When The Walls Came Crashing Down || fragile&raine || IC

[xraineyesx]

Annabella Barrow leaned up against the gray cement of the building she was standing next to as she tapped a cigarette out of her pack. What building it was she didn't know, didn't care. All the buildings looked the same: gray, indifferent, cold, desolate. There wasn't a single good adjective she could apply to them except for maybe "uniform", depending on your perspective.

It was another day.

She stuck the cigarette in the corner of her mouth, and she furrowed her brow, feeling the pulsating, warming sensation she felt anytime she used her magic.

"Carefully, carefully," she thought.

The end of her cigarette began to smoke as the edges of the paper began to curl up, and she relaxed, letting go of the energy she had drawn on to work her magic and inhaled, encouraging the tiny flame in the tobacco. She pulled the cigarette away from her mouth in between her forefinger and middle finger on her left hand and exhaled, tipping her head backward and closing her eyes. Annabella had been described as an 'elegant smoker'. She didn't know what that meant, but she took it as a complement.

Sticking the cigarette back in between her lips, she swung the bass guitar that was hanging around her back by a strap around her body and began picking it, the fingers on her right hand walking across the four strings. It wasn't very loud, and most people wouldn't enjoy the sound her bass made without it going through an amp. But she loved it. She loved music. And she loved playing her instrument.

She took a second out to tap the ashes off her cigarette. Sometimes she tapped; sometimes she flicked. Today was a tapping sort of stay.

The cigarette went back in between her petite pink lips and she went back to playing.

It was another day.

The city was the same as it always was: gray and unchanging. It remained the same, day in and day out, and nothing ever seemed to happen worth noticing. It smelled of pollution and smoke and gray. Yes, it smelled gray to Annabella. No one seemed to know what she meant by that, but she stuck by it. It smelled gray.

The city seemed noiseless to her, but in reality it wasn't. She was just so used to the noises of the city that they were tuned out involuntarily. Mechanical noises, the hustle and bustle of people, the yelling and fighting - all of it was tuned out. She didn't even care about it.

Someone yelled in the alleyway next to her; a voice answered back just as loud. She didn't even know what they said, so little did she care.

It was another day.

Her fingers walked over the E-A-D-G of the bass guitar in her hands, and she let her cigarette fall out of her mouth, crushing the butt under the toe of her combat boots. The day was sort of chilly, so she had worn her boots (not that she didn't generally wear them), a pair of light-colored blue jeans (straight legs that she had rolled up to stop just at the top of her boots), a black T-Shirt (it was form-fitting and slightly faded), and a leather jacket (it had metal studs around the cuffs and across the shoulders; she had put them there herself). In between her jacket and her T-Shirt she wore a white hoodie that was covered in patches representing causes or bands she supported or that she had simply found 'cool'; they were stitched there herself.

Letting the bass hang by the neck strap, she pulled the hood up over her brown hair, the wild waves poking out messily around her face, framing her angular, pale features and accentuating the deep color of her green eyes.

"Where the fuck is he?" she thought.

He was Kalon, her best friend, and he was supposed to meet her here today ten minutes ago.

She picked the bass back up and began playing again.

It was another day.

A man approached her - not Kalon - but a man from the alleyway across from her.

"Hey baby!" he called, crossing the street.

"Great," she thought. He had crossed the street now and was standing dangerously close to her. He put an arm on either side of her against the gray cement, and she noticed how much taller he was than she. It was a good foot at least, she felt.

"Hi," she said stiffly, "what do you want?"

He tugged down her hood and grinned at her. "A little fun. That's all, sweetheart." His breath was foul, and she grimaced in disgust at both that and his intents.

"Back off," she snapped.

"I don't think so," he said, grabbing a handful of her wavy hair and yanking he head backward. She gasped out a non-intelligent noise in pain.

"Back off!" she shouted, emphasizing each word as if it was its own sentence.

"Shut your fucking mouth!" he snapped, slamming his other hand over it.

Lifting her bass in both hands in between them, she drew her leg back and kneed him in between the legs as hard as she could, which caused him to let go and recoil.

"You little bitch!" he howled.

And in a split-second, she had drawn a handgun from the inside of her jacket, prepped it with a the slick sound of metal sliding over metal, and aimed it at his face.

"Back the fuck off," she said, her tone ice-cold and quiet.

