Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

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Being moon focused seems to be rare. We know of only one other person who has EPC. We also know of another grinning moon cultivator, we met them at Lou's hunt, but other than those two people no one has been stated to be moon focused. So three out of a thousand for the inner sect.

There is also Su Ling and the bloody moon, but that might be more Su Ling's focus on justice rather than focusing on anything lunar.
 
Jiao is moon cultivator, so is the core disciple we trained with, there was in the LUo party, then there is Meng Dan.
And presumably lot more Meng i suspect.
Not actually all that rare, considering all the possible things one might cultivate.
 
[X] Visiting the District's shrine of the Tree with Zhengui, Gan Guangli has an interest as well.


edit: ooops I'm a buffoon
 
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EPC is rare(and dangerous), cultivating Moon in some form is not, its just archaic and unusual to find in a first generation cultivator rather than some ancient tradition reaching to the beginnings of civilization.

As for Ling Qi's 'mess' of elements...basically every Elder who talked about elemental/concept spread has advised diversifying while we can, and we're getting people in Yellow and Green talking about disorganized cultivation.

So I'm like 90% sure they're talking about different things:
-Elders - Diversity of elements and concepts is good because thats what you get to work with when in Cyan and above.

-Peers - Diversity of elements must be hell to optimize drugs and sites for, if you do that you'll stall when you run out of resources.

-Ling Qi - Did you know the more elements in an art the more types of drugs I can chain into it? :D

Remember, most low quality arts only have one element and fairly basic concepts. If you try to drug boost those your money is burning fast
 
Diao Linqin took some shots at Ling Qi's Way and while she was being petty I don't think she was lying about how she felt about it. Grinning teased Ling Qi about not being more focused even in her moon cultivation even if Xin came to Ling Qi's defense. Meng Dui also makes a comment about her scattered moon cultivation and while not disapproving was a little barbed to me. It's not just peers looking quizzically going "wtf do you got going round...this"
 
I like to think Ling Qi has her own spredsheets about her cultivation where she decides what she will be doing this week
Don't worry, the spreadsheets are canon.
It must be because Big Sis didn't have a lot of money, she had seen those weird papers where sis scribbled down notes on expenses and cultivation plans.


As for the Elders recommending an elemental spread but people roasting LQ for her scattershot cultivation, I think it's just a matter of degrees.

On the one hand, you might have a Green that goes 100% all in on Sword cultivation, developing such a diverse array of concepts as Sword, and Cut, and Kill, so that they hit Cyan with the same effective level of ideological purity you might expect of a Prism. This might be regarded as a bad idea, since they've cut out massive portions of their humanity far earlier than would be necessary, and left themself with precious little leeway in how they further refine themself if they do keep cultivating. If they've left the slightest flaw in their foundation, or if they develop the slightest of doubts about the validity of the way they saw the world as a baby Green, then they're pretty much screwed because they didn't leave themself with a wide enough foundation to adjust their Way on the way to White.

On the other hand, if you just cultivate a huge mess of different elements and you can't merge or trim them together into a single coherent theme, then you're not going to be able to get to Cyan in the first place. Having a wider conceptual base to provide more flexibility in your Cyan+ cultivation is good, because if you need to keep cutting away parts of your soul it's good to have options about what you're cutting, but it still needs to be possible to formalize that conceptual base into a coherent foundation if you want to get anywhere. The work LQ's doing to build connections between concepts like Creation and Isolation and Community should be helpful in this regard, but between the breadth of LQ's existing cultivation and her (and our) lack of a well-defined goal for her Way, she's still got plenty of work to do.
 
I see LQ as an Emissary, with cycles of isolation and community as she travels from one group and the next, gathering stories and forming connections across vast distances.

It's also kind of hilarious how the Peaks don't seem to get the purpose of the Jean Luc Picard vibes we're putting down.
 
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Hating the Rain
Hating the Rain

The continuous plink plink of rain hitting his metal helm was beginning to get on Min Chen's last nerve. He took a breath and began to focus on his qi, just as the Argent Soul had taught him. A few seconds of calm breathing and cultivation and Min Chen found himself with a few more nerves that could be worn down. This cycle would continue, Min Chen thought to himself, until one of two things happened. Either he would be relieved of guard duty in the next hour or the Cloud Nomads would finally attack. Honestly he didn't know which one to hope for.

