(Note that there are many typoss and the like, committed because I was in a great hurry when I typed them - future journal entries should be a bit more readable.)
2/14/03
2/28/03
3/17/03
7/4/03
9/1/03
10/16/03
10/31/03
11/15/03
11/17/03
3/4/04
3/7/04
3-13-04
3-18-04
3/23/04
3/26/04
3/31/04
4/2/04
4/20/04
4/30/04
5/9/04
6/21/04
7/2/04
7/17/04
8/24/04
9/13/05
7-15-07
7-22-07
3-13-08
3-15-08
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2/14/03
I adopted a young Psy from my agency today. Her name is Tempest,
and she is ten. A grim sort of child, although she has a deep loyalty.
I will have to get her educated in her psy abilities. We fixed up
the room with the storm wallpaper, and as it fits her name, she likes it.
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2/28/03
Sroya came to live with us today. He is a young striped hyena
Mutant. I'm not sure what kind of past this little one had, as we
found him alone on a planet not too far away from here, alone. There
were a lot of slavers on the planet (CONTROL has since gotten jurisdiction
there to deal with this fact), and I suspect he was a runaway from oe of
them. He has scars on his body that suggest he was abused, possibly
badly. He has next to no self esteem, and is intimdated by anyone
bigger than he is. And sometimes they don't even have to be bigger.
I hope with love and a safe environment, he will start to heal. I'll
be taking him to the orphanage's psy healer.
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3/17/03
Sroya's room got built today. He had been sharing Cairo's room,
but now has one of his own. It has the blue sky walls (and celing
too, by the way), and dark green carpeting, so it sort of looks like outside.
He loves it. It was a pain keeping Cougira out of the builders' way
though! Boy was she curious!
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7/4/03
The Fourth of July is a holiday that I celebrate, not because it's
from my culture, but because it's an excuse to go see fireworks!
There are many humans on this planet, and it's their holiday. I believe
it is an anniversary of one of their major nations of old, for their independence
from a parent nation. At any rate, I took the children to the fireworks
display, warning Cairo he'd have to be careful, and keep his ear filters
halfway down. Once he was able to adjust that for the noise, he absolutely
loved the show. Cougira cried at first, startled by the noie and
the lights, but after a while got used to it, and stared at the fireworks
in fascination. Tempest actually smiled as she watched the show,
and seemed unbothered by the noise. Poor Sroya was scared through
most of it, and I ended up holding him the entire time, trying to explain
to him how they worked, and that they weren't dangerous to us, and so on.
It helped, a little. He didn't stray from my lap, though, and his
hands remained firmly clamped over his ears the whole time.
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9/1/03
Ahh, school shall soon begin. Took the kids school shopping,
which was more daunting a task than one might think! There was a
lot of things to get, and even Cougira starts school this year! Still,
we made it in one piece.
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10/16/03
I brought home a new cub to join the family, today...and she has green
fur. Green... What's more, it's a natural color for her kind.
Haven is a Gummi Bear...no, not the candy. Apparently the candy was
named after these guys. one of the adopters from my orphanage has
set up her own agency, and they take in orphanaged children from the system
that houses a race of bears called Gummi Bears. I'd never met one
before I visited her orphanage...strange looking lot, and fairly small,
too. But there were tons of kids there who needed homes, and I met
Haven there. She's doing well! She does magic. not the
trick kind, but the real kind.
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10/31/03
Halloween...Halloween was fun. Cairo did, indeed, go as a warrior,
and Cougira went as a princess of Thundera. Sroya, I managed to convince
to dress up, and he actually ended up enjoying himself a great deal.
He went as a safari hunter. Tempest did not want to dress up, but
did manage to be convinced to wear her cloak, and a mask over her eyes.
That was good enough! Haven went as a CONTROL officer. I took
them all out trick-or-treating around the CONTROL territories, which meant
that it was safe. The kids loved it. So did I, for that matter.
I dressed up as a human, which wasn;t entirely easy, considering
I have a muzzle. I managed to find a clever mask that was able to
mostly disguise my snout.
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11/15/03
Two more additions to the family, today.