It was another day.

[fragilefigure]

Kalon took a sip of his steaming Chai tea, feeling it slide down his throat and into his stomach with a delightful warmth. He had just bought the large cup at one of the more dingy coffee shops downtown, but everyone knew that 'dingy' meant 'non government owned'. Actually, this particular coffee shop was doing quite well for itself, Kalon was aware. It chose to stay crappy looking so it could stay low key. Probably a good idea.

But now that he had his tea (a daily necessity that could not be ignored regardless of circumstance) he had somewhere to be. He lifted an arm to look at his watch, giving a little sigh when he saw the numbers. Seven past noon. He was already late.

Oh well. If he was already late why bother hurrying? His dear friend Annabella would be pissed off regardless.

After giving a smile and a wave to the pretty woman at the counter, Kalon pulled his black, rabbit fur lined jacket on and left the shop, tugging the hood up around his feminine face and dark red hair. The place he had agreed to meet her wasn't far - just a short walk away.

He took another sip of his tea, gratefully sighing, and set off down the cement sidewalk, passing one homely looking girl who seemed to follow him with her big eyes.

The day was... nicer than usual. Or maybe he just wanted to think it was. At least there was no smog - maybe that was why the streets were so crowded today. No, the city was still depressing. It was still monochrome and smelly and loud and filled with ass holes and prostitutes. If Kalon could have, he would have been out of that place in a second.

But of course. Passports are one of the hardest things to come by in this shit hole. And they cost needless amounts of money. Oh, and if you leave city limits without permission, you get shot.

Ha. Sounds fun, right?

Kalon shrugged off the thought and took another needy sip of his hot tea, trying not to think about things he couldn't change. No, better to think about the positives in life. Like the fact that he was going to hang out with Annabella - the day was much brighter with her witty sarcasm below his shoulder. He couldn't help but give a little smile, moving his tea in both hands.

Speaking of which - he was at the place they had agreed to meet. Kalon let his eyes trace over the entire area, always around the walls (she never walked while she was waiting) and finally found her leaning against a highrise. She seemed to be talking to someone.

He had raised his hand to call out and stepped forward a few quick steps before he saw her gun out and pressed against the guy's stomach, obviously hostile. She looked like she was winning, having the weapon and all, but he was much bigger and could easily take it from her. That would be very, very bad.

Well shit. He was going to have to start their day together by saving her ass? He was going to mock her about this for weeks.

He sped up his walk to a run, tossed his tea aside, and was yanking the man away from Annabella within a few seconds, pushing him up against the wall beside her and holding his coat in both hands. Although Kalon wasn't beefy like this man, he was relatively tall and did have some muscle. If he really wanted to, he might be able to beat this guy in a fight. Hopefully, though, it wouldn't get that far. Someone would die quickly.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Kalon hissed in the man's face, trying to look menacing. Well, at least the anger was real. No one hurt Annabella. It was one of Kalon's great rules of life. No one hurt her. No one.

[xraineyesx]

Annabella prodded the man with the gun, shoving it a little further into the flesh of the man's stomach. It wasn't as if he didn't have enough to go around. The thought made her scoff a little inside her own head, but right now was no time for fun and games; right now was time to be all business.

And so she was. "I think," she spat through gritted teeth, "that I told you to back the fuck off."

"Crazy bitch," he muttered, taking a step backward, and she stepped forward right with him. The gun still pointed at his stomach.

Would a stomach shot kill him? No. At least, it wouldn't immediately. It would be a terrible, painful death in which he bled out and his stomach acid ate his internal organs. She grinned at him, looking up through her eyelashes. It could have been flirty - if she hadn't looked so enraged to actually look like she was enjoying herself - as if she had snapped.

And then, out of no where - Annabella hadn't been paying attention to anything but the man in front of her; one slip up and he could have the gun out of her hands and pointed at her mouth - a figure had in one swift movement taking the man out from in front of her and had pushed it up in front of the wall beside her.

She blinked a second, her hand relaxing and the gun pointing downward for a split second, before she regained her composure and instantly threw her hands up to the side as she whirled around to face whoever had joined the scene.

"Kalon!" she shouted, her brow furrowing.

Was she happy to see him? Internally, yes. On the outside, she was furious. She could handle herself. Why did he always treat her like a little girl? And then she sighed, letting the gun fall.

