Spring Green

Yuletide recs, hopefully part 1

2012-12-28T19:16:25Z

Hopefully this will be the first batch of recs; i.e. hopefully I will actually post more recs later.

I am really missing Dark Agenda and Chromatic Yuletide; I feel like the amount of non-Western fandoms has dropped precipitously, and I feel really bad for requesters who ask for non-Western fandoms and get defaulted on, because those requests seem to get snatched up slowest on the pinch hit list =(. This is, btw, not a complaint to the dark_agenda mods, who are terribly overworked with Kaleidoscope alone, but just a general complaint about the trend I am seeing, since it means less fic for me.

Revelation (Angel Sanctuary) - (warning for canon-level gore and imagery) FOR MEEEEE!!!! My beloved Angel Sanctuary has fic this year! And it is a rewrite of Biblical Revelations! With six-headed machines of death and over-the-top language that is just like Yuki Kaori art and the world and details about the battle between Heaven and Hell, complete with horsemen and the seven sins. The "over-the-top," by the way, is totally a plus, given that it is ANGEL SANCTUARY. I cackled with delight while reading descriptions of organs dripping blood and deadly immortal swords and jezebel eyes. *pets story and fandom*

Dreams from My Mother (Black Jewels trilogy) - (warning for canon levels of sexual violence) I always want dark fic that doesn't cross into angsty h/c land for this fandom, since it is already so idtastic in itself, and I am so happy to get a meaty story for Wilhelmina. This shows her as her own person, separate from Jaenelle, growing into her own strength, and it fleshes out her dead mother, which was something I've never thought of wondering about and am really glad someone else did.

The Rube Suit (Glitch) - Oh Glitch, I miss you! This probably hit me hardest out of all the fic this year, just because my game closed =(. I love the explanation for the Rube, along with all the details of the world that somehow fit in the bizarre Glitch recipes and resources while feeling just right, and the longing of all the Glitchen for Ur so echoes my own.

Kushiel's Fall (Kushiel's Legacy) - Great grumpy Favrielle voice, with a great romance to boot. I actually really want to read more about Favrielle and Julien now. And I really like how the fic deals with the ideas of ugliness and beauty that are never quite satisfactorily addressed in the books, and I so heart the costume choices.

Humans Can Become Anything (Monster) - Runge fic! There's a quietness to most post-Monster fic that I like, and this is no different. I particularly love how Runge's calculating mind still works the same way, but that he's also learning to apply it to things like cooking and his family, and I am so happy to see how Grimmer's influence is still being felt.

Die ente magd (Princess Tutu) - The Princess Tutu characters are now in the Goose Girl, and Rue in particular gets her due. So happy to get a Rue fic where all the characters are fighting for her, and this weaves the meta into the fairy tale in a way that feels very organic to the fic. I also have a soft spot for this, since Goose Girl was one of my favorite fairy tales growing up, and I love what the fic does with the ending.

The Yellow Rose of Mystery & Other Wonders of the World (Shoujo Kakumei Utena) - UTENA! Back in Yuletide, WHOO! This is my favorite of the batch, though just having 7 (SEVEN!) stories to choose from is BEST. I love this one for the wonderful Nanami and Anthy voices, as well as all the shoutouts to various cracktastic Nanami episodes.

Songs for the Jingwei Bird (Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Chinese Mythology) - A lovely set of stories about transformation and imagination that feel very much like the story about Zhuangzi dreaming about being a butterfly, and the ending was unexpected and wonderful.

2011 Yuletide:

Having the Constitution for It (Enchanted Forest Chronicles) - I think I found this via kate_nepveu. Also, yay fantasy story that relinquishes the monarchy for a republic! And I love how all the characters go about doing it, and the final results.

Also, I am a terrible person who defaulted (fandom proved too difficult for me to write, sigh) and then wrote a full-length treat and a Madness treat. Feel free to guess re: me and others. I'm not sure I've found anyone's yet...

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Kaleidoscope recs!

2012-12-22T00:17:40Z

Sigh. I wanted to get these up before the reveal went live. FWIW, these are my recs pre-reveal? And then I wanted to get it up, period. So here, have some excellent fanworks in tiny fandoms before Yuletide brings down AO3!

