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#hate that i gotta get better at normal anatomy properly before i can do that tho 😔
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small update :d
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astaroth1357 · 3 years
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Unpacking the Angel Event (Through My Own Perspective)
Okay so uh… this was a very uncomfortable seat the Devs have offered us today and like all things that give me moral uncomfiness, I HAVE to analyze it. Blame the ethics classes. A full disclaimer, this is not spoiler-free and is pretty much entirely just me unpacking my own feelings here. What may bother or not bother me could really affect you and there is nothing wrong with that. You are entitled to your own perspective. This is just me trying to walk through all the stuff in this event that just… rubbed me the wrong way. So let's get to it.
The Costumes
So. Let's start at the beginning. Diavolo apparently had the bright idea to put everybody in magical costumes of their angel forms (or something like it in Satan's case). This is… problematic.
The reason the brothers lost their angel forms was because they fell after the Celestial War… who's greatest causality (in their eyes) was their sister, Lilith. So one could imagine that their memories as angels aren't particularly happy ones… By this point in the "continuity" (this is Post-Attic, more on that later), they would have known that Lilith didn't actually die which may soften something like this a little. I dunno, I'm not one of them and trauma is uniquely personal to the individual, but the bigger issue is that Diavolo thought this was a good idea to start with to which I say! - I'm not at all surprised by that. Hear me out.
Diavolo is heavily implied to have had a huge ass crush on Angel Lucifer. He's also uh… probably a little sheltered (as sheltered as the royalty of Hell can be) and probably not used to think of his subjects' feelings on the things he does before he just does them. This is fairly evident in other events where he'll order the brothers to do XYZ task even if they want no part in it. It doesn't surprise me at all that Diavolo would want to see them (Lucifer) as angels again and not take into account how that could affect them. I don't think that'd be malice on his part, just shortsightedness, and he likely would have apologized if any of the brothers expressed an emotional problem with it to him directly.
Do they have problems? Yes. But since the event kind of wipes them of their true selves, that's better discussed elsewhere. Moving on.
The Bangles 
Holy fuck, how do we even approach this? So Simeon, in conjunction with Michael (probably, at this point I have to wonder if he's telling the truth about this) gives the brothers jewelry, presumably to wear to the party, that would… I'm not even sure. Curb their impulses? Force them to be mannered? The important thing is he did not tell them about that little detail before they put the bangles on…
This is… also problematic. First, we can try to establish Simeon's intentions versus what actually happened: 
The bangles were (likely) intended to be removable. It was the mixing of the magic that locked them in place so we can assume he didn't mean this to be a permanent change.
The magic on the bangles was probably amplified by the angel costumes. What this means is though we can assume that Simeon never intended them to become quite so… different, we'll never know just how much influence he was actually trying to put on them. It could have been anything from suppressing their sins to full blown force you to say please/thank you. We'll just never get to know now… 
I won't be the first person to liken this to mind control (nor the last) because… that's kind of how it turned out. Even worse still, it would have been completely involuntary on the brothers' part. Simeon DID NOT tell them what the bangles were going to do. Now, he claims later that he would have eventually, but we don't get to know when that would have been. I presume at some time after the party, because like. These are our boys. They're not going to consent to wearing something like that, they're just not.
This poses all kinds of questions and problems ranging from issues of consent to anatomy and even the worth of good deeds done out of obligation vs. free will and… I mean quite literally when I say Jesus Christ, Simeon, what the hell?!
I could write a completely different post debating whether or not what Simeon did actually had any moral merit but I won't because it'd be very dry and boring. I think the most interesting thing to take away here is that Simeon thought it was okay to do like, at all, and with approval from Michael (maybe) no less… That reflects something on angel society that I doubt will get explored but I need to ponder farther…
This section is all kinds of sticky so we need to move on.
The Development(?)
First off, to new players, don't worry this probably isn't canon (at least to the main story continuity). The Brothers should be back to normal in the new chapters and this won't have a long term effect on anything (aside from maybe a tie in to the next event ala Beach event-> Games). That's how Obey Me has always treated their events it seems and I sure hope they stick to it now. But, these are still the same characters going through a unique situation and that can offer some insight so… Let's discuss.