Archer and Storm Ryder are also Gummis. They are boys, one's nine
and one's ten. They were best friends, and I wasn't about to separate
them. They're settling in just fine! One loves storms, and
the other loves the woods.
My kids are getting used to additions to the family. I try very hard to pay them each personal attention as much as possible, and one day a month, each kid has hie or her turn, and I spend the entire day with them somewhere away from the house. I get a babysitter for the others, then go to the park, or go to see a movie, or the like. The last thing I would want my kids to feel, is that they're being ignored, replaced, or neglected.
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11/17/03
I took the kids shopping today, got some new
toys, and took them to the orphanage's pet store. Four of them chose
pets. So we now have a snake, a sabertoothed-pup, a ktiten, and an
oo. This is one huge family!
It stormed tonight, which made Storm happy.
Thunder, lightning, and even some little hail. It was too late for me to
let him play in it, but I did let him sit up a while to watch it out the
window.
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3/4/04
The Adamante Orphanage store got some playground
equipment in recently, and I brought one of each home for the kids.
There are swings, seesaws, and a merry-go-round. The kind you have to push.
The kids love them! I like them, myself. Having a few troubles
with Archer and his lack of social skills, but I'm workin' on that.
At least I've gotten him to read a bit more. I met a little boy at
the Gummi orphanage that I seemed to get along well with that I am hoping
they'll let me adopt. He's a royal clan, and he plays the bugle surprisingly
well for such a little guy. I am waiting on confirmation of the adoption
request.
The Adamante Orphanage is doing well. We've had a few donations, which helps. We are a government run and funded orphanage, and CONTROL is great for giving us what we need, but donations are always welcome. Most of them come from planetary governments, but sometimes citizens as well. We mostly save up donations until we have enough to do something extra special for the kids, on occasion. We try to do this once every year or every two years. Sometimes it's a vacation to some kind of theme park, or a visit to another planet. That kind of thing. Sometimes we can't do something that cool, and only end up visiting a local amusement park or the like, but we normally do get to do something pretty cool. This summer, there's a water park that we've been looking at, that all the kids agree sounds awesome. It's on New Thundera. Even those afraid of water or who don't know how to swim are eager to go, as there are non water areas as well as classes and activities designed to help children overcome their fear of water. It's a fairly new park.
3/7/04
Well, today, I brought home a new arrival.
Xzavier is a young Gummi bear that I met at the orphanage (not mine, obviously),
as I was visiting the caretakers. He's a confident little guy...too
confident sometimes! He plays the horn. It's an old-fashioned
herld's horn with no keys, but he plays it quite well. Might try
and get him to try one with keys sometime, since you get more variety of
notes.
Got some of my cubs interested in Unity Scouts, so we might be picking up some uniforms.
I totally and completely remodeled the playroom. I don't think I will be doing it again. I've made it yet larger, and added some rooms, and an indoor jungle gym type thing. It's full of nets and ropes and different levels, and things to climb on and through. It's sorta like a treehouse, built in an enclosure in the corner of the playroom. I have also designated two different rooms for specific things. The Mess Room is for messy things! It's got a sprinkler system built in, and drains on the floor, both designed for cleaning. Haven is to do all her magic in there, and things like finger painting and anyhting else that will make a large mess are to be done there.
The other is the rec room. Here, I've put the TV and Computer and the electronic games in there, and this is also where noisy stuff is to be done. The room has been soundproofed. Xzavier practices his horn there, and keeps it there with its case and his music and stand. We've also put in a alrge skylight, at Storm Ryder's suggestion.
We went shopping for wallpaper here as well, and most of my kids chose new stuff. Cairo kept his, but he is the only one. Oh, and Tempest got a serpent. He's pretty cool looking.
3-13-04
Some people say I spoil my children, but I don't,
really. I do have a good amount of money, and get them a lot of things,
but I don;t allow them to act ungrateful or rude. The trick to giving
your kids a lot without making themspoiled, is teaching them correctly,
and being firm about the rules. And my kids do have chores that they
do, or they don't get things. Anyways, my new on\e is fitting in
fine. I;m still looking into my kids' pasts. Cougira, I know.
