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CONFLUENCE 03
THUNDERSTRUCK
This time there was warning. Any being with precognitive abilities finds themselves brought to their knees a few hours before the event, plagued with a hazy vision of chaos and fear. There's not enough detail to say what is to happen, but at least they have the where and when.
Excelsior, Washington.
The people seem annoyed when they are told to evacuate. After all, Excelsior was built to last. This is a city exempt from the unpredictability of nature. They have weather control systems set up to ensure nothing disrupts their research. This a city built upon scientific advancement, with every inch of infrastructure reliant upon it, and they are confident that they are safe within its borders.
And even without the stubborn minority, the Alliance knows there isn't enough time for a full evacuation. But still, they try. They call upon every available hero to race toward whatever chaos may be about to drop over the city. The Society has sent a few faces too, more quietly. Whether to help or hinder is anyone's guess, as there's whispered encouragement to do both.
The city isn't anywhere near empty when the air goes very still. Everyone and everything pauses and looks skyward as a few drops of rain begin to fall, and the artificial sky fades to reveal roiling clouds.
The Confluence begins.
Excelsior, Washington.
The people seem annoyed when they are told to evacuate. After all, Excelsior was built to last. This is a city exempt from the unpredictability of nature. They have weather control systems set up to ensure nothing disrupts their research. This a city built upon scientific advancement, with every inch of infrastructure reliant upon it, and they are confident that they are safe within its borders.
And even without the stubborn minority, the Alliance knows there isn't enough time for a full evacuation. But still, they try. They call upon every available hero to race toward whatever chaos may be about to drop over the city. The Society has sent a few faces too, more quietly. Whether to help or hinder is anyone's guess, as there's whispered encouragement to do both.
The city isn't anywhere near empty when the air goes very still. Everyone and everything pauses and looks skyward as a few drops of rain begin to fall, and the artificial sky fades to reveal roiling clouds.
The Confluence begins.
ITS RAINING (SUPER) MEN
Rain slashes sideways as the skies darken, taking unnatural colors with every flash of lightning. It's beautiful and awe-striking, but knowing that somehow this bizarre phenomenon is the calm before the storm keeps anyone on the ground from enjoying it. Even the those who lack self preservation in the scientific community don't want to investigate the cause of this.
There's a flash of light and a boom. Those still caught in the streets waiting evacuation brace themselves.
And then people begin to fall.
If you are one of these people, you awaken to find yourself hurtling towards the ground at breakneck speed. You come into awareness just in time to register you're about to make impact with the ground, or a car, a building, whatever is underneath you. The impact pulverizes the surface strike, leaving a sizable crater, and as you pull yourself up you find yourself unharmed. Yet there's energy crackling in the air around you. If there are bystanders near you they whip out cellphones to capture the occurrence for their followers or for scientific posterities, crowding around the craters a buzz of excitement. Some of the more fearful ones simply turn and begin running in hopes they can beat the storm.
There's a flash of light and a boom. Those still caught in the streets waiting evacuation brace themselves.
And then people begin to fall.
If you are one of these people, you awaken to find yourself hurtling towards the ground at breakneck speed. You come into awareness just in time to register you're about to make impact with the ground, or a car, a building, whatever is underneath you. The impact pulverizes the surface strike, leaving a sizable crater, and as you pull yourself up you find yourself unharmed. Yet there's energy crackling in the air around you. If there are bystanders near you they whip out cellphones to capture the occurrence for their followers or for scientific posterities, crowding around the craters a buzz of excitement. Some of the more fearful ones simply turn and begin running in hopes they can beat the storm.
CRYPTO OR CRYPTID
Confluences give people powers. That's part of the deal. And while those of you who just fell from the sky are discovering your new gifts, others are also suddenly uncovering their own brand new talents.
Excelsior isn't exactly known for natural superpowers. Most of its heroes are self-made geniuses, armed with metasuits or other augments. Those that do have powers got them from scientific accidents, transforming due to experiments gone wrong or accidentally tumbling into toxic waste. They have emergency medical protocols ready for that - not for random people on the street suddenly gaining abilities.
