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Puella Magi Adfligo Systema

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Point Insertion pt. 14
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    • You grin at Madoka over Mami's shoulder. "Have fun!" you say. "Hope I haven't held you up for too long. Homura..."

    You pause thoughtfully as Mami shifts to face Madoka without actually leaving the circle of your arms.

    "I'll go to the Gardening club as well," Homura murmurs. "If that's alright?"

    "Gardening and Crafts club," Madoka corrects, and beams at Homura. "I- we'd be happy to have you!"

    "I was going to ask if you'd actually joined a club, Homura," you say, and grin at her. "I guess that answers that."

    Homura shrugs.

    "I can't imagine you doing crafts," Sayaka observes. "Gardening, I guess, kind of sort of not really, but crafts?"

    You take the moment to send a message to Kyouko, reaching out with your mind across the distance. "Kyouko? Quick question - I might not be able to make it for the training today, though Sayaka's going. How's your Seed status? Do you need a refresh?"

    "When're you coming over next?" Kyouko snaps. "I can hang on to the Grief Seeds, but not too long. And we need to talk anyway."

    Mami makes a little noise, tilting her head to look at you curiously. You smile at her, and she relaxes, cuddling into your hug.

    "Sayaka!" Madoka says. "Homura did great in arts and craft lesson!"

    "Mnnnyeh," Sayaka says, sticking her tongue out at Madoka.

    "I'll be along next session, most likely," you say. "And, uh, Sayaka has a Clear Seed - I'll let her know to use that for cleansing for everyone?"

    "Yeah, yeah," Kyouko grumbles. "Fine. Later."

    "I am perfectly capable of... crafts," Homura says, staring at Sayaka.

    "Yeah, right," Sayaka snorts, and folds her arms. "Show us what you make. Unless today's gardening, in which case... nyeh."

    You roll your eyes. "Girls, girls, you're all pretty," you say. "Anyway, we'll see you... tomorrow, or maybe later? Hopefully not later, because that would mean something came up. Uhhh. Sayaka, I need to pass you the birdseed and stuff. This way?"

    Mami makes a disappointed little noise when you release her from the hug. You smile at her, warm and fond. "Just a few minutes, OK?"

    "Alright," Mami says.

    You give her another reassuring smile before stepping away. Madoka seems perfectly content to wait, eyes flickering from you, to Homura, to Mami as you head around the corner with Sayaka in tow, into a quiet alley.

    "Right, so..." you say, and promptly disgorge several bags of birdseed from your hammerspace. "Uh. Right. How do you want this?"

    Sayaka stares at the packages. There's... a number of them, each suspended on Grief handles and each weighing a kilogram. And there's the one that's carefully opened, since you had to grab some seed earlier.

    ... You may have bought a bit too much.

    She sighs, and transforms, splitting off a clone. "I'll take it," she says. "I can't even blame you for overkill, I'm gonna need a lot of the stuff. I dunno how I'm gonna store all this, though..."

    "You could leave it on the roof," you say. You let Sayaka take the bags as you reach into hammerspace with your mind and start retrieving stacks of yen notes. "Or figure out hammerspace."

    "Sure, but that takes time," Sayaka muses. "The roof might work."

    "Yep, just make sure to cover it up so the birds don't steal all of it before payday. Here, gimme a bag?" you say. You grab one of the plastic bags, rearranging the packages of birdseed to free it up and stuff the money inside before folding it up neatly. "Here, there's Kyouko's fee."

    "Right," Sayaka says. The original Sayaka takes the neatly wrapped notes and tucks it under her shoulder before grinning at you. "Thanks, Sabrina."

    "Anytime," you say. "Also... uh. Just a tip? I'm... pretty sure you can swap places with the clones to teleport. I know Miss Koizumi was doing that, when we fought in Ishinomaki."

    "Uh?" Sayaka says, and frowns as she detransforms. "Huh. You're right."

    "Could be useful?" you say.

    Sayaka scrubs her fingers through her hair. "Yeah, it could be," she says. "You... you can tell us apart, right?"