First, I got Many faces of Tsao Wen, an awesome, awesome icon set from sinngrace for Dòu máah dáan | 刀馬旦 | Peking Opera Blues! Thank you so much OMG! I am just so excited someone created a fan work for this movie! And not just that, but Brigitte Lin as Tsao Wen being hot like whoa! I still can't pick a favorite outfit or pose because I keep changing my mind! Oh man. I wish she were in Takarazuka, wahahaha.

dhobikikutti, Henson and Ootah's GR8 Adventurs (Arctic Expeditions RPF/Texts from Cephalopods fic) - Um. I have no words people. You may need a passing familiarity with the persons of Arctic Expeditions RPF or Texts from Cephalopods, and other than that, this is sheer crack. I just. PEOPLE. HENSON AND OOTAH ARE CEPHALOPODS.

Carmarthen, A Branch in the Wind Cannot Find Peace (Dí Rénjié | 狄仁傑之通天帝國 | Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame fic) - Whoo! Wu Zetian's POV, and she is scary and icy and touching and full of regret. I love that sense of passion and emotion under fierce restraint, the kind where every tiny gesture is laden with meaning. Spoilers for the movie.

reapingfolk, Jezebel (Gyeongseong Scandal | Capital Scandal vid) - Cha Song Joo vid!!!! Basically, Cha Song Joo is awesome. Love how the vid shows her relationship with Wan and Yeo Kyeong and Geun Deok and Young Ran as well as with Su Hyeon. Warning: SPOILERS LIKE WHOA.

Izilen, Shining Bright (Hourou Musuko | Wandering Son icon set) - Really lovely and vibrant icons from Hourou Musuko. I've only read a single volume, but I like the art style a lot.

Qem, Hourou Musuko Icons - These are hazy and watercolored, in comparison to the above icon set, and it works equally well. The feel of it reminds me a bit of the Honey and Clover anime.

Rhi, A Day (Week Month Year) in the Life (Scott Pilgrim icon set) - This is so cool! So I don't know Scott Pilgrim much at all, but I just love that it takes recontextualized scenes from outside sources and scenes from the movie and the comics to tell a story via icon set! I don't think I have ever seen that before.

DoubleCorncake, Knives Chau and the Paradise Kiss Makeover (Scott Pilgrim/Paradise Kiss art) - I am totally biased, because I had some amount of input in this, but best crossover ever! I love the colors and how recognizable all the Paradise Kiss characters are, even in Scott Pilgrim style, and I am especially happy that Knives Chau gets her own happy ending, complete with awesome clothes.

sanguinity, Talk Don't Matter (Smoke Signals vid) - I really really really need to watch the source now! I love the developing relationship between Thomas and Victor, and I really need to get a hold of the song now.

ambyr, Women's Words (Sun Sword fic) - This has everything I loved from the Annagar parts of the series. Diora is so careful, so subtle, as she always has been, and yet, there are the most minute of changes. And the Serras continue to write their letters that are beneath the notice of others and game changing all the same.

And okay, this wasn't for Kaleidoscope, but it does fit the collection criteria:

ryfkah, Five Times Kyoko Did Not Expect Fannish Shipping Explosions (Skip Beat! fic) - Kyoko stars in adaptations of various popular fanworks (Ex. Magical Boy Wizard Harry and I am not spoiling the rest for you). Kyoko is affronted by fan reactions. I nearly die laughing. I am not sure which adaptation is my favorite, because they are all so wonderfully perfect, but I think for now I'll go with #3 and #5.

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Recent reading

2012-02-03T22:04:28Z

Owning an ereader has been so wonderful in that I have started reading long and epic fic again! I think I lost patience with most long fic in college, due to the strains of reading it on an LCD monitor, but now, downloading them to my ereader means the length is worth it.

I currently grab stuff from AO3 or use Fanfiction Loader to convert things on ff.net. I also seem to be very in gen or gen with sides of romance lately, and I really haven't been feeling the white cis men slash.

( Things I've read lately that I've liked )

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Kaleidoscope and Yuletide recs

2011-12-29T23:46:35Z

Er, better late than never, one hopes?

