Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)
<h1 id="title">Elliquiy Role Playing Forums</h1>
		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Bondage, D/s, S&amp;M =&gt; Bondage: Human Solos =&gt; Topic started by: Anastasia Lockhart on 18-08-2008, 21:35:27</h2>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Anastasia Lockhart</strong> on <strong>18-08-2008, 21:35:27</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				The Guild University was emptier every year, it seemed. As the older Magi graduated, fewer younger ones flocked to the Isle of Man in the fall. It was with a collective heavy heart that the student body gathered in the Hall of Doves at the beginning of the year. The Provost and Head of the Necromantic Studies Department slowly, solemnly, approached the banners of the Magi tribes. The heraldry of a thousand different cultures and disciplines hung limp and faded from walls. The one that stood out today, however, was a banner of dark green silk with three white moths and a katana.<br><br>The Tribe of the Silver Moth would be sending no more students.<br><br>Ariana of the Golden Apple stood with a tense tremble in her limbs. She was lost among the other white magi, severe and blinding in their sharp, icy suits and was glad for it, because she was weeping. The second tribe to be declared dead this year and the Golden Apple was surely headed that way. She was dreading her exam later in the week. If she was found to be barren, the Tribe would be marked for removal after her graduation. It was more than she could bear.<br><br>The Golden Apple was a proud tribe, one that had held sway in Greece since the days of Alexander the Great and in Eastern Russia since the reign of Ivan the Terrible. No-one dared insult them, for they chose to fight with mischief and cunning, rather than fists. Well, no-one except the Black Cloud.<br><br>Truthfully, there was no telling why the two families were so bitterly at each other's throats. Some said, Callista of the Golden Apple had accused a Black Cloud mage of raping her. Still others blamed the Black Cloud for the suicide of Vasily of the Golden Apple. Whatever it was, the faculty had been up to their ears in fist fights and pranks between the two since before the reign of Anastasia the First.<br><br>It certainly didn't help that Ariana had been placed in the same classes as Balthazar of the Black Cloud. She'd been warned about that Tribe. Devious, they were, and sinful, capable of making a girl feel violated from across the room. She'd struggled to beat him at everything and had been disgusted when it was a draw. She had to admit, he was a damn fine mage.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Mathim</strong> on <strong>18-08-2008, 22:49:25</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				The tribe of the Black Cloud had always been infamous as the black sheep of the magi order. Always causing a stir, they did it not out of malice but out of a sense of humility. When one tribe became boastful or was gaining too much power, there were the Black Clouds, to stick a monkey wrench in their gears to keep them from getting too far ahead of themselves. Everyone should be equal, everyone should strive for the same goals, but no one ever listened to their philosophers, and that was why, they believed, so many tribes were dying off. It was not enough they had played with Joan of Arc from their Northern Europe headquarters, she came to a sticky end nonetheless. So they ceased playing with human lives and focused primarily on magi affairs, though never daring to tell the truth to any other tribes about their intentions. Better they be feared than viewed for what they really were-the true peacekeepers of the magi order.<br><br>The Golden Apple tribe, the most proud and troublesome tribe, was dwindling, but so, they lamented, were their own numbers. It was up to one strong heir to the tribe, Balthazar, to ensure that their bloodline was preserved and enough new heir were born to restore them to their former power. It was a long shot but Balthazar was talented, and powerful. They may have yet had a chance.<br><br>Balthazar was a good student, but his reputation as a member of the Black Clouds did not earn him any friendships nor any prospects of finding a mother for his children. Nothing he did, no matter how good or impressive, was enough to get girls to look past what his family's repuation had made them all believe about the men of that tribe. Rapists, murderers, the worst sort of people. He wasn't any of those things, but sometimes he was so frustrated he thought he might like to take out some of those feelings on the more hostile females. If only he'd had the opportunity...like with that stuck-up Golden Apple white mage, Ariana. She always had that hateful, icy glare and always tried hardest to best him at exams. She didn't even know him, beyond merely sitting across from him in classes. She could stand to be brought down a peg or two. Or even more than that.<br><br>His jet-black hair hung past his shoulders like tentacles, slicked back by magic forces with no need for any mortal hair products. That helped in his attempt to not hide any of his features, his smooth complexion from his forehead down to his neck were free of blemishes and his grey-green eyes were gentle, not menacing nor piercing. Truly, if feelings were not so bitter he would never be pegged as a Black Cloud if any of them saw him outside of the colors of the tribe he was wearing.<br><br>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Anastasia Lockhart</strong> on <strong>18-08-2008, 23:23:50</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				The banner fell from its hanger like a shroud. The remaining Silver Moths sobbed. Rashida, a white mage of that tribe, fainted against Ariana, who eased her friend to the ground and knelt beside her, praying quietly for help. Her dark red hair was escaping its severe knot, hanging in soft curls around her dusky face. Tears continued to stream down her face, until the students were dismissed. She helped Rashida up and another classmate took her to the infirmary. Ariana dried her eyes, regaining her composure. The grieving, frightened girl was gone, leaving the Ice Queen in her place.