I mentioned earlier that the brothers had problems with this… Unfortunately, I think we only get to see Lucifer and Satan's thoughts in any detail because everyone else is too far gone by the time we reach them… Lucifer can pretty much be summed up as troubled and unhappy because (you know) not a lot of great memories as an angel. I presume that his wounded pride after the fall may also contribute. 
Satan is… more complex. I’m honestly more bothered by his change than anyone else’s because even he expresses how weird this is for him... (We get confirmation that he never in fact had an angel form, btw). Poor baby is going through a full on identity crisis and there’s a certain part of his mind that he’s not even allowed to use right now... Anger. The Avatar of Wrath, born from Wrath, can’t get angry and… Something about that just bothers me at a deeper level, not even I can express properly…
Everyone else is too far gone once we reach them. Their personalities are completely different and they can’t even acknowledge that’s the case. They think that they’ve turned a new leaf but we know that’s not the reality, that leaf was very much turned for them and it doesn’t make anything feel any better…
This may be my own opinion, but part of me thinks that this portion (and only this portion right here) was actually what the Devs were going for. They wanted us to be uncomfortable by all of this for like, story reasons. It’s a narrative trick. Think of the phrase “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” I think they were trying to use the absence of the brothers’ usual flaws and traits as a weird way of celebrating them. Kind of like saying, “We could have given you guys these perfect brothers, but they’re not perfect and we know that’s why you like them. Look at these perfect guys, doesn’t it feel wrong?” The answer is, yes. It does feel wrong. And under other circumstances, it would be affirming like they’d be intending, “I don’t want this emotionally-open non-otaku, give me Levi dammit!” But when you add this intended discomfort with the already sketchy way we got here it just makes it all the worse… 
And absolutely NONE of this is helped by...
The… End?
I think the thing I hate about this event the most (actually legitimately hate) is how it ends. In that it doesn’t. It kind of just… abruptly stops right after Lucifer starts coming to himself again. Though I suspect that’s because they’re putting incentive into getting the event cards, this in NO WAY does the narrative any favors.
Most people are not going to get those cards. Even with Lonely Devil as an option, it’s a huge time/resource commitment to get there. Because of that, the majority of people are not going to get to see the aftermath of what happened. We don’t get to see how the brothers feel about what happened. We don’t get to see if they do, in fact, come to and if they have any takeaways from the experience or if they’re utterly disgusted by it. The player character doesn’t even get the option to comfort them after something that was probably terribly traumatic. It. Just. Ends.
What that means is all of that discomfort that we had just lingers… There’s no resolution or pay off. It just… stays… This is the worst possible thing they could have done. If you want your audience to feel uncomfortable, that’s one thing, but unless you’re telling like, a psychological thriller you gotta settle them back down again! Deep moral conflict is not a turn on!!!
Personally, I don’t hate that this thing exists. I don’t. The part of me that majored in Philosophy loves analyzing media like this so I can’t say that I didn’t get anything out of it. I don’t think all media should play it safe, it’s okay to leave the audience with no good answers or a feeling of unease, but you really got to be self-aware of it. The biggest flaw of this event, in my opinion, is that it rarely comes across as self-aware of its own horror. You get a very brief glimpse of it from Solomon when he comments on how creepy things are, but Simeon’s happy. Diavolo’s happy. And though he’s a little uneasy, Luke’s pretty content, too. Add that to the abrupt ending and we never get to know if ANY of them realize how awful of a thing this was to do to the brothers... It makes it all come off as an endorsement of mind controlling your friends into better people and (to me) that feels really, really wrong.
So in conclusion… I dunno. If the next event isn’t something along the lines of “Angelic Demons Part 2: Fixing What We Fucked Up!” then I think they really botched this one guys… I hope somebody was taking notes.
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Love and Medicine ~ 10
MASTERLIST
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< previous chapter
Word Count: 3,110ish
Summary: Kinda all over the place... hope it makes sense.
I do not own Marvel or Grey’s Anatomy.
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You were sleepily cuddled up to Steve in the comfort of your bed when you heard Val’s voice outside your door.
“Clint!” She exclaimed. “You locked the door. I need to take a shower.”