Fandoms: Effluent Engine, Journey to the West, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, Coffee Prince, Sultana's Dream, Pacifics, Chak De! India, Saving Face, Capital Scandal, Half World, Detective Di, Red Cliff, 20th Century Boys

( Read more... )

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HP fic recs?

2011-07-22T17:09:46Z

I have finally seen the last movie! I have no real commentary, as I had completely forgotten everything from the books, save the endless forest scenes from the first movie. As it were, I kept leaning over and asking people, "Was that in the book too?!"

And now I want fic! I haven't read HP fic since probably around 2005 or so, so older recs are good as well.

Things I am looking for:

Snape backstory. Snape/Lily and AUs also good.
Lily getting to be an actual person instead of a love interest or a dead mother.
Narcissa
Luna and/or Neville, either character studies (especially with Neville's parents! Or Longbottom backstory), or ship fic. I could probably ship them with nearly anyone.
Stuff complicating the Slytherins, since I don't believe the entire house could be evil. That said, I am not a Draco fan, nor am I interested in Harry/Draco.
Dystopic AUs under Voldemort rule or backstory from the last time he was in power, preferably with a focus on the women instead of the Marauders.
McGonagall being awesome.
Stories about Hogwarts in the seventh book, particularly during the events when all we see in the book is Harry, Ron and Hermione in the forest. Students and professors rebelling, like in OotP, etc. Stories about Hogwarts right after the big climax in the end also good.
Stories about the wizarding world recovering from Voldemort.
Politics in the Ministry of Magic.
What's going on in the rest of the world as Voldemort climbs to power again.
Something really complicating the human vs. non-human dynamics in the books, especially re: the house elves.
Female friendships in the books.

I am not looking for most ship stories (I make an exception for Luna and/or Neville, and also for femslash). I'm fine if there's shippy stuff happening in the fic, but I'd rather that not be the focus of the story. I am also not a fan of teacher/student fic, unless it is post-Hogwarts. I'm not particularly interested in more about Harry, Ron, Draco, Dumbledore, Remus, Sirius, or James. I do want more about Snape, but I like Snape as a complicated, petty, heroic, cruel character.

Basically, I want things that expand on the worldbuilding. I love the history in the books, the generations lost to battles with Voldemort, the politics in the Ministry, the sense of bigotry and oppression and rebellion. I like stories of ordinary people being extraordinary. I have a weird liking for Hermione and Snape, but less as a ship and more as intellectual interaction. I love the HP series, but I also want to complicate it and poke holes at it and critique and put more layers in.

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Yuletide guessing and recs

2010-12-31T02:19:55Z

I sadly have almost no recs this Yuletide, largely because I've only spent a few hours browsing around the archive. Mostly I tried to go through the Chromatic Yuletide 2010 collection first, but given that I spent all of the first half of my sister's visit writing (and rewriting, and researching, and despairing of, and occasionally giving up on) my story, I felt kind of guilty abandoning her to Yuletide for the second half as well.

That said, OMG people!! My gift fics!!!! I have not one, not two, but THREE stories for my random wuxia reincarnation Jay Chou music video request (link goes to my pimping post with the music video itself, lyrics, and translation). And another bittersweet and food-full fic for xxxHolic!

In the order they show up on my gifts page:

The Summer Triangle (Qing Hua Ci (Music Video)) - OMG BEST THING EVER! I want everyone to read this because you really don't need to know much about the source (reincarnation!), and if you do want to know the source, here you go! It's only four minutes long! Vase ex machina!

I love love love how the story takes the over-the-top ridiculousness of the music video and makes fun of it, that even though the vase snarks, it still wants the lovers to get together, that the vase has its own tragic backstory. I love the references to cdramas and ubiquitous pop music and the hair and wind machines and giant training sequences of wuxia movies and Macross and Jay Chou's totally over-the-top emotastic music that is everywhere, I love the interstellar war (I so want more of that story too!), I love that the fic gives so much agency and coolness to Yan Yu, who mostly just lounges about prettily in the original vid! I cannot wait to see who wrote this, and I'm dying to see what the writing process was behind this (I am sure it is hilarious!) and to see all the references I got or missed! I keep wanting to point out all the little things in here and how I appreciate all that thought and effort going into what feels like an effortless piece, but then I get distracted and flail and squee and exclamation point! SO AWESOME! INCOHERENT SQUEE!

