this element of flaws

Yuletide Letter 2023

2023-10-20T01:26:04Z

Hello, dear creator! I am excited for this and hope there's something in here that's thrilling to you, too!

Some parts of this have been copied from previous letters, so if the wording seems familiar, it probably is. :)

General likes

In fics, I typically like a balance of character work and interesting worldbuilding tidbits -- it's lovely when an author draws on the depth and richness of the work's setting and uses that to illuminate character choices.

Pining and particularly mutual pining. I adore a good sense of longing.
Enemies-to-lovers
Slow burn (sexually); slow burn (emotionally); slow burn emotionally while quick burn sexually.
Two people having casual sex as a way of ignoring or minimizing their very serious feelings for each other. Also mixes well with pining!
Similarly, fuck-or-die scenarios where the "or die" is very real but also a convenient excuse
Labyrinths -- real, imaginary, metaphorical, fractal, inhabited, abandoned, etc. Nothing I love more than a good maze.
Unreality -- dreams, visions, etc. Done sparingly, these can work to great effect.
Playing with power dynamics in both healthy and unhealthy ways. I love a situation that's deeply fucked up but both parties are getting something good out of it.
Smut that also does character work
Repression, as long as it's not due to internalized homophobia
Canon divergence AUs: exploring how the situation might be different if minor factors were changed

DNWs

The "cozy" trend, therapy language, "this character was right to behave in a selfish way all along because they have trauma", "all this character's problems will be fixed if we have a cuddle pile in the blanket fort"
Common modern AUs (coffee shop, high school, tattoo parlor, etc) -- I've requested all fandoms because I like the settings and think there are interesting things to do with the worldbuilding.
AUs in general but in particular, soulmate / soulmark AUs
Extensive family conflict. Fine if a character has an argument with their mom or sets off on an adventure to be away from family; less fine if the entire fic revolves around hashing something out with intimate family members.
I'm not a big found family person. Fine to have a group of unrelated people who are distanced from their families find support in each other; less fine for the fic's focus be on that exclusively.
"Coming out" narratives. Again, fine to have a character go "Hey, I'm gay" and then dip immediately; less fine if the entire fic revolves around the social experience of coming out and dealing with resultant homophobia.
"The love that dare not speak its name" type of repression, or using that phrase or similar ones for explaining a character's reluctance to homosexuality, unless the story is set in the late 19th - early 20th century (it is specifically an artifact of Victorian-era indecency laws)
Religious evangelism of any type
Non-canon character death
Suicide / suicidal ideation
Cheating / infidelity
Extended negotiations re relationship or kink
Internalized homophobia
Scat, piss, menstrual blood, vomit
Graphic descriptions of torture or violence. I am fine with these happening in a fic but I don't want a detailed description of how it felt or a "close-up" on a wound.
Pregnancy, kidfic
Issuefic, crackfic, sickfic, tooth-rotting fluff
Amnesia
A/B/O, Mpreg
Anthro (were-beings fine), bestiality
Unrequested genderswaps, unrequested trans headcanons, unrequested aro/ace headcanons
Readerfic

NSFW likes/dislikes

See prompts for pairing-specific likes/dislikes!

Likes: I've asterisked likes that may not apply to all pairings.

Non-euphemistic wording (cock, dick, cunt, etc rather than hardness, slit, wetness, etc)
Edging, orgasm control & denial*, desperation (physical or emotional)
Sex pollen*, fuck-or-die scenarios*, similar forms of dubcon*
Wank of Shame*
Realistic blocking (you can follow where limbs are, sometimes someone gets an elbow to the stomach accidentally, etc)
Femdom*

Dislikes: I've asterisked dislikes that are fine in passing but I wouldn't want them to be a focus.

Cis F receiving anal, anal fingering in general*, rimming
First time (not first time with a specific partner, first time doing a particular sex act)*
Safewording / safeword negotiations
Aftercare*
Daddy/mommy kink, breeding kink
Intense D/s or roleplaying
Degradation
Assault / noncon
Femsub

Derkholm

In addition to the character-specific prompts below, I'm really interested in this canon's setting and worldbuilding. The way magic, the gods, etc work is so flexible here!

I am fine with works featuring any combination of Blade, Claudia, and Querida, but I would ask that Querida not be shipped with anyone.

