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disco-elysium-via-polls · 2 months

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FRACTURED BULLET - The bullet is still safely sealed away in a plastic bag bearing the RCM stamp.

You know what? We should take a closer look at this bullet again.

3. Inspect the bullet closer.

FRACTURED BULLET - The jacket of the bullet is made of yellowish metal. It has blossomed out to reveal a dark grey core. The base of the bullet is close to 5 mm in diameter.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Legendary: Success] - The core is lead. The brass jacket probably didn't cover the entire bullet, otherwise the softer metal wouldn't have expanded quite like that.

The rest of the analysis continues the same way it went before.

4. [Hand/Eye Coordination - Legendary 14] Try to determine what type of weapon shot this.

+1 Have the full bullet specs

Damn, snake eyes.

HAND/EYE COORDINATION [Legendary: Failure] - You can't remember what happened last week -- what makes you think you're going to remember arcane firearm models?

5. The bullet has nothing more to say. [Put it away.]

We can enter this house.

Industrial coal pellets burn with an orange glow.

LITTLE LILY - "Hello, mister!" A young girl, barely four or five years old, sits on the sofa. She is looking at you with frank curiosity.

She clutches a small stuffed animal. Occasionally she twirls it around.

"I heard there was a girl here who has armoured gloves. Is that you?"

"Are you Lilienne's daughter?"

"Are the twins outside your brothers?"

"What's that?" (Point at the stuffed bird hanging from the ceiling.)

"What's that thing you're holding?" (Point at her toy.)

"Good-bye." [Leave.]

LITTLE LILY - "Ooooh." She looks alarmed. "I had gloves, very big ones! Heavy too."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Where did you get these gloves?"

LITTLE LILY - "Found them when Lamby and I were playing hide-and-seek. In an empty house where no one lives! I think someone hid them there..."

EMPATHY [Trivial: Success] - She doesn't want you to think she stole them.

"And where are the gloves now?"

LITTLE LILY - She pouts. "I hid them. The twins were going to take them. They're stupid..." She lifts her stuffed toy up and looks into its one remaining eye, as though searching for confirmation.

KIM KITSURAGI - "We're going to need those gloves. It's for important police business." He enunciates the last two words carefully.

LITTLE LILY - "Oooh..." She doesn't seem to understand, but the lieutenant's tone has conveyed to her the 'important' part.

"They're in my sandcastle." She points somewhere outside. "Behind our house. Under the sand. You can break the castle, it's not very good."

2. "Are you Lilienne's daughter?"

LITTLE LILY - "Yesssss, I am! Little Lily!" She gazes at you with her big eyes. "You know my mom?"

"Yes, we met earlier."

"Not really, but I'd like to."

LITTLE LILY - "Uh huh," she nods. "Mom is great! You know what's great about my mom?"

"Everything?"

"No, do tell me."

LITTLE LILY - "*Everything*!" She shouts with glee.

3. "Are the twins outside your brothers?"

LITTLE LILY - "Yesss." She frowns. "They don't want to play with me. They're older and play outside!"

"They look the same! Haa ha haa! Sometimes I can't tell them 'part."

"They look identical, right? I said the same thing."

LITTLE LILY - "They look... ai-dent-ik!" She slowly processes the word, then snickers with laughter.

4. "What's that?" (Point at the stuffed bird hanging from the ceiling.)

LITTLE LILY - "It's a *grouse*," she yelps, smiling broadly.

SUGGESTION [Trivial: Success] - You might be able to get on Garte's good side if you make up for the skua you broke?

"Yes, but what's it *for*?"

"Can I have it? I know someone who really likes stuffed birds."

"Uh, okay, thanks."

LITTLE LILY - "I dunno."

"Can I have it? I know someone who really likes stuffed birds."

LITTLE LILY - "Sure! I mean you already took it. I don't like it anyway... it looks angry."

New task: Take stuffed bird to Garte

+5 XP

SAVOIR FAIRE [Easy: Success] - All right. You just need to grab it from the ceiling and go!

