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Post by Grand Moff Poobah I on Apr 3, 2016 23:47:35 GMT -5
Var rolled her eyes at the family griping about tradition, but she smiled while she did it. The complaints were also part of it. When Niri and Enarin headed out on their own they'd come back on some holiday and beg for one of her homecooked meals, a board game, and some movies. It was the kind of thing she'd never had growing up, and few things felt better than making sure the kids did have it. That was something she could respect about her family life, and sleep very easily at night over. She didn't object one bit, let them complain. Of course it wouldn't change family time.
"Actually Donnie has a point there, if you want to try to get Enarin into shape. Maybe teach him how to throw a punch so the next time he doesn't wind up getting taken hostage. Or I mean, even beyond that, Enarin you have the muscle definition of a cooked noodle. I think you could use a little exercise honey, sorry."
Probably the last thing on Var's mind was trying to fix up Enarin with the scary bodyguard, but she did think it'd at least keep the kid busy. And out of trouble more importantly.
Jada nodded.
"I can work up some kind of training program. Make sure he doesn't have too much spare time," She turned her gaze back to Enarin, and carefully summed up his physicality. He was never going to be stacked, jacked, ripped, or pumped up. He was the type who could probably do better aiming for speed and defense based on redirecting attacks. Luckily that was something she could handle pretty well. They'd taught her a dozen different martial tactics, and that meant she'd be able to pass on plenty.
"Got any goals in the uh, physical department kid?" She queried.
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Post by The Conman on Apr 4, 2016 0:16:17 GMT -5
Enarin looked between Var, Donnie, then Jada, then back to Var, then back to Jada. Apparently he wasn't going to be included in the conversation, not that he really would have had any input, his idea of a good time didn't involve Jada. It wasn't that he thought badly of her, he was sure she was a perfectly good person. The teen wanted to hole up in his room for a few days and not do anything, obviously his mothers wanted to bolt Jada to him and have him under watch 24/7. The pretense of getting him into shape and teaching him to fight was cute, but Enarin wasn't buyin' it. He took a sip out of his beer, and spoke, looking down at it as he slowly turned it around in his hand.
"Y'know, 18 inch biceps, six pack, maybe shoot for Mr.Galaxy...." He murmured, to nobody in particular, looking up at Jada first.
"My goals are to get healed up, before I do anything." He said, gently, trying to be at least somewhat diplomatic, turning to his moms next.
"I have friends...I don't think I'll be leaving the fleet at any point, not after...what happened." he said, giving the wall a sidelong glance, trying to figure out how to proceed.
It wasn't that he was frustrated, the teen understood what his moms were on about. It was that it was literally the day he'd come back. All of a sudden there's a body guard, talk of getting him into physical training ( something they'd tried before, and it'd failed...), and getting him to spend time with a giant amazon of a woman he knew nothing about but who was obviously in the employ of his mothers.
Donnie piped up, filling in some of the dead air.
"Enarin...It's not...about that...I mean, I'd feel more comfort-" Donnie said to Enarin, stopping for a second and gently giving his shoulder a shake.
"-Look at me, Enarin. I'm serious, I think all of us would feel better if you...well...could at least defend yourself, and Jada here wou-" Enarin cut her off, shaking his head, standing up, a blank expression on his face, looking directly at Doneeda.
"No." He said, quietly, putting the beer he was holding on the table with some force, the noise causing Donnie to jump a bit.
"Enarin..." Donnie said weakly, as he walked off towards his room, the door whooshing shut in the background. She looked over at Var and Jada.
"Well...that went well..." Donnie said, flatly, resting her head in her hands, while she leaned her elbows on the table.
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Post by Grand Moff Poobah I on Apr 4, 2016 0:35:11 GMT -5
Niri looked up from her now-empty plate of cake, and twirled a fork in way of response for the whole thing. The teenage hybrid was always one to poke fun at Enarin, and moreover to jokingly elevate her own status in the narrow and competitive field of kids. She smiled overly sweetly.