She lost her parents when Thundera was destroyed. I have found out
Sryoa's. It;s appalling how many children are abused or enslaved
in this system.
3-18-04
I adopted a new little one today. I just
can't resist taking kids in! It's a good thing I can easily afford
it. I've also hired a man to come in and clean up, and someone to
cook. Cooking for nine kids...wow. Anyway, this one is a little
reptilian Mutant I've named Tacey. It means silent. Tacey doesn't
talk. My other kids are really good with her, though Xzavier and
Cougira don't have a lot of patience, and usually lose interest in interacting
with her. Sroya has taken a grand liking to the little girl.
Part, I think, is that she's another Mutant child, but part, I think, is
that she's so quiet. He's very protective of her.
2/23/04
We went out furniture shopping today. The
store just got in a lot of new stuff,so we got all caught up in the furniture
department. I even got a few things for my room.
3/26/04
Well today we went on an outing to a nearby park
to meet with Ulisa's and Jade's kids. There were a LOT of kids in
that park! And we've all got little ones that are shy or timid...
I know both of our orphanages have gotten in kids who have been abused
or hurt in some way. (Gods, that torks me off.) But the picnic
went well, I think! Sroya talked a little with Chaos, a little Mutant
boy that Ulisa adopted. And that went well, as both are fairly quiet.
Cairo annoyed some of the Gummies, who annoyed him back by speaking their
own language. Cougira had a ball. Most my kids did, actually.
And I did too, for that matter. Met Ulisa's little twin toddlers.
(Gummi toddlers are tiny.) Tii, one of Jade's, seemed very
timid for some reason. And I don't remember her being quite that
way at the orphanage. I'll have to ask her what'sup. And Archer
woudln;t go anywhere near Jade, for that matter. I have GOT to talk
to that kid. Although I did fid out thatmycan, which he's been calling
me, is Barbic for "father".
Poorlittle Neari, one of the Gummi kids, nearly got blown away holding a kite, though! A big gust of wind got it and her out of a tree, and Ulisa and I and one of the kids got her down. (I was easily the tallest one there so that helped.) She's barbic, though...she thought it was fun. LOL
3/31/04
We got another pet today... A fairly big
one. It's a family pet, and actually lives outside, in the caged-in
yard in the back. We haven't named it yet, but we had a large pond
built for it. Yes...it's a sea creature. The kids just love
her,and she is great with them. She gives them rides, and seems very
intelligent. She knows when to play gently, and when she can be a
little exuberant. I love the pretty creature, myself! We've
got to decide on the name. She's just a cub...calf? What the
heck do you call a young sea creature? i know whales are calves.
I think that's right. Anyways, she's very small for now. But
big enough to give most of my kids rides. I'm just glad we have a
big yard! Her pond is fanced in and can be locked so the ltitle ones
can safely play wihtout fear of drowning. (Although I have the feeling
that this creature would never let anyone drown.) I also brought
home an oo for myself. Named him enrviss, which is the Plundaarian
word for "hyper". And boy, is he!
I've been bringing Tacey with me to the orphanage, and Archer on occasion as well. As none of my kids really go to school, persay (they go to a tutor...the people of his household tutor various age groups.), I don;t have to worry about getting Archer out of school. I think it might help him relearn some thigns about humans.
4/2/04
I brought home what will likely be my final kid,
unless someone steals my heart and won;t give it back. :grin:
He's a little ogre from the Gummi
Bears Adoption Agency. He's five,
and his name is Blaze, because of his red coloration. My other kids
knew he'd be coming, so there was little commotion about it. Although
I can see that Haven is visibly nervous around him which is stranger, because
normally she's not afraid of much. But then ogres and Gummies are
generally enemies. I will have to work on the acceptance thing.
Storm Ryder doesn;t quite know what to think. I don't think he ever
met an ogre before, but he's heard stories. Archer, surprisingly,
has no problem with the little guy.
Sroya is wary of him, but Cougira just loves him. Tempest reacted as she usually did. Reserved. She'll decide in time how she feels about her new sibling. Tacey, too, for that matter. She simply looked at the newcomer for a while, smiled at him, then went about her scribbling. Cairo thinks he's okay for entertainment value. Xzavier, sorry to say, acted fairly arrogantly when he met Blaze. Doen;t consider him his equal, you see. We'll ba having a talk or two about that.