I'm sure Lilienne won't mind. Probably.

4. "What's that thing you're holding?" (Point at her toy.)

LITTLE LILY - "It's Lamby! He's my friend. Sort of, like..." She holds the fuzzy beast up to demonstrate.

Lamby is a stuffed lamb that, admittedly, has seen better days. One of the eye-buttons is missing and the fur is tattered in several parts.

"Lamby looks like he's falling apart."

"Lamby looks soft."

"Oh, okay. Well, pleased to meet you, Lamby."

LITTLE LILY - "Yessss, Lamby has lived a long life." She waves the lamb around in the air. "Lamby was a... re.. a rev..." She stumbles on her words.

"Revolutionary?"

"Revacholian?"

"Remote Viewer?"

"Revisionist?"

"Rebel?"

LITTLE LILY - "Yessss," she yelps happily! "Lamby was a re-luz-ion...ry."

2. "Lamby looks soft."

LITTLE LILY - "Yes. Very soft." Suddenly she pushes the stuffed animal toward your face.

Press your cheek against Lamby.

"I don't deserve it. I'm scum."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Press your damn cheek against Lamby, okay?" The lieutenant sounds authoritative -- and surprisingly gruff.

Press your cheek against Lamby.

LITTLE LILY - "Isn't he soft?" She's right, Lamby is very soft. She rubs the white fur against your cheek, then returns the lamb into her lap, cuddling it.

+1 Morale

5. "Good-bye." [Leave.]

LITTLE LILY - "Bye!" The girl's large, curious eyes remain fixed on you.

RUFFLED GROUSE TAXIDERMY

The dead body of a grouse stuffed with some unknown material. From a distance it might just pass off as the real thing. The bird itself looks extremely... ruffled. And slightly grumpy.

Lily's sandcastle is just behind her house.

🎵 Disco Elysium

SANDCASTLE - Weather has not been kind to Lily's little sandcastle. The once mighty towers are quickly eroding away. You can see something shining back to you from what must have been a vast underground catacomb network.

"Broken..."

Reach in the catacombs and pull out the shiny object.

Leave the sandcastle alone. [Leave.]

KIM KITSURAGI - "The little castle?" The lieutenant smiles a little. "The reigning lord must have come upon some really tough times to let it slip in such decrepitude."

2. Reach in the catacombs and pull out the shiny object.

SANDCASTLE - The walls and floors give way to the giant's greed, collapse and present you with a pair of ceramic gauntlets.

Item gained: Fairweather T-500 Gauntlets

Task complete: Find the armoured gloves

+30 XP

KIM KITSURAGI - "Congratulations -- that's the gauntlets down, then. We're doing good on the armour collection front."

Just the cuirass and helmet to go.

FAIRWEATHER T-500 GAUNTLETS

+2 Interfacing: Strength in digits

Clenching and unclenching your fist has never been so fun -- the tiny ceramic plates make a lovely clicking sound when your fingers move. The gloves are a bit sandy, but the grip is phenomenal.

A straight upgrade to our gardening gloves. Take that, Medium difficulty Interfacing passives!

Doom Spiral and his friends are not currently here, perhaps due to the rain. Or perhaps it's too early for drunks.

SHIVERS - A drop in temperature. An easy flow of air: an empty street. Before you, a thoroughfare unjammed with lorries. No more drivers smoking on hitch steps. Just... silence.

What did the smoke smell like?

Let go of the moment. [Discard thought.]

SHIVERS - Chemically sweetened. Across the road, a forgotten bus stop; corrosion has opened a hole in its roof. An elm tree watches over the building. Its branches are dripping with rain and snow.

The road is smooth and motley. Craters filled with a black asphalt. The asphalt first laid is grey already. A row of tenements are under construction in the distance.

Who are the people who live across the road?

What about the bus stop?

That is enough. [Finish thought.]