"Well y'know, he clearly isn't interested. Probably because he's REALLY gonna hide in the room now. Being a Mando sextoy probably has him feeling like hiding in his shell like a little snail is comfy-cozy, and I think that clearly he's not gonna want his share of the cake..."
Var scowled at Niri.
"Nieriaba’soaknadaa, how did you know what happened to your brother?"
Niri opened her mouth, to say 'I didn't, you just told me,' but on realizing the action hero line was going to go over like a fresh steak at a vegan convention, she immediately swallowed her humor and opted for the whole honesty thing instead. She wasn't an idiot, and she knew when the jig was up and it was time to pay the piper.
"I eavesdrop on stuff. I like knowing things OK? Am I grounded?" She looked nervously between her mothers.
Var waved dismissively. "Go to your room and I'll figure it out later."
She watched Niri scamper off a bit more sedately, and she turned her attention back to Donnie and Jada. She sighed a little bit. She knew Enarin well enough now, and what was more, she had the Force on her side. It made her damned good at reading people. The poor kid, he wasn't angry. Just uncomfortable, tired, and in need of some time to himself, free from expectations.
"He doesn't mean anything by that. He's just tired, and he needs some time to get back to normal. Don't rush him on it or push him to do anything he doesn't want to."
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Post by The Conman on Apr 4, 2016 1:43:43 GMT -5
Donnie didn’t speak as Var talked with Niri...well, chided her was more like it. She wasn’t interested in getting involved in that, she kept her head in her hands, until Niri had scampered off.
“You’re right, Var...time and space…”. She intoned.
The woman pushed her lekku over her shoulders as she leaned back, sighing...It was gonna be an interesting few weeks.
-=-=-= Hours Later =-=-=-
Enarin chuckled as his bad jedi movie came to a close, the screen freezing and fading to black, cheesy techno thumping while the credits started to roll. He’d chosen one of his favourites to bust out...he needed it.
The teen leaned over the couch, and picked up his bong. It was a simple, clear, straight tube, 2 inches around, water in the bottom, bowl poking out the side. It was simple, but it was his favourite out of the 10 or so he’d collected. The teen sat up from his comfy position, and picked up his grinder off the table near the couch, and popped it open.
With fast, practiced motions he packed the bowl in a matter of seconds, his lighter “wshhh”ing as the product in the bowl crackled as he inhaled through the bong, filling it with smoke. After a few seconds, he pulled the bowl, cleared it, and held it in. The teen trying not to cough as he brought a closed fist upto his mouth.
After a few seconds, he exhaled, the cloud obscuring the TV for a few moments. He leaned back and put the bong back down, reaching over to the table beside his couch and picking up his…
“Damn…” He intoned, looking at the empty glass like it should have filled its self up.
He sighed, and stood up, the skinny teen wearing a pair of polkadot boxer underwear and nothing else, as he walked to the kitchen.
It was dark, as usual, though that’d never been a problem for him, unless they’d remodeled, which Enarin was pretty sure they hadn’t. He chuckled at the thought of “the moms” trying to decide on shades of Granite or arguing over paintchips…
He deposited the cup on the island in the kitchen, and walked over to the nearby wall, flipping the light on. He turned around and jumped about a foot in the air.
“WUGGHHAHAA” He blurted out, Jada having appeared out of nowhere on the other side of the kitchen.
Enarin took a breath and looked over at the fridge, hoping she wasn’t guarding the Cake. As if to ask, he gestured towards it, the woman not really making any movements, the Teen figuring she wasn’t, so he motored over, popped it open, and pulled out the remaining third of the cake, covered in plastic wrap, depositing it on the island.
He spoke as he went.
“So, Jada...whatddya doin’ still awake?” Enarin asked, pulling out a pair of forks and a pair of plates, figuring the Amazonian woman would want some.