Min Chen turned his eyes to roam over the village he and his regiment had been tasked with defending. It was not overly large, a good sized population considering how far into the wall it was. There was a flash of lightning and-

He heard his mother calling his name over the plink plink of rain hitting the pan he had used as an impromptu umbrella. Min Chen didn't have much choice, the thunderstorm was quick and sudden to start and he and his mother had not expected it to rain when they had gone to the market today. Their old pan had broken and his mother had cursed the town's smith as being a two bit hack.

Min Chen didn't understand why his mother was so insistent that he always be inside during storms, especially sudden ones. All she would say was that it was bad luck to be outside during one and left it at that if Min Chen ever tried to press her for more answers. He had received more than one spanking pushing that line of questions. Even now his mother continued to yell his name, "Min Chen!"

"Min Chen!"


"Min Chen!"

Startled Min Chen turned to look at his battle sister Wan Ai as she yelled his name. "Min Chen! Keep your eyes on the skies!"

"Right. Sorry Ai." He turned his attention away from the village and up to the dark clouds that continued to pour rain down on all of them. "You know how I get." He felt he needed to offer the explanation to Wan Ai even though she already knew. You didn't spend twenty years with a person campaigning across the Wall for the Argent Sect without learning those sorts of things.

Wan Ai didn't say anything, just kept scanning the woods for any movement. She stayed silent for several moments, long enough that Min Chen had thought the whole conversation over before she spoke again. "Seemed pretty bad this time."

Min Chen hummed in agreement. "Think it's because of the constant storm, ya know? What, it's been three days-"

"Four days."

"Four days of constant rain and thunder. I know it's mostly Master Yuan He's doing but I keep wonderin' what if it's not? What if it's-"

"Cloud Barbarians! Run!"

He was surprised he could hear anything over the wind and the rain, it was near deafening on its own it seemed. But then he remembered that there were immortals that lived here in the town, they could easily have their words heard over even the festival day drums. Min Chen's mother pulled him away from the window and-


Min Chen was able to come back to his senses on his own this time. "Or maybe it's this place? Reminds me a lot of where I grew up." Wan Ai just grunted in agreement before a companionable silence fell over the two of them. Min Chen tried to focus on the sounds other than the rain, like the sounds of boots in mud or the shouting of other soldiers between each other but it was like trying to find a needle by grabbing a fistful of hay.

He took a moment to take his eyes off the skies and look at Wan Ai. She was pretty enough but was short and stocky though, compared to Min Chen's own tall and what others had described as gangly form. There had been a brief fling between the two of them early on but they had quickly realized they were better off as friends. They were more than friends now though but weren't lovers. It was strange in that way relationships became when you had saved a person's life and had been saved in turn more times than it was worth counting.

"Do you think-" Min Chen began as he turned his gaze back to the skies but stopped when he saw it. A bolt of lightning heading right towards them, a thing so fast none but a cultivator could hope to see it coming. Even seeing it coming Min Chen couldn't do anything about it, not really, so he just tensed and waited the fraction of a second it took the lightning bolt to strike. It hit a building right behind him and sent debris flying into the air before falling around him, several pieces of wood hitting-

Him in the head as he hit the floor of the cellar. "Mom? Mom?!" Min Chen called out to the now collapsed entrance of the cellar. The roof must have fallen, that was the only reason he could think of for all the timber blocking the only way in and out of their home's storage area.

It was nearly pitch black down here but Min Chen's eyes started to adjust to the darkness. He thought he saw movement by the ladder up but… "Mom?" The young boy whispered to himself. He could see his mother's hand, the same one that had pushed him into the cellar naught but a moment ago. The rest of her he could not see for the once sturdy timbers of his home blocked his view. Min Chen heard a drip drip drip of something wet hitting the floor. It was probably just the rain leaking through the roof he told himself.

So Min Chen listened to the rain while he waited for the storm to die down and waited for the yelling and screaming to stop. Waited longer still for someone to come looking.


"Nevermind, that answers that." Min Chen said nonplussed as he brought his bow around. It was a thick and hefty thing, looking closer to a staff or small tree than most bows would. The call went down the line, Cloud Nomads spotted, but Min Chen had a job to do. When had he started to think about killing Cloud Nomads as just a job?

