the Rift


[OPEN] in search of colored stones

Lyanna the Windswept Posts: 313
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 11 | dam: 4.0
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.2 :: 5 years HP: 64 | Buff: NOVICE
Kyra
#1

let the winds erase me,

like the memory of a kiss

It’s been some time since she’s been to the Deep Forest. Somewhere over the past year she’s come to decide he won’t be here. Wherever Apollo had gone, she hopes he’s happy, that his new life was kind to him. But he wouldn’t be in the Deep Forest or the Endless Blue for her, waiting with Zola on his back. She still wears the ruby he’d given her around her neck though, a reminder of the friend she’d made when she was too new and hopeless to think life might ever be okay again.

But it was okay. It wasn’t the life she’d expected, or maybe even the one she wanted, but it was a good one. She’d found a home, a job, and friends. Her life had meaning and purpose. Though she missed Apollo, missed her family, missed all the things she had lost, she felt okay. Maybe even better than okay.

It’s a beautiful morning, a cool breeze making the heat of Tallsun almost pleasant, the sky still orange and pink from the rising sun. She makes her way through the gate, in an unusual mood to walk today, figuring she can probably find some colorful stones near the ruby pool, or maybe even another ruby. That would count, right? She looks around as she’s leaving, seeing if anyone was planning to join her on this particular piece of the herd quest. Not that she minded some alone time either, as they needed quite a number of things for the temple.

The walk is long but pleasant, the day growing hotter, but she doesn’t mind. The work and the heat keep her ghosts at bay, and sometimes it’s nice to stretch her legs. Soon enough though, the familiar forest rises up before her, and she finds herself smiling a bit. It’s good to be back, and she slips into the trees in search of a stone happily, feeling like all the trees are welcoming her home.

lyanna

let these waters takes me

Image © Rhiaan


@Bartholomeo
It's vague in case he wants to snag her on the way out of the Edge or meet her in the forest.

Please tag in all posts
Magic use/power playing is okay, but check before serious injury/death
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Bartholomeo Posts: 46
World's Edge Protector atk: 5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 7.0
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16'2hh :: 7 HP: 70 | Buff: NOVICE
Snow
#2
BARTHOLOMEO


He seeks an escape. Aelfwine's defection to the Dragon's Throat has left him cold and empty, hurt by the knowledge that his own sister would rather spend her time with a stallion she hardly even knows than with him. Bartholomeo hadn't thought that he would be so wounded by such a thing, yet he's finally found himself a home to love in the form of the World's Edge and he'd been happy in the knowledge that his family would exist there for years to come.

Alas, Aelfwine had other ideas, and the pirate's been left to wander sulkily around his home, planning a thousand painful deaths on the man who stole her from him.

He should keep himself busy, he supposes. Moping around will help nobody, and there's plenty to do now that the herd has its quest. He's lurking outside the Edge, grazing lazily in the Tallsun heat whilst his docked tail does its utmost to prevent the flies from persecuting his flanks, when he sees a familiar form walking past. "Lyanna!" comes his hearty greeting, deciding in a split second to throw his bad mood aside and join the winged mare on her trek to wherever she may be going. She's an intriguing one, is Lyanna. In truth, the stag has grown rather fond of her, although it may be too soon to consider her a friend when the height of their relationship has been her removing bones from his antlers. She seems like a good woman, though, and now he doesn't have Aelfwine anymore, Bart needs to spend more time with the other members of his herd else he risk being as lonely as he was when he was an outcast.

He breaks into a trot, his muscular, tattooed limbs easily bringing him into step with Lyanna. "Mind if I join you?" He offers her his finest, toothiest smile, before it fades into a grimace as yet another fly decides to sink its hideous proboscis into his underbelly. He lifts a hind hoof and smacks it at his stomach, but the fly simply moves an inch to the side and proceeds to continue its snack. "The flies might leave me alone if I keep walking. Argh, the woes of a short tail!" Despite his insect-related suffering, there's warmth and good humour in the pirate's eyes and voice, his bad mood easily hidden beneath his well-worn mask of joviality.