<br><br>Her white heels snapped more than clicked against the marble floors as she strode back to the archives. She wasn't going to let herself or her partner, whoever that was this year, slack off. The Archives had flooded two years ago in a rainstorm and Ariana had been assigned to the task of straightening things out and doing an inventory of what was worth saving. It was dull work, often dusty and headache-inducing but it was necessary.<br><br>She stalked in like an angry cat and stopped short. Her partner wasn't here. Suddenly, the day's work would be that much harder. Furious, Ariana grabbed the first book she laid hands on and prepared to heave it at the most satisfying target she could find. She stopped herself, mid-arm-cock.<br><br>She held a small leather book, black and tooled with old heraldic roses. It was the size of her own journal and thick, with a faint scent of incense and flowers still curling up from the fraying red silk ribbon that marked the pages. It had been a lady mage's, that was clear, but what on Earth was it doing in the stack of "Dangerous and Subversive Documents?" She opened it to the bookmark and began blushing right away.<br><br>One page was illustrated with a naked man, back arched in pleasure with a very large erection. On the next page, there was the legend "To Arows in a manne feelings of dyseyre" and a spell glyph, as well as a potion. She flipped to the front.<br><br>"The moste pryvate Grammayre of Lady Anne Hostewicke, being her book of Glamers and Filtres to Arows, Tempte, and Ensnare Lovers, Both Jack and Jill"<br><br>Ariana turned back to the marked page. Sex magic was heavily restricted. As it was, tantric magi were watched closely and hardly ever allowed to practice. Yet, here was this diary, still in decent condition and showing no signs of having been read in centuries, speaking the most dangerous of disciplines. Books on the subject were usually destroyed. How had this one survived?<br><br>The door opened behind her. Ariana shoved the book into her handbag and turned around to see who needed a tongue lashing.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Mathim</strong> on <strong>18-08-2008, 23:34:11</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Because of certain student drop-outs (due to illness or merely because the pressure was too high and caused them to be failures) partnering up was a difficult process, but they tried their hardest to match those with equal talents, or close to equal. As such, being the top student in his bracket, Balthazar was paired up with the top female in that bracket-Ariana. It wasn't his ideal choice but he figured if she got to know him, well, maybe she'd stop staring daggers at him without ever having spoken a word to him. The news came to him first because he was in a place where it was easy to find him and make the announcement. He would have to find Ariana and deliver the grim news himself.<br><br>Where could that busybody be? For someone who was so open-hearted and kind to her friends, she did know how to disappear into seclusion. Usually that was his talent. As it was, he had a nose for places that were private. It wasn't long before he found the only place she could be without anyone else knowing. "Are you in here?" he asked, and would have been very surprised if no one answered. "Ariana? I know you're not going to want to hear this but the assignments have been handed out. We've been made study partners for this year." he told her, not expecting a positive reaction.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Anastasia Lockhart</strong> on <strong>18-08-2008, 23:46:29</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				"Very well, then," Ariana answered coolly, "You know the rules when dealing with archival works? Restricted books must be first examined by a Master, questionable texts are to be reported, all sales are final?" She smirked briefly at her little joke. "I know you're clever," she said, turning dour again, "but this is going to be a tight year. We'll be lucky to have the Solstices off at this rate. When we aren't studying, well..." She gestured to the stacks of molding and rotten books. <br><br>She sat down primly on one side of the table, taking a book from a stack. "Where shall we start? Correspondences or Eastern Spellforms?" The two most harrowing subjects for Graduating Seniors and the two that broke many a promising student. It was a challenge. If he was going to best her at something, she would rather it be a subject nobody was expected to ace.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Mathim</strong> on <strong>18-08-2008, 23:54:07</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				He rolled his eyes. So she fancied herself to be funny, eh? "Look, I don't like it any more than you do. In fact, I just came down here to tell you that. I would really prefer to work alone, if you don't mind, that's how I do my best work. Or might you want to try and find out my secrets so you can one-up me and do better than more for a change?" he threw a little taunt back at her. He'd never really associated with her before and he was starting to see why-her eyes weren't the only venomous things about her, she was a ghastly speaker as well, no restraint in her speech, her personality was not as nice as everyone else seemed to believe. But then, his wasn't what most people believed either.<br><br>He thought he saw her trying to conceal something, but thought nothing of it. "I'll just leave you to get back to your work here, you look like you've got a handle on things quite well." he smirked. "I'm going to study. If you feel like being less of a little prude, maybe I'll let you look over my shoulder." he turned his back on her and left.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Anastasia Lockhart</strong> on <strong>19-08-2008, 00:16:32</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				"A prude, am I?" she growled, "We'll see about that!" She chased after him, trying to look apologetic. "Balthazar, wait! I'm sorry! I don't what's come over me lately! My last three partners quit with ulcers from having to deal with all the damn red tape and that moose, Cameron of the Red Wolf, has been on my ass since the flood about getting that heap straight. Look, I really am sorry!" She stopped, realizing that everything she'd just said was true and kicking herself mentally for her openness. "I'm at my wit's end and I could use the help. Truce?"<br><br>She'd hear about it from Mother certainly, but she was desperate now. Besides, if he got out of line, she had a new weapon in her arsenal. "I'm having a devil of a time with the correspondences for Jupiter. Tellurics are a pain."