Here, I'm going to skip ahead a little. Yes, there's a pretty great story about how he battled his way through mountains and forests, nearly died at the hands of bandits before meeting an Immortal who nursed him back to health, and finally, his tests of courage at the temple in order to obtain me, but this is the thing. It's a really long story and you don't have the time right now. You'll just have to wait for the 40-episode drama to come out next year.

I Wait for You (Qing Hua Ci/Bride with White Hair) - OMG people I saw the one-line description for this ("In a post-apocalyptic future, a boy with an illness that forces him to live as a virtual bubble boy meets a feral mutant girl living in the forbidden woods.") and the two fandoms and started flailing incoherently! This is more Bride with White Hair than "Qing Hua Ci," though again, I want everyone to read this because you don't need to know much about the source (reincarnation!) except that in the original, she can kill with her hair and was raised by wolves, and that theirs is a tragic forbidden love.

There is so much in here to squee about! The cracktastic and yet absolutely awesome worldbuilding! Exiled mutants! Piles of baby bones! A giant dome that keeps everyone ~~trapped~~safe inside! But what I actually love best is how despite the cracktasticness of both original sources and the fic's world, the interaction between the boy and the girl in the fic is just as real and touching as it was in the movie. I especially love the girl's many incidences of "You humans are strange and yet interesting" as she tells the boy his mutation sucks, offers him raw catfish, and then tells him to bring her more food! And I'm so glad that he doesn't break her heart the way he does in the movie, that he saves her by being vulnerable, the tiny mention of his life opening like a flower at the end instead of forever sitting in the snow guarding it.

The Dome wasn't entirely sealed off, of course: there were the pipes which brought captured rainwater to the filtration plant, the hundreds and thousands of tiny holes which allowed air to pass in and out, and the terrible Exile Gate through which mutant babies and children and even the occasional long-undiscovered adult were thrust out, never to return. The boys and girls whispered that the white piles of baby bones rose so high on either side of the Exile Gate that a tall man couldn't see over them.

In a Chinese Landscape (Shan Shui Hua Li) (Qing Hua Ci/Bujold's Cetaganda and Vorkosigan) - Again, one in which I don't think you need to know the canon to read! I actually haven't read the Bujold books, but the fic is lovely by itself. Also, even though the notes say the fic isn't wuxia and is only incidentally space opera, it feels like wuxia in space, especially the focus on forbidden love and honor. I love the prose in here, the way it manages to evoke Chinese brush paintings and Song ci and Ming porcelein while still being set in space, the way ancient China and another lifetime in the wuxia world fits with spaceships and the art of genetics and airlock doors.

I have seen it not only as it is, but as a memory of clay, mould, brush on unfired porcelain. Perhaps a child's story of our ancestors' artistry when the rest of the world was content with porous earthenware, as advanced then as our genetic is art now. Art will progress; the older things fall away. How few of our ladies' works will survive for three thousand years?

Living Memory (xxxHolic) - This is a lovely fic that is set post-series (I think? I haven't actually finished), and it's so nice to see Watanuki and Kohane again, especially cooking! I love how it goes into the process of cooking and the way it ties food with memory and remembering, both new friendships and old in the background.

Watanuki looked up from the sea bream he was cutting. "Then it's time to add the first ingredients, Kohane-chan. Do you remember which ones?"

"Mushrooms," she said, picking up the bowl of sliced shiitake. "And the clams ... and shrimp ... and scallions ... and cabbage. And that fish."

Recs of the few things I have managed to read!

Persuasion to Joy (Mulan 2009) - This is the fic I wanted after I watched the movie, and I am so glad that the Rouran princess gets her own story, and that it's a quiet and gentle and happy one, despite the intial culture shock and difficult adjustments.

She does not have a name. She will always be the barbarian princess who took away the youngest, most beloved prince. She climbs to the tallest reaches of the palace walls, watches the stars turn in their steady paths, and does not cry.