    "Well, yeah, you're not in costume, and she is," you say, hooking your thumb at clone-yaka. "But in general, yeah, I can sense it."

    "So I'll assume most magical girls probably can," Sayaka says, nodding. "Could be useful, but not something that I can immediately trick someone with."

    "Mmm," you agree. "Anyway. I should get back now, and you should get going. Do me a favour and help me check on Kyouko's Seed status? Also, ask if you can copy Yuma's power."

    "Gotcha, mom," Sayaka says, rolling her eyes.

    "That's sempai to you, my cute little kouhai," you say. "... well damn. Now I regret that I'm not going."

    Sayaka shakes her head, already headed out of the alleyway. Her clone stares at you, eyebrow raised.

    ... you feel like you're being judged. You're totally being judged.

    Hmph.

    You hurry out of the alleyway, and sweep Mami up into a hug. You grin at everyone, especially Madoka and Homura and Sayaka, and exchange farewells. Madoka heads back into the school with Homura trailing behind her, and Sayaka heads off down the street, waving a goodbye.

    You beam at Mami. "Where would you like to go?"

    "Ah... do you have any plans, Sabrina?" Mami asks.

    "For once, no, not really," you say. "I'm all yours, Mami."

    She blushes, bright red and utterly adorable.

    "Um, well..." she says, reaching out to take your hand in hers. "Then... let's go home?"

    "Alright," you say, and beam at her, squeezing her hand gently. You're... really curious about the surprise. You think you can feel it, that trace of her magic in her bag, but you want to let Mami reveal it in her own time, too.

    "Did you know you're famous world-wide?" you ask instead of the question burning at the tip of your tongue.

    "I am?" Mami blinks at you. She swings her hands lightly as you start down the street.

    "Yup!" you say happily. "I checked out one of the IRCs Nadia passed to me earlier. They were nice, and they didn't believe me at first when I told them I was from Mitakihara, with you. Speaking of which, I should thank Nadia, she backed me up on that."

    "Oh!" Mami says. "I... I'm surprised, actually. I didn't know I had that much fame."

    "Mami, you're awesome," you say. "You've held a city all by yourself, for years. You've been fighting, and you've managed to be an absolute paragon all this time. Unwavering and beautiful and brave and strong. Why shouldn't you be famous?"

    Mami blushes, ducking her head. "I didn't... think I would be," Mami says. "Not outside of Japan."

    "You, Mami, are one in a billion," you say with a grin. "One in seven billion."

    "Thank you, Sabrina," Mami says with a warm smile.

    You hold her eyes for a long moment, and nod, cuddling Mami close, and the both of you just breathe as you head home.

    ... you still really want to know what the surprise is. That's the downside of surprises, you suppose.

    "So," you say. "What do you think we should do about the Iowa group, Mami?"

    "Mm? Ah," Mami says, straightening a little. "Do we know they're coming here?"

    "I think it's all but guaranteed," you admit with a sigh. "They... well, they specifically have high mobility, right? They're known for wandering from place to place. And I'm a pretty big target, I think."

    "This city is ours," Mami says firmly. "We'll defend it."

    "Definitely," you agree. "Problem is, well..."

    "We don't know anything about them," Mami says. "We should ask Miss Bennouna. Maybe ask if she knows anybody in cities raided by them?"

    "Yeah," you say, frowning thoughtfully. "Should we be trying to prepare defenses against them?"

    "Maybe if we knew where they were," Mami muses. "But Miss Bennouna wouldn't know."

    "Or rather, she wouldn't have up-to-date information," you agree, scuffing your shoes against the ground as you walk. "Dangit."

    "We should definitely ask," Mami says. "Ah... where was the IRC you mentioned? Or, um, where were the people?"

    "Oh!" you say. "... oh. Oooh. Good idea, Mami."

    Mami beams at you.

    "America, to answer the question," you agree. "That's definitely a good idea, Mami."