Blade/Claudia

I like this pairing a lot -- I think they're a great match for each other. Blade is intuitive and empathetic, and Claudia has this air of quiet wisdom about her. Their few interactions in canon are wonderfully characterized and hold so much promise for their future. I'd love this to be a slow burn romance with some danger and daring in it. A role reversal where Claudia ends up having to save Blade, or help Blade with a block on his magic, would be great.

I love Querida, I think she's fantastic, I'd love to see her included in some way. Maybe Claudia is an apprentice, helping her with the Wastes? I think Querida and Claudia would get along well.

Likes/dislikes special notes: I'd rather this pairing stay fairly vanilla rather than getting into the kinks too much. Anything asterisked in my likes above is probably not applicable here.

Querida

Like I said: I love Querida, I think she's spectacular. Would love to read about her getting up to an adventure on her own -- pre-Chesney or post-Year of the Griffin. A conspiracy in the Wastes? A summons to the other continent? Simply hanging out with her cats? Totally up to you!

Blade & Querida or Claudia & Querida

I think either of these characters would flourish with Querida as a mentor. I'd like to see Claudia improving her self-confidence in herself and her magic, or Querida pushing Blade to consider new avenues of power -- Blade works on instinct so much, and it would be interesting to see him grapple with Querida's (somewhat) more deliberate approach.

Armored Core

I've nominated Father Dolmayan, Ring Freddie, Strayed, and Oldking, but these characters come from two separate games. I'd prefer no crossover between games -- so, a fic featuring Father Dolmayan and Ring Freddie, or a fic featuring Strayed and Oldking. Feel free to transgenderize any of these characters in any way that speaks to you.

Ring Freddie & Father Dolmayan

In the world of Armored Core 6, Ring Freddie and Father Dolmayan are both members of the Rubicon Liberation Front. They've caught my attention for a couple reasons. Father Dolmayan sounds like a communist-Megatron (IDW, specifically the More Than Meets the Eye comic books) type and possibly even a priestly figure. It's implied in some of his logs that he also has had dealings with Ayre. And Ring Freddie's arena bio caught my eye: "Paramour and personal attendant to Dolmayan, Freddie maintains an aloof distance from his fellow comrades. An admirer of the inner world of Dolmayan's mind, he entered the battlefield so that the father of the Liberation Front would never need be alone."

I'd be interested in their relationship -- what does that look like in the brutal AC6 worldbuilding? How did Ring Freddie come to follow him onto the battlefield? What's the symbolism of Ring Freddie's candle ring emblem?

Strayed & Oldking

In Armored Core: For Answer (AC4A), Strayed is the player character and Oldking is a member of the radical group ORCA, and leader of the even more radical subgroup Liliana (before its collapse). In one of the endings available upon replaying the game, Oldking incites Strayed to fell the Cradles, massive airships that allow tens of millions of people to live above the heavily polluted surface of Earth -- although the pollution caused by the Cradles will someday make even the upper atmosphere unlivable.

Of course, we don't know what living conditions look like for Lynx pilots -- something on the surface with a lot of janky and half-superstitious pollution protection, maybe? -- but I've wondered if Strayed and Oldking might've crossed paths outside the arena or before the Cradle 03 mission. I'd be interested in a mentor/student relationship, or in the aftermath of destroying Cradle 03. Feel free to get dark & fucked up with this prompt.

The Bards of Bone Plain

I've nominated Nairn (aka Jonah Cle), Welkin (aka Kelda), and Declan, as well as Princess Beatrice. I am fine with works featuring Nairn, Welkin, and Declan; works featuring Nairn and Declan; and works featuring Princess Beatrice (with Jonah Cle as a bit participant).

Nairn and Declan

The relationship between these two fascinates me. They are so acrimonious towards each other a lot of the time -- they begin with a betrayal -- and yet, they seem drawn towards each other. So much of Nairn's life is defined by his relationship with Declan and vice versa. "How did you know where I'd find you?" / "Where else could you go?" There's the seeds of a May/December romance here (Well. May/October. Declan is in his 50s, I think); something fraught with their past history, their attraction to the same woman, their exploration of the same power. I like how Declan seems to exist outside Nairn's ordinary relationships.