This story, she thinks, will have a happy ending.

The Opening of Coffee Princess (Coffee Prince) - So cute! It totally makes me want to rewatch the drama, and I love that even though it's about Eun-chan and Han-gyeol, it fits in so many of the other characters, including Eun-sae and Seon-gi, which is particularly appropriate given the shift from coffee princes to coffee princesses.

“For you, my Chan!” Ha-rim announced before looking around the café. “Wah, looks nice! Of course, it’s all due to my guidance. You should have seen this place before, Eun-chan, before I came onto the consulting team! It was all the wrong image! Now it has the proper feminine touch.”

( Yuletide guessing )

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Yuletide recs, part 2

2009-12-31T08:25:28Z

And Gladly Teach (Kristin Cashore - Graceling) - Graceling fic! I love getting more of Katsa/Po, particularly how the two of them are learning each other's Graces more. And politics! A believable look at what the future may hold for the two of them and how they're trying to negotiate the new world they've partially helped set up.

The next morning Katsa watched two children demonstrate how to stab each other, and had never been happier.

Thousand Voices, One Fight (Janelle Monae - Metropolis) - So far, one of my favorite stories from this Yuletide. I love the resistance and the fight and the struggle and how the author keeps tying it back to our own history, I love the reclamation of the color black, I love how the fight continues on and how it's about all these people speaking or staying silent and continually struggling. And oh, those last two paragraphs are absolutely perfect.

Your ancestors sang in the plantations. They danced after the sun went down. They would not be silenced.

Strange Language (Song of Ice and Fire) - I don't remember the character of Missandei from the books at all, but this is her story, from slave to translator, and Dany's as well. I love the two women together and the way it is about trying to make your way in a hostile world and having to make all the difficult choices simply to survive. And I love the understanding the two have at the end, former slave and queen both struggling, but now with another ally.

It was harder to learn to be free than it had been to learn to be a slave. The rules were less clear.

Revisionism (Princess Tutu) - I thought it would be hard to get more meta than the series itself, and yet, someone has! A new version of Drosselmeyer's "The Prince and the Raven" has been found, and the D. D. Dosselmeyer Literary Institute has a special article in their newsletter on what this new addition to the canon means, with quotes from some familiar characters.

Rejoice, aficionados, and gather 'round! -- it is with the utmost pleasure that we of the D.D. Drosselmeyer Literary Institute announce the discovery of a new manuscript.

The Loved Girl (A Portrait in Tabloids) (Skip Beat) - I so hope the manga takes this path! Sho, Ren, and Kyoko are all in the same drama, and Kyoko's having a bit of a hard time portraying her character. What follows is acting advice, Kyoko being clueless, and Ren and Yashiro both being long suffering, just like the canon.

It is Josei Seven's best selling issue of the year, and on the morning when it officially reaches the newsstands, LME's head offices receive an unprecedented amount of calls asking for verification or denial (or any comment at all) regarding Ren and Kyoko's suspected relationship.

Area Codes (Skip Beat) - I'm still so glad last year's Yuletide story made me start reading Skip Beat again. This has Kyoko's giant sparkly eyes, Moko being long suffering and annoyed, and a lot of phone calls. I love the friendship between the two girls so much.

Kanae gapes at her phone. "You're the heroine of a manga, aren't you?"

Color All Days Blue, But Save One for Many Colors (Flowers in the Attic/Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series) - Bwahahahaha! Another Flowers in the Attic crossover! Only this time with Nalini Singh of all things!

Once I thought hope was yellow, like the sunlight we never saw.

Bloom (Paradise Kiss) - Paradise Kiss fic! And starring Isabella too! This is quiet and lovely, and I'm so glad Isabella at last gets her own story.

Ten years and lots of bleeding in between (figuratively, except when they run out of thimbles); ten years, and still more to come, Isabella knows.

all your heart-melodies (Lilo & Stitch) - LOVE. Bittersweet and then just plain sweet, and I love grown-up Lilo. LOVE.

Stitch shows her how to build plasma guns (Nani puts them on a high shelf), how to rig up a can opener and a radio into a machine that will open a portal to an alternate universe (Nani says she can't do it in the house) and how to first swallow and then regurgitate useful objects, like handcuff keys or quarters (Nani, though disgusted, can't help but be impressed).