He pulled out an arrow that was more akin to a small javelin than what most would consider an arrow. Notching the arrow and pulling it back he thought back to some years ago. He had seen a hand, jutting out between the earth and an overturned tree, it looked so similar to the one from his youth. It wasn't though, the bracelet of fur and bone clearly marked it as having once been a Cloud Nomad.

As Min Chen's qi began to light up the arrow he hummed to himself as he adjusted his aim. He felt the thrumming of power in his arms, so many days spent carving out the meridians, the pain of failures hardly a deterrent, all so he could reach those that flew high above the ground. The arrow was let loose and flew above the clouds. It lit up like a star and began to reveal the positions of the Nomads with its light. It would hang there and expose the enemy as long as Min Chen was able to feed it qi.

Preparing another arrow to fire, this one aimed at an actual Cloud Nomad, Min Chen mused to himself. Perhaps that was why his cultivation had begun to truly wane. Perhaps it was just the rain that had been putting him into such a mood though.

He really hated the rain.

A.N.
@yrsillar Omake for the omake throne! This ones a bit melancholic but was an idea I had bouncing around for quite a while. Takes inspiration from The Declining Storm sidestory but what about from the perspective from a red/yellow on the ground? Someone that is fighting the Cloud Nomads but has to deal with the fact that Yuan He is using the storm much like the cloud barbarians did. Hope you guys like it!
 
I feel like a wide array of elements and ideas is better since it gives plenty of room for nuance. Thinking a bit about our Arts and how the individual pieces into a whole, one of the things that have clarified some things for me was considering the Forgotten Vale Melody, the final version of which can be found in the Art History. The melody is heavily metaphorical and sings of a Wanderer lost in a dark mist fraught with terrors, despairing until in the End dedicating the song to the Grinning Moon. A pretty wide Art conceptually, it was one of the first Arts Ling Qi got and looking at her character and the Way she's been building it's clear that the Art was the core of her character as Yrs conceived. Even now the themes found in that Art are present across every single part of her cultivation.

LFWT: The Melody was dedicated to the Grinning Moon, Great Spirit of Freedom and Self-Assurance, which at first glance seems very odd for a song about being trapped in mist. But from the perspective of the melody being a representation of life itself it becomes clearer. Because we are all lost in life, ignorant of what's around us, and freedom isn't necessarily the power to break out of the mist but to walk it with your own purpose. LFWT encapsulates Ling Qi's thoughts on this, being an Art about knowing there is nowhere you cannot reach. The Wanderer dedicated the song of his life to the Grinning Moon because for all that he was lost he wandered on his own terms until the very end. The only thing he could boast about was walking his own path, and LFWT teaches to find joy in the walking of the paths of life and having the audacity do what you want without letting fear stop you.

FSS: Cold as a concept is one that Ling Qi ties to hardship and the isolation it causes, and the composer and Ling Qi shares this deep sadness at the world for being so dreary. He sings of an empty, lonely world filled with terrors which perfectly fits Ling Qi's time on the streets. The hungry spirits that haunted the Traveler were of Zeqing's like, and Ling Qi would just as well count herself among them. The Traveler's End was dark and cold, and having known true cold and hunger Ling Qi understands the inescapable pull of entropy that inevitably leads to the End. This is even expanded upon in UGM with it's theme of wearing things down through constant assault, much like cold and hunger did Ling Qi. Endings as a concept in her cultivation, as well as her fascination in understanding the past, originates in how the Traveler left his Melody granting him a sort of immortality even beyond his death.

BKSD: The shadowy beast are obviously a continuation from the Melody. The dangers of the mischievous and hungry, of people human, spirit and beast, haunted the Wanderer and Ling Qi both. But notice the evolution for Ling Qi since the start of the story. She went from fearing the faceless shadows beyond sight, from a time where everyone around her were a threat, to where she grew in strength and began to fear the things that could still actually harm her. Powerful entities, lords, warhosts, and nations, her fear have gone from the faceless shadows all around to the specific entities that could harm her. Ling Qi understands that every moment of every day you have to fight to survive, the cold, hunger and want that drives the shadows to kill and war against each other.