Nairn, Declan, & Welkin

See above, but with the addition of a powerful catalyst. Welkin possesses the secret power that both Nairn and Declan long to possess. It adds a fascinating new dynamic to their relationship. And there's this excerpt, which reads like the start of a menage a trois of some kind --

The two took a measure of one another briefly, silently, there on the threshold. Then Welkin smiled a tight smile framed by fanning lines, and Declan shifted so that he could enter.

Nairn asked uncertainly, “Do you want me to—”

“Stay,” both said at once, so he came into Declan’s work chamber.

Princess Beatrice

She's such a great character -- down-to-earth, archeological interests, etc. Would love to see an exploration of where her story goes after the end of the book, either with the Cle family or taking her own path.

Wrath Goddess Sing

I've requested that Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Kiya all be included.

I love what Wrath Goddess Sing did with the story of Achilles, and I am SO thirsty for the equivalent work for the biblical Joseph (Maya Deane write a prequel challenge), so would love to have any snippets along those lines. Kiya was a real historical figure -- one of Akhenaten's wives who was later erased from monuments, although we don't know why. I'd love anything that deals with Kiya's dreams, what we know of Kiya the historical figure, Kiya's relationship with Akhenhaten and Nefertiti, etc.

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Dear FFFX creator...

2023-07-31T18:40:24Z

Excited for this exchange! Hopefully there's something in my prompt that you find engaging or otherwise inspiring :') If I'm your recipient, feel free to leave an anon comment with questions or clarifications, etc. I am equally enthusiastic about all these prompts.

Likes | DNWs | NSFW preferences | Derkholm | The Goblin Emperor | Star Wars | Hades | The Queen's Thief

General likes

Pining and particularly mutual pining. I adore a good sense of longing.
Enemies-to-lovers
Slow burn (sexually); slow burn (emotionally); slow burn emotionally while quick burn sexually.
Two people having casual sex as a way of ignoring or minimizing their very serious feelings for each other. Also mixes well with pining!
Similarly, fuck-or-die scenarios where the "or die" is very real but also a convenient excuse
Labyrinths -- real, imaginary, metaphorical, fractal, inhabited, abandoned, etc. Nothing I love more than a good maze.
Unreality -- dreams, visions, etc. Done sparingly, these can work to great effect.
Playing with power dynamics in both healthy and unhealthy ways. I love a situation that's deeply fucked up but both parties are getting something good out of it.
Smut that also does character work
Repression, as long as it's not due to internalized homophobia
Canon divergence AUs: exploring how the situation might be different if minor factors were changed

DNWs

The "cozy" trend, therapy language, "this character was right to behave in a selfish way all along because they have trauma", "all this character's problems will be fixed if we have a cuddle pile in the blanket fort"
Common modern AUs (coffee shop, high school, tattoo parlor, etc) -- I've requested all fandoms because I like the settings and think there are interesting things to do with the worldbuilding.
AUs in general but in particular, soulmate / soulmark AUs
Extensive family conflict. Fine if a character has an argument with their mom or sets off on an adventure to be away from family; less fine if the entire fic revolves around hashing something out with intimate family members.
I'm not a big found family person. Fine to have a group of unrelated people who are distanced from their families find support in each other; less fine for the fic's focus be on that exclusively.
"Coming out" narratives. Again, fine to have a character go "Hey, I'm gay" and then dip immediately; less fine if the entire fic revolves around the social experience of coming out and dealing with resultant homophobia.
"The love that dare not speak its name" type of repression, or using that phrase or similar ones for explaining a character's reluctance to homosexuality, unless the story is set in the late 19th - early 20th century (it is specifically an artifact of Victorian-era indecency laws)
Religious evangelism of any type
Non-canon character death
Suicide / suicidal ideation
Cheating / infidelity
Extended negotiations re relationship or kink
Internalized homophobia
Scat, piss, menstrual blood, vomit
Graphic descriptions of torture or violence. I am fine with these happening in a fic but I don't want a detailed description of how it felt or a "close-up" on a wound.
Pregnancy, kidfic
Issuefic, crackfic, sickfic, tooth-rotting fluff
Amnesia
A/B/O, Mpreg
Anthro (were-beings fine), bestiality
Unrequested genderswaps, unrequested trans headcanons, unrequested aro/ace headcanons
Readerfic

NSFW likes/dislikes

See prompts for pairing-specific likes/dislikes!