"Let him go," she said, glaring at the man as if to say, "You'd better get the fuck out of here before I blow your brains out all over that lovely gray wall."

"C'mon, Kalon, let him go."

[fragilefigure]

Kalon held onto the man's coat for another long moment before finally letting him go, roughly pushing him back against the wall in the process. He made sure to give a nice, long glare at the creep before grabbing Annabella's arm and dragging her down the street with him, his face stormy.

"Why," He asked when they were a safe distance away, "is it always yougetting into trouble?" He let her arm go and crossed his own, looking at her sideways. "Honestly - you made me drop my tea and everything." He loved his tea, and now he was missing it. He would have to buy more now. Fucking idiot creepers.

He watched his friend as they walked, her guitar slung over her shoulder and a packet of cigarettes peeking out of her pocket. She looked just about as peeved at he did, so he supposed it wasn't very fair for him to blame her for getting herself into trouble. Oh well - better him get confrontational at her before she could get mad at him for being late.

He sighed and pushed his hood back, freeing his hair to blow over his cheeks and forehead. It was getting windy - perhaps it would be an indoor day today. Crappy. The only place they could go nearby for shelter if it got too cold was the library, and that was where all the street kids lived.

Not that there was anything wrong with street kids. No - they just tended to push certain substances on him that he wasn't always willing to refuse.

[xraineyesx]

Flipping her bass around her back so that the strap was crossed over her chest and around her hip, she took off walking beside him. Not that she had a choice. He had grabbed her arm and was dragging her away from the scene.

She folded her arms over her chest and huffed out her breath. "Shut up, Kalon. If you weren't late, we wouldn't have even been here to have gotten in trouble. And," she emphasized the word "and", "I was handling it myself just fine, thanks."

With her free hand, she pulled her hood back up over her hair, her eyes glowering out from under the frame of her wild locks and the hood. "And if you want your tea so damned bad, I'll buy you some more."

"Not that I made you throw it away, anyway," she thought moodily inside her own head.

An outsider looking in on this scene might have suspected that she and Kalon didn't get along; they did. They got along so well that they could talk to each other like this and completely shrug it off.

"Where are we going?" she asked him as they walked. She would have looked for some landmarks, but there really weren't any. Everything was gray.

[fragilefigure]

As soon as Annabella mentioned buying him tea, Kalon gave a beaming smile, looking at her innocently. "Oh - I would love if you bought me tea! Thanks so much!" Then he gave a little, girlish spin and turned sharply to the left, where a little tea shop was sitting nestling among the giant cement buildings.

He didn't remember it being there before, but tea was tea. He could care less where the sacred liquid was aquired. He just hoped that it was super expensive, so that she would complain. He loved hearing her grumble.

He slowed down a bit until she was next to him, and then he pulled her close to his side, hugging her and leaning his cheek onto her own. She smelled good, like strawberry shampoo. Although she tried to push him away, he knew she liked the attention.

"Well, anyway, I'm glad you're fine. I would have to kill him if he hurt you, you know. Literally. Bloodily and with brains on the wall."

[xraineyesx]

"Damnit, Kalon! Slow down," she shouted at him as his forceful albeit girly twirling caught her off balance and she had to kind of skip-hop to keep up with him and not faceplant it on the sidewalk.

"Just because I mention ONE little thing about tea," she grumbled to herself, not giving a damn whether he was listening to her or not.

And then he stopped and swooped her up in his arms in an hug. "Oh, get off me!" she snapped, pushing against his chest with her palms flat. It was useless, she knew. He was stronger than she was, always had been and always would be, and there was nothing she could do to get him off her - except maybe bribe him with tea.

He leaned his face against hers and she stopped pushing him. Secretly she truly enjoyed the embrace. She never got any attention from anyone else, and she knew deep down inside that he would always be there for her, always be there to protect her, no matter what, especially when no one else was there for her.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," she said, a little playful growl in her voice as he explained to her how he would have had to hurt the creep back there. "I told you once already, I had it covered. He was ten seconds from his pretty little guts being all over the sidewalk."

She let the embrace linger for a second more, inhaling deeply in satisfaction. And then she pushed on him again. "C'mon, get off me. Let's go get your tea."

