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<blockquote data-quote="orchid blossom" data-source="post: 1685517" data-attributes="member: 12815"><p>Round 3: orchid blossom vs. Rodrigo Istilandir</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px">Distraction</span></p><p></p><p>By: orchid blossom</p><p></p><p>"Bring that light closer." <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15464" target="_blank">Shen bent over the crate and pulled up another cord.</a> How in the world did Zhi-Nu ever keep this straight?</p><p></p><p>"Where does that one go?" Hsin asked.</p><p></p><p>"Dunno yet. It's bluish, so it has something to do with, um, sickness I think. Quit worrying about the cords. You're supposed to guarding. Guard."</p><p></p><p>Jin pushed up next to Shen and slipped the cord between the blades of his scissors. "Do we get to cut it?" he asked eagerly.</p><p></p><p>Shen shoved Jin away. "No! No red stripe, this one is supposed to recover."</p><p></p><p>"I never get to cut the threads."</p><p></p><p>"It's not really Zhi-Nu's job to end the lives. Just to make sure that what's supposed to happen does." Shen disentangled the blue cord and laid it neatly at the foot of the loom. "Light," he said as he turned back to the crate. </p><p></p><p>“Jin, light!”</p><p></p><p>Jin cleared his throat and pointed. Shen followed his finger toward a tall figure in the doorway.</p><p></p><p>“Nice job with the guarding, Hsin,” he muttered.</p><p></p><p>They turned and bowed to the Jade Emperor. "This is my daughter's work," he said flatly. "Why are you touching the threads?"</p><p></p><p>The three looked at one another. "I'm waiting for my answer."</p><p></p><p>Shen cleared his throat. "Sire, I, um, I believe your daughter was delayed. We were just, ah, getting things ready for her return."</p><p></p><p>The Emperor's eyebrows lifted. "In the dark."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, sire."</p><p></p><p>"Open up that lantern.” Yellowish light flooded the room as the Emperor walked over to a large mirror on the wall and passed his hand over it. His reflection shimmered and disappeared, replaced by that of his daughter.</p><p></p><p>"Leave the work."</p><p></p><p>"But, Sire, the lives," Shen began.</p><p></p><p>"If my daughter is so easily distracted, she must learn the consequences of such distractions. Leave it."</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around her pillow. It was getting cold in the bed. She scooted closer to the center, searching for John's warmth. Instead she found an empty space, rapidly cooling. A warm hand touched her cheek. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."</p><p></p><p>"I get lonely without you," she said.</p><p></p><p>John laughed and kissed her forehead. "What you get is cold. I'll bring you another blanket before I leave."</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu sighed and opened her eyes. "No. It's time to get up anyway. My loom is finally ready, and I'm far behind."</p><p></p><p>"That thing is huge," John said as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "You really weave peoples lives on that?"</p><p></p><p>"Not exactly. People's lives are their own, but the weave makes sure that certain challenges happen, and sometimes certain choices. How people deal with it is up to them."</p><p></p><p>John learned over and kissed her again, sliding his hand down her arm. "And did you weave us into your pattern?"</p><p></p><p>"Just a happy accident," she smiled. "You should get going, you have that test flight today, don't you?"</p><p></p><p>"The last one. I'm confident. The plane has worked perfectly during each test, there's no reason to think that's going to change."</p><p></p><p>"I'll be relieved when it’s finished, I don't quite trust airplanes," Zhi-Nu said. </p><p></p><p>John watched as she slipped out of bed and adjusted her hair. He was getting spoiled. It hardly amazed him anymore how perfect his goddess was each morning. <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15465" target="_blank">His eyes slipped down past her neck and over the elaborate tattoo that spanned from her shoulders to her thighs.</a> She denied it was a tattoo, claming it had actually been painted, but he didn't know of any paint that stayed on skin like that. </p><p></p><p>The water seemed to flow across her back as Zhi-Nu moved. He watched idly as the two women walked and waited for the man to appear behind them. John leaned forward to look closer. "Zhi-Nu, wasn't there a man in that painting, on your right side?"</p><p></p><p>"Of course."</p><p></p><p>"He's not there now."</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu snatched up a hand mirror and ran over to the full-length mirror on the wall. "No, he's not."</p><p></p><p>"What does it mean?" John asked.