Newly empowered townspeople may jump in to help deal with the evolving chaos, but their lack of control of their powers makes them a bigger threat than whatever threat they were trying to stop. Others will shamelessly take advantage of the chaos to live their villainous dreams, robbing stores and taking revenge on their shitty bosses, landlords, or exes.
The reserve members of the Guardian Alliance spring into action. The heavy hitters are elsewhere, trying to deal with the loss of power and getting the city back online, and so you're left with the rookies trying to keep pace. Many of them are inexperienced and unable to keep up with the raw power and ruthlessness of newly awakened metas. Fantastic, an aerokinetic and one of the newer recruits, seems to be the only one even remotely holding his own.
It's clear they need your help to contain this!
The storm doesn't peter out after the new arrivals have all landed, either. The panic and chaos below seems to fuel it to a second peak. Clouds roil, electricity snakes, and the thunder builds into a deafening crescendo. Then with one final, blinding burst of light, everything goes dark and quiet.
The power is out.
More than just the power — Excelsior is out. The powergrid has been downed, its internal networks corrupted, anything that makes the city function is completely fried, that last surge of the storm apparently having acted as an EMP blast. All of Excelsior's internal systems are now offline. The lights are all out.
Vehicles are stalled out in the streets. And then comes the first crashing boom of a falling hover car. There are more still in the air, but anyone who might be in a position to save them will have only moments to do so before they smash apart on whatever or whoever is unlucky enough to be stuck below them.
And it's not just that. Hospitals are now without power.
Excelsior isn't exactly known for natural superpowers. Most of its heroes are self-made geniuses, armed with metasuits or other augments. Those that do have powers got them from scientific accidents, transforming due to experiments gone wrong or accidentally tumbling into toxic waste. They have emergency medical protocols ready for that - not for random people on the street suddenly gaining abilities.
Newly empowered townspeople may jump in to help deal with the evolving chaos, but their lack of control of their powers makes them a bigger threat than whatever threat they were trying to stop. Others will shamelessly take advantage of the chaos to live their villainous dreams, robbing stores and taking revenge on their shitty bosses, landlords, or exes.
The reserve members of the Guardian Alliance spring into action. The heavy hitters are elsewhere, trying to deal with the loss of power and getting the city back online, and so you're left with the rookies trying to keep pace. Many of them are inexperienced and unable to keep up with the raw power and ruthlessness of newly awakened metas. Fantastic, an aerokinetic and one of the newer recruits, seems to be the only one even remotely holding his own.
It's clear they need your help to contain this!
The storm doesn't peter out after the new arrivals have all landed, either. The panic and chaos below seems to fuel it to a second peak. Clouds roil, electricity snakes, and the thunder builds into a deafening crescendo. Then with one final, blinding burst of light, everything goes dark and quiet.
The power is out.
More than just the power — Excelsior is out. The powergrid has been downed, its internal networks corrupted, anything that makes the city function is completely fried, that last surge of the storm apparently having acted as an EMP blast. All of Excelsior's internal systems are now offline. The lights are all out.
Vehicles are stalled out in the streets. And then comes the first crashing boom of a falling hover car. There are more still in the air, but anyone who might be in a position to save them will have only moments to do so before they smash apart on whatever or whoever is unlucky enough to be stuck below them.
And it's not just that. Hospitals are now without power.
VLOG SQUAD STRIKES BACK
In every disaster, the best and worst of human nature can be found. The best shines in every outstretched hand and combined effort, in every life saved. The worst is a gaggle of young adults that live together in the city's least favorite content creator house, known with equal parts irritation and secondhand embarrassment as The Vlog Squad. It seems five of the eight streamer/vlogger/influencers have developed meta powers, including one with the power to record, edit, and broadcast with her mind. The entire group made an on-stream pact to become (non-guild affiliated) supervillains, and their views are skyrocketing.
One of them jumps off a building to demonstrate how he can put holes in everything below him.