“Uh, uh, I’ll be out in a minute!” Clint responded.
“What are you doing in there?”
You groaned, curling into Steve further. His hold tightened around you as the bickering continued out in the hallway.
“It’s private!” Clint answered.
“Oh. Oh my. I’m sorry!” Val said. “I get it! I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“They’re so loud,” Steve grumbled. “Don’t they know that we’re right here, trying to sleep?”
“Just ignore them,” you mumbled in reply. “They’ll eventually stop.”
“I am not doing what you think I’m doing!” Clint continued.
“You know what, there's really no need to explain,” Val responded. “I'll wait. You just… finish.”
“No, I’m... I'm coming. I'm coming out.” 
You heard the bathroom door open, causing you to bury your face into Steve’s neck. Then Val and Clint continued talking, annoying you greatly. With a grunt you separated from Steve and got out of bed.
“Where are you going?” Steve asked, reaching out for you.
“I’ll be right back,” you replied, kissing his lips lightly before be-lining for the door. You tore it open, causing Val, who had been leaning on it, to struggle with her balance. “What is going on out here?”
“Nothing,” Clint quickly answered.
“He's freaked out cause I caught him playing with little Jimmy and the twins,” Val responded.
“Val! I have a girlfriend.”
“Okay,” Val laughed with a nod.
Clint huffed, storming away to his room and slamming the door.
“This sounds like fun out here,” Steve said, walking up behind you. His phone began ringing. Giving it a quick glance, Steve stuffed it away in his pockets.
“Aren’t you gonna get that?” You asked. “It might be the hospital.”
“It’s not.” He gave you a kiss. “Breakfast?”
Steve walked down the hall, leaving you standing there a bit suspicious. And still annoyed that your roommates had woken you and Steve up.
~~~
Natasha was at the medical center. She was hiding in the stairwell, on the phone.
“No, look, I told you people I’m not coming for a counseling session,” she told whoever was on the other end of the call. “I know all my options… Yeah, uh, well I made my decision, and I made my appointment. I'll be there on the 16th.”
She hung up as Bruce walked up the stairs.
“I paged you last night,” he said, slightly nervous.
“Oh, I wasn’t on call,” Natasha replied.
“That's not why I paged you. You could give me your home number.”
“Um, Banner… I… uh, I gotta go.”
And she quickly went through the stairwell door, leaving Bruce standing there confused.
~~~
Clint and Laura, his new nurse girlfriend, were chatting at one of the nurses station.
“I had a really good time the other night,” Laura flirted.
“Yeah, me too,” Clint responded. “Are you, uh, feeling okay and everything?”
“I’m good. Great, now that I got to see you. Why?”
“Oh, no reason. I’m good too, you know? Really good. You know. But, um, a little itchy.”
“Hey, Clint,” Val greeted, walking up. “Hey, Laura.”
“Hey,” they both replied.
“I’ll see you later, Clint,” Laura said, wiggling her fingers as she walked away.
“Okay, bye,” Clint replied, turning to Val. “Yeah. She’s into me.”
“Way to go, Clint,” Val congratulated with a playful punch to the arm. “She’s cute. So this morning you really weren’t—“
“Anytime you want to apologize…”
“Then what ere you doing in the bathroom for so long?”
“I have to go.”
Clint swiftly left. He went straight to the locker room where he found Scott and Peter alone in there.
“Um… I need to ask you both something,” Clint said, nervously.
“Sure,” Scott answered.
“Depends what it is,” Peter replied.
“I seem to be having this skin thing going on, like a rash, really,” Clint said. “And I think I know what it is, but I can't get close enough to tell for sure.”
“Let’s see it,” Scott said.
“It’s kinda located in an, um, you know, private—“
“You’re a doctor, Clint,” Peter interrupted. “It's called a penis. You have a rash on your penis?”
“I think I can describe it. Um, it's k… red.”
“Look, just come on. Just show us your junk so we can get this over with.”
Clint looked around before slowly untying his scrubs and pulling his pants down. Both Scott and Peter looked, grimacing.
“Ew,” Scott muttered.
“So?” Clint wondered.
“Dude,” Peter laughed, “you’ve got syphilis.”
