallon's mind, Super Van was a wiseguy parading around as a Negaverse agent to scare some people and get some laughs. It never occurred to her that the girl would be doing this for any noble reason, and she did not find it ******** funny. It showed in every inch of her body, composure long forgotten in the face of fear and pain.
In her rage, Fallon did not immediately recognize Vanessa.
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Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 1:56 pm
The beginning of Fallon's lecture fell on deaf ears as Vanessa, whose head had begun to throb, reeled from her tumble. Her tailbone ached and a hiss of surprise escaped from between Vanessa's lips as a sharp pain shot up her back. She straightened slowly, clutched at her head with her hands and spit out the blood that pooled in her mouth once more.
She did not know what it meant to be sadistic, but the rest of Fallon's insults struck cords that made the tears that threatened to pour down her cheeks sting all the more. This was not the first time Vanessa had been told that she was stupid. Nor was it the first time she'd been scolded for endangering other people. She was always being misunderstood.
Frustration and fury boiled in the pit of her stomach and surged up her throat. She choked on them for a moment, and then let them escape.
"SHUT UP!" Vanessa glowered at Fallon from her position on the ground, vaguely recognizing the other girl, and her hands balled into fists at her sides. "SHUT UP. SHUT UP. SHUT UP."
Outrage made it easy to forget her pain. Vanessa hopped to her feet and shook a clenched hand in Fallon's direction. Somewhere, in the back of her head, she registered by the sound of the other girl's voice that she was in pain. This, accompanied by the tears that brimmed her eyes, were the only things keeping Vanessa from winding up and punching her.
"You don't know me," she seethed, chest rising and falling rapidly as she struggled to keep her temper under control. "I'm not playing any game- I was trying to RESCUE YOU from... from whatever was chasing you."
"I KNOW PEOPLE GET HURT HERE." That was why she carried the crowbar. To defend herself. She huffed, and leered at Fallon's purse. "Last time I checked you were the one hitting me."
Vanessa was too caught up in their passionate disagreement to rearrange the sunglasses on her face.
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Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 2:47 pm
Fallon recoiled when the fallen girl began to scream back, indignation setting in her brow. The flask had been opened, and she had more to spill out. "YOU SHUT UP!" she shouted, jutting a finger out. "Not playing a game? You're wearing spandex and chasing people down with a CROWBAR in a town where people are KILLED DAILY!" Her voice was thick with rage, words biting with a growl. She kept her emotions in check most of the time, but once the jar cracked, it had to explode.
A few people had stopped to listen, most gawking like there was about to be a slapfight. The woman who had her cellphone out rolled her eyes, put it away, and continued walking. "I hit YOU because YOU were chasing ME. Whatever I was running from is none of your concern! I just got out of the ******** hospital, you inconsiderate t**t." She calmed slightly at the sight of blood. Had she really hit her that hard?
Fallon folded her arms across her chest, glaring at the golden eyes. A prickle of something crossed her memory. Those eyes against the dark skin were unique, familiar. Why? Without asking, Fallon snatched the sunglasses off of the girl's face. Her lips sucked in a breath. "Vanessa?" she hissed, voice quiet enough so only they would hear. "You're the girl from the store. You're the girl from Big Willy's. Are you stalking me?" Fallon had a thing for faces, and this one she didn't forget, not after she had done so much to help her.
Well, she helped her before.
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Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 3:47 pm
The other girl fired back with a vengeance, and her words sliced like razor blades through Vanessa's would-be tough exterior. This was not right. This was not fair. She was supposed to be one of the good guys, and not facing the wrath of some traumatized girl who'd misconstrued her intentions. Vanessa had leapt into this career choice with an optimistic outlook and a heartfelt desire to fix things, sure that the people of Destiny City would love and embrace her efforts.
Instead she was being yelled at and insulted. And it hurt.
Her anger broiled as Fallon continued her lecture. It consumed Vanessa, who could no longer physically listen as the younger girl preached. She felt the belts that kept her temper coolly in place begin to stretch, a couple of them snapped-
'Count to ten,' her father's voice sounded like a warning bell in her head, 'just breathe and count to ten.'
Vanessa inhaled sharply, and pursed her lips as she started at one-
"I hit YOU because YOU were chasing ME."
two-
"Whatever I was running from is none of your concern!"
three, four, five-
"I just got out of the ******** hospital-
six.