PLR: Ling Qi got PLR when she was just becoming a noble expected to deal with the other nobility. Thus just like BKSD could be more her fear of physical enemies the courtly phantoms represent her fear of social foes. PLR does not kill by itself but its phantoms will crowd you, push you helplessly around, and then with a toast celebrate the doom they've manipulated you into. But it is also an Art about the strength of community as it taught Ling Qi that it's better to join the crowd and be the one supported by it, wielding it and being protected by it. Dreams also fit into this since even on a gloomy path you can dream of better, happier things that makes your journey brighter and perhaps gives you something to travel towards. Its last tech with the phantoms of roads not taken represent the choices you make on the paths of life, not knowing where they lead but living with your choices because you cannot know where they lead but you can vote for do what makes sense in the moment.

RME (SSR): When we first choose the Hidden Moon as a patron we didn't know what we would do with it but I would argue Yrs always had an idea. Every Moon patron we were offered had a theme within FVM. The Mother was the longing for home the Wanderer felt, the Guiding was finding ones way, and the Bloody would scare away the terrors. The Hidden Moon is about mystery, about ignorance and learning. The mist is ignorance and by being curious about motes of light just out of sight you push the mist back. You learn the history behind you, the path you're on, the world you're in and what lays beyond. Even the terrors in the mist change once seen and understood, that's what BKSD means to her, and it is all of these things that make up RME and our Hidden Moon cultivation. We are born lost in mist and learning our place in the world make us less so because knowledge is power, wisdom and most of all safety and confidence.

SNR: Ling Qi has always shown an appreciation of powerful women. The mother figures she looks up to are powerful, untouchable, and capable of protecting themselves and what they care for. The desire to survive is what made her want to reach the heights cultivation but while before Ling Qi has been drawn to being unbreakable as she's risen beyond fearing for her life at every moment she's come to want more than that. SNR shows her what she really wants, a version of herself that's not afraid anymore, that has that seeming indomitably and confidence of all her mother figures. To not fear the threats around her because she's strong enough they cannot hurt her or her family, because every attack is as effectual as striking the surface of a lake.

Socials/WHR: With PLR we talked about how LQ has grown to be able to rely on people which is already a divergence from the lonely Traveler. He longed for a home and companionship and everything Ling Qi does in this arena are the things he wished for but didn't have. She's learned from his mistakes and made their shared loneliness core to her Domain, because the as much as being lost and scared made the Traveler miserable so did that loneliness. She'll do everything she can to avoid that fate, because it's much nicer not to mention safer to travel the path with company. And perhaps her fear of being ganged up on can be reversed as she makes a gang of her own. And this all ties into the idea of home as well, as a place that's safe, that's known, where she can keep the things that makes the journey worth it.

I feel like just thinking about our Arts in the context of FVM clarifies them a lot for me and helps me understand where I thing it'd make sense for Ling Qi to go in the future. Take any of our current Arts and consider how their meanings fit in with the metaphors of the Melody and our scattered elements and concepts all start to seem like a consistent whole. For example if we wish to understand what Cold and Endings mean to Ling Qi for FSS+ then a good place to start is it's presence in FVM and how Ling Qi feels about it. Like how the Traveler's End is a Dispel shield representing the inviolability of Endings fits with how the Hoarfrost Refrain lingers as it prepares enemies for the Call to Endings, and how maybe this means it'd make sense to have a bit of Dispel resistance in FSS+.

When you see a light in a dark mist you follow it, because that's what you do when you want a way out or at least learn what the light is. In a metaphor where people are lost and looking for meaning and the whole point of cultivation is to find Truths to live by I think it's kind of nice that the things revealing this world of mist to us are little wisps of moonlight and curiosity. I thought about is how the Turn 10, Arc 1, 6.2 "In the mist, even truth is blinding." Domain ability would have shared that theme of Light=Truth. Maybe the future of our perception Art should be to have lights join the shadows of the mist, revealing the mist to us and leading/misleading/blinding our enemies within the desired light of Truth. I never truly considered what Light means in our Way but from the perspective of FVM it clarifies things, and I just wanted to write an effort post about that.
 
Turn 14: Fin
"Thank you Big Sister," Zhengui said to her.

"I wasn't going to refuse something so simple after spending most of the morning with Hanyi," Ling Qi said aloud. She walked along a wide and brightly lit boulevard. It was quieter than other parts of the district, no blaringly bright signs or hawking merchants in sight. It was quiet and serene.