Playlist, the ringleader with a sizable following on Youtube and TikTok, has the ability to Freeze, Rewind, Fast Forward reality. Be unlucky enough to be caught in her gaze and find yourself frozen in place, talking in reverse, or zipping around faster than you can control. Good luck getting someone to understand you when you sound like a chipmunk.
Then there's there's the second in command, Filter, an up and coming Instagram star. Filter's powers seem to be tied to their phone. If they get a picture of you in the air - welcome to anti-gravity, you're now stuck floating like a balloon until someone can get you back to Earth. If they slap a sepia filter on an unflattering photo of you, you're now encased in stone until someone drops a compliment. Each filter does something a little different and the unfortunate effects are yours to find out.
The rest of their squad is less notable, both in terms of power and in terms of following. There's a young man who can project his voice for miles around. A young woman who can compel people to dance to the beats dropped by her literal soundcloud. There's one unfortunate fellow whose only real power seems to be to turn people's heads into emojis for 30 seconds.
They're targeting known heroes, but will settle for property damage if it means getting attention. New metas may find themselves accosted by a unpleasant young adult with a camera, mockingly asking if they plan to become heroes. No matter the answer, the result is the same - they'll mock your choice and reasoning and try to get away with a cruel prank.
One of them jumps off a building to demonstrate how he can put holes in everything below him.
Playlist, the ringleader with a sizable following on Youtube and TikTok, has the ability to Freeze, Rewind, Fast Forward reality. Be unlucky enough to be caught in her gaze and find yourself frozen in place, talking in reverse, or zipping around faster than you can control. Good luck getting someone to understand you when you sound like a chipmunk.
Then there's there's the second in command, Filter, an up and coming Instagram star. Filter's powers seem to be tied to their phone. If they get a picture of you in the air - welcome to anti-gravity, you're now stuck floating like a balloon until someone can get you back to Earth. If they slap a sepia filter on an unflattering photo of you, you're now encased in stone until someone drops a compliment. Each filter does something a little different and the unfortunate effects are yours to find out.
The rest of their squad is less notable, both in terms of power and in terms of following. There's a young man who can project his voice for miles around. A young woman who can compel people to dance to the beats dropped by her literal soundcloud. There's one unfortunate fellow whose only real power seems to be to turn people's heads into emojis for 30 seconds.
They're targeting known heroes, but will settle for property damage if it means getting attention. New metas may find themselves accosted by a unpleasant young adult with a camera, mockingly asking if they plan to become heroes. No matter the answer, the result is the same - they'll mock your choice and reasoning and try to get away with a cruel prank.
POWER RESTORED
The power is restored. With it, a belated message makes it to guild and society phones: the guild says restrain the Vlog Squad however you can and await authorities.
Meanwhile a very different message hits the airwaves. Mechanima's digitized voice comes across official channels, torn between amusement and annoyance. He says deal with them, don't care how you do it, but start with the broadcaster.
Once that's done, the guild places a call back to its headquarters to bring everyone back with a teleportation spell. The spell reaches out for whatever metahumans it can find in the area and pulls.
All the metahumans who were involved in the Confluence — new arrivals and old — to a white training space that has already transformed into a luxurious waiting room.
Atomight arrives quickly and makes the following announcement:
They hand out cellphones to all present. Once everyone gathered has been looked over and attended to they're directed to the Diadem in and handed a credit card.
Later into the night, another message comes across those phones. The Society of Villainous Reformation formally extends an invitation to all those villainously inclined. Reply for more info.
Meanwhile a very different message hits the airwaves. Mechanima's digitized voice comes across official channels, torn between amusement and annoyance. He says deal with them, don't care how you do it, but start with the broadcaster.
Once that's done, the guild places a call back to its headquarters to bring everyone back with a teleportation spell. The spell reaches out for whatever metahumans it can find in the area and pulls.
All the metahumans who were involved in the Confluence — new arrivals and old — to a white training space that has already transformed into a luxurious waiting room.
Atomight arrives quickly and makes the following announcement:
Thank you for your help out there. The casualties would be so much higher were it not for those of you who risked your lives to save strangers. To those of you grappling with your new abilities, please rest assured that this room will give you a much needed reprieve. We have staff on site who can work with you to gain control of you new abilities, and nullifiers if you find it's still too much.