    You chat quietly with Mami as you walk home, swinging your joined hands back and forth. It's comfortable and pleasant, though you do spare a few moments and a sliver of attention to follow up on something.

    "Hey, Nadia?" you pulse telepathically. "Thanks for authenticating me back there."

    "Ahh, Sabrina, yes," Nadia responds. "It was no problem. So you are going through the list?"

    "Yeah," you say, squeezing Mami's hand as you reach the apartment. She smiles up at you. "Did just the one earlier, but I'm probably going to check out the rest, too. By the way, can you confirm something for me? How does Miss Mag Aoidh look?"

    "She is blonde," Nadia says. "Dirty blonde, is that correct? Dark blonde, with lighter streaks. She has green eyes."

    "Yep, that's correct," you say. "Again, thanks, Nadia! Safe travels."

    "It was no problem," Nadia says. "Goodbye!"

    Mami glances at the mailboxes as you step into the apartment lobby, and makes a little noise, walking over.

    "Hmm?" you ask, following her.

    "There's mail," she says, unlocking the little compartment and retrieving what looks like a government letter. "Oh! This is yours, Sabrina."

    "Huh," you say, taking it from Mami and flipping it over. Sure enough, it's addressed to you, and you can feel something like a card inside. "Oh, I was wondering when this would be done. That's... actually really, really fast. Didn't she say a week?"

    "Miss Inoue must have expedited the process," Mami says, watching as you carefully peel the letter open. "They don't normally send these by mail, either."

    "Yeah, makes sense," you agree thoughtfully as you pull out the little plastic card. Yep, that's definitely your face on it. Mami peeks over your shoulder, and you obligingly tilt the card so that can see it too.

    "Ah... there's just the identification card," Mami says, nodding. "Maybe Miss Inoue was referring to the passport when she said it would take a week?"

    "Huh, maybe," you say, slipping the card away into your pocket. You beam at Mami. "Shall we?"

    Mami beams, and takes your arm as you head to the elevator. And since you're at it, you'll take a moment to thank Yuuki, too.

    "Miss Inoue?" you say. You rock back and forth on the balls of your feet as you watch the floor number fall.

    "Ah, yes, Miss Sabrina?" Yuuki responds. Self-satisfied, concentrated smug drips from her tone. "I trust the new passport and identification card are to your liking? There's not another magical girl in Japan who could have managed that so quickly, you know."

    "... er," you say. "Not to, uh, disappoint you, but only the card has arrived. Just arrived today, in fact."

    "What?!" Yuuki's volume rises sharply, and you wince. Mami catches your eye, and you grin at her, explaining what's happening in a low murmur. "Damn it! Blasted postal service."

    "Still, it's very much appreciated," you say, beaming as Mami giggles at your imitation of Yuuki's outrage. "Thank you, Miss Inoue."

    She makes an extremely irritated noise. "The passport should be along tomorrow or the day after," she grumbles. "I figured out how to fast-track the process without anyone noticing anything amiss, and I manage to get the credentials right so that no one would question sending it out by mail and I even manage to tweak package handling so it went through faster... anyway, you are very welcome, Miss Sabrina."

    "You're doing alright with Grief Seeds and hunting?" you ask. The elevator dings open, and you step in, Mami at your side.

    "We are," Yuuki affirms.

    You exchange a few more pleasantries before ending the call - perfect timing, as you reach the apartment. Mami unlocks it, toeing her shoes off and stepping inside. You follow suit, making a beeline for the sofa and flopping down. Mami moves towards the door as if to shut it, but you loop your arms around her waist and pull her down with you, a bit of Grief nudging the door shut and locking it. You even put the shoes away neatly on the rack.

    Mami giggles, reclining happily against your side.

    "We have Miss Watanabe and Miss Saito coming for dinner tonight," Mami says thoughtfully. "What should we make?"

    "Hmm," you say thoughtfully. "Something Italian, or something traditional Japanese?"

    "Maybe something Japanese," Mami says thoughtfully. "Hmm... I would suggest kaiseki, but we don't really have the materials to make it properly."