As one would expect from a temple grounds.

"That was silly," Gui's voice came to the fore and she could imagine his expression of confusion in her minds eye.

Hanyi had definitely gone overboard a little, but she was spending her own money. Ling Qi thought it was fine to let her splurge a little, she could give her junior sister talk about responsibility later.

She absolutely wasn't going to regret putting her foot down about the last shop though. Dream scapes and reflecting light aside, dresses were not to be made of bubbles.

Well, her tirade had made Renxiang smile, just a little, so silver linings. Hanyi was still pouting though.

"Though I wonder about your interest," Ling Qi said, looking to the side. "Weren't you with Lady Cai for much longer than I?"

"Her residence was in the surrounding townships at the time. This is my first time in the Cloudspires as well," Gan Guangli said brightly. Marching along in his enameled armor, the light glinted off the gold filigree most resplendently.

Ling Qi frowned thoughtfully."What was it like, before the Sect?"

It was a vague question, but she trusted Gan Guangli to understand her.

"It was a time of harsh training, lessons and preparation. I do miss those days, in that empty place. It is better left behind," Gan Guangli said solemnly. "It is far too small for our Lady now."

Ling Qi nodded shallowly, taking his meaning in both forms. It was something Renxiang had moved past, and no longer needed addressing. "It has been a hard year, but I think we are better for it."
Gan Guangli's ever present smile faded a touch."Yes. I must thank you again for doing what I could not."

"It was only luck, our places could have been swapped," Ling Qi replied.

Gan Guangli didn't look like he agreed, but left it there.

The Temple of the Heavenly pillar was a tall narrow thing, with six tiered rooves, whose shingles were a rich red brown. Around it, there was a sprawling garden, seemingly wild and disordered as the wilderness,but with her experience working on Zhengui's garden, Ling Qi could see the subtle order of it. Though bushes and small trees grew in naturalistic forms, she could feel the gentle curving lines that underlaid the layout.

But other than the subtle redirection of energies, there was no indication that this was a place of power. It was as unassuming as a building its size could be. but,Ling Qi supposed of all the institutions of Xiangmen, the priest of the Heavenly Pillar needed no airs. In a city where any new construction at all was in their hands, if only for the laying of foundations, they could not really be undermined.

"He's close to the surface here," Gui said guilelessly.

"I, Zhen, give respect to the Elder," his other half whispered, feeling very subdued.

Ling Qi did not need to ask what he was referring too. She could feel it here. Not the way that she had felt the presence of other great powers, like the Duchess, or the Moon's avatars or the watching thing in the caverns. No it was simply there, in the same way that the earth was there, or the sky was there.

Xiangmen was.

"How aware is the Heavenly Pillar, I wonder, of all upon it," Ling Qi said idly

"Impossible to answer. Only those on the edge of true ascension may begin to comprehend the enormity of the Ancient."

Ling Qi turned her head toward the source of the voice, an unassuming little man in dark green robes, he had a round face and a bald head, seeming to sit directly on his shoulders, with little neck between. He was very short, barely taller than her friend Suyin. His face was lightly lined and he held his eyes half shut. Upon the chest of his robe was embroidered a a great golden tree, with branches and roots alike splitting fractally to form patterns across the rest of the robe.

"Sir," Ling Qi said, bowing her head. "I apologize for the intrusion."

"As I do I," Gan Guangli echoed politely bowing as well.

"The temple is open to visitors," the priest replied pleasantly, his attention buzzing over them both, a gentle brush of wind. "I am Hou Wen, do you have a purpose here today, young lord, young lady?"

"My spirit wishes to immerse himself in the Heavenly Pillars presence while we are in the city. I would like permission to release him physically," Ling Qi said.

"I had hoped to observe the shrine, meditate and make an offering," Gan Guangli said, keeping his usual tone to a polite boom. "We are soon to found a new settlement, you see."

"Is that so?" said the priest, one eye cracking open a little further. "Neither is unreasonable, though your spirit will need to limit his bulk. The gardens are not to be disturbed."

"Gui will not be a bad guest," her little brother huffed.

"He promises good behavior," Ling Qi replied, and at a nod from the priest, she released Zhengui.