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Post by Grand Moff Poobah I on Apr 4, 2016 2:00:42 GMT -5
Jada'd been obliged to explain at least five times now, she didn't sleep. Not in the way they were accustomed to. People who didn't have to keep an eye open were the ones who slept eight hours with impunity. When security was your duty, and there was one of you, there were only two options. In the short term you brought some hot sauce, dabbed it onto a finger, and put it to your eye. By the time you recovered sight you were wide awake for days. But on a more long term basis, the rules were different. The tactical considerations were different. What you did then was patrol. Nap intermittently. Spread your sleep carefully through the night and the quiet hours of the day, and you managed to more or less function. Even then she had a hairtrigger for lights and noises.
It was no surprise then that she'd kept tabs when Donnie and Var went to bed. She'd also been able to hear when Niri had finally bothered to sleep. Enarin had been the last one awake, watching some sort of movie, and judging by the smell, using some herb. It was perhaps more of a surprise when he meandered out of his room in his skivvies and headed into the kitchen. Incidentally that was where Jada had been standing.
Enarin handled himself relatively well. His cry of surprise was the muffled and understated one that did't imply actual terror. As such the only response in the ship was that Niri rolled over and buried her face into her pillow while mumbling about the Captain of the Track Team. He recovered quickly enough, and pulled out the remnants of the cake deftly. His mission was about accomplished, or so Jada figured. Of course he'd asked the question amusing enough she had to respond.
"There's four of you, and one of me, and 24 hours to work with. That means some odd hours."
Her amber eyes noticed he produced two plates, and she realized that she'd actually misjudged the guy, he was the sort to split the cake rather than make a hasty retreat to safety.
"Security sweeps you know? Have to keep my eyes open, keep track of where you all are. Make sure Niri doesn't try to sneak out again."
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Post by The Conman on Apr 4, 2016 23:19:56 GMT -5
Enarin nodded, it made sense. Probably sucked, but he didn't want to push the subject, but she looked chipper enough...so he figured Jada probably was ok with it. He looked up as she explained the security sweeps while he unwrapped the remaining cake, pulled the plastic wrap off and tossed it in the garbage. He pulled open the drawer as the Dark woman mentioned trying to keep Niri contained, the teen snerked.
Niri had become something of a Ninja of late, even before he'd been gone. Every time the moms had upped the measures, added something to try to keep her from sneaking off with gods only knew who at unholy hours, she'd figured a way around. Enarin figured Jada would put a stop to it, however, his spidey-sense told him that much.
He pulled the cake-cutter out of the drawer and looked over at Jada, unsure of how much, if any, she wanted, the two plates with forks beside them on the table. She hadn't objected yet, so he figured he'd press on, if she wanted to watch he figure, the woman was in the wrong house. The mom's strategy was, as far as he could see, to eat well and work out.
"So, how's that working out for you?" He asked with a dumb smirk, as he sliced a decently sized piece of cake and deposited it onto a plate, which he nudged towards Jada.
"Keeping Niri...here, that is? I've heard she's quite the escape artist." He finished, slicing another good sized piece of cake and putting it onto his plate.
The teen turned around and popped open the fridge, and pulled out one of the pre-packaged bottles of the drink the boska drank, and popped it open as he turned around. He looked at Jada, and shrugged, taking a sip of the chalky, vaguely oaty substance, then took a bite of cake.
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Post by Grand Moff Poobah I on Apr 5, 2016 19:32:41 GMT -5
Jada took the proffered slice of cake and a fork, and she sat down on the counter next to Enarin. Carefully she balanced the plate on a meaty thigh and chewed over a forkul while Enarin engaged her in conversation. He definitely seemed more at ease now, probably because his parents weren't pressuring him about relationships right now. He did ask a good question though, and Jada'd give Niri credit, she was slippery and clever. But not slippery or clever enough to get away with it. Jada grinned with professional pride.
"Oh she's pretty good, walks very lightly, opens the door with the manual release. But I'm awake half the time, I'll hear her at the outer exit anyway, and she's so white that hiding is impossible. I uh, on the other hand, tend to just blend right into a dark room."
She chewed over another bite of cake, and made a mental note to try more cakes. However, she also devoted some thought to offers of help for Enarin.
"Earlier, about helping you train. I'm not saying you need to lift a bunch of weights or learn to box. There's stuff we learn below decks that's all about pressure points, joint locks, and redirecting force. If you're interested in it. I get you've been through a lot here, I'm not trying to force you into anything."