All in all, having an ogre in the family may be difficult, but in the end I think it will be a good thing. And I just love the little guy.
Oh, and we've named the sea creature. Kailani. It's an old Third Earth name meaning sea and sky.
4/20/04
We visited with Jade and Ulisa and their kids,
again, which was a lot of fun. Cairo is in love with the quick cars.
He's been playing with his toy ones a lot since we got home. It's
always strange, going back in time to visit them, and knowing that were
these portals not opened, Jade would be dead, and Ulisa a loooot older.
I try not to think of that too often. At any rate, a lot happened.
I had Blaze with me, and he seemed to fascinate the others to a degree.
He wasn;t as well behaved as I would have liked (Heck, he started a food
fight in Ulisa's dining room!) but he wasn;t as bad as he could have been.
Archer talked with jade some, and I told him later I was very proud of him. Jade also decided to show him her child side. She's got some issues, that one. I hope she come to terms and to peace with them. But she told Archer a bit about herself, he gave his normal opinions, and things were okay. I am highly pleased.
Tempest has seemed rather subdued since then, though...and she doesn't want to talk about it just yet. I hope she will, though, she usually is not so affected by things. I think these visits are doing Sroya, in particular, a lot of good. He played most of the time with Tii, Chaos, and Silversnow. Storm Ryder and Cougira did a lot of swimming (though Cougira and Cairo helped clean up the mess they helped make with Blaze.) Temptst went off exploring secret passages with one of the panther twins, and Cairo and Blaze played in the gym for a while. Haven hung out with Faith part of the time and simply explored, the rest. Tacey just wandered round most of the time, and Xzavier spent half the visit in Neari's music room. All in all, it was an enjoyable trip.
4/30/04
Well, a lot has happened. Ulisa found an
orphanage that was mistreating its children, and there were a lot of kids
there that needed a place to live. Many were Gummies, many were Mutants
and the like, and those I took into my own agency. One of them, though,
I adopted for my own, a little puma boy of four years old that I named
Tocho. He's a throwback, so he wasn't treated very well at all.
He's fairly timid. He's also a bedwetter; first time he did it he
was afraid I'd hit him or something, it took me a while to convince him
otherwise. We'll just get some plastic sheets until we can help him
overcome the problem. I'm not sure if it's a physical or psychological
one, though. He'll be seeing one of the mind healers at the orphanage,
though, same as a few of my other kids.
Most of my other kids like him all right, and Tocho's not afraid of them, as used to being with a lot of other children as he is. I love my family!
There was also a ltitle fae child, locked up and chained by the humans who were running the place. Apparently fae magic is quite profitable. He is about three by Mutant/human/Thunderian standards, but fae do not age quickly, or die of natural causes. So he may be this young for quite a while. He will be seeing the mind healers as well.
I've noticed something, though, Tmepest has not practiced her thralling now for over a week. I think it's time soon to have a talk with her, see what's up.
5/9/04
Yesterday I had Jade and Ulisa and their kids
over for a barbeque,and they ended up staying the night. The weather
was bad and most the kids wanted to. I did find out more about little
Niran, the fae child I had. The humans in that damned "orphanage"
had him chained in a tiny cell, using iron chains to bind him. Iron
is detrimental to fae. Apparently the humans are "fae-hunters"
They hunt fae and use their magics. I met Jade's fae friend,Comp,
who said that Niran is of a kind of fae different from his own. An
earth-spirit sort of race. He said that to be taken from the place
where he was born had to be a traumatic experience for the child.
he wasn't able to help a WHOLE lot, but he did help some. Comp is
not knowledgeable on Niran's kind. And finding where the child was
born...might wellprove impossible. I will try, though. You
can't beleive how livid I was when i found this stuff out.