In materialized a faint cloud of smoke, selling of wood ash and charcoal, with his shell only being about a meter and a half long, he was only the size of a big dog with Zhen curled up on his back. He really was growing uite good at controlling his size.

Hou Wen observed him curiously for a moment, and Zhengui looked back proudly. After a long half minute, the priest gestured for them to follow.

He showed them inside the temple proper, the first floor of it, which contained an inner garden. The walls were fine clear glass set in metal frames, and the ceiling an exotic material that displayed the bright blue sky outside and the bright sunlight that was gradually growing a darker orange as the sun was setting. The garden followed a curving spiralling geometry that led to the center, where a young tree grew. It's bark was like gleaming gold leaf, and it's leaves the color of rich jade. The peaches that grew on it hung heavy and juicy on the thin branches.

The priest stopped before the tree and clapped his hands twice, bowing at the waist, and Ling Qi took it as her cue to do the same along with Gan Guangli. Zhengui merely lowered both of his heads near to the ground.

The priest maintained his posture for precisely ten seconds before straightening up. "Your presence here is not rejected. Please be free to walk and contemplate in the inner garden. When you wish to make your offering, I will guide you."

"Thank you, sir," Ling Qi said. "May I ask what this tree represents?"

Hou Wen offered a small smile. "Each temple holds a different tree in its inner garden, a paragon of that species cultivated over many centuries. Xiangmen preserves. Even if the world is brought again to ruin, the Emerald Seas may be born anew."

"It would be no good if things couldn't grow again," Gui pondered aloud. "I guess its not the little buds fault when the really bad times come."
"Just so," agreed Hou Wen, looking at her little brother out of the corner of his eye. "Preservation assures new growth."

"Things can't be preserved forever. Destruction comes," Zhen said haughtily.

"It does, and so we endure," Hou Wen said pleasantly. "Good day, young Lady, young sir."

"You should be more polite," Ling Qi whispered harshly as the man left them, frowning at her little brother.

"It isn't good to coddle," Zhen defended. "Things will get stagnant and weak."

"Preservation does not bring stagnation," Gan Guangli rumbled. "It is not weak or wrong to defend those who have not yet found their strength. Indeed, the world is most ugly when we believe that."

Ling Qi gave him a considering look.

"...Gui thinks Mr. Clean is right. Gui thinks Zhengui would be dumb if he burned the roots and the seeds too," Gui chirped. Zhen looked deeply offended, but he also didn't reply.

Ling Qi knew that Zhen and Gui were not really separate people, but different mental aspects of his singular self. So she didn't comment, knowing it was just him thinking out loud an internal argument. Instead, she smiled. "Mr. Clean?"

Gui nodded. "He is very shiny."

"His sun cleanses taint and poison, it brings health," Zhen said wisely.

Sixiang let out a snort in her head, Ling Qi struggled not to do the same, covering her mouth with her hand.

"A moniker I shall wear with honor!" Gan Guangli said, striking a fist against his chest. His expression grew more serious as he turned to look at the garden and the tree. "Preservation though… Yes, I must meditate. Please excuse me Miss Ling."

Ling Qi nodded silently, leaving him to find his own place to cultivate, she followed Zhengui as he walked the garden.

To surround and preserve without really being a part of what lay inside. That was a lonely path, wasn't it? But then again, she was a lonely girl at heart.

She felt Sixiang's phantom arms around her and lowered her head. It was a path, but not the only one. Not even the one she wanted really.

Because she was greedy as well. If she had a choice between two treasures, she would always, in her heart, desire to grasp both.

Ling Qi rested a hand on Zhen's head as they walked and he bickered with himself, stopping here and there to observe parts of the garden. Now and then he would lie down, roots wriggling from his feet down into the earth, and she would let him.

The coming months would determine a great deal about what treasures she would be able to grasp. She supposed she would have to get more hands. One way or the other.

Turn Finish

AN: Alright guys, this is turn end. I will get the front page updated tomorrow, but the vote menu will be going up after break. I am honestly feeling pretty worn out, so in order to make the most of my recovery period, I'm going to put up turn plan options
after my break rather then spending part of it working on them. Thank you again everyone, for your patience and enjoyment, in letting me do this crazy story for a living.
 
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