if my lungs collapse and my heart turns black
i'll give my ashes to the coast



image credits


@Lyanna

Lyanna the Windswept Posts: 313
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 11 | dam: 4.0
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.2 :: 5 years HP: 64 | Buff: NOVICE
Kyra
#3

let the winds erase me,

like the memory of a kiss

Everyone leaves. It’s a fact she’s coming to understand, in the way you understand all bad things in life. You accept they will happen, but that never makes them any easier. She struggles daily with the losses her life has suffered, growing more and more each day. Her mother, father, and brother. Then her sister. Apollo. Glasgow, in a way, the mare at least still accessible but no longer around as she once was. Who was next? Yael, perhaps, who’s professed that she’s not sure where she wants to live forever. Lyanna doesn’t blame the little golden mare, or Glasgow. They needed to live their lives, and even Lyanna has wondered if the figurative grass would be greener elsewhere. But she’s always decided it wouldn’t be. Life is simply what she makes of it.

Which, if she’s being honest with herself, isn’t very much. It’s not a bad life either. She has friends and a job and a purpose and a safe place to live. It’s more than she had for those horrible months spent running, getting as far from Morham as she could. Stripped of her title, her family, and when she crossed into Helovia, her magic. The only thing she still has from that life is the one stupid little ear cuff on her ear. Some days she wants toss it off the cliff, but she can’t bring herself to give up that one small piece of her old life.

The familiar sound of Barty’s booming voice is welcome in a way that surprises her. She stops, looking over to see him trotting in her direction. “Bartholomeo,” she says warmly, face breaking into a grin, teal eyes twinkling. “I would love some company,” she adds as his smile suddenly fades as the flies find him.

“Here, I have plenty of tail for the both of us.” She swats her tail in the general direction of the flies trying to attack his flank, settling in neck to him at something of a close distance, so she can periodically fling her teal-tipped tail in his direction. Sometimes she does it with a bit of force, clearly being overzealous on purpose, but it is slightly amusing.

“I was going to look for a colored stone for our herd quest. I got this ruby from the Deep Forest,” she says, nodding toward her chest slightly, the ruby catching in the sun as she moves. “That would count as a colored stone, right?” She asks, glad to have someone else to talk to about it, because she’s not completely sure that’s what the Moon Goddess had in mind. But it’s colored, and technically a stone…if not, there must be other stones in a forest. “When I first came here, I met someone who showed me a whole pool of them in the forest. At least, it seemed like a good place to start.”

lyanna

let these waters takes me

Image © Rhiaan


@Bartholomeo

Please tag in all posts
Magic use/power playing is okay, but check before serious injury/death
Image by Kiki

Bartholomeo Posts: 46
World's Edge Protector atk: 5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 7.0
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16'2hh :: 7 HP: 70 | Buff: NOVICE
Snow
#4
BARTHOLOMEO

His grin widens further as she lends her tail to his cause. "You are far too kind, Lyanna." His own pathetically docked plume is little use against the pests of the sky, and although he wears the injury as proudly as he does any of his scars, he does sometimes wish the pirate hunters had left him well alone. The mare's hearty swinging of her tail creates a stinging sensation on his skin, but it's vastly preferable to the endless persecution by the flies.

She gestures to a ruby, and the crimson colouration causes Bart's eyes to widen with interest. He does have magpie-like tendencies and the gem would be the prize of his hoard if he could get his hands on it....but, he reminds himself, Lyanna is a friend and herdmate, not a potential victim. The pirate wouldn't take from a friend, so he reluctantly tears his gaze away. "It's beautiful. I would say it fits the Goddess' command to the letter, but just to be sure, perhaps I should gather some as well?" Bart doesn't know a lot about the Moon Goddess, but she makes him think of Calypso, goddess of the sea; not to be trifled with, and certainly not to be accidentally insulted by providing the wrong sort of rock.