There it was- the bit of news that would make it impossible for Vanessa to hit Fallon and feel better about herself. Her hands twitched, desperate to strike out, and Vanessa groaned loudly with frustration, but only balled them into tighter fists. She had not quite lost control of her temper, but the pressure had grown too strong to contain. Her fingernails cut into the palms of her hands, drawing blood, and Vanessa gasped when Fallon stole the glasses from off her face.
"HEY!" she roared indignantly, forgetting that she was supposed to be undercover, and lashed out swiftly to take them back. "Those are mine!"
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Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 4:06 pm
Fallon did not hand the sunglasses back. "Vanessa, it is you. What-how-wha..." The words could not arrange themselves. Her anger still bubbled red hot, but now it mixed with confusion and shock. Vanessa didn't seem like the type to go about terrorizing the city. She was too helpful for that. Hell, she'd dedicated part of her afternoon to helping Fallon score alcohol for Andeon, and they hardly knew each other.
Vanessa wouldn't hurt; she would help. Fallon appraised the uniform again, the cape, the shoes. "What, do you think you're some kind of ******** senshi?" She laughed, hard and angry. "Are you insane? You will be KILLED. A youma would rip you in half like a phone book. Following ME around is the WORST thing you could do!" Youma, a word that Sailor Virgo had given her, seemed to be attracted to Fallon, or maybe it was that she was attracted to them? Who could say.
All Fallon knew was that Vanessa had a death wish if she thought following her around was a good idea.
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Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 4:37 pm
Fallon did not hand the sunglasses back, and Vanessa refused to let them go without a fight. She would not punch or push Fallon, but was not opposed to a tug-of-war. She glowered, still very much angry, and moved like lightening; taking a step closer and coiling her fingers around one of the sunglasses's black arms. She pulled. Fallon had invaded her space first when she snatched the glasses away. Vanessa was only returning the favour.
"Those are mine," every breath she took was laboured, voice laced with desperate control. Oh, if only it were Steven standing in front of her now and not this injured girl. Hitting Steven always made her feel better.
Fallon laughed and Vanessa did not flinch away, but was still very pained by the things that she said. Generally, she appreciated honesty- but her ego had taken a pretty severe beating already, and Vanessa had no desire to hear anymore of what Fallon had to say.
But Fallon spoke anyways.
"I'm not crazy," Vanessa hissed, struggling to keep her voice steady, "I'm helping."
She did not know what a youma was, but Vanessa was pretty sure ripping a phonebook in half was no easy task. Something Fallon said did, however, make her pause. Vanessa couldn't put her finger on it, but- she searched Fallon's expression; taking in everything from her angry eyes to her stubborn posture. Something clicked.
"Why were you in the hospital?"
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Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:36 pm
"Helping?" Fallon snorted. "The only thing you're helping is yourself to an early grave." She gave the glasses a competitive tug, and then released them into Vanessa's control. Pissed or not, she'd already smashed the girl's face. No need to shatter her glasses too.
Her heart was slowly back down, but Fallon's hand clenched and unclenched with her racing feelings. She tried to keep her mind from flashing back to Wolframite and the youma that nearly killed her. When she closed her eyes, she could still see the face of the dead boy Wolframite had killed, the boy he insisted on showing her.
Under normal circumstances, Fallon would not have told the truth, but she was angry. Her emotions bubbled near the surface, having broken through the layer of composure she wore like a coat around her. "I was in the hospital because I was chased into an alley by a youma and then attacked by a terrorist who had killed someone moments before I showed up. He used a ******** jump rope." Fallon's eyes were wide, mouth slick with spit, fuming. "Now look me in the eye and tell me that you parading around like a psychopath will do ANYTHING but kill you." Fallon's frown was so impassioned that it looked unnatural. She was a girl who operated in microexpressions, not big displays of emotion.
This, however, would prove to be an exception.
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Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 9:04 pm
A part of Vanessa couldn't believe this was the same girl she'd helped in the store- couldn't believe she was standing in the middle of Destiny City and listening as Fallon lost it. It was clear to Vanessa that the cinnamon haired girl had been through a lot. Her heart went out to her, but Vanessa's sense of compassion was tainted by her own anger.