SHIVERS - A tub warm with water, white with soap. A man bathes while radio waves transmit the lottery numbers: 4, 18, 21, 4, 1... A modern washing machine rattles a drawer full of silverware.

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - His boyfriend is on his way home. He brings tins of meat and vegetables with him. Their pockets are heavier with money; but only slightly.

2. What about the bus stop?

SHIVERS - #312D. Young girls used to come here, huddled up, hoping for more warmth than their thin coats give them. The bus took them to school. It has not run for eight years; there were not enough girls to sustain its cost.

3. What about the road?

SHIVERS - Craters pocked the surface. Children played in them, until heavy trucks full of black pitch rolled in. The landowners have filled the craters with money. It is a vital artery of flow of trade.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - There's one bump on the road: a dead dog lies flat about two hundred paces away, right at the turn.

4. A dead dog?

SHIVERS - Tragedy came from the wheels of a fast RCM vehicle, hurrying to work. The cold washes over you. The sound of the sea has grown distant.

5. That is enough. [Finish thought.]

SHIVERS - The wind moves the aerosol. A detective stands behind the boom barrier; a breeze moves a curl of his hair.

+5 XP

There's paths heading west and north from Lily's sandcastle. I choose to go west.

A little black swallow circles above you. You hear it chirrup.

The water runs from the west. The source is upstream. A broken pipe?

The beams are splintered. The bridge didn't collapse on its own. Artillery broke it.

Can't get up to this part of the boardwalk from here, but we can go North to the other end of the bridge.

Hidden in the reeds here is... a box with some money?

Bars cover these long, dusty windows.

Another power box. It charges nothing now. It's empty.

The fence blocks the path. No way on from here.

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "... and, Mikael, notice the windows? Especially with how there are no windows on the south side? This was to deal with..." A blond man stands next to his son, pointing to the weather-worn ruins. He sees you approaching and smiles...

"You, officers! Come to investigate the historic subtext of West Martinaise? I'm Trant Heidelstam," he turns to the lieutenant. "You must be Kim Kitsuragi, right? I was just telling my son about this building. Not a lot of people realize the historic significance here. Very rich in *hypertext*."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Nice to meet you." The lieutenant nods.

"Hold on. Hyper...text?"

"Wait, what was that about the windows before?"

"You and Kim know each other?" (Proceed.)

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Yes, hypertext," he says, as if it's self-evident. "Jan Kaarp and the collection of cultural hyperlinks."

HALF LIGHT [Medium: Success] - He's just making up fancy words. This doesn't mean anything!

2. "Wait, what was that about the windows before?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Oh yes. So, Mikael, they had to deal with monitor glare, especially in the summer. They still had vector monitors back then. That was 49 years ago. So they didn't have windows on the south wall."

3. "You and Kim know each other?" (Proceed.)

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "No, I can't say that we've met before. But I've *heard* of Kim, of course. Mikael, say hi to the officers." He rests his hand on the boy's shoulder. The child stays hidden behind the hem of his father's coat, clutching to his würm-themed colouring book.

"Mikael's a little tired today. We spent all night trying to run Orbis on his radiocomputer. Have you heard of it? It's a programming language used in Graad. Quite tricky, but he wanted to play this Graad-made adventure programme. We've been getting *really* into würms lately..."

DRAMA [Easy: Success] - The man speaks in the artificial cadence of a professor -- or someone who's been on too many radio shows.

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "But I assume you're not here for giant würms when there are so many real things to see. Just as I was telling Mikael before -- this is where the Coalition landed in '08. We could be standing on what is the most interesting landmark in Revachol West." He points to the building again.

ESPRIT DE CORPS [Easy: Success] - This man is your half brother. You feel it. But *why*?

"What's so fascinating about an empty old building?"

"You look like someone who has money. Do you have any money?"

"Great, thank you for all the interesting information." [Leave.]

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "A-ha, but it's not just *any* empty old building!" He raises his hand to his eyes, springtime sun warming his handsome face. All four of you turn to admire the mural before you.