I also found out why Tempest has been acting strangely lately. When she and one of Ulisa's triplets were talking... Honur, the only girl of the foursome, was telling Tempest of people who attacked her clan and killed most of them. She said that they were attacked by other gummies, whose eyes were blank and their actions mindless. She said that she had thought that there were humans behind them, but then pointed to Tempest's crescent moon marking, and said that they had that symbol on their heads. Through further talking,Tempest found out that it was psys who made those Gummies destroy Honur's people. Tempest was understandably shaken and upset by this. She and Honur talked while they were all over at my house, and some understandings were come to. Honur did make Tempest feel better by giving Tempest her trust. Tempest promised to help them learn to resist thralling and to help get back what the psys took from them, which was a weapon. Poor Tempest. And poor quads, too. So many horrible people in the world.
Comp warned my of Oberon, who apparently would have some problems with both me having custody of a fae child, and with a Gummi cub practicing magic, as Haven does. And I'll say this, that bastard better not come anywhere near my children or there'll be issues.
But the campout and barbeque was fun. It started storming, bigtime though, and that was cool also. Half the cubs enjoyed playing in the rain! Niran seems to like it,also. I will have to take him out in the woods more,and have him go out with Archer when he goes.
6/21/04
The trip to the Gummi Dimension was great.
I took my four Gummies, Tempest, Niran, and Tocho. (The kids' experiences
are on their own pages.) The rest were not interested. Anyway,
I met Ulisa's family, including Ursa, who is the leader of the clan there
so far as I can tell. She's definitely not someone that one would
mess with unless they were a fool. I'd actually like to see her meet
some of the Mutants I have known. She's about four feet tall and
could probably kick most of their rear ends. Anyway, I digress.
I spent most of the visit touring the place and seeing what the place was
like. But in the afternoon, I did a sparring amtch or two with Ulisa,
which was fun. Although like a fool, I did no warming up beforehand.
(Man, am I sore!) She won in the weapons spar, as I figured she would.
I'm quite rusty with hand weaponry. Marksmanship with my crossbow
is my forte. I won the hand-to-hand spar though. Tempest was
heckling me, the little imp! I tickled mercilessly for it when we
got home. I was pleased with niran and Tocho for letting Ulisa's
father teach them a bit of self defense. Buddy has agreed to teach
them on a semi regular basis and won't take payment for it. And he's
really good with them too. Said he'd teach whoever of my children
woudl like to learn. I might try and convince Sroya to take some
of those lessons.
7/2/04
Today, Comp came to visit, said that he had a
possible way of unlocking Niran's soul from where it is imprisoned, more
or less. Comp said that to be taken from the rainforest area that
he was born in, Niran must have been forced to actually ingest some of
the soil to keep him from dying. Apparently his kind of fae cannot
leave the palce where they were born for long without it eventually killing
them. So his fae soul, or at the very least, the part of him that
connects to the birthplace, is enshrouded by whatever magic the home soil
has in it. Now obviously this means Niran has no access to it...which
might mean he has no access to his magic. It might also be why he
is very slow recovering mentallty from the severe abuse he suffered at
the hands of the people who had him before Ulisa found him. Anyway,
Comp gave me a crash course in kinds of magic (Complicated! It's
complicated! Sheesh.) and said that he might have a way to free what was
locked in Niran's spirit. But it emant taking him back to where he
was born, where he would have to stay. But when he learned that Niran's
home had been destroyed, he said that meant that his idea would not work.
Though with fooling around with time and the like...it was possible.
Though risky. he's gonna talk with Niran sometime soon and ask him
a few "carefully worded questions" he said, wanting to know Niran's answers
to them. I said I was cool with it. IN the emantime I have
Niran seeing the mind Healer and spending a lot of time with him.
As with all of my kids of course. I really am lucky to have such
a large family, and so many kids.
7/17/04
I've detailed Tempest's first battle on her page.
But the thing is, those damtadden had so many reinforcements that I suspected
they were a part of a slave ring. I had hoped it would be one of
the largers ones that CONTROL has been following and trying to bust, but
no such luck. Still, they did end up being part of a ring, a child
slavery ring. A medium sized one, at that, and we've got over a dozen
of their mombers. Most are just thugs, hired to del with the law
and other adults. They'll end up getting ten to twenty-five years
on the Gray Penal Planet. A couple were those who were responsible
for selling or acquiring chilren, and they'll get life with no possibility
of parole. Hard labor, likely. There were no higher ups, but
we did catch one that's a breaker. She is one whose job is to beat
the children into submission, so they are acceptable as slave merchandise.