You are the third set of newly powered individuals this confluence has brought. Though many of you are native to this world, others among you have come from far off universes. To those of you who have been flung far from home, we'll put you in connection with the others. Many of them are here today and can advise you of what your new reality is here.
We of the Guardian Alliance are committed to doing everything we can to get you home, and to give you some time to get your feet under you. And as this may be your home for a while longer, I wish to formally extend an invitation to those of you who wish to use your powers to defend the innocent to join us.
You are the third set of newly powered individuals this confluence has brought. Though many of you are native to this world, others among you have come from far off universes. To those of you who have been flung far from home, we'll put you in connection with the others. Many of them are here today and can advise you of what your new reality is here.
We of the Guardian Alliance are committed to doing everything we can to get you home, and to give you some time to get your feet under you. And as this may be your home for a while longer, I wish to formally extend an invitation to those of you who wish to use your powers to defend the innocent to join us.
They hand out cellphones to all present. Once everyone gathered has been looked over and attended to they're directed to the Diadem in and handed a credit card.
Later into the night, another message comes across those phones. The Society of Villainous Reformation formally extends an invitation to all those villainously inclined. Reply for more info.
IN SUMMARY
- New arrivals are falling from the skies. They're unharmed despite what should be a lethal impact. People in the city also begin developing superpowers upon landing.
- Players are free to create their own powered NPCs for these encounters and can use them.
- A notable group of online content creators called the Vlog Squad have developed powers and are terrorizing the city and are livestreaming every minute thanks to their powers.
- The Vlog Squad has declared on camera that they do not intend to join any guild and are already showing signs of disrespecting the code. For those already committed to guilds, this means:
Atomight will ask player characters in the Guardian Alliance to deal with them peacefully.
Mechanima demands that members of the Society of Villainous Reformation deal with them — whether this means incapacitating them, forcing them to join, or killing them is their choice. - If anyone wants to engage Mechanima or Atomight, HERE is a top level where we will summarize their responses to PC questions and comments. Please also reply to this comment with what your character plans to do with the Vlog Squad. We encourage you to make posts on the OOC comm plotting out conflict and responses. You may also use this top level to ask event-specific questions about the effects on this page! (Please refer general questions about the setting to the FAQ, and refer any player plots to the PLOTTING page.)
VLOG SQUAD ENCOUNTERS
For each event with a clear antagonistic NPC force — such as the Vlog Squad, in the February arrival — interested players can pitch their characters' encounters with those NPCs. Whether characters are heroic and suited to the role or not, the aim is the group effort of pitching in, so we highly encourage collaborating on these encounters. Once enough NPC encounters have been submitted, we'll determine if and how the trouble has been addressed, and select one of those encounters to be the final, conclusive one in the game. Everyone else's encounters will also have taken place, but may have been temporary stopgaps in addressing the conflict rather than a conclusive blow. For this Confluence, we are asking that submissions be finalized by 3/5.
How it works:
How it works:
- Reply to the relevant top-level comment with an encounter and/or questions about the encounter. The mods are happy to go back and forth with before locking in exactly what a character or group of characters does. Any conversations between characters and NPCs will most likely be happening prior to combat unless specified by the players.
- The mods ask that players present two options. In one version, the character or group of characters kills, immobilizes, or otherwise apprehend the villain(s). In the other version, one way or another, the villain escapes or overcomes the character or group of characters. Players who wish to have a specific spot in the timeline (near to the beginning or near to the end) should make this request explicit, and the mods will make efforts to accommodate this.
- The mods will RNG the results for the final encounter. For all other submissions, the escape/overcome option is selected. Open calls for collaboration which result in multiple player characters contributing to an idea or solution (see: Kamala Khan's solution to the Cerberus fight) have a much higher chance of being the final encounter, as we want to reward player collaboration and innovation. Please be sure that after everyone has weighed in you return to the top-level comment to report exactly what is happening and who is doing what.