"What not a lot of people know is -- this used to be the R&D department of *Feld Electrical*. And Feld, which now sells ink cartridges, mostly, was once a top dog in the turn-of-the-century cybernetics boom."

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Challenging: Failure] - Hold on, what's R&D?

Look at the building looming over you.

"Wait, what's an R&D department?"

"I don't think I've ever heard of this Feld Electrical." (Proceed.)

FELD MURAL - It looks old and weathered, with seagulls picking apart its stone-and-metal carcass. Bushy undergrowth has taken hold of the collapsed rooftop; some kind of bird has set up a nest on a broken windowsill.

2. "Wait, what's an R&D department?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Apologies, it's an acronym for research and development, they don't use it anymore." He smiles brightly, laugh lines around his eyes.

"You're probably more familiar with *RTD*, research and *technological* development."

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] - Mea culpa! You were not familiar with that one either. This man is a book head.

3. "I don't think I've ever heard of this Feld Electrical." (Proceed.)

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "That's not surprising. Only a vestigial ink cartridge and ferrotape manufacturer remains." He adjusts his suit jacket.

"They started out as a midway electronics outfit in Königstein two centuries ago. After an aggressive move to Revachol, Feld became a global player in the emerging personal electronics market of the pre-Revolutionary era."

"Still, Tricentennial was beating them in business machines." He gestures toward the building. "But Feld had an ace up their sleeve. Or, should I say, they were *developing* an ace up their sleeve?…" He grins. "I'm mixing my metaphors here."

"What was that ace?"

"Very interesting. Let's get back to this later."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "It was here in Martinaise -- possibly in this very building -- that they developed prototypes for a..." He pauses for effect. "...*tape computer*."

"A tape computer?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Mhm. An elegant folding mechanism of rollers and ferrotape ribbons, portable enough to be a take-it-home solution, revolutionizing business machines, possibly even bringing them to the average consumer."

"Which is a feat of engineering even today's giants Rehm, ICN, and ZAMM haven't achieved yet." He grins, admiring the sentence he just produced.

COMPOSURE [Medium: Success] - He assumes something like a combat stance, facing the wind.

"What happened?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Indeed, what?"

MIKAEL HEIDELSTAM - "The Revolution?" The boy wipes his nose on his sleeve.

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Unfortunately their moonshot project never made it to the market." He nods. "Feld's move to Revachol backfired. The Revolutionary government liquefied their assets and expropriated those very advanced prototypes. Possibly from this very building... or one of the adjacent ruins." He pauses, pointing to the other building, then continues:

"All of this was built by Feld, even the boardwalk. Wild Pines built Martinaise proper as a resort for their middle management, Feld built this side of town for R&D."

"You're saying that Feld Electrical built this boardwalk?" (Look under your feet.)

"What happened to the engineers, the company people?"

"What did the revolutionaries do with those advanced tape computers?"

"How did those tape computers work?"

"I wanted to ask something else…"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Yes, they even built a pleasure wheel, but that got destroyed in the war."

KIM KITSURAGI - "A pleasure wheel?" The lieutenant looks wistfully at the horizon, as if picturing gondolas rising to the sky.

EMPATHY [Easy: Success] - Perhaps reminded of a childhood memory? It's clear he would prefer there were a big wheel lighting up the coast.

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Yes. To lure in their star engineers. This part of Martinaise was nothing but reeds before Feld arrived. They had to make the prospect of living here *attractive*. It was supposed to become a global centre for innovation in cybernetics -- but history had other plans."

2. "What happened to the engineers, the company people?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Oh, I'm afraid it didn't end well for the boys." He smiles again, as if he's somehow personally responsible for this bleak turn of events. "But this story is a bit too *dark* for little Mikael here. Now if you were to ask about *tape computers*..."

Perhaps with a higher Rhetoric, we could understand the *politics* of this situation a little better.