She'll be sentenced to death, guaranteed. Had we been able to catch
some of those in charge, they would also get death sentences. It
just all depends on how drawn out or painful the death will be. The
breaker's won't be pretty. But they hope that the ones that did get
caught will help catch the rest. Here's hoping!
9/13/05
I know it has been forever... Most of the kid updates are
on their individual pages. We got a few more parents adopting from
the orphanage. We got a bunch of new items for the store, they seem
fairly popular. We went shopping and got everyone a few things.
They've been very good lately, and we have not done a lot of late.
We got a zip line for behind the backyard, and a large play tunnel and
whirlybike for the playroom. We also adopted a new experiment from
the GBAA (Gummi Bears agency).
Of course the kids are back with their tutors, which leaves a good amount of the day free for me! Good thing, too, things have been busy at CONTROL.
7-15-07
Well it's been too long since my last update...but life's kept me busy.
(With thirteen kids....it's no wonder!) Life has been pretty routine,
really. Some great advancements in various areas with my kids (learning
more, overcoming past deamons), and working at CONTROL. No new pets
or anything major hppening of late...which is either good or bad, I;m not
sure! Some of my kids are doing some thigns that they're e xcited
about, like swimming lessons and storm chasing and the like...their individual
journals have those details.
I'm going to have to make a photo album for them, I think!
7-22-07
Well, I have adopted a fourteenth child. This little guy and
I got to be friends over at Ulisa and Jade's orphanage, and I finally ended
up adopting him. He's adjusting well enough, even though he came
from the same evil place that Tocho and Niran did. He's a Barbic
Gummi, which means Archer's already taken him under his wing. He's
only five, but has enough spirit for about a dozen warriors. We are
getting his room ready and all, and I am making some minor updates on other
areas of the playroom and backyard. So...Chaos is my fourteenth kid!
3-13-08
Not TOO much has happened. All my kids' individual triumphs and
minor adventures are on their own pages. I guess the biggest news
is the wedding of Ulisa Barbic's daughter, Faith. She's only sixteen,
but she's legal, and she's determined to be wed. Ulisa's been dealing
with the situation well. She's not forbidding it, but giving her
all the guidance she can.
Anyway, several of my kids are going to be in the wedding party:
Cougira is going to be an usher. (She didn't want to wear some
girly dress LOL)
Raanan and Blaze will be guards/bouncers.
Haven and Tempest were going to be bridesmaids, but Faith asked them
to be maids of honor instead.
Xzavier will be a groomsman.
Tacey will be a flower girl.
Niran is going to be the ring bearer!
So this should be fun. The ushers will have ivory colored tuxedoes, and the groomsmen will have black ones. The bridesmaids were gonna have pale orange dresses (I think), but I dunno about maids of honor. The flower girls will have the pale yellow. Niran's gonna have some all-white tux, not sure what style, yet.
So...I have to find out if the tuxedoes will be tails or not. I have to find out what she'll want Blaze and Raanan to wear, and what the maids of honor will wear. I imagine Blaze and Raanan will wear something like what the ushers wear. Raanan's tail and wings are going to be problematic! Blaze won't be too difficult, so long as his clothing is not restricting.
Faith's going to have a rainbow of colors in her wedding party! Ivory, white, black orange, yellow, and something in between. Plus whatever the guards and maids will wear. Sheesh! This is gonna be one monster wedding. There are loads and loads of people. Ulisa's, Jade's, and my families will be in it or attending, plus the groom's family.
3-15-08
Well, we got some new arrivals in the orphanage - there was a young
Lunattack that just about stole my heart. It's not finalized, but
I wanted to adopt him, and he seems to like the idea. So we're gonna
wait a few days and see if we both feel the same then. He's a fire
Lunattack, which I've not had in the orphanage yet, but I've known a few
in my life.
(Update: Well I guess it didn't take that long - we've both decided to adopt each other! My kids weren't too surprised - by now most of them takew things in stride. And Cairo and Tempest were rather happy to see another Lunattack in the place!)
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