</p><p></p><p>She put down the mirror and slipped on a robe. "That something's changed. You really should go, I think I should get to work immediately."</p><p></p><p>"You're sure it's alright?"</p><p></p><p>"I'm sure," Zhi-Nu smiled and kissed him. "Get out of here."</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu watched him until the door closed and then went to her own work. The new loom took up almost the entire second bedroom, but it would be a pleasant enough place to work. Early morning sunlight streamed through the windows and set the wood to glowing. She sat down, nestled the shuttle in her hand, and reached up to pluck her first thread from her room in the heavens.</p><p></p><p>The missing man on her body painting was disturbing. She flipped the shuttle to her other hand and pressed one of the pedals with her foot. In some ways the painting was a representation of her work. As long as her weaving was completed well before the events were to occur everything was fine. If things were disappearing from it, then the events in her last weaving would be occurring very soon.</p><p></p><p>She threw the shuttle from one hand to the other, pressing the pedals and quickly forming the woven cloth of fate. Each thread went into its proper place, each challenge and trial for every human being woven into a tapestry that showed the connections between them. Speed was of the essence at the moment; there was no way to know how close to the present her last weaving was. It might have been her haste that caused the shuttle to catch on the warp and clatter to the floor.</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu put her cut finger into her mouth and picked up the shuttle with her other hand. She took a look at the fabric and noticed a small hole. The shuttle clattered again as she stood and ran her hand along her work. Each thread had gone to the right place, but there was a hole in the fabric, as if that thread had ceased to exist. There was no red stripe in that thread, it should have been whole. Zhi-Nu laid her finger against the thread and read it carefully. </p><p></p><p>Images came to her mind. A dark man, humorous and kind, and strongly associated with machines and air. A challenging flight, but even its worst outcome should not be death. John was confident about his flight, but there was a hole.</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu ran through the lobby of their apartment building and flung herself at the door. It was always busy on the street in the morning, but the crush of people in front of the building was worse even than rush hour. They spoke in hushed whispers, some bouncing on their toes trying to see over the heads in the crowd. Zhi-Nu pushed and wriggled her way to the center of the mob.</p><p></p><p>Rectangles of ivory were scattered among huge splinters of wood and twisted wires. The bloodied body of a man lay beneath the largest pieces, his flesh lashed by the piano wires as if he'd been whipped. Zhi-Nu swallowed against the churning in her stomach. She pulled her eyes away from the man and studied the concrete. His watch had flown from his wrist and landed near the edge of the wreckage. She reached out and pulled the man's thread from the ether.</p><p></p><p>No one else saw the slim cord stretching from the watch to the slight woman's hand. She read it quickly. He had been moving pianos for a few weeks, but this was his first time assisting with an aerial lift. This was his challenge. He had done everything right, secured each strap perfectly. There was no red stripe on his thread, only a spreading red pool, the mark of an unintended death. The image of the piano flickered in her eyes, lifting with the straps, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15466" target="_blank">and then falling without.</a> Zhi-Nu released the thread.</p><p></p><p>Her loom was upstairs. She should go back to it. The fabric she had woven this morning would look like moths had been eating it by now. Zhi-Nu stared at the door and then back down the street. She pushed her way through the crowd and hailed a cab.</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu pushed her feet against the floor as if she could make the cab go faster. She cursed the limits of her powers. At her loom she could weave challenges into the lives of mortals, but in their world she faced them. She couldn't even make this damned cab go faster.</p><p></p><p>The private airstrip John would be flying from wasn't far outside the city, but she'd spent several hours at the loom before she'd noticed the hole. He might be in the air by now. She pulled out the cufflinks she'd snatched off his bedside table and pulled his thread through it. He was another who would do nothing wrong, this failure would be mechanical.