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Post by The Conman on Apr 5, 2016 20:29:32 GMT -5
Enarin smirked at her comments about Niri's whiteness. The two places she was obviously "Var's" were facially, and her skintone. He'd never really thought about how difficult it'd make hiding, but Jada made a fair point. Niri really didn't have much going for her in that department, seemed like she needed to avoid even being seen...but being white as a ghost negated that. He took a bite of the cake while the dark woman made her offer, to help him learn to defend himself, and listened intently, leaning against the counter and holding the cake in one hand, his fork in the other, the bottle of goo on the counter between the pair, looking at Jada as she spoke.
He had to admit, while taking furtive glances while she used her fork on her cake, there was something about her...he wasn't usually into the superwoman look, but somehow Jada made it work...despite the somewhat hard features of her face, she did have pretty eyes, a cute nose and lips. Physically she was...easy to look at, he determined, from what he'd seen so far, "well put together" was an understatement, she managed to have definition without it being manly, having the padding in the right areas to be womanly, and the definition in the right areas to make it obvious the power she had on tap.
He made a mental note to try not to stare.
Cake and weed buoying things somewhat, Jada could have proposed a root canal and he'dve at least listened, maybe even had a conversation about it.
The teen wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do, he was being offered help, from somebody who obviously knew what they were doing. He could tell from her tone and look she was genuine, the fact she followed up about it, he wasn't sure...maybe she wanted to help him, maybe it was about job security. The difference that made no difference wasn't one to the Teen. He was tempted to accept her offer, if only to shut his parents up...There was, however, a part of his mind bugging him about the offer, urging him to take it. Why he wasn't entirely sure, but his spidey-sense was tingling.
It could have been the 2 grams he'd smoked over 30 minutes finally catching up with him, or the cold, he wasn't entirely sure, but there was a niggling thought that had managed to surface and was starting to circulate around his drug-addled brain. The question he asked himself routinely when going into uncharted waters, or, more specifically, when he'd reached the final go/no go decision on going into uncharted waters.
What's the worst that can happen?..The teen thought to himself, finishing his bite of cake.
"It wouldn't have mattered what I knew, Jada, I got shot in the face with a stunner-" he started, pointing to the spatter like scar just above his right eye with the fork.
"- When I woke up, I was in a cell with a mando...No matter how hard I train, my skinny ass isn't getting into the Galactic Grav-Ball league, if y'know what I mean..." He said, trailing off towards the end, still wanting to circle back to his original point, chuckling while waving a dismissive fork and shaking his head, not entirely sure why he just told somebody he'd just met all that.
"Man I'm hi-" he murmored, continuing.
"Y'know, if it'll make the mom's feel better, and worst case I pick something up that might keep me alive, or I get into better shape, why not?". He finished, rhetorically
"Maybe you can teach me how you got so huge and terrifying?" He added, jokingly.
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Post by Grand Moff Poobah I on Apr 5, 2016 22:50:52 GMT -5
Jada listened carefully. She made it a policy to listen more than she talked, because that was how you picked up knowledge and human intel, and interrupting was rude anyway. He wasn't totally sold. Sure maybe he was potentially right about getting shot not helping. On the other hand if he'd reacted right away to being touched, he might have avoided getting abducted. Hostages were taken because they were easy, if you were a hassle you weren't worth the effort.
She knew that very simply because she'd not bother taking a dangerous hostage. You wanted doormats for that bit.
The fact Enarin was high didn't bother her. Indeed, as she chewed over her cake she reflected on one of the cardinal rules. People didn't get in trouble because they broke or obeyed laws, they got in trouble if they broke laws and weren't important enough to dodge it. A good family like this one, they'd be immune to anything as minor as substances. Which weren't much cared about among the Boska in the first place.
She nodded, pleased he was yielding to his parents a bit. It'd give her something to do as well.
The huge woman finished chewing her cake, swallowed, and didn't skip a beat on the joking question.
"Genetics. Punching things. The usual."