    "Yeah," you say, and make a face. Cooking a multicourse meal wouldn't be too much of a problem, but the fancy part of kaiseki is the presentation. "Making it look nice..."

    "We could just focus on the cooking, and do what we can," Mami says. "We don't have flowers or decorations, but I could use my ribbons, and you could shape things with your Grief, and we could make the food look good."

    "Ooh. That's a possibility," you agree.

    Mami beams, and you spend a few minutes discussing what you could cook with the ingredients you have on hand. You really hope you don't intimidate the Shiogama girls too much - you still get the impression they're expecting the other shoe to drop soon, some demands over dinner, or harsh conditions laid down, or something.

    Still, you'll take the opportunity to get to know them, and hopefully help them relax a bit.

    "Sabrina?" Mami murmurs as the conversation trails off.

    "Yes, Mami?" you ask, smiling at her.

    "I... have a gift for you," she says. "It's not really a surprise any more, but... close your eyes?"

    "OK," you say, closing your eyes obligingly. You feel Mami get up, and you pull your Grief back and just... stop sensing for a bit. It's not much of a surprise, given that you know it's coming, but still.

    You feel Mami's arms go around your neck gently, and something settles on your chest.

    "You can open your eyes now," Mami whispers.

    You open your eyes to find yourself wearing a necklace. It glitters, a brilliant, polished pendant of clear, yellow-tinted crystal twisting through a fine matrix of silvery metal. The knuckle-sized pendant dangles from what looks like a chain at first glance - but you can feel the fire of Mami's magic in it, ribbon coiled so tightly it looks like a chain.

    "It's beautiful," you whisper, and turn your smile on Mami.

    Mami fidgets, blushing a little.

    "I- do you remember the first time you tested Prima Luce?" she asks. "You melted the engine block and the sand?"

    "Yeah," you say, and beam at her, taking her hand. "It's beautiful, Mami. Thank you."

    "Oh!" Mami says. "Um, you don't have to worry about the necklace breaking, I used fishing line as the core, so if antimagic hits it it'll still be alright."

    "Mami," you say gently. "I love it. I'll treasure it, Mami, but not as much as I treasure having you."

    "I- oh," Mami says, the blush deepening.

    You laugh, and pull her into a tight, tight hug, planting a kiss on her cheek.

    "I- I actually wasn't finished with it," Mami says. "But, um, I'm glad you like it, Sabrina."

    "It's beautiful," you say. "It really is."

    "I spent a bit of time during chemistry lesson colouring it, and then polishing," Mami says. "It wasn't..." She trails off, and smiles helplessly at you. "I wanted to enchant it before giving it to you."

    "You don't have to justify it to me," you say. "I really do love it."

    "Thank you, Sabrina," Mami says.

    "No, thank you," you say. You lapse into a comfortable silence, simply enjoying each other's company for a while. Eventually, though, Mami stirs.

    "I should change out of my school uniform," Mami says, sitting up.

    "And I've been wearing this outside the whole day," you say, looking down at yourself. "Go ahead, Mami, I'll wait here."

    Mami gives you a smile, and hurries off to the bedroom.

    In the meantime, you have one more thing to settle. Nakano Mika. You really hope you haven't been saddled with a sudden, massive debt.

    "Miss Nakano?" you say.

    "Hiya! Miss Sabrina, right?" Mika chirps in response a moment later. "What's happenin'?"

    "I was going to ask you that, actually," you say. "I hear you came through for Kyouko?"

    "Oh psht," Mika says. "Threw a little tantrum, then pointed out that they could do better things than build another bunch of flats there. 'sides, they hadn't even closed the deal properly yet. Easy enough to wiggle out of."

    "Do I owe you anything?" you ask carefully. The important question. "I mean, I'd be happy to pay if necessary, but-"

    Mika's laughter cuts you off, ringing through telepathy clear and loud.

    "Nah, nah, you gave me that Clear Seed," Mika says. "I owe you, if anything. Works like a charm, by the way."