3. "What did the revolutionaries do with those advanced tape computers?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "They used them for military communications," he says, while his son looks up, idly chewing on the corner of his würm-themed colouring book. "But also to write and send out press releases. The most notorious example being Le Décret de Mars."

"What was that?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "What's the March decree? I mean the radio transmission sent out to news agencies and world governments by the newly-created Commune of Revachol on the 7th of March in the year '02."

"It's a beautiful piece of text, actually. A singer-songwriter I know -- Charette -- called it a love poem to Revachol on her political concept album 'Bons baisers d'Insulinde'. You should read it. Every local library in Revachol stocks a copy of the decree."

"I tried to get Mikael to memorise it." He looks at his son, who starts giggling, his face hidden behind the book. "*Tried to*. Someone was much too interested in würms to be paying any attention."

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - The kid takes a peek at the green and silver würm on the cover of the book. Already forgetting about this part of the discussion.

4. "How did those tape computers work?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Actually, no one knows. No one even knows what a computer made entirely of tape would look like! But word has it they were *very elegant* -- exquisite, alien-looking turn-of-the-century hardware..." He raises his finger, remembering something.

"Ten years ago, I did a little... freelancing, I guess you could say. I was a special consultant for an exhibition at the Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre in Vredefort, Oranje. It raised the same questions, and we had lengthy discussions with Paul Ockermann, who was head curator at the time -- this was before the twins Keith and Guy Joost joined the team -- trying to..."

REACTION SPEED [Easy: Success] - Wait. Did he just say *Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre*?

SUGGESTION [Easy: Success] - He did it! He said *Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre* like it's the most natural thing in the world.

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Easy: Success] - What the hell *is* a Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre? And who the hell are Keith and Guy Joost?!

"Okay. The Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre? Paul Ockermann? Keith and Guy Joost? What are you *talking* about?"

"Okay. Back to... where were we? Tape computers, I think."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "The Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre for Contemporary Arts." There it is again -- those words. "The exhibition itself drew on Lagerman's notion of memory and so there were some parallels, that's why the head curator Paul Ockermann chose to..."

"You're making this up." (Turn to the lieutenant.) "Kim, is he making this up?"

"Come on, there is no place called the Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre of Arts."

KIM KITSURAGI - "Actually, I think there is..." He pauses. "No, it's too much, he's joking."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "In fact, I'm not. The Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre," he says casually, "is a place you can visit if you're ever in Vredefort, and are ever in the market for an exhibition space slash contemporary art research centre." He clears his throat.

Thought gained: Wompty-Dompty-Dom Centre

"But perhaps I should return to the tape computers. As I was saying, the device itself was very elegant, fragile even. One could write directly on the tape using a special chemical solution. The machine would then analyse the handwriting, perform operations and project output onto a white screen. It was a beautiful, delicate thing."

CONCEPTUALIZATION [Medium: Success] - Made of black film and folding tape structures...

(Nod.) "Cool."

"Pfft. I've seen cooler things than that."

"The RCM should get some of those."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Even *one* would be very useful," he agrees. "Though I understand the socio-economic causes of the Revolution, it pains me to imagine the revolutionaries setting fire to this precious device. But so they did. The Feld Playback Experiment vanished into the fires of '07."

"Wait, the Feld Playback Experiment?"

"Why did the revolutionaries destroy it?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Yes, the official name of the prototype. Some sources report it as the Feld Playback *Experience*, but those are incorrect."

"Why did the revolutionaries destroy it?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Who knows? Maybe it was an accident, or maybe they didn't want the technology to end up in the wrong hands. Either way -- they're all gone now, all three versions of the prototype. Nothing but debris and ashes remains inside that building." He takes a step back; the boardwalk creaks mournfully in the wind.

5. "I wanted to ask something else…"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "But of course! What else?" He smiles and ruffles his kid's head.

2. "You look like someone who has money. Do you have any money?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "I do have some money, yes, but that's not what's really important here." He brushes it off like it's not a thing at all.

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - He's not gonna give you money, what are you doing? Clearly you were just profiling.