She lapsed into silence again for a brief moment, then touched back on the issue a little more seriously.
"It happens with Boska, the height. The color thing, that's a lot more unusual. A doc told me once it was incredibly recessive, said I was lucky over it."
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Post by The Conman on Apr 6, 2016 21:00:52 GMT -5
Enarin finished chewing a bite of cake as Jada spoke, he wasn't sure what to expect for a response, truth be told, but "punching things" was as good as any he figured. It pretty well outlined the gist, that was for sure. So far, Jada wasn't so bad, he figured, having initally thought she'd probably kill him in his sleep with a wooden spoon, the fact she was capable of having a conversation was refreshing, it'd give him someone to talk to aside from Niri.
The training he'd agreed to partake in would, hopefully, give him something to do aside from work. Work he wasn't looking forward to returning too, all the questions, having to take a crow bar to the back of Ty's ( his coworker) head...the resulting law-suit...having to fess up and take responsibility for the extensive brain damage he was about to cause to a fellow Boska. It was all going to be very messy, yet satisfying, he thought. The years in prison would be offset by the contrition derived from knowing Ty would be reduced to a blithering idiot, confined to a retard chair, probably fed by a tube.
Enarin shook his head as Jada finished talking about her colouration.
He'd definately noticed her distinctive shade, having never seen one who'd been "touched by Kuuva'atu.". The Teen had heard of them, to be sure, but Enarin thought the whole thing was a myth bred of over zealous imaginations...but seeing it in person was quite striking. She truly was black...or at least a charcoal colour, not a dark brown, but definitely black. Truth be told, the teen found it quite beautiful, not that he was about to start gushing about it.
He chuckled, responding.
"I've seen the height before...Momma D, couple of my co-workers, it's a boska thing, yeah...the colour though, to be honest Jada, I've never seen it before. I've heard of it, but never seen it...." he paused, taking a sip of his bottle of goo.
"We should take a tally of how many people bug you to bless their child or marriage or ship or something, if I remember the teachings...you have magic fingers or can make things good for people you bless, touched by Kuuvasomething or somesuch, I unno." He finished with a small laugh, taking a bite of his cake.
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Post by Grand Moff Poobah I on Apr 6, 2016 21:43:34 GMT -5
Jada poked idly at the cake, not really invested so much in actually eating it. It was there, it was good, but she didn't feel any compulsion to hurry. She wasn't hungry, so she'd leisurely enjoy it. Which, in this case, meant playing with it in a fashion more acceptable than a cat playing with a mouse. Also distinctly tastier at that. The color topic, now that she'd brought it up... Well, it was also something she carried around. People had eyes, they mostly had brains, and they all seemed to have mouths.
Yeah. She'd noticed.
The Boska had a goddess, Kuuva'atu, who was quite literally the deity of space. Hugely important in other words. Respected, honored, and feared. In fact it was very common for parents to threaten their children about making Kuuva'atu unhappy and imperiling the whole fleet. It showed in the looks children had, which were mostly fearful. Of course there were magic fingers and blessings and what-not, but mostly just 'oh look Biili, you've angered the gods by staying up past bedtime.' That was, in her experience, typical people.
"You'd lose track pretty quick. And anyway it's mostly just people trying to scare the kids into not masturbating."
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Post by The Conman on Apr 6, 2016 22:19:46 GMT -5
Enarin let out a laugh that was just on the verge of too loud, the woman hitting the nail on the head. He'd even heard that one, from both moms...though he was a terrible listener, he was decent at hiding his porn. Hopefully nobody would find "Big Booty College Twi'leks 6"...or any of the myriad of other videos he had in his digital stash. The Teen was rather proud of his porn collection, truth be told, he'd cultivated only the finest, highest definition, weapons grade space internet pornography. Not that he planned to tell Jada...nor anybody else...anything about it, it was a sort of private pride in something one does and hopes nobody finds out about.
Like a perfect shit that looks like chocolate soft serve ice cream.
"Heh, yeah, I've heard that one..." He started, shaking his head, short lekku brushing against his shoulders as he did so, looking down for a moment before starting up again.