The tea shop, which she had know idea how he even knew it existed - he had to have a sixth sense or something - was right there. It had a shitty appearance, but so much the better for that.

"Come tell me what you want."

She probably knew already what he wanted, but she would let him tell her anyway. In fact, she even liked that Chai shit he drank.

[fragilefigure]

"Chai!" He happily soloed, pulling away from his good friend. "Like always. Why do you even ask?" Kalon was pretty much decided that he only liked Chai and Peppermint tea, but peppermint was more of an evening drink for him. He tended to be very ritualistic, and tea showed it the most. Annabella, on the other hand, was much more random, and made choices in the moment. He liked it - it balanced out their time together.

The inside of the little tea shop was well lit, lamps and flourescent lights in every corner and crevice. It seemed to be pretty popular, a good few people sitting inside at tables drinking coffee and eating cookies. The smell of cinnamon permeated the air, a smell that was rare enough to find in this city.

"Why haven't I found this place before?" Kalon sighed, unzipping his jacket. "This is awesome!" He didn't bother to lower his voice and a good few heads turned to look at him, some irritated, others amused. One of the waitresses looked rather pleased when she looked at his face, and when he pranced up to the counter, she quickly moved to the cash register.

"Hi there," She purred, swiping a long blond strand of hair from her face. "What can I get for you?" She looked outright promiscuous.

"Chai tea, please." Kalon barely even noticed as the waitress stuck out her chest for a long moment before turning to make the tea, suddenly looking more sour when she saw Kalon turn to Annabella. Bitter woman.

[xraineyesx]

Annabella rolled her eyes as they entered the tea shop; they were all the same to her. But it certainly did smell delicious.

"Yeah, yeah, I figured chai," she said, realizing she was mostly talking to herself since Kalon had bounded away, so she muttered to herself, "Just thought I'd be polite and ask."

Surprisingly the interior was well-lit and stylish even though it was clearly done on a budget; however, there were at least a handful of patrons inside. She looked around some more, noting the delicious smell of coffee and cinnamon, before she noticed Kalon was already bounding up to the counter -

Where yet another dumb blonde bitch stood trying to impress him. Well, she could play that game too. She sidled up behind Kalon and then beside him, slipping an arm around his face and giving the waitress a devilish grin.

"Make that two chai teas, please!" Her voice was sing-songy, almost sickly in its sweetness.

She waited for their tea, slapped some money down, and said, "Keep the change." It wasn't much, but everyone could use a tip. Plus, it would just further rub things in this woman's face. "Here." She pushed the steaming cup into Kalon's hand. "Let's go sit down."

[fragilefigure]

When Kalon got his tea he swiveled around and walked towards one of the little two person tables littered around the cafe, unwinding a scarf from around his neck and shrugging his coat off, placing it on the back of his chair. He plopped himself down and gave a heaving sigh, inhaling the warm, spicy scent.

"Thanks so much, Anna." He crooned, lifting the cup to his full lips. "You are my goddess, you know." His russet hair fell over one eye and he twitched it away with a tilt of his head, his eyes flickering back to the woman at the counter. She had been staring at him, and when their eyes met she quickly and awkwardly looked away, picking up a rag and rubbing at something aimlessly.

"Man, she is raging with hormones over there." He mumbled, almost slyly. "Maybe I should lead her on a bit. It would be fun!" He talked with the air of one who was attractive and knew it. Before he continued though, he gave a longing sigh and turned back to his friend. "Sadly, though, I have to stay here with the man - beast you are. So where are we gonna head after this, my darling?"

[xraineyesx]

She glared at him for a second and snapped at him, "Man-beast? I thought I was your goddess. After I just bought you tea, and this is how you treat me?!"

Anna whipped her hand out and snatched the cup from him and drew it back quickly behind her. "Now what?"

She sat staring at him, arms folded over her chest, and smirked. "What will you do without your precious tea? Huh?" She knew this would get to him, teasing him about his tea.

"But anyway, I digress. What shall we do today, what shall we do. Hm..." She trailed for a moment, assuming a face of mock puzzlement as if she was contemplating something very intensely. "Maybe we'll drink all Kalon's tea. Or maybe we'll dump it out."

Beaming a wide smile at him, she held up his cup and shook it a little before raising it toward her lips and took a deep swig of it. On the outside, she reclined and made a sigh of contentment, but on the inside, she could only think "fucking disgusting."