I Cannot Promise (Robin McKinley - Deerskin) - Quiet and gentle and a wonderful epilogue to the book.

And slowly, but surely, those raw edges healed, a little crookedly, like Ash's wound, inexpertly stitched and still painful to the touch, but healed nonetheless, and Lissar was more and more comfortable in her role in the castle.

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Yuletide recs, part 1

2009-12-27T16:43:49Z

Four Conversations Song Joo Never Had and One Conversation She Did (Capital Scandal) - My gift fic, and it is awesome, awesome, awesome! It has everything I wanted from a Song Joo fic, from her friendships with Wan and Yeo Kyeong to her and Su Hyeon, along with tidbits of Korean history and freedom fighting as well! I love that the story doesn't gloss over the difficulties to come even as it dwells on happy moments. I don't have anything else to say except EEEEEEEE! MY STORY! In my fandom that I thought would never have fic in it! I love it so much! (spoilers in the fic for Song Joo backstory, spoilers in comments for the series)

But for this night—this single perfect night, she does not want to think of the Americans or the Russians. For this one night, all she wants to do is be thankful that the Japanese have surrendered and that both she and Soo Hyeon are still alive.

She Is Sun Shangxiang (赤壁/Red Cliff) - And someone wrote me a treat too! I am so happy that both of my gift fic this year are on awesome Asian women! I am always terrible at describing my gift fic because all I want to do is squee and post lots and lots of exclamation points. Anyway, it is my favorite character from the movie, and the author gets all her passion and her love for her country and her heroism!

This is what she cares about: she cares about the strength of the bow in her hands, carved and curved and humming with tension.

Witch (LJ Smith - Night World) - Poppy's twin Phil learns to deal with the Night World. It's got almost all the characters in it, and I especially love seeing the glimpses of people's lives after their books without it feeling like an overcrowded romance sequel. Also, Blaise!

The others have risked everything for love. He's going to do it for family. Including the one who's no longer human, even if she has a soulmate.

Tactical Dispositions (赤壁/Red Cliff) - This follows up on the ending of the movie and how Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu must reluctantly side against each other. Also, another duet on the qin!

"If Heaven has made Yu, why then Liang as well?" Zhou Yu interrupted sharply, growing impatient with his ruler's obstinacy.

Faces in Fire (Ann Maxwell - Fire Dancer series) - I don't remember too much of the books, but wow, this has the smouldering (sorry for the pun) UST between Kirtn and Rheba just right. I only wish there were more of it!

The gold eyes meet hers, and she feels again the rush of heat, akhenet lines smouldering in untrammelled fire, her breath caught hot in her throat as though sucked from her lungs. Carefully, Rheba reins in the heat, knowing that her Bre'n will advocate control.

Incorrigible (V.C. Andrews - Dollanganger series/Madeleine L'Engle - Kairos series) - Yes, yes you read those fandoms right. It is a crossover of Flowers in the Attic and A Swiftly Tilting Planet! BWAHAHAHAHAHAH! I am probably going to hell just for reccing this. But OMG! The L'Engle pastiche is pretty good, as is the V.C. Andrews one (the "golly gosh"! The tone-deaf exposition-y dialogue!), there is a harpsicorn (you have to read it to find out), and it is hilarious! I also was torn between quoting from the fic and the author's note, which had me giggling hysterically.

Pairings are canonical. There is no Murrycest, because I am not V.C. Andrews. There is a nonhuman OC that does not participate in any shippy activity.

This was a pinch-hit. I did not upload this as a last-minute treat. Therefore I have no excuse for what I have written. I could have looked for a beta, and the beta could have talked me out of this, but noooooo.

in those that wait (L.M. Montgomery - A Tangled Web) - I've always had a giant soft spot for Hugh and Joscelyn in the book, and this is a lovely epilogue to their story.

"You must hate me."

"Bitterly," Hugh said, as he dropped a tender kiss on her forehead. "I can barely stand the sight of you." His eyes twinkled with a light that hadn’t shone for a decade, incandescent with joy.

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