    "... ah, fair enough," you say. You're not going to question a gift like that. "Well... thank you, Miss Nakano. Thank you so much. Seriously, you went well above and beyond anything I'd have expected."

    "Yup!" Mika says cheerfully. "Got anything else for me?"

    [] Mika
    - [] Do you have anything else to say to her? Any requests etc.?
    [] Before dinner...
    - [] Science
    -- [] Feathers psychometry - elaborate?
    -- [] Vote in abeyance
    - [] Something else?
    [] Dinner
    - [] How do you conduct yourself with the Shiogama girls?
    [] Write-in (word count limit: 150 words)
    -[X] Science:
    --[X] Can ribbons connect our hyperspaces, remove items from our hammerspace? Test phasing/faux-teleport/ fast (global) travel.
    --[X] Discuss a (speckled) enchantment loadout. What are the most useful effects?
    ---[X] Practice enchantment generally. Prioritize artificial grief seeds.
    --[X] Help Mami test her own ideas.

    =====​

    The pendant is technically a man-made pallasite of sorts, or at least that's what I'm basing it on. Look 'em up, they're pretty!
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Firnagzen said:
    "Mami, you're awesome," you say. "You've held a city all by yourself, for years. You've been fighting, and you've managed to be an absolute paragon all this time. Unwavering and beautiful and brave and strong. Why shouldn't you be famous?"

    Mami blushes, ducking her head. "I didn't... think I would be," Mami says. "Not outside of Japan."

    "You, Mami, are one in a billion," you say with a grin. "One in seven billion."
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    As sweet it is, its disgustingly overdone, it might be bad doing this on the long run.

    We could ask Mika if she have any interaction with oversea magical girls or any other magical girl group in Japan we should know about since those we know are still local to speak of it.
     
    *squees*

    Didn't Sabrina have a pendant in Adfligo Vermis?


    Anyway, I've noticed that whenever we contact Mika, she mentions the Clear Seed. Is that something we should be worried about?
     
    Ah, man, this is a bit bittersweet for me, personally. See, I knew about this beforehand:
    Firnagzen said:
    You open your eyes to find yourself wearing a necklace. It glitters, a brilliant, polished pendant of clear, yellow-tinted twisting through a fine matrix of gleaming, silvery metal. The knuckle-sized pendant dangles from what looks like a chain at first glance - but you can feel the fire of Mami's magic in it, ribbon coiled so tightly it looks like a chain.

    "It's beautiful," you whisper, and turn your smile on Mami.
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    Firnagzen said:
    "Mami," you say gently. "I love it. I'll treasure it, Mami, but not as much as I treasure having you."
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    Firnagzen said:
    "I spent a bit of time during chemistry lesson colouring it, and then polishing," Mami says. "It wasn't..." She trails off, and smiles helplessly at you. "I wanted to enchant it before giving it to you."

    "You don't have to justify it to me," you say. "I really do love it."

    "Thank you, Sabrina," Mami says.

    "No, thank you," you say.
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    In case anyone was wondering where this little thread of my (now sadly dead) fic came from:
    Godwinson said:
    No, I don't drink, and I'm not in the habit of waking up next to random girls. Just the one girl. I fumble for the necklace tucked into my shirt, and relax when I find the reassuring weight of the oval pendant. I'm relieved it's here with me, and that she isn't. At least I hope and pray to Madokami that she isn't here, because I know what that mask means. I know where I am, and I wouldn't want Tomoe Mami anywhere near here.
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    Godwinson said:
    Worry for my friends, for Mami, gnaws at my insides. I touch the pendant of my necklace again, feeling the warmth of it. I don't have the time to allow myself to fret about what might be going on. I'll just have to hope that whoever sent me away won't let anything bad happen while I'm fixing everything I can over here. Considering who is most likely behind it, hope seems rather fitting.

    Praise Madokami and pass the ammunition, there's good work to be done. Mind you, the ammunition in question would be kind words, comforting hugs, and reassuring smiles.
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    Godwinson said:
    "Yes," I intone in my hammiest voice, "Beware my dastardly evil plan, for I shall use the power of friendship to achieve my sinister aim -- to have someone in this crapsack world I can consider a friend."