He wanders between the trees, hoping the mare is by his side. His keen green gaze scans the ground, hunting for any objects that might fit the Goddess' exacting specifications. As he searches, he glances occasionally over to the pegasus, his expression warm and open. She's an intriguing one, and now seems like an excellent time to get to know her. "Have you been in Helovia long? You seem rather knowledgeable about it." He tilts his antlered head, alternating his gaze between Lyanna and the ground as he searches.



if my lungs collapse and my heart turns black
i'll give my ashes to the coast



image credits


Sorry for the wait! @Lyanna

Lyanna the Windswept Posts: 313
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 11 | dam: 4.0
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.2 :: 5 years HP: 64 | Buff: NOVICE
Kyra
#5

let the winds erase me,

like the memory of a kiss

She laughs slightly as he calls her kind. She is, of course, but she can’t help the words that come out of her month. “Does hitting you with my tail count as kind?” She laughs slightly, falling back into a version of herself she’d forgotten existed. Once upon a time it had been her job to flirt with the courtesans and diplomats and dignitaries. She’d gleaned so much information from them just for batting her eyes in their direction. Though some were smarter than others, far more tight-lipped. Those were the ones who had the information she might have truly cared about, the ones that plotted her murder.

Not that she had some ulterior motive with Barty. No, for once she simply found that it was enjoyable, that she wanted to let herself loose in a sense. His company was simply genuinely enjoyable and she enjoys being herself. A version of herself that had largely stopped existing since she came to Helovia, since she buried all the things she lost beneath kindness and healing. It’s almost shocking how easily other parts of herself slip out with him around, but the pain and memories and the ghosts stay at bay.

They talk and walk a bit, diving deeper into the forest. “I think the more colored rocks we can bring back, the better chance we have of getting one the Moon likes.” She says, encouraging him to look for others. Because like him, she does not intend to accidently provide their Lady with the wrong sort of rock and end up insulting her. She stays by his side as he gathers, looking as well for any other options that they might come across.

After a moment, he asks if she’s been here long. Lyanna pauses for a moment in her searching, teal eyes looking to him, warm and friendly as always, before turning back to the ground. “Only about 2 years now, so not that long I suppose.” She says, thinking about it. Two year wasn’t that long, though she’d only lived in Morham for four years. Two more years here and her life would be divided in half between the two places.

“I am glad to hear I seem knowledgeable though. Sometimes I still feel like I know nothing of this place. It’s very different than where I came from.” She admits, finding it easy to simply talk to him, to admit that she had a life before this one like she actually speaks of that life at all. “And what of you, Barty? You have quite the family here already. Have you all lived here long?”

lyanna

let these waters takes me

Image © Rhiaan


@Bartholomeo

Please tag in all posts
Magic use/power playing is okay, but check before serious injury/death
Image by Kiki

Bartholomeo Posts: 46
World's Edge Protector atk: 5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 7.0
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16'2hh :: 7 HP: 70 | Buff: NOVICE
Snow
#6
BARTHOLOMEO

His deep, rumbling laugh tumbles from his mouth. "Kindness comes in many forms, Lyanna," he says with a wink. For a horse with a full-fledged tail, it may be hard to picture the untold misery of Bart's docked excuse for a plume, which is next to useless for batting away flies. Of all the things the pirate hunters could have taken from him! He supposes it could be worse, but his persecution from flies makes him rather wish he'd made the hunters' punishment more...painful.

He scans for stones as he walks. With his magpie-like keen eye for trinkets, the stag soon spots a glimmer in the distance, and alters his path to head towards it. It's a normal chunk of stone, but when flipped over it reveals a lovely marbled, glowing underside. After admiring it for a moment, the stallion tucks it away in his mane for safekeeping before turning back to Lyanna.

The mare reveals she's been in Helovia for two years, and Bart tilts his antlered head at her curiously. "That's quite a length of time." Time flies here, though - he finds it hard to believe he's been here almost a year himself! "And where do you hail from originally?" He doesn't mean to be nosy, but he has an easy rapport with this mare and he's keen to prolong it whilst they search. Unsurprisingly, the same question is given back to him and the stallion hesitates for a moment, wondering how much to reveal. He eventually settles on half of the truth - he doesn't intend to discuss his dead wife and child, but the rest is no secret. "I'm fairly new here, but my brother Tilney and his wife and children, as well as my sister Aelfwine, have been here far longer. I've spent most of my life in charge of my own band, you see. We were a ragtag bunch of rogues, with hearts of gold of course." He winks. He and his men had done some reprehensible things, but they did have their limits - they did not attack the women of the herds they plundered, nor did they kill unless they had to. Their sights had mostly been set on gold and trinkets to sell, or to add to their expanding hoard.