Likes: I've asterisked likes that may not apply to all pairings.

Non-euphemistic wording (cock, dick, cunt, etc rather than hardness, slit, wetness, etc)
Edging, orgasm control & denial*, desperation (physical or emotional)
Sex pollen*, fuck-or-die scenarios*, similar forms of dubcon*
Wank of Shame*
Realistic blocking (you can follow where limbs are, sometimes someone gets an elbow to the stomach accidentally, etc)
Femdom*

Dislikes: I've asterisked dislikes that are fine in passing but I wouldn't want them to be a focus.

M/F anal sex (pegging fine), anal fingering in general*, rimming
First time (not first time with a specific partner, first time doing a particular sex act)*
Safewording / safeword negotiations
Aftercare*
Daddy/mommy kink, breeding kink
Intense D/s or roleplaying
Degradation
Assault / noncon
Femsub

Derkholm

In addition to the character-specific prompts below, I'm really interested in this canon's setting and worldbuilding. The way magic, the gods, etc work is so flexible here!

Blade/Claudia

I like this pairing a lot -- I think they're a great match for each other. Blade is intuitive and empathetic, and Claudia has this air of quiet wisdom about her. Their few interactions in canon are wonderfully characterized and hold so much promise for their future.

What I'd like is for this to take place 5-10 years after Year of the Griffin, with one of them working on a project of some kind, and the other one needing to support. Perhaps they dated briefly, but Claudia wanted to get established in her work (as Blade already was), and so they split amicably. Or perhaps Blade never said anything to Claudia but has been (quietly, non-creepily) keeping track of her progress (up to you if you want to show some vignettes of this era). Or, perhaps, it is a Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane type situation (if that's a canon you're familiar with). Either way, I'd love this to be a slow burn romance with some danger and daring in it. A role reversal where Claudia ends up having to save Blade, or help Blade with a block on his magic, would be great.

I love Querida, I think she's fantastic, I'd love to see her included in some way. Maybe Claudia is an apprentice, helping her with the Wastes? I think Querida and Claudia would get along well.

Likes/dislikes special notes: I'd rather this pairing stay fairly vanilla rather than getting into the kinks too much. Anything asterisked in my likes above is probably not applicable here.

Rating Preference: T/M

Querida

Like I said: I love Querida, I think she's spectacular. Would love to read about her getting up to an adventure on her own -- pre-Chesney or post-Year of the Griffin. A conspiracy in the Wastes? A summons to the other continent? Totally up to you!

Likes/dislikes special notes: Let's keep this one gen, without pairings.

The Goblin Emperor

Thara Celehar/Iäna Pel-Thenhior

I love these two -- the slow way they are circling nearer to each other is delicious to me. It's sort of like the serious version of gay chicken. How long can they be near each other before they start furiously making out? Only as long as both of them have incentive and willpower to hang on to their self-control.

Some plot ideas:

Thara has to go back to Aveio; it's very unpleasant.
Corruption in the Brotherhood (maybe they are still practicing proscribed Anmuran rites?)
Thara is assigned to investigate the A3 facility for OSHA-style violations and upsets a mafia of some sort in the process
Someone from Thara's past shows up in town on a sketchy pretext. Could be someone he knows from the prelacy or a family connection.

As far as canon goes: I'm very attached to Witness for the Dead and less so to Grief of Stones (it is a wonderful book but I spent so much time rotating Thara/Iäna in my mind before it came out that I'm simply not as familiar with it). It is fine with me if you want to continue from WftD and ignore GoS; similarly, fine if you want to use events from both books.

There's some fanon for this pairing that I dislike:

Thara as a sloppy or inept dresser. He consistently comments on everyone's outfits and complained nonstop about the yellow vest he had to briefly wear in Witness for the Dead. He knows how to dress; he simply doesn't have the means.
Poor Woobie Thara/Strong and Protective Iäna. Thara's undergone some trauma, sure, but in no way is he helpless, nor does he think of himself as such. And Iäna is a full-on opera queen; that man is a fruit. (I really recommend the audiobooks for this reason. The reader clearly got the memo.)