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Mathim</strong> on <strong>19-08-2008, 18:30:24</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				He didn't quite believe anything she said. What was she playing at? Well, no harm in showing her who the better person was, the one willing to be a good Samaritan about things. "All right. You don't have to explain things, helping others is the right thing to do." he shrugged. <em>Let's see her try to make me into a jerk now</em>, he thought.<br><br>"You know," he said as he helped her do her job, "we're both lucky to have each other as partners. I mean, we both have the highest marks for our bracket. Both partners need to pass in order to graduate so we have no worries at all about that kind of thing, do we? Maybe we should cooperate instead of competing with each other, what say?" he rubbed it in further, knowing she desperately wanted to make her family proud by showing him up, or perhaps even by sabotaging him.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Anastasia Lockhart</strong> on <strong>19-08-2008, 19:47:29</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				"Of course," she said, relieved. She could work with him for the moment, but the second he started to get uppity, she'd make him suffer. Still...<br><br>Perhaps, she should make sure he stayed tractable. She needed the grades, especially if the exam came back "sterile". Ariana smiled at him, the first honest one she'd ever had and far warmer than anyone had seen outside of her own social circle. She gathered her books and did her best to work nicely with him. She even shared her own, sharply-penned notes on banishment, something most White Mages were loath to do. <br><br>But, sooner or later, her temper would flair. Her pride would be bruised and she would see to it he was a laughing stock.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Mathim</strong> on <strong>19-08-2008, 21:27:04</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				She was being oddly nice to him, in a way that made him believe she was just trying to lull him into a false sense of security; she was going to do something to him, he just knew it. But when, and why? It couldn't be a retaliation for something, he hadn't done anything to her. Her attacking him would make her the bad guy, wouldn't it? Then where would all that self-righteousness bullshit go?<br><br>"Thanks for being so cool." he patted her back after she shared her notes with him, as he got up to leave to his dorm room. What she didn't know was that he'd planted an invisible 'bug' as it were, something to let him listen to whatever she said or heard from people around her, so he could tell if something was coming. He wanted to know ahead of time what to beware of.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Anastasia Lockhart</strong> on <strong>19-08-2008, 22:35:40</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				"Cool" wasn't a trait one would ever associate with a Golden Apple and she was sure she'd get him for that condescending little pat the next evening. In preparation, she mixed the potion up and painted the glyph with it on the inside of a water glass, just different enough from the others to be identified. Then, she got a message to him to meet her in her dorm to study, saying that she had a slight migraine, though she still wanted to study.<br><br>She spent the rest of the day in her room and waited for evening. She thought she did a damn good job of looking unwell, wearing her old rumpled pajamas and mussing her hair. The book, she hid in her underwear drawer, never thinking how obvious that would be. 
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Mathim</strong> on <strong>20-08-2008, 00:53:24</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Typically a boy wouldn't be allowed in a girl's dormitory but since he had her permission and no one was complaining, it wasn't forbidden. He wondered why she would allow him into her sanctum like that, though, that was where she'd be most vulnerable. And if she really had taken ill, she'd be even more vulnerable. No, nothing about this was right. She was a white mage, for crying out loud, they were the ones who cured such diseases and injuries. She was up to something. He was wary of it, wanting to politely refuse her invitation, but no, that would be weak and cowardly. He had to rise to the challenge, whether he wanted to or not.<br><br>"How shall we do this?" he asked her as he sat down to study with her. "Shall I ask you to perform enchantments at random, and you do them to see if you can perform them properly?" he suggested. She didn't look sick, at least, not physically, no redness or paleness in her face but it looked like she'd been in bed all day from her attire. Was it, perhaps, psychological? Something he had said to upset her? He didn't know but he didn't want to feel guilty. "What's wrong? I know you're not sick." he called her bluff.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Anastasia Lockhart</strong> on <strong>20-08-2008, 01:47:33</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				"What else? I'm terrified the Master Healer's going to give me the black stripe!" she said, which was half-true, "My head's been pounding and I can't do anything with stress-related symptoms." She slumped into a chair and rubbed her temples. "My family's been hounding me about it since Spring. I just need to get my mind off it. We can warm up with enchantments." She shrugged out of her robe and poured them both a glass of water, being careful to hand him the one she'd doctored. "You start. You're better at them."