if my lungs collapse and my heart turns black
i'll give my ashes to the coast



image credits


@Lyanna

Lyanna the Windswept Posts: 313
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 11 | dam: 4.0
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.2 :: 5 years HP: 64 | Buff: NOVICE
Kyra
#7
so i listen to the    wind for an answer
Kindness comes in many forms, he says, and she smiles and nods at that, a true statement if there ever was one. In this very place, she’d found kindness in the form of a black stallion and a red ruby. Today, she finds it in a stallion with a history she doesn’t know, but kind words and she thinks, a large heart. His docked tail is a curiosity, one she is tempted to ask about but feels like it might be too much like prying. They know so little about one another, and she imagines that like her, there are probably ghosts in his past. Not because of anything he has done or said, but simply because she’s not naïve even to think no one else has ghosts. Most horses do, from what she’s learned over the years. The only thing that differs is the amount and the form of them.

She doesn’t follow as he turns his course, but she stops and looks around the area to see if there’s anything else she can find. Before long, Barty is back, and she’s failed to find anything else colorful that is also a rock. There are plenty of colorful things to be found, but the Goddess didn’t need flowers or leaves.

“Is it? It feels so short and yet like a lifetime all at once, if that makes any sense at all.” She’s not sure how to explain it better. The Edge has become her home, and there are days she wakes up without a thought of Morham, and even when the thoughts of Morham do come, they feel like dreams instead of a recent past. The hole in her heart is forever present, but it has become almost normal for her, like an old injury that will never quite stop hurting, but that you at least stop noticing. “I’m originally from a smaller place than here, called Morham. It’s rather unknown and unremarkable, I suppose, though the magic there was elemental. Once, I controlled the winds,” she smiles at that memory. Strange how the loss of her magic is the easiest thing for her to cope with, but perhaps replacing wind with healing had been enough. And now, replacing wind with leading, though she was still working on some healing magic of her own.

Stranger still is how easily she talks about it with him now. Rarely does Lyanna bring up the topic of her old magic, mostly because it didn’t seem to matter much to her anymore. But with Barty, she feels like her old self, like the girl that could have once demolished the trees around them with one mighty gust. Not that she would have wanted to do so. The Deep Forest was beautiful. The trees around them felt like friends to her, reaching out to gently caress her back in a fond hello.

Her ears flick in his direction again as he speaks of himself. She laughs as he describes his old band of rogues with hearts of gold, and her laugh is soft and pleasant as it always is, amused by the description. Her teal eyes twinkle slightly as she swats him with her tail again, just a little harder than removing flies might require. “That sounds about accurate, I think,” her grin wide and playful as she speaks. “Did you travel around then? Or did you have a home base?”

lyanna

art by yewrezz


@Bartholomeo

Please tag in all posts
Magic use/power playing is okay, but check before serious injury/death
Image by Kiki

Graasvoel Posts: 97
World's Edge Artificier atk: 3.5 | def: 7.0 | dam: 8.0
Stallion :: Pegasus :: 17.0hh :: 6 HP: 64 | Buff: NOVICE
smitty
#8
graasvoel
Their new Queen was beautiful, it was certain. So, naturally, the vulture opted to follow her—anything to clear his mind of the bomb (twin bombs) Nayja had dropped on him in the Thistle Meadow. His mind still whirled in the evenings, a panicked sandstorm made of fillies’ giggles, his sire’s stern disapproving eyes, his mother’s lifeless body, and his step-dam’s cruel manipulation. But, where his mind was unsettled, his chest pounded with a simple, hot emotion he could not name—for he had never felt unselfish love before… His his gut, it was weight with guilt.

So, he was rather tardy and distracted in his following of the Queen on the Moon’s errand. Thus, when his disheveled self finally wound around enough trunks (not an easy feat for one as massive as Gaal) to stumble upon the Windswept, he found her not alone.

Normally, his chest would have sunk in disappointment at the interference of another stallion. But now, with this new emotion hammering away at his ribs, the vulture was surprised to find that there wasn’t room for disappointment. Only a continual yearning for the Throat.