"Could I have some of that 'unimportant' money then?"

"I don't want your money, I just wanted to see whether my profiling skills were working."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Oh, no, I don't have it *on me*, officer, I was talking in more... general terms." He looks uncomfortable, his left hand squeezing his son's shoulder.

"I'm just spending time with my kid here, showing him around the lesser-known parts of our home town... It wouldn't be *wise* to carry huge amounts of cash on such expeditions!"

Whoops, probably should have listened to Authority there.

PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT [Easy: Success] - Not that he would have to worry about being robbed -- he looks surprisingly buff. Does he work out?

3. "By the way, do you work out?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "I do some Lo Manthang stick fighting now and then."

"Wait, what's Lo Manthang stick fighting?"

"I'm not really interested in the practice, I just want to know how often you work out. Now and then -- that's what, like once a week?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "It's an anthropological heritage of the Lomanthang people, a martial art of sorts, but what not a lot of books mention is that it also carries a *cultural* significance among the Lomanthangs, as it used to be the best means of showing off to look for a bride, which..."

"... interestingly enough, brings us to the socio-economic structure of the traditional rural tribes of the Lo Manthang isles, which..." He goes on to give you a detailed overview of their way of life, the amiable, slightly nervous smile not once leaving his face.

"But anyway," he says after a while, "I am boring you with details again. You were saying?"

"I don't really remember what I was saying..."

"I'm not really interested in the practice, I just want to know how often you work out. Now and then -- that's what, like once a week?"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "Lo Manthang stick fighting is a little like a pyrholidon addiction," he explains with a little smile. "I've been practising it for nearly 20 years now, so you could say that my doses have grown a little... peculiar."

ELECTROCHEMISTRY [Medium: Success] - Wait. What does this man know about pyrholidon addiction?

"Hold on. Pyrholidon addiction? What an interesting metaphor..." (Study his face.) "Or perhaps not a metaphor at all?"

"So what is it, twice a week then? Every other day? *Man* is it difficult to stay on the right topic with you."

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "You got me, detective." He chuckles, before a shadow takes hold of his face. "But my history should hardly come as a surprise."

AUTHORITY [Easy: Success] - Here's a former junkie. I can recognize one when I see it.

MIKAEL HEIDELSTAM - Suddenly little Mikael opens up his mouth: "Dad's fighting with sticks every night after dinner for four hours. He has a special room for that -- *and* a special costume!"

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "That's right, Mikael." Trant grabs his kid into a single-handed embrace, happy to change the subject. "It also has a meditative quality, helps to clear my head... But anyway," he says, swaying with his hand.

4. "Great, thank you for all the interesting information." [Leave.]

TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "No, thanks to *you* for having me and little Mikael here to pick your brain... A very interesting conversation indeed."

WOMPTY-DOMPTY-DOM CENTRE

Temporary research bonus: -1 Suggestion: Outsider Research time: 0h 42min

It's Wednesday evening and something heinously exciting is under way. People have gathered beneath the billowing roof of an oddly shaped trophy building, sipping wine and exchanging opinions. 29-year-old wunder-twins Guy and Keith Joost are the stars of the show, with their bomber jackets and white sneakers -- head curators of this art exhibition. It's the wompty-dom-di-dommiest event of the year and all the cool kids have RSVP’d. Where are you, if you are not there?

FELD MURAL - You see a once-bright mural towering above you. The signage has peeled off over the years, but you can still make out: 'FELD ELECTRICAL R&D'.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - A slogan used to intertwine with the loops a long time ago. Now only a shadow of peeled letters remains. It says: 'Tomorrow is just a whisper away'.

"Tomorrow is just a whisper away..."

[Turn away.]

KIM KITSURAGI - "Looks like tomorrow never came." The lieutenant raises the collar of his bomber jacket.

2. [Turn away.]

That was quite the history lesson. I think we'd better take a break here.

#disco elysium #kim kitsuragi #harrier du bois #trant heidelstam #mikael heidelstam #little lily

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