[fragilefigure]

As soon as the tea was snatched from his too-relaxed fingers, Kalon let out a mew of distress, leaning over the table to try and reach the cup. "Nooooo, Anna! I lied! You are definately not a man - beast! You are a goddess, with gorgeous... uhm... hair, and eyes, and... stuff." He gave a sudden charming smile, teasing right back. As soon as she took a swig of his drink, though, his tone changed.

"Oh no you didn't." He was still playing, of course, but he was playing just a little bit less at this point. His eyes narrowed a fraction, and he stopped trying to reach for the cup. "Give me the tea, or we will have to settle this outside, my darling." His hand moved down to the lapel of his coat, which he flicked aside to reveal his beloved handgun.

In this day and age, almost everyone carried a gun with them. It wasn't illegal to even threaten people with them - it was only illegal if you actually killed someone. People were injured all the time, but because of the lax attitude surrounding the use of weapons, often times people would shoot at eachother just in play. So when Kalon joked about going out to 'settle' the tea dispute with his gun, it wasn't even worrysome.

Although, it might be worrysome for Annabella. Kalon had a mechanical affinity, and could basically hit anything he wanted with a bullet. So if he wanted that tea bad enough, he could graze her body with bullets until she succumbed. It was one of his favourite threatening methods.

"So," He said. "What's it gonna be?"

[xraineyesx]

"Goddess, huh? I like the sound of that."

She kept listening until "and stuff..." and then she glared at him. "And stuff?! And stuff? What is this shit?"

And then he, ignoring her, threatened her with gunfight.

She reclined, even further, smirking back at him as she slide her hand inside her jacket and pulled out her own gun. "We can settle this outside, but it won't matter if I pour this out on the ground, will it?"

Fidgeting again in her chair as she situated herself differently, her legs stretched out and with her ankles crossed as she set her gun down on the table.

"It won't matter if I melt down your gun with my mind, or set your tea on fire, either, will it?"

She knew his game. He had a special bond with mechanical things, and he would always win in a firefight - no pun intended - but in a real firefight, she'd murder him.

Of course, she would give his tea back when he grovelled a little more. She liked complements.

"So," she said, beaming a wide grin at him again. "What's it gonna be?"

[fragilefigure]

"Oh really now. You want a full on magic fight?" He raised an eyebrow, leaning back into his own chair. "You want to try and beat me at something like that?" He gave a laugh, lifting an arm to run his fingers through his red hair. "Fine. How does this sound. You can pour out that tea, but if you do, and I win the battle, you owe me tea every day for the next month." His eyes narrowed, bright. "We can go to one of the playgrounds."

The 'playgrounds' were a slang word for the battle areas segregated from the rest of the city. They came outfitted with medics and everything, and it was a socially acceptable way to practice with your affinity. It was also a place to fight, when the urge hit you.

Of course, this space cost a pretty penny, but Kalon had plenty of cash to spare. He tended to splurge on whatever it was that caught his fancy.

He began to pull on his coat and wrap his scarf around his neck, basically ignoring the gun on the table top. He already knew that she would accept.

[xraineyesx]

She ignored him for the most part – or at least she came off that way as she rolled her eyes up and examined her fingernails. Really though, she was listening to every word he said. The terms were straight-forward, simplistic, revolved around tea – typical Kalon. It took all her will power to not laugh outright at the prize for winning the battle.

But, of course, she knew it wasn’t really about the tea. He could buy as much tea as he wanted. In fact, renting time in one of the playgrounds would cost tons more than buying one month’s worth of tea, even when buying that tea for Kalon.

What the battle was really about was bragging rights, the ability to gloat over her every time she bought him a cup of tea. He was like that, full of himself all the damn time. She didn’t mind. Clearly, she didn’t mind. If she did, how could she put up with him every single day?

He left, having said his piece, and she ignored him some more, picking up her gun and sliding it back inside her coat. She whistled a little bit to herself as she pulled out her cigarettes, tapped one out, and lit it. There weren’t any restrictions against smoking. Hell, even if there were (and there actually might have been – she didn’t know) everyone would have ignored them, especially in parts of town like this. Here, the law didn’t exist. Just the people’s justice.