He blinked from the shadows, eyes catching the swish of Lyanna’s tail against the antlered man’s haunches. Kak!,” he murmured to himself, not wishing himself to run interference with whatever the other stallion’s game was. While he had set out for a game of his own, he was a fair player after all.

But he knew he was too large to hide in the forest—even such thick and ancient trees as these. So, slowly, with a contrite grin and glance towards the pirate, his gruff and accented voice called to the pair, “‘Allo there! I’ll just- eh- search over here.” And, with that, his great and starkly white skull dropped, thick muzzle overturning leaves mindlessly as he searched for some ‘stone.’

Yet, truly, he knew he searched for two sets of bright, youthful eyes.


kak! = shit!
image

@Bartholomeo @Lyanna CRASHING awkward af Gaal, trying not to cockblock :P

Please tag Graasvoel in all posts.



Bartholomeo Posts: 46
World's Edge Protector atk: 5 | def: 9.5 | dam: 7.0
Stallion :: Unicorn :: 16'2hh :: 7 HP: 70 | Buff: NOVICE
Snow
#9
BARTHOLOMEO

His interest ramps up another couple of notches at her revelation that she once controlled the winds in her homeland. "That's rather interesting. My men would have worshipped you as a God for that ability." Controlling the winds means controlling the sea; the storms, the waves, the vicious maelstroms that can destroy a man in seconds. Lyanna's ability would have seen her highly valued amongst Bart's crew, given status and rank through her powers. "Before I came to Helovia, I used to be able to move objects with my mind. It was an extremely useful power, as it allowed me to brandish my swords freely and terrify my opponents into retreat." He grins at the memory, before it turns to a frown. "Is there something about Helovia that strips one's existing magic, I wonder?" It seems odd that both he and Lyanna should lose their powers upon entering this place.

At her question about traveling around, he offers his usual warm, humour-filled smile. "We followed the tides, the food, the prizes. We did not remain in one place for long, so as you can imagine it's rather odd for me to be living in a herd that isn't nomadic." It's worth it for the fact he's now around his family, even if he does miss the roaming freedom of a rogue pirate.

Before he can return with questions of his own, the stag becomes aware of the presence of another. It's a large, very hairy pegasus, and judging by the man's shifty behaviour, Bart thinks that the other stallion may be under the impression that he's....disturbing something. Oh, Bartholomeo had tumbled many a wench in the years since he lost his wife, and Lyanna is certainly beautiful enough to draw his eye, but he'd never dream of treating her as something so....unimportant. Something tells him that the winged mare would not agree to that, so the big pegasus has nothing to fear. "Come back, sir, you're not disturbing anything." He flashes the winged man a wide grin, although it is tinged with some disappointment - he had been enjoying his alone time with the beautiful mare, even if he thinks it was only innocent conversation. "You are from the Edge, I assume? I'm Bartholomeo." A dip of his antlered head is given.



if my lungs collapse and my heart turns black
i'll give my ashes to the coast



image credits


@Lyanna

Lyanna the Windswept Posts: 313
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 11 | dam: 4.0
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.2 :: 5 years HP: 64 | Buff: NOVICE
Kyra
#10
so i listen to the    wind for an answer
“I was no God, certainly. My brother and father controlled fire, my mother water. It was common for horses to control elements, though the strength of the power always varied.” Her family had been strong, part of what had landed them on the throne for so many generations. Lyanna could topple trees. Corbin could burn a forest. She’d never really seen just what her mother and father could do, but she’d heard stories. Apparently they’d met in a spar, water against fire. You can imagine who won, something that prickled her father forever. It was also, according to him, the reason he fell in love with her mother.

She listens as he talks of his own powers, something she’d never seen before. Powers like that did not exist in Morham, and she gives him an impressed look. “I bet you can still terrify your enemies,” she says with a bit of a grin, before turning serious at his next question. “There must be, which I admit, makes me sort of curious. Why?” Was it to start everyone in Helovia on the same playing field, or was it to give the Gods control? She had never been as powerful as Moony, but once, she had at least been a contender.