"But iceplanet! You have internalized homophobia in your DNWs! Any fic about these two will include internalized homophobia!" Yeah, this one is tricky. Thara's struggle with his attraction to men is not so much "I am wrong and tainted because I feel this way". He's much more concerned about how it affects his movement through and position in society. Although he feels guilt and shame over Evru's death, it's not shame over his own "weakness of the flesh". He grieves Evru unreservedly, without telling himself that he shouldn't. So. I think it's very elegant in the books to not have Thara dwell on his sexuality; he mentions it in passing a few times, but largely we see his concern through the way he navigates his relationship with Iäna and others. His main feeling about his sexuality is a sense of danger, rather than a sense of shame. Essentially, this is a long-winded way of saying that, while I am fine with Thara experiencing deep self-loathing surrounding his choices, I would prefer him not to experience self-loathing about his sexuality.

Also, a couple of assorted headcanons, worldbuilding details I like, speculation on what might happen in the next installment of canon, etc -- take them or leave them, it's entirely up to you.

HC: Azhanharad has a crush on Thara
HC / speculation: Ema Dravenezh (the Marquess Parzhedel's secretary) was Tura's lover
I would love to see something involving the Ulinese labyrinth. Striking to me that two major centers of worship have such different labyrinths... maybe more of them do too.
I love the way Addison handles religion, and I specifically love Ulis's domain. There's a quote in TGE: "Ulis was a cold god, a god of night and shadows and dust. His love was found in emptiness, his kindness in silence. And that was what Maia needed. Silence, coldness, kindness. He focused his thoughts carefully on the familiar iconography, the image of Ulis’s open hands; the god of letting go was surely the god who would listen to an unwilling emperor." I think "the god of letting go" would have something to say about Thara and Evru...
Iäna having a fire escape era, where he creeps into Thara's apartment at unusual hours as a way of avoiding detection
The two professors in GoS () intrigue me, especially since one of them gets compared to Iäna. Are they together? Is one of them an alternate romantic interest for Thara?

Like/dislike special notes: I don't think Fuck or Die or Sex Pollen work very well. However, I do think this pairing is a GREAT fit for "having casual sex to avoid serious feelings and it backfires" and the Wank of Shame. I'd also like it if they don't have to deal with discovery/punishment for their relationship. Let us just handwave it and ignore the future.

Rating Preference: M/E

Csethiro and Csethiro/Maia

I love Csethiro, she's fascinating and has a very strong character. I'd like this prompt to be specifically focused on her; Maia can be optionally included. Some ideas for things I'd like explored:

Where, why, and how did she learn to duel?
What is her relationship with her sisters like now?
How does she adjust to the status of empress? How does she deal with Csoru? (I wouldn't mind some light Csoru/Csethiro hatesex, tbh)
We have a really good picture of how a powerful man moves through the court, but a much less complete one of how a powerful woman does the same. I'd enjoy a worldbuilding-focused look at that.
What does she think about the "women's duty" of childbirth? What was her relationship with her mother like / what does she want her relationship to her children to be?
How does she get along with the nohecharei?

I've seen a few fics out there that seem to go for "poor traumatized Maia needs a found family" and I'd prefer to stay away from that. He's bound by a specific role to keep a certain amount of distance, and I'd rather explore how he works with that distance, rather than collapse it completely.

Like/dislike special notes: Again, not the greatest fit for Sex Pollen / Fuck or Die scenarios; also not a good fit for femdom. I have First Time in my dislikes, but it's appropriate for this pairing. No Maia/Csevet or Maia/Csevet/Csethiro, please!

Rating Preference: G/T/M

Worldbuilding

One of the strengths of this series is the vivid and fascinating world, with small but juicy details that imply a scope far larger than the books we see. Some things we might explore:

Life in Barizhan -- what is the Great Avar's court like? Maybe Idra ends up going there as an ambassador.
Maia's aunt Shalëan Sevraseched, her wife, and her ship, the Glorious Dragon. Would love to see her backstory or her current adventures
Orthema talks some about his experiences in the Evressai steps, fighting the Nazhmorhathveras. Would be interested in seeing more of this conflict / what the Nazhmorhathveras' life and culture is like

Would love to see a queer romance of some kind in here! No particular notes on likes/dislikes. OCs welcome!