- The mods will reply to player submissions with a brief outline of how all of the run-ins go, whether it's a fight or a slapstick series of hilarious accidents that involves the character(s).
Request NPC encounters using the following form —
EXAMPLE—
Character(s) involved: The Iron Giant and Hank Hill
Details of the encounter: Hank will ride in Iron Giant's hand as they search the city for the Vlog Squad, eventually spotting them in a public park. They land explosively in the middle, throwing all of the squad off of their feet while the Iron Giant sends out a signal to scramble their livestreams and begins trying to catch the offenders up in both hands. Hank will try to tackle at least one of them.
How might the villain escape or overcome the player character(s)? Playlist slow motions Iron Giant and they easily duck its grasp, and Filter leaves Hank floating upside down as they make their escape.
How would the player character(s) kill, immobilize, or apprehend the villain? Iron Giant grabs Playlist before she can slow it, then picks up and captures all but Emoji; Hank throws a branch and beans that guy right in the head. Iron Giant gathers him up too, and they turn them in to the first batch of emergency responders they find.
EXAMPLE—
Character(s) involved: The Iron Giant and Hank Hill
Details of the encounter: Hank will ride in Iron Giant's hand as they search the city for the Vlog Squad, eventually spotting them in a public park. They land explosively in the middle, throwing all of the squad off of their feet while the Iron Giant sends out a signal to scramble their livestreams and begins trying to catch the offenders up in both hands. Hank will try to tackle at least one of them.
How might the villain escape or overcome the player character(s)? Playlist slow motions Iron Giant and they easily duck its grasp, and Filter leaves Hank floating upside down as they make their escape.
How would the player character(s) kill, immobilize, or apprehend the villain? Iron Giant grabs Playlist before she can slow it, then picks up and captures all but Emoji; Hank throws a branch and beans that guy right in the head. Iron Giant gathers him up too, and they turn them in to the first batch of emergency responders they find.
what's the verdict on amara
[he offers as explanation for why this is totally not stalker behavior.]
Teleporting past a closed door seemed to be a rather useful skill to have, so.
[And hotels are full of closed doors!]
Who do you share this room with? Another mutant? Are there others here?
fire and ice huh? Poetic
Not another mutant. His name is Matthew. A telepathic telekinetic that is definitely... not my sort of person. There are other mutants here though. Josh and Jean Grey are the ones I've run into so far. I don't know about others. So, if you're looking for someone to be in charge as a boss, Jean's definitely my choice.
not like he's any worse than mephisto
Ikol said he doubted Jean Grey would accept me as a mutant. Have you spoken with her about my status?
I mean, given David's dating one of Mephisto's soul-grandchildren he can't judge
[She was on the Council and he would defer to her.]
But you are still my friend, no matter the results.
[And with that he went to the edge of the bed and looked at the drawer.]
So, should I assume an invasion of my privacy?
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[Which he feels bad about saying as soon as David says “friend”. It’s weird to hear someone else say it. To not be the one forcing it.]
I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.
[He doesn’t feel too bad as to not lie about that, though!]
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[The Jotun he means, of course.]
And so long as you're here, you're not a dying child. So don't even throw that around. We're allies. That doesn't mean I can, or should, force my will on other mutants. That's not how we work.
[David gives him a look that say he's not so certain he believes Loki, but he's giving the guy the benefit of the doubt.]
Alright then. You're welcome to spend all the time here you want while it's my room. Do you mind if I step out for a moment and grab a shower? I think if you're hungry I have some Mexican take out in the fridge.
[Which hadn't been eaten directly out of, but someone had clearly taken small cuts of each item and eaten them separately. Part of showing off different foods to Balthier.]
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[So! You know! He knows how DNA works for humans vaguely, but if frost giants have anything similar, there's obviously something "wrong" with his. And also there's the evil murderer part.]
Feel free. [he says like he isn't the guest here.] I'm fine for now, though.
[Because he's gonna keep eating candy and drinking soda.]
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Well I'm not your parent, which we're likely both thankful for, so I guess there isn't much I can say about it. Other than I'm glad to see you here, Loki. To get the chance to know you as you are is a welcome thing.