</p><p></p><p>The buildings had grown farther apart until they drove through green fields. In only a few more minutes they would arrive at the airstrip. She had visited there with John once. They had gone through several checks of their identification and other security measures. She didn't have time for that. Why would they listen to her anyway? It had taken her weeks to convince John of what she was. The people inside would think she was just a paranoid girlfriend.</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu tapped her fingernails against the window. She hadn't really thought out what she would do once she got to the airstrip. The cab approached the viewing area where people could come to watch the planes take off and land. "Let me out here," she said, throwing the fare into the front seat. She wouldn't be able to get to the field, but she should be able to get the attention of one of the ground crew. They would recognize her, at least.</p><p></p><p>As soon as the cab stopped she was out and running across the soft grass. Chain link fences surrounded the strip, keeping her from getting close. She scanned the field and saw a man wearing a red jacket walking along the fence. Zhi-Nu squinted. Yes, she recognized him. "Gerald!" she shouted, waving her hands above her head. "Gerald!"</p><p></p><p>A moment later Gerald turned and waved back at her. Zhi-Nu raised her voice as loud as she could. "I need to get a message to John!"</p><p></p><p>Gerald shook his head and pointed to the sky. "He's up there. Landing in a minute, you can tell him yourself!"</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu wrapped her fingers around the chain link fence and stared at the sky. The plane was miniscule against the clouds. She prayed that she was wrong; that the hole in the tapestry was not the loss of a thread that should have been there. The plane turned and headed back toward the landing strip as Zhi-Nu again pulled his thread. At first it seemed the clouds were darkening, but as the plane came closer she could see the plumes of white smoke streaming from the back.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15463" target="_blank">She stared at the thread in her hands as the plane flipped upside down and debris from its tail flew toward the ground.</a> Gerald ducked and covered his head just moments before the top of the plane skidded across the runway. A deep crimson spot appeared on the thread in Zhi-Nu's hands. It spread along its length as she stumbled back from the fence.</p><p></p><p>To stop death was not within her power. "Father," she whispered. "Stop this, it is not his time." </p><p></p><p>She watched as emergency crews rushed to the crash site, but she felt nothing. The stain continued to spread. Zhi-Nu looked toward the crash. Behind the smoke and wreckage the river sparkled. She numbly followed the fence line to the shore, fell to her knees, and leaned out over the water.</p><p></p><p>The flowing water warped her reflection, but she could still see her red, swollen eyes and trembling lip. She waved her hand across the surface of the water and watched as the coldly Imperial face of her father replaced her own ravaged reflection. "Do not let him die, Father," she begged, "It is not his time."</p><p></p><p>The Jade Emperor looked back at his daughter through the water. "It is not, but that is not my fault."</p><p></p><p>"It isn't his either. Please Father, do not abandon me."</p><p></p><p>"Why should I not? You have abandoned us," the Emperor said flatly.</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu blushed. "That was not my intention. I built a new loom here, I was beginning my work anew.'</p><p></p><p>"But too late."</p><p></p><p>She swallowed. "Yes, too late. But is that John's fault? Should he die for my folly?"</p><p></p><p>The Emperor waited, but Zhi-Nu offered no more excuses. "I will do this thing, but you must agree to my conditions. You will return immediately to the heavens, take up your work, and you will no longer see this mortal."</p><p></p><p>She shook her head. "No Father, please."</p><p></p><p>The Jade Emperor looked at his daughter's tear stained face. True, she had been foolish, but he could still remember love. "I will grant you one day a year, but the other conditions stand. Accept them or not."</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu nodded. "I accept, but I ask one more thing. I wish to say good-bye to John, and to explain."</p><p></p><p>"I will bring him to you, but you have only a few minutes daughter."</p><p></p><p>"I understand." Zhi-Nu backed a few steps away from the shore. A moment later a creature rose from the water. <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15467" target="_blank">It reached the shore and began to rearrange itself.</a> Its large flat head shrank and warped as the complex skeleton beneath took on a human shape. Finally the muscles and skin formed and the eyes opened.