~~~
While you were were in surgery with Chief Fury (and being watched by Steve in the gallery), Clint had a blood test taken. He was picking it up from the lab at the same time Val was dropping off a patients labs.
“I need this back ASAP,” she told the lab tech.
“What a shocker,” the teach rolled his eyes.
“Hey, what did you get?” Val asked Clint. “Something good?” She quickly snatched the results from his hand. “Syphilis? That’s not surgical. Who has syphilis?” Clint quickly pulled Val into a supply closet, while she looked at the results closer. “You have syphilis?!”
“Shh!” Clint shut the door and turned on the light. “I don’t know how this happened.”
“Of course you do. Gosh, Laura must really be getting around.”
“Laura’s not like that.”
“People are like that, Clint. Apparently all except you.”
“You don’t know. Maybe I’ve been sleeping around. Maybe I got ladies.”
“All while pinning over Y/N?”
“Shut up. Just… what am I gonna do?”
“It's no biggie, couple doses of Penicillin will knock it out.”
“What am I gonna do about Laura?”
“Well, for starters, stop sleeping with her, unless you want that thing to fall off.”
“Okay, that is twice that you have trash-talked the girl that I could one day potentially… well, maybe love.”
“If she gave it to you, you have to tell her.”
“Three.”
“Fine.” Val held up her hands. “She didn't give it to you. She was a virgin when you met. You still have to tell her so she can get tested.”
“Oh, yeah? How am I gonna tell her? ‘Uh, hey, Laura. How you doing? By the way, I got the syph. How about you?’”
“Maybe not quite like that.”
“No, it's good advice, really good advice. Thank you very much.”
~~~
Clint ran into Laura in the stairwell. Laura quickly began making out with Clint.
“About time I got you alone today,” she mumbled against his lips before kissing him again.
“Laura..” Clint gasped, trying to push her away.
“What time is your shift done?”
“Laura—“
“Because mine's over at 8, and I thought maybe you could come over.”
“Laura!” She finally separated slightly. “I need to tell you something.”
“What's wrong? Are you breaking up with me?”
“What? No! Oh, no. Really, no. It's just… Okay, you're the only person that I've been with in a long time. I mean, not unusually long or anything, you know? Just a normal amount of long time. But it wouldn't matter to me if you've been with someone else. Maybe you have? I'm not accusing you of anything or, you know, judging you or handing out scarlet letters or anything, you know? It’s... you're a woman, you know? A very attractive woman. Of course you've been with other men. Not that you've been with a lot of men, it's not like you're a prostitute…”
“A prostitute?”
“No! Not a… not a prostitute. What…? No, the opposite of a prostitute, a lady. You're very ladylike. I mean, you're very bendy, but…”
“Clint, breathe.”
“Okay. It's just… okay, here's the thing. I really like you, Laura. I like you a lot.”
“Well, I like you too.” 
She started to make out with him again. Clint got lost in it for a moment before pushing Laura away again.
“I have syphilis,” Clint stated. Laura looked at him, a tad horrified, before running off without saying anything. “Well, that could have gone better.” He softly hit his head against the wall, leaving it there. “Idiot.”
~~~
After your surgery with the Chief, everyone, that was available, was called into a large room. Fury was standing in the front, arms crossed, not looking pleased. Maria Hill was standing near him.
“Three interns, four residents and six nurses on this surgical floor have been diagnosed with syphilis,” Fury stated.
The room made oohing noises. Clint and Laura glanced at each other from across the room.
“Clint and Laura are two of those cases,” Val said quietly from beside you, trying to stifle a laugh.
“What?!” Both you and Natasha whisper shouted.
“Who gave it to who?” You asked.
“Oh, come on, Y/N,” Natasha said. “Clint doesn’t get around."
“There are over 70,000 new cases every year,” Maria explained to everyone. “Undiagnosed, syphilis can lead to blindness, insanity and death.”
“If you are having unprotected sex with another member of the staff, get tested,” Fury ordered. Bruce and Natasha made eye contact. “This is not a request.” Everyone laughed. “Maria will now give you a safe-sex demonstration.” Laughing continued as Maria pulled out a banana and a condom.