Rating Preference: T/M

Star Wars

As far as Star Wars canon goes: I don't care at all about the sequel trilogy or the books published after Legends was dropped. I'd like this to stick with 80s-90s Legends, specifically the OT, the Zahn books, and the Rogue Squadron books. The Rebellion and the New Republic eras are my favorites; I'd like to stay away from the New Jedi Order & later content. I'm not familiar with the Rogue Squadron comics, so if you'd like to retcon bits and pieces of those, feel free.

I have a genuine fondness for the slightly goofy space-western worldbuilding of Legends-era Star Wars. Would love it if that aspect of SW got some love!

Like/dislike special notes: Not a fan of Corran Horn, but I do like Talon Karrde a whole lot.

Luke/Mara

It took me a while to come around on this pairing but I am so fully here now, I love them. The careful interactions they have in the Thrawn trilogy are so delicious, as is their developing chemistry in the duology. The enemies-to-lovers arc is so perfect.

Scenario: Myrkr has a ton of wild bio stuff happening already. What if they end up getting infected with sex pollen during their attempt to escape from the Imperials in Heir to the Empire, or are otherwise put into a fuck-or-die scenario? What if it's mind-blowing in a way Mara can't resist despite her hatred of Luke? Definitely not because there's a potential emotional connection there, of course. That would be unthinkable. (Surprise: it is not unthinkable.)

Feel free to get absolutely nasty with this one. This is definitely a good fit for femdom, orgasm control/denial, using the Force for bondage purposes, etc.

Rating Preference: M/E

Wedge Antilles

Wedge has been one of my favorite characters for years and I'd love to see just about anything featuring him, as long as his characterization is consistent with the Allston books specifically (Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Starfighters of Adumar).

Possible pairings: Iella Wessiri, Baron Soontir Fel, Lando Calrissian, Luke Skywalker, OMC

Scenarios:

Trying to find out what happened to his sister leads him deep into Imperial territory
Sent on a hopeless / doomed rescue mission for an important person; he is also captured; escape hijinks ensue, with a possible side of Fuck or Die
Sexually tortured by Force witches after crashlanding on a planet

Like/dislike special notes: I do love his trio of besties: Wes, Tycho, and Hobbie.

Hades

I just got into this game and I'm having SUCH a great time. It's so fun and gorgeous! I haven't finished it yet, so I am sure there are relationship/setting nuances I'm not super familiar with yet. This is fine, I don't mind spoilers.

Zagreus/Megaera and Zagreus/Megaera/Thanatos

I don't have a preference for one over the other! I do think that Zagreus/Megaera has a lot of very tasty meat to it -- the amount of time they spend killing each other is *chef's kiss* spectacular.

I'd be interested in a take on f!Zagreus/Megaera specifically!

Rating Preference: M/E

The Queen's Thief

Costis/Kamet

Love this pair, the slow burn of their relationship is so good and the fact that they're so uniquely well-suited for each other despite being so different... amazing.
I would love to continue the Immakuk and Ennakar comparison by having a scenario where Kamet has to go into the underworld to retrieve Costis. (Maybe they find the oil of immortality again?) If this idea doesn't speak to you, I'd love some good old-fashioned adventurefic of them making their way to the temple in Roa.

Like some of the other pairings here, there's a fanon around about Poor Woobie Kamet and Costis his Strong Protector. I'd prefer to stay away from that; Kamet is well capable, although occasionally given to panics.

Rating Preference: T/M/E

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[CURATED] Withholding the Love -- Aaron Allston

2016-03-22T15:50:34Z

This is an old blog post from the much-beloved and now departed author, Aaron Allston, on the relationship between fanfiction, writing, and self-publication. Originally posted here. I wanted to make sure I got a copy of it kept somewhere before it disappears from archive.org or becomes even harder to access -- it means a lot to me.

( Read more... )

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Trying something new...

2016-03-21T19:10:11Z

Tumblr's been losing its shine for me as a fandom community, so I thought something new might be in order. :)

I'll probably be using this account for whining about WIPs, writing ~controversial meta that I'd like to discuss but don't really want to have a wide readership, posting fic snippets, and comms...

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