</p><p></p><p>John looked down at his body, and then over toward the burning plane where rescuers still worked to pull his real self from the wreckage.</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu leaned forward and took him in her arms. "Listen to me love, we don't have much time."</p><p></p><p>* * *</p><p></p><p>The sun streamed across Zhi-Nu's loom as she passed the shuttle from hand to hand. One hundred passes a minute, sunrise to sunset, day to day, week to week. Minutes were measured by the creaking of pedals and the weaving of threads, and days by the yard. Hundreds of yards had passed through her loom, but hundreds more had yet to be woven before they measured a year.</p><p></p><p>Zhi-Nu passed the shuttle, pushed the pedals, and wove.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="orchid blossom, post: 1685517, member: 12815"] Round 3: orchid blossom vs. Rodrigo Istilandir [SIZE=4]Distraction[/SIZE] By: orchid blossom "Bring that light closer." [url=http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15464]Shen bent over the crate and pulled up another cord.[/url] How in the world did Zhi-Nu ever keep this straight? "Where does that one go?" Hsin asked. "Dunno yet. It's bluish, so it has something to do with, um, sickness I think. Quit worrying about the cords. You're supposed to guarding. Guard." Jin pushed up next to Shen and slipped the cord between the blades of his scissors. "Do we get to cut it?" he asked eagerly. Shen shoved Jin away. "No! No red stripe, this one is supposed to recover." "I never get to cut the threads." "It's not really Zhi-Nu's job to end the lives. Just to make sure that what's supposed to happen does." Shen disentangled the blue cord and laid it neatly at the foot of the loom. "Light," he said as he turned back to the crate. “Jin, light!” Jin cleared his throat and pointed. Shen followed his finger toward a tall figure in the doorway. “Nice job with the guarding, Hsin,” he muttered. They turned and bowed to the Jade Emperor. "This is my daughter's work," he said flatly. "Why are you touching the threads?" The three looked at one another. "I'm waiting for my answer." Shen cleared his throat. "Sire, I, um, I believe your daughter was delayed. We were just, ah, getting things ready for her return." The Emperor's eyebrows lifted. "In the dark." "Yes, sire." "Open up that lantern.” Yellowish light flooded the room as the Emperor walked over to a large mirror on the wall and passed his hand over it. His reflection shimmered and disappeared, replaced by that of his daughter. "Leave the work." "But, Sire, the lives," Shen began. "If my daughter is so easily distracted, she must learn the consequences of such distractions. Leave it." * * * Zhi-Nu took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around her pillow. It was getting cold in the bed. She scooted closer to the center, searching for John's warmth. Instead she found an empty space, rapidly cooling. A warm hand touched her cheek. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." "I get lonely without you," she said. John laughed and kissed her forehead. "What you get is cold. I'll bring you another blanket before I leave." Zhi-Nu sighed and opened her eyes. "No. It's time to get up anyway. My loom is finally ready, and I'm far behind." "That thing is huge," John said as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "You really weave peoples lives on that?" "Not exactly. People's lives are their own, but the weave makes sure that certain challenges happen, and sometimes certain choices. How people deal with it is up to them." John learned over and kissed her again, sliding his hand down her arm. "And did you weave us into your pattern?" "Just a happy accident," she smiled. "You should get going, you have that test flight today, don't you?" "The last one. I'm confident. The plane has worked perfectly during each test, there's no reason to think that's going to change." "I'll be relieved when it’s finished, I don't quite trust airplanes," Zhi-Nu said. John watched as she slipped out of bed and adjusted her hair. He was getting spoiled. It hardly amazed him anymore how perfect his goddess was each morning. [url=http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15465]His eyes slipped down past her neck and over the elaborate tattoo that spanned from her shoulders to her thighs.