"When the time is right, and, gentlemen, you'll all know when that time is, carefully open the condom packet and roll it onto the banana,” Maria said. 
As you listened, you watched Steve come in and whisper something the Chief. You were concerned as Steve had been a little distant today.
“Open communication is essential to a healthy relationship,” Maria continued. “In a responsible relationship…”
“Poor Clint,” you whispered to Natasha.
“Yeah,” Natasha agreed. “You know, I think he really likes Typhoid Mary.”
"Well, not many budding relationships survive a good dose of VD.”
“Yeah.”
“When the banana is finished,” you turned back in to Dr. Hill, “gently peel off the condom and dispose of it properly. With every fresh banana, always use a fresh condom.”
“Do you and Steve…?” Natasha wondered.
“Condoms, all the way,” you responded. “You have anyone you—“
“No,” Natasha shook her head quickly. “Not at all.”
~~~
Steve paged you not long after the meeting. You hated to admit it, but you were excited that he needed you. You found him in a small room reading scans.
“You paged?” You questioned, trying to hold back an excited smile.
"Yeah, I need you to help me out on something for the Chief,” he replied. “Can you keep a secret?”
“Better than you think.”
He moved slightly and pointed to the brain scans. “Fury has a small tumor pressing against his optic nerve. We need to operate, but he wants it on the down low.”
“When are you operating?”
“Tonight, when less people are in the hospital.”
“And here I thought we were going to be able to have a date night.”
“We can. Just later.” He gave you a small smile. “Can you take to Dr. Gamora? Get her on board?”
“I can try.”
“And get a few others as well. Close to the Chief.”
~~~
After checking on your patients, you found those close to the Chief, asking if they could assist. They all readily agreed. You then went searching for Gamora. You found her heading down a hallway.
“Gamora,” you called. “Can I talk to you?”
“Make it quick, L/N,” she responded.
“Dr. Rogers and the Chief need your help. But they’ve asked that you not tell anyone.”
“What is it?”
“Fury has a small tumor on his optic nerve, Rogers needs to operate. They were wondering if you could assist?”
“Count on it.”
Steve then came jogging up. “How goes our special super secret silent sunset surgery?” He wondered, a bit cheerfully. “I've been practicing that.”
“You have too much time on your hands,” Gamora stated, rolling her rolls slightly. “Uh, tell the chief I'll be there. Just let me know when and where. I'm in.”
“Okay,” you nodded and then Gamora left. You turned to face Steve. “Are you nervous?”
“It's a complicated surgery,” Steve answered. “I make one mistake, I end a fellow surgeon's career, my mentor's career. Oh, no, I'm not nervous.”
“So just for the record…”
“Mm-hmm.”
“You’d tell me if I needed to get tested, right?”
“You think I have syphilis?”
“No, I don't. It's just… we never made any rules or anything. I mean, we never said, "We have rules," and I wouldn't hold it against you.”
“When would I have time to go out and get syphilis? You're a handful enough as it is, and besides, we're like, practically a condom ad.”
“But no more glow-in-the-dark ones.” You smirked.
“You see? There's nothing to worry about. Maybe we should, you know make some rules, I mean.”
“We should.”
“Okay.”
“Okay.”
“Just for the record…”
“Uh-huh?”
“I like the glow-in-the-dark ones.”
“I bet you do.”
~~~
Val and Natasha paged you to the abandoned hallway you all frequented, wanting to talk to you about something.
“You guys want to perform an unauthorized autopsy?” You repeated.
“I know you, Natasha,” Val said. “You do not want to be known as the new 007. An autopsy clears your name.”
“Nat, no.”
“What about Franklin's wife? You saw the way she was looking at me. She wants the autopsy. She just didn't want to fight with her daughter. She looked so sad. Ok, Natasha Romanoff, license to kill.”
“Okay, I’m in,” Natasha agreed.
“I am so not involved in this,” you said.
“Y/N, this is fight club. Nobody talks about it.”
“Fine.”
“We have to do it when Gamora’s not around.”
“Gamora’s always around,” Val complained. “She's everywhere and knows everything.”
“Well, we have to take our chances.”
"Gamora's got something tonight from 7 to 11,” you told them. “You two will be the last thing she's worried about.”