"I don't think it's ever worked in the history of ever to be honest...I mean, have a fap, and possibly imperil the future of our race, or don't, and have to figure out how to get rid of a boner before breakfast. I don't know about you, but I'll take my chances." He said with a somewhat Donnie-esque cackle.
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Post by Grand Moff Poobah I on Apr 6, 2016 23:10:32 GMT -5
Jada stared at him very carefully as he said all that, ending in an amusing little cackle, and she gave him a thin knowing smile as she placed it. Patterns were an ordinary and integrated part of her existence, and her thought. She looked for them. Usually in timing of patrols, in arrangement of defenses, but it also liked to pop up in conversations. Right now she could see it very clearly, and it was worthy of commenting on.
"You really are your mother's son," She said with a nod, spearing another bite of the cake.
Truth be told she'd wondered. He'd seemed almost more Var than Donnie, in the same strange way Niri was more Donnie than Var in personality. Yet the truth was that you couldn't really shake the signs, whether it was genetics or being raised that did it, there was something of both parents, and his Donnie had showed up very well with that line. It was irreverent enough and funny enough to have that sort of stamp on it. Jada'd noticed that about his mother, the woman very definitely was funny, more obviously so than her spouse.
Getting assigned as a bodyguard hadn't created expectations for her, and Jada was glad she'd kept her mind open. The family wasn't bad, indeed it was a good improvement over her old posting.
"You got a good family here kid," Jada said with a nod, having chewed and swallowed. "Try not to forget that if your parents ride your ass too much."
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Post by The Conman on Apr 7, 2016 0:05:16 GMT -5
Enarin chuckled and nodded, he'd heard that before, every now and then it became pretty obvious "who's" he was. The teen sliced off another bit of cake with his fork, Jada talking about him having an awesome family.
He'd tend to agree, from what he'd heard, and seen, despite the craziness, they were pretty awesome. Some of his friends had "split" families, where they lived with their mom and her husband but they were actually only related to one of their parents, or people who'd lost parents in combat. Or at Abregado...The reality was that he and Niri were pretty lucky in the grand scheme of things, he had a place to sleep, parents who genuinely cared about his well being...cake. It was practically paradise, the teen surmised.
"Heh...you're right...they don't really ride my ass that much, I mean, so long as I do what I'm supposed to...I've heard of some parents driving their kids pretty hard, all I have to do is the laundry, maybe learn to fight...Then I get cake!" He said, somewhat triumphantly, spearing another bit of cake, but not eating it quite yet.
"You're stuck here too, now...Momma D likes you, so you've lucked out as much as I have." He explained with a smirk, eating the bit of cake, his piece mostly done.
Enarin didn't know Jada's background, but he figured she'd probably had it rough, most of the "boots on the ground" types he'd met came from families missing one or both parents. Her nasty scars also led him to believe she'd either been wounded in combat or had some kind of mishap as a child. Even if she'd come from a stand-up family, growing up with that kind of disfigurement had to be difficult. Even among the Boska, a people who tended to wear battle scars with a measure of pride, teasing was a thing.
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Post by Grand Moff Poobah I on Apr 7, 2016 22:54:55 GMT -5
Jada nodded. She was indeed stuck there. It wasn't bad really. Three hots and a cot, reasonably light duty. If she was going to find anything objectionable, at some point it'd be the boredom. Wasn't as if she was likely to get the opportunity to beat the crap out of somebody when everybody around she was responsible for protecting. But... Well, if they liked her, that was good enough. Frankly there weren't a lot of people who liked her. Hell, even a lot of people who really trusted her. That was something. So many of her officers were probably shitting bricks sideways she'd been selected to protect an elite family's children. Pigs were flying past the ship.
She caught the glance though. She always did. There was a certain way people looked, where you could tell they were staring at the scars, but they were too polite to ask.
The skin there, such as it was, had long since healed into the scar tissue left behind by acid. It didn't hurt anymore. Well, not in the physical sense.
Jada lightly touched it.
"You were wondering, weren't you?"
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