[/url] She denied it was a tattoo, claming it had actually been painted, but he didn't know of any paint that stayed on skin like that. The water seemed to flow across her back as Zhi-Nu moved. He watched idly as the two women walked and waited for the man to appear behind them. John leaned forward to look closer. "Zhi-Nu, wasn't there a man in that painting, on your right side?" "Of course." "He's not there now." Zhi-Nu snatched up a hand mirror and ran over to the full-length mirror on the wall. "No, he's not." "What does it mean?" John asked. She put down the mirror and slipped on a robe. "That something's changed. You really should go, I think I should get to work immediately." "You're sure it's alright?" "I'm sure," Zhi-Nu smiled and kissed him. "Get out of here." Zhi-Nu watched him until the door closed and then went to her own work. The new loom took up almost the entire second bedroom, but it would be a pleasant enough place to work. Early morning sunlight streamed through the windows and set the wood to glowing. She sat down, nestled the shuttle in her hand, and reached up to pluck her first thread from her room in the heavens. The missing man on her body painting was disturbing. She flipped the shuttle to her other hand and pressed one of the pedals with her foot. In some ways the painting was a representation of her work. As long as her weaving was completed well before the events were to occur everything was fine. If things were disappearing from it, then the events in her last weaving would be occurring very soon. She threw the shuttle from one hand to the other, pressing the pedals and quickly forming the woven cloth of fate. Each thread went into its proper place, each challenge and trial for every human being woven into a tapestry that showed the connections between them. Speed was of the essence at the moment; there was no way to know how close to the present her last weaving was. It might have been her haste that caused the shuttle to catch on the warp and clatter to the floor. Zhi-Nu put her cut finger into her mouth and picked up the shuttle with her other hand. She took a look at the fabric and noticed a small hole. The shuttle clattered again as she stood and ran her hand along her work. Each thread had gone to the right place, but there was a hole in the fabric, as if that thread had ceased to exist. There was no red stripe in that thread, it should have been whole. Zhi-Nu laid her finger against the thread and read it carefully. Images came to her mind. A dark man, humorous and kind, and strongly associated with machines and air. A challenging flight, but even its worst outcome should not be death. John was confident about his flight, but there was a hole. * * * Zhi-Nu ran through the lobby of their apartment building and flung herself at the door. It was always busy on the street in the morning, but the crush of people in front of the building was worse even than rush hour. They spoke in hushed whispers, some bouncing on their toes trying to see over the heads in the crowd. Zhi-Nu pushed and wriggled her way to the center of the mob. Rectangles of ivory were scattered among huge splinters of wood and twisted wires. The bloodied body of a man lay beneath the largest pieces, his flesh lashed by the piano wires as if he'd been whipped. Zhi-Nu swallowed against the churning in her stomach. She pulled her eyes away from the man and studied the concrete. His watch had flown from his wrist and landed near the edge of the wreckage. She reached out and pulled the man's thread from the ether. No one else saw the slim cord stretching from the watch to the slight woman's hand. She read it quickly. He had been moving pianos for a few weeks, but this was his first time assisting with an aerial lift. This was his challenge. He had done everything right, secured each strap perfectly. There was no red stripe on his thread, only a spreading red pool, the mark of an unintended death. The image of the piano flickered in her eyes, lifting with the straps, [url=http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15466]and then falling without.[/url] Zhi-Nu released the thread. Her loom was upstairs. She should go back to it. The fabric she had woven this morning would look like moths had been eating it by now. Zhi-Nu stared at the door and then back down the street. She pushed her way through the crowd and hailed a cab. * * * Zhi-Nu pushed her feet against the floor as if she could make the cab go faster. She cursed the limits of her powers. At her loom she could weave challenges into the lives of mortals, but in their world she faced them. She couldn't even make this damned cab go faster. The private airstrip John would be flying from wasn't far outside the city, but she'd spent several hours at the loom before she'd noticed the hole. He might be in the air by now. She pulled out the cufflinks she'd snatched off his bedside table and pulled his thread through it. He was another who would do nothing wrong, this failure would be mechanical. The buildings had grown farther apart until they drove through green fields. In only a few more minutes they would arrive at the airstrip. She had visited there with John once. They had gone through several checks of their identification and other security measures. She didn't have time for that. Why would they listen to her anyway? It had taken her weeks to convince John of what she