“How do you know that?” / “What kind of something?”
“Oh, I can’t tell you that. It’s fight club, too."
~~~
You taped the do not enter signs on all the OR doors. Steve had made sure that the OR chosen didn’t have a gallery in it. Steve let you stand on his one side, able to see everything. It was amazing to watch had occasionally help. 
“Okay, I've sutured the drain in place,” Steve stated, finishing up the surgery. “The staples look fine. Alright, we're done here. Dr. Gamora, you want to wrap him?”
“I got it,” Gamora replied.
“Nice work, everybody. Nicely done.” Steve walked into the scrub room.
“Do you think the optic nerve is damaged?” You asked Gamora.
“If it is when he wakes up, he’ll—“
“He’ll be blind? For how long?”
“Forever. Page Valkyrie and Romanoff. Tell them I want them covering your patients. I need you to stay and monitor the Chief.”
“Val and Nat are, um… I think they’re already swamped.”
“With what?”
“Labs. They had to check on some labs.”
“Oh, you are lying. I know you’re lying. You know how I know? Cause you’re a bad liar! I hate a bad liar.” Gamora turned to the person next to her. “Take over for me. I know exactly where they are.”
~~~
You were outside of Fury’s room, filling out his chart, when Steve walked up.
“How is he?” Steve asked.
“He’s still asleep, but nothing seems to be wrong just yet,” you replied. “How are you?”
“Good,” he sighed, glancing into Fury’s room before looking down at you. “How are you?”
“Tired. Ready to go home and cuddle.”
“Me too.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to your forehead, brushing his fingers down your cheek. “Me too.”
Unbeknownst to the both of you, Fury woke up just in time to see that term of endearment. After another soft kiss to your forehead, Steve left and you went in to check on Fury.
“Y/N,” Fury said in a reprimanding tone. “He’s an attending. You’re an intern.”
“You saw us?” You questioned. “You can see.”
“I'm gonna tell you what your parents would say if they were here. You're making a mistake, a big one.”
“You know my parents? You know who I am?”
“Always have. I was close friends with them. I understood the name change. But this,” he motioned his hand around, “I do not understand. And it needs to stop. For more reasons than you know.”
~~~
All you interns were in locker room, getting ready to go home, when Laura entered. Clint immediately noticed as she came up to him.
“Hey,” he greeted. “Um, about before—“
“Clint, I want you to understand, when we started dating, I was already kind of seeing someone,” Laura said. “I didn't know how much I'd like you, and when I realized, I broke it off with the other guy—“
“Other guy? Who’s the other guy?” Laura looked over at Peter. “You and Peter? You and Peter?!” Clint turned and began attacking Peter. “You gave me syphilis?!”
“Clint!” You, Val, Natasha, and Laura exclaimed, pulling him off Peter.
“I don’t even feel back,” Peter said. “Cause the sex was—“ Clint attacked him again, causing the four of you to separate the two once again.
“Clint, you’re all ready,” Val stated. “Let’s go home.” She dragged him out of the locker room.
~~~
Finally, you got to the lobby. Steve was already there, sitting, waiting for you.
“Long day?” He wondered, studying you.
“Yeah,” you agreed.
“Somewhere out there is a steak with your name on it,” he said, standing up, “and maybe a bottle of wine.”
“This is why I keep you around.”
“So we need to talk.”
“Wine first, talk later.”
“You trying to, uh, get me drunk so you can take advantage of me?”
“I think I like this rules thing.”
“Me too.”
Steve grabbed your hand, staring at you as you both started for the door. When he turned to look at the door, he froze, stopping you two in place. His eyes went wide, which worried you. You looked to see what he was looking at. Walking towards you was this beautiful brown haired woman, with fiery red lipstick.
“Y/N, I am so sorry,” Steve whispered. The woman walked all the way over to them. “Peggy. What are you doing here?”
“Well, you'd know if you'd bothered to return any one of my phone calls,” the woman responded, surprising you with a British accent. She turned to you, overing you her hand. “Hi. I’m Margaret Rogers.” You shook her hand.
“Rogers?” You repeated, confused.
“And you must be the woman who’s been screwing my husband.” 
next chapter >
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