He continues, elaborating on the fact that it is indeed odd for him to staying in one place. “Well, for whatever it’s worth, I’m glad you picked the Edge.” The words are out before she even really considers the implications of them, but she finds she doesn’t regret them either. He’s easy to talk to, and she is unusually comfortable in his presence. “Can I ask you a favor?” She says, pausing for a moment but not actually expecting him to answer until he’s heard the favor. “Would you teach me to fight? I trained in Morham,” she doesn’t say with Corbin, because there’s something too painful about that, even now, “but I’ve never fought without the wind.” She wants to do everything she can to lead well, but she’ll make for a terrible leader if she cannot defend those she is supposed to protect.

Soon, the sounds of another catch her attention. She would be surprised to find that anyone thought her beautiful, particularly enough to follow. Lyanna’s not completely modest or a fool and she knows she’s pretty, certainly. However, she has never considered herself beautiful. Of average height and build, the only thing remarkable about her are the teal splashes on her body. In Helovia, even the teal isn’t remarkable, with so many others bearing scales or skin like the sea or the stars of the night sky. Here, Lyanna is easily lost in a crowd, or so she always assumed. That was sort of the point of staying here really, in a place where color held no significance.

Even when she lived in Morham though, she was the only black horse in her family, besides her father. Her sister and mother had been gold and white, her brother gold and black. Lyanna didn’t get the gold of her mother at all, and looked far more like her father than she might care to admit. Her mother had been beautiful. Adelene too, was beautiful. Though something about their beauty came in the way they held themselves, in the way they could own a room. Her sister captured attention by being young and adorable. Her mother simply dazzled a room, all charm and smiles. Lyanna could dazzle a face or too, but never the whole room. Sometimes Lyanna could have sworn the world stopped when her mother joined a crowd.

When the other horse comes into view, he’s familiar even if Lyanna doesn’t know him well. He’s quick to ‘search over there’, and she finds herself laughing slightly. If horses could blush, she certainly would be right now. Barty is the first to invite him back over, and Lyanna is quick to chime in. “Graasvoel, it’s good to see you. Come join us, please.” Though she has never spent much time with him, she greets him as warmly as she would anyone else. He’s a member of the Edge, after all.

lyanna

art by yewrezz


@Graasvoel @Bartholomeo

Please tag in all posts
Magic use/power playing is okay, but check before serious injury/death
Image by Kiki

Graasvoel Posts: 97
World's Edge Artificier atk: 3.5 | def: 7.0 | dam: 8.0
Stallion :: Pegasus :: 17.0hh :: 6 HP: 64 | Buff: NOVICE
smitty
#11
graasvoel
At the wide grin and invitation of the antlered stallion, the vulture’s bearded skull slowly rose from the shrubbery he aimlessly searched. Black brows knitted, slightly dubious—for he certainly would not be one to so quickly invite another man to his tete-a-tete with a woman (a Queen).

Well, maybe he would—his mind returns (although, it never really left) to his two daughters, yet unmet save for a few precious moments in the Thistle meadow.

He shook his great skull slightly, willing his raptor eyes to focus on the duo before him rather than the duo twins he had fled from. And now Lyanna is, also, inviting him to join them—dashing any doubts that Bartholomeo was insincere in his original invitation.

His heavily feathered limbs brought him over to where they searched, his head dipping in greeting to both—though much deeper to the Windswept, “My Queen,” was his first greeting, then “Bartholomeo, well met. Yes, I am apart of the Edge—I was once the Glazier. Now, I while away my days enjoying the Edge’s many lovely views,” and he grins playfully (and perhaps suggestively) towards Lyanna before turning his attentions back towards the earth.

“Finding this stone die berge het ń muis gebaar,” the man grunts somewhat to himself, but also to his company. But, for his company’s sake, he translates, “Eh, I mean it is difficult, no?” An easy, lopsided grin crosses his pale muzzle, before looking back to the earth.

Though, there—is that a green glint that catches his eye? He takes a step towards the thick brush that seems to surround… something.



Die berge het ń muis gebaar = idiom that means ‘To put in a lot of effort and have nothing to show for it’ (but literally means ‘the mountains gave birth to a mouse’)
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@Bartholomeo

Please tag Graasvoel in all posts.




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