was. The people inside would think she was just a paranoid girlfriend. Zhi-Nu tapped her fingernails against the window. She hadn't really thought out what she would do once she got to the airstrip. The cab approached the viewing area where people could come to watch the planes take off and land. "Let me out here," she said, throwing the fare into the front seat. She wouldn't be able to get to the field, but she should be able to get the attention of one of the ground crew. They would recognize her, at least. As soon as the cab stopped she was out and running across the soft grass. Chain link fences surrounded the strip, keeping her from getting close. She scanned the field and saw a man wearing a red jacket walking along the fence. Zhi-Nu squinted. Yes, she recognized him. "Gerald!" she shouted, waving her hands above her head. "Gerald!" A moment later Gerald turned and waved back at her. Zhi-Nu raised her voice as loud as she could. "I need to get a message to John!" Gerald shook his head and pointed to the sky. "He's up there. Landing in a minute, you can tell him yourself!" Zhi-Nu wrapped her fingers around the chain link fence and stared at the sky. The plane was miniscule against the clouds. She prayed that she was wrong; that the hole in the tapestry was not the loss of a thread that should have been there. The plane turned and headed back toward the landing strip as Zhi-Nu again pulled his thread. At first it seemed the clouds were darkening, but as the plane came closer she could see the plumes of white smoke streaming from the back. [url=http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15463]She stared at the thread in her hands as the plane flipped upside down and debris from its tail flew toward the ground.[/url] Gerald ducked and covered his head just moments before the top of the plane skidded across the runway. A deep crimson spot appeared on the thread in Zhi-Nu's hands. It spread along its length as she stumbled back from the fence. To stop death was not within her power. "Father," she whispered. "Stop this, it is not his time." She watched as emergency crews rushed to the crash site, but she felt nothing. The stain continued to spread. Zhi-Nu looked toward the crash. Behind the smoke and wreckage the river sparkled. She numbly followed the fence line to the shore, fell to her knees, and leaned out over the water. The flowing water warped her reflection, but she could still see her red, swollen eyes and trembling lip. She waved her hand across the surface of the water and watched as the coldly Imperial face of her father replaced her own ravaged reflection. "Do not let him die, Father," she begged, "It is not his time." The Jade Emperor looked back at his daughter through the water. "It is not, but that is not my fault." "It isn't his either. Please Father, do not abandon me." "Why should I not? You have abandoned us," the Emperor said flatly. Zhi-Nu blushed. "That was not my intention. I built a new loom here, I was beginning my work anew.' "But too late." She swallowed. "Yes, too late. But is that John's fault? Should he die for my folly?" The Emperor waited, but Zhi-Nu offered no more excuses. "I will do this thing, but you must agree to my conditions. You will return immediately to the heavens, take up your work, and you will no longer see this mortal." She shook her head. "No Father, please." The Jade Emperor looked at his daughter's tear stained face. True, she had been foolish, but he could still remember love. "I will grant you one day a year, but the other conditions stand. Accept them or not." Zhi-Nu nodded. "I accept, but I ask one more thing. I wish to say good-bye to John, and to explain." "I will bring him to you, but you have only a few minutes daughter." "I understand." Zhi-Nu backed a few steps away from the shore. A moment later a creature rose from the water. [url=http://www.enworld.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15467]It reached the shore and began to rearrange itself.[/url] Its large flat head shrank and warped as the complex skeleton beneath took on a human shape. Finally the muscles and skin formed and the eyes opened. John looked down at his body, and then over toward the burning plane where rescuers still worked to pull his real self from the wreckage. Zhi-Nu leaned forward and took him in her arms. "Listen to me love, we don't have much time." * * * The sun streamed across Zhi-Nu's loom as she passed the shuttle from hand to hand. One hundred passes a minute, sunrise to sunset, day to day, week to week. Minutes were measured by the creaking of pedals and the weaving of threads, and days by the yard. Hundreds of yards had passed through her loom, but hundreds more had yet to be woven before they measured a year. Zhi-Nu passed the shuttle, pushed the pedals, and wove. [/QUOTE]
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