"I'm not a psychopath!" she hissed, obliged Fallon by looking her in the eye, and continued; "I am SICK and TIRED of being scared- I- I-
Vanessa stuttered helplessly under a fresh wave of tears and tore her golden gaze away from the younger girl's violet one. She glared up at the sky, blinking rapidly, and crushed the sunglasses Fallon had returned to her hands. The destruction and satisfying crunch of the plastic frames under her palms helped release some of the pressure that fury and pain had generated. It escaped in a rush of relief that left Vanessa feeling strangely sensitive, but also far more in control.
Her breathing finally returned to normal. Waterworks were successfully subdued.
"That's why I'm doing what I'm doing," the short-haired girl explained, voice still raw with feeling, and took a step away, "I don't want to live in a world where I'm constantly afraid of what might happen to my family, or to people I care about, or to people like you- good people."
Vanessa may not have been very smart, but she knew what she wanted.
"I'm trying to do the right thing. I don't want to have to think about what might happen if I don't. Don't you see? If I can make a difference, even just a little bit, then it counts for something because at least I ******** tried."
Doing nothing would never change anything. Vanessa was a very proactive soul, even though her priorities might have seemed a little skewered from time to time.
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Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 5:25 am
Oh, great, now she was breaking her own glasses? The motion quelled Fallon's own rage, stopping her lips to process why Vanessa would have destroyed her own items. Fallon certainly had many times in her life, but it was always out of the overwhelming anxiety and rage brought on by her compulsions that used to overpower her. She still did it from time to time: ripped clothing, snapped necklaces, dropped teacups -- but those incidents were few and far between. What she saw in Vanessa now was a common thread, a reminder of herself. She quieted.
Fallon kept her mouth shut while Vanessa spoke, lips still pursed, and remained silent a few minutes after she finished. A few people surrounding the pair must have realized that a fight was no longer in the cards. They trailed off, some laughing, some murmuring about those damn kids today. Fallon took a deep breath. "No one wants to live in a world like that," she said, flattening her palm to accentuate her point. "But we do. That world is Destiny City. Getting yourself killed isn't going to save anyone, Vanessa, and that is what will happen. You will die. You will die just like people die and fall into comas everyday. And those people weren't asking for it."
There was a clueless nobility in Vanessa's actions. Fallon could see that. If she weren't so annoyed, she might have said so to temper the girl's feelings a little. But she didn't. Annoyance still bubbled in her veins. "Trust me -- you don't want to get involved in this. Especially if you have a choice." Sometimes Fallon felt like she didn't. Whatever the weird siren in her head was that went off right before a youma attacked, it made her more a part of this nonsense than she ever wanted to be. It was like she was given the ticket to the show without the earplugs to defend herself. She could stumble onto danger, but she couldn't actually do anything once she was there.
Why would Vanessa want that?
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Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 1:28 pm
Vanessa didn't care about the people that had watched them argue, didn't care that they were leaving. She liked attention and enjoyed the spotlight because she liked people, and not because she needed them to feel validated as a person. Vanessa knew who she was and did what she wanted to do, everybody else be damned.
"Don't tell me me what I want," Vanessa had calmed a lot. Her voice wasn't as strained as before, but she was still so defiant, so defensive. "It is my choice to make."
At first glance, the point of this particular lifestyle decision seemed to be to bring a bit of adventure into her life. Vanessa was an adrenaline-junkie. She lived for thrills. She loved getting into trouble and, of course, getting out of it. It wasn't fun unless she got out of it.
That seemed to be the point Fallon was trying to make.
However, this debacle of a rescue attempt had unearthed real issues; Fallon's rage had helped Vanessa release her own, and also unleashed some of the insecurities and terrors that lay beneath the surface of her otherwise carefree exterior. Most people responded to danger the smart way- by running and hiding. Vanessa was like a bull. She never hid from anything, and would sooner run headlong into danger than avoid it. The way she saw it, it gave her an advantage. The precise nature of this advantage eluded her, if indeed there was one at all, except for the fact that it made her feel better. It was harder to feel vulnerable when she was fighting back.
"You don't know that I will die," Vanessa pointed out fairly, even though they both knew it was more than likely, "If somebody had actually been chasing you just now, I might have helped you. It would have made me feel good to help you."
She had relaxed enough to smile. It was a crooked, almost shy thing, and she offered it to Fallon with a little shrug, vaguely hoping that John Jr would lend her his sunglasses. She would promise not to break them.
"You just said it yourself. Those people weren't asking for it, and I don't want to be like that. I don't want to wait for them, whoever they are, to find me."
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