    My mind goes to the warm pendant hanging from my neck, to the home and friends I've been snatched away from so I can be here, dealing with this.
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    Godwinson said:
    I find myself thinking of my friends, and how it was never even a question of needing to find a place to stay, back home. The feel of a warm bed, the faint scent of flowers filling my nose, the soft sound of breathing, as light slowly creeps into the room. My hand finds its way to the warm piece of metal and glass hanging from my neck.

    I miss her. I'm glad she's not here.

    I look up to see that Taylor's still staring at me. I quickly tuck the pendant away, feeling more than a little self-conscious.

    "What? Is there something suspicious about asking for directions, now?" I ask defensively.

    "I was just wondering about your necklace, that's all," Taylor answers, equally defensive, "You checked for it before you even stood up, before. It must be important."

    My indignation deflates, my shoulders slumping as it does.

    "Oh. It is," I say with a small, sad smile, "I don't know how I got here, and I don't have the slightest idea about how to get back home, so this is really all I have."
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    Godwinson said:
    Climbing into the sofa bed, the full weight of my fatigue hits me. I must have been yanked between worlds right as I was falling asleep back home. That, followed by the fight, dealing with a new world worth of trouble, and having to heal myself, all while trying to walk the tightrope that is talking to Taylor?

    As I pull the sheets up, the coldness of the bed stands out to me. Sleeping alone again after so long sharing a bed...

    The pendant is warm in my hand as I doze off.

    My dreams are gold and the scent of flowers.
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    Godwinson said:
    It's cold when I wake up.

    Not the sort of cold you get from being out in the rain or snow, or even just from the temperature being too low. The sheets are thinner than what I'm used to, but even that isn't the cause.

    I roll over further into the sofa bed, and wake up confused and worried.

    All at once, I remember where I'm not, and for a moment I start to panic, before I feel the weight of my pendant. I pull it away from where it was resting against my heart, and look into its mottled surface. The steady warmth of it reassures me, even as I feel a pang of loneliness.

    It's the work of a moment to cocoon the pendant in a thin layer of grief, and another moment and twist of will to protect it from the powers of this world. I hope.
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    Firnagzen said:
    "Oh psht," Mika says. "Threw a little tantrum, then pointed out that they could do better things than build another bunch of flats there. 'sides, they hadn't even closed the deal properly yet. Easy enough to wiggle out of."

    "Do I owe you anything?" you ask carefully. The important question. "I mean, I'd be happy to pay if necessary, but-"

    Mika's laughter cuts you off, ringing through telepathy clear and loud.

    "Nah, nah, you gave me that Clear Seed," Mika says. "I owe you, if anything. Works like a charm, by the way."
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    So not only Mika doesn't want anything, she still considers herself in Sabrina's debt for the Clear Seed. I expected as much.

    However, that leaves the question on what to say to Kyouko. The only thing I can think now is explicitly confirm we aren't "forcing" her fight Walpurgisnacht as payment.
     
    I bet it has an enchanted ribbion linking back to Mami

    Mami's yandere is showing : p
     
    Shadowhisker said:
    Anyway, I've noticed that whenever we contact Mika, she mentions the Clear Seed. Is that something we should be worried about?
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    The Narrator said:
    It's a magical artifact that grants her limitless magic and functional immortality with calculated worth of anywhere from "$100 million" to "priceless." So yeah, it's a big deal.
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    There's also the fact that Sabrina has told every meguca that Clear Seeds are experimental and she should be informed of any misfunction of them, so it's just Mika's way to say the Clear Seed hasn't had any problems.

    Torgamous said:
    On the subject of the vote, we could ask Mika to help with admin stuff like cleansing triage?
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    I'd prefer to set the things about the aftermath of Walpy fight. Not sure if now, but it could be useful to let her have some forewarning so she can have materials and workforce ready for reconstruction.
     
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