Inhaling, she leaned back in her chair again, blowing out little smoke ring after little smoke ring. If she was going to do this, she was going to keep him waiting and on edge for a bit. Personally, she had no qualms about it, win or lose. But that was the difference between them. He was eager, anticipatory, and she – well, she could not give less of a fuck. Whatever happened, happened. As long as she was alive, she didn’t much care.

[fragilefigure]

Kalon stood, shoving his hands into his pockets and lifting his shoulders to settle the jacket on top of them. He could feel his stomach tightening just a fraction, a sign of both his excitement and his slight impatience. He liked the feeling of adrenaline; the rush of fear when you did something stupid. Not that this was particularly stupid, in his opinion. He knew quite well that his lovely Anna was afraid of the fire she controlled. This would be an easy battle.

Only one of two people had even looked at them for longer than a glance during their conversation, and the people who had stared had already turned back to their food. They were probably only interested enough to watch until they were sure that Kalon and Annabella were not going to start a scene inside. Either way, Kalon still looked around the entire room before he left, making sure that his big eyes didn't miss a single person. Especially the girl at the counter. She nearly swooned when he winked at her.

He turned and left the shop, starting to whistle a simple tune. Anna would follow, whether she took him up on his offer or not. They were going to spend a day together, weren't they? And god knows it had been far too long since he had taken her to a playground. Actually, let him rephrase that. It had been far too long since he had beat her at a playground.

The gray air had gotten colder, it seemed, in the last while since they had been on the streets. He shivered a bit, almost wishing for a moment that he smoked like his friend, if only for the comfort of heat.

[xraineyesx]

Grinning to herself, Annabelle crossed her ankles and stretched her legs out as she took her sweet time enjoying her cigarette; she was in no rush. Kalon would wait for her, and the longer she made him wait, the more on edge, the more antsy he would be. And the more on edge he was, the better for her.

The thing was, he cared about winning some dumb wrestling match.

And she didn't.

He was eager, anticipatory.

And she wasn't.

She couldn't care less if she won or lost, and that was where the major difference lied between them.

Besides, it was cold outside, and she was in no rush to go face the bitter cold and wind for any longer than she had to.

Flicking the ashes of her cigarette into the glass ashtray on the table, she held her drag in for a moment contemplating their upcoming match of magic. Finally, she put her cigarette out, and tugged her hood up around her head.

As she walked by the counter, she flicked a glance at the woman behind it, the one who seemed so smitten with Kalon. Eh, women were like that.

"Don't bother chasing him, honey. He's a heartbreaker."

She hardly even looked in the woman's direction, but she thought it only fair to give her a heads up. It probably wouldn't stop the woman from swooning over him every time he came in here for tea, but eh, what the hell? It might, right?

She walked outside, pushing the door open and letting it slam behind her. Her face wrinkled in disgust at the biting wind, and she looked around herself.

"Well," she thought to herself as she strode off in the direction that she was certain Kalon had gone, "It's off to the playgrounds."

[fragilefigure]

Making an effort to walk slowly, but still at an acceptable pace, Kalon let his mind wander, his left hand instinctively coming up to hold his long necklace, a pendant of two rings, one inside the other, hanging on the end. It was made so that both of the rings could spin independant of the other, and it was a habit of his to use his magic to make them spin. He did so now, not even noticing the slight whirring sound the metal made in the air.

Now that Annabella wasn't immediately on his mind (at least for the next minute or two) he let himself think about what he would do after they separated again. He wasn't about to tell her, but he had been living on the streets for the last little while. The friends he had been living with were arrested for something, and, of course, their house had been seized. Poor bastards. He didn't even know if they were still alive. Either way, he was lucky that he even got out with the bag of clothing he had. He had been buying new clothes for when he met with Anna to keep her unaware, but he didn't know how much longer he could keep it up for. He did have a lot of money, but it ended somewhere; and he didn't like the idea of making any more.

He dropped his hand, feeling his pendant drop onto his chest with a soft sound. It was warm now, the metal heated and radiating through his clothes right onto his heart.

He twisted his head around after shaking the thoughts out of his mind, deciding not to dwell anymore. He would figure out where he would sleep when he had to. For now, he was going to focus on his lovely girl. And, speak of the devil, there she was. He stopped walking and turned to face her, watching her walk the last few metres to reach him.

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