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Move over some. I've earned a chance to lay down.
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[He scoots on over and then stretches his arms back. At this point, he should probably go back to his own room. The sugar crash is starting to hit him too.]
This place requires that I have a legal guardian of some sort. ... Ikol said they don't want to take care of me, though.
[There's no expectations or manipulation in his voice, just venting. The situation's already handled, but the mention of parents reminded him.]
no subject
[Not that David's going to send the guy away, at all.]
Yeah, I'm not surprised they do. Happened in the last world that kidnapped me. I did my best to try and help people avoid some of that stuff. Unfortunately I don't know what emancipation paperwork is like here. But I have to ask, why did you ask, Ikol you called him, why did you ask him to be a guardian?
no subject
[An easy lie where everyone gets what they want, or so he thought.]
no subject
So you need to find someone to serve as your guardian under those rules? Just be there for paperwork and the like? An official adult?
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[Assuming Stephen doesn't reject him too!]
Seems I'll be apprenticing under Doctor Strange.
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[Honestly, David might have suggested Vidana. He expected these two might get on like a house on fire, and she'd definitely enable the kid, which he supposed would be a bad thing.]
You going to live with him?
no subject
[Learning more about magic won't be too bad, but it's the principle of the whole thing.]
I lived alone before arriving here. I don't see why everyone's making such a big deal of it now.
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[Because the Asgardians were clearly assholes about Loki.]
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[... which is to say he hadn't considered that. He thought he was being punished or being watched closely because everyone was afraid.]
I had all that I needed in Asgard and I could come and go as I pleased. I don't need another All-Mother to report to here, and I'd rather not be stuck running errands for Strange.
no subject
[All he needed? David scoffs and sits up, pointing a stern finger at Loki.]
That's the problem. You had what you needed. When I care about someone, I want them to have more than what they need. I want them to have things that they don't need but will make them happy. I want them to have things that are pretty or tasty or just comfortable. I want to shower them with gifts and shelther them and just so them that I love them. Sometimes that's just as important. Did you ask if they expect reports? Or if you'd be asked to do errands? Or are you assuming?
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[Honestly, he still might not take them. Since it feels like this is out of pity, not genuine care and love.]
Consider this: no one's told Ikol he has to go and live with Doctor Strange because he needs a good influence. No one's forced you into Jean Grey's apartment because you need to be under constant supervision. Why is it so unreasonable that I would want the same as anyone else?
no subject
Honestly? I would prefer that Loki went to live with Doctor Strange because he needs a good influence. But if he said that you needed it for that, I'd smack him if I were in your place. And Jean wouldn't want me to live with her, but Josh has actually lived with me because he needed one and chose to ask that of me.
But my honest answer is this. Giving you someone to fall back on when you need them, who can help provide for you so that you can spend your time on school if you choose it, or other learning and projects, isn't a bad thing. Some people even like it, knowing there is a place that, when the worst happens, will always take them.
[So David shrugs. He knows that isn't even a realistic thing sometimes. He is a mutant after all.]
But you're not a normal kid, at all, so you really should be consulted on all of this.
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[Which Ikol said too, but that's closer to his assumptions. He's used to everyone planning for the worst with him.]
I wouldn't mind having the New Mutants to fall back on, you know. Even Helstrom or Volstagg would be fine. And obviously, I'd have no issue staying with Thor, were he here.
[And usually he would be excited for a Doctor Strange team-up too, except...]
... I don't like having things decided for me.
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Well, I know the New Mutants you knew aren't here, but Dani gave us that name for a reason. I don't suggest going to Josh and expecting that to mean something to him, he doesn't remember her. But you can, most of the time, show up at my place when I get one and crash there or whatever if you need. Just forgive me if I wave you off for nights with Balthier from time to time.
[But now he's curious.]
If it wasn't Ikol's suggestion, would you want to work with Stephen?
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[He knows who Balthier is. Or at least who Balthier is to David.]
But honestly, I don't know. I've never met the man, or any variation of him.
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