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Mathim</strong> on <strong>30-08-2008, 00:04:34</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				She was babbling, and not a very good actress. She was doing too well in classes for him to believe the pressure was getting to her, particularly when he knew she was using her jealousy of him as a motivator to do her best. Nevertheless, females had always been considered more trustworthy than males so if he complained, they'd take her side over his and it wouldn't end well for him at all. "Whatever. It's not like I need the practice anyway. Here, power this one up." he said, weaving his arms into the arc of a basic enchantment, which was necessary for combining it with the power of another sorcerer. Spells like that may have been weak at their elementary level, but when boosted by merging with another, or even multiple others, their power rose exponentially. More out of boredom than anything, he took a greedy gulp of the water she'd given him. He thought it tasted funny, but shrugged it off. Maybe it was just because it wasn't cold like he was expecting.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Anastasia Lockhart</strong> on <strong>30-08-2008, 02:49:26</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Ariana didn't want to alert him to her intentions right away, so she sent back a very simple cantrip, that bound with his and lifted a pen off the table, before weaving a different form of the same one he'd just used. It wasn't harder, but it lent itself to finer, more subtle manipulations. She wasn't much good with enchantments, but Golden Apples leaned towards more obvious uses of power. She did her best not to watch him too closely, but she wondered if she'd done the spell right.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Mathim</strong> on <strong>30-08-2008, 20:08:43</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				She may have been second-best compared to him but she was screwing up a fairly easy spell. "You really must be sick. Come on, get it together, and do it right this time." he pushed his index fingers together and dispersed the enchantment she had failed to conjure appropriately. There was no telling what kind of damage a spell like that could cause if combined with a stable spell. If that kind of power built up, the powerful stable spell would be imbalanced by the unstable spell and probably blow up in the faces of the casters.<br><br>He was getting a little hot, so he removed his black robe, leaving a mere black silk shirt beneath it, and a black lower-body covering, longer than a kilt but not long enough to be a full-body robe. He was well-defined beneath it, even though the focus of the school was not to strengthen the body, but the body's energy.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Anastasia Lockhart</strong> on <strong>01-09-2008, 04:24:12</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				Ariana grimaced and tried again, doing her best to focus on anything but the fact that her partner was pretty easy on the eyes. The enchantment took hold properly, causing a delicate sparkling web of gold to hang like a fairy tapestry from the lights overhead. The twinkling stabilized into a warm glow. It was a handy cantrip, though it was more used for aesthetics these days. She fanned it out, making the ends rigid and leaving just enough for him to add on if he chose, while keeping the stability if he changed tactics.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Mathim</strong> on <strong>03-09-2008, 01:02:13</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				"I hope you weren't just messing up on purpose before." he smirked once she performed a proper enchantment. As the web of gold fluttered among the lights overhead, he got an idea, and conjured another one, combining with hers, and magnifying the effect, causing it to radiate all over the walls, a beautiful Aurora Borealis encircling the room and ceiling. "I think that's enough warming up. Now, what else do you need to work on?" he inquired, knowing that he didn't need much practice, if any, since he'd spent all of his free time outside of the school practicing, without being urged by his family. He was simply doing what he was obligated, to be the best he could be in order to ensure that the current and future generations had a strong role model and a good potential leader.<br><br>He did notice an odd thing, though, the amount of time her eyes stayed on him, rather than on her books or on her own enchantment, it was curious how much attention she was giving him. He was beginning to recall what his father always said, about women being frail not because their bodies were weaker than that of men, but because their emotions were more fragile.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Little Black Book (Anastasia and mathim)</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Anastasia Lockhart</strong> on <strong>09-09-2008, 00:24:33</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				"I wouldn't dream of it," she sniffed, "I'm just not very good at enchantments." She turned to get a notebook, grimacing in frustration. Why wasn't it working yet?<br><br>"I missed a few notes on correspondences," she said, opening it and fetching a pen, "I'm afraid Tellurics always tangle me up. Do you remember whether it's lead or tin for Jupiter?" 
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