#like i even looked up a summary of all hte episodes before making this and ykw yeah. literally nothign happens
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literally fuckall happens this season until 3 episodes before the finale what were they doing in that writer's room
#supernatural#spn#the pig squeals#like i even looked up a summary of all hte episodes before making this and ykw yeah. literally nothign happens
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A Wisp of Smoke - Chapter 1 (Mike Duarte x F!Reader)
Summary: An unconventional member joins the Bronx Gang Unit.
Word Count: 3364
Content Warning: This is mildly canonical but like not really, so if that bothers you, then Iâd skip. Some physical description - gave hte reader some gray hair cause I'm old and I want to represent some old people lol. Edit that out of your mind if you need to. Foul language (if that bothers you?), Gang talk, coworkers who donât like each other, this part I donât think has anything that would be triggering, but if you feel differently I can update the warnings.
A/N: When I tell you that I started writing this in OctoberâŚit means exactly that. This has morphed into something different than I was expecting and I imagine I will have to scrap some stuff I have written once the next episode airs, so this is EVOLVING. Who even knows what this will be about by the time itâs finished. God help me. If there are typos, I apologize - I proof read this a few times and i'm sure somewhere there is something wrong
UM, Minors probably shouldnât read this but Iâm not your mother.
â-
The thing about the subway is it takes time to understand the quirksâthe nuancesâof the subway lines you take. The majority of your time is taking one line to and from work if youâre lucky. Youâve been taking one train line for so long, youâre at 90% accuracy of predicting when something is about to go wrong. You like the routine of itâknowing if you get to the platform right at 8:01 AM youâll only have to wait a minute before the train comes and youâll get to work early. Itâs an art and a science, but it takes practice. Itâs why taking a job so far out of your usual subway line is annoying; you have to learn it all over again. Itâs made even worse by having to switch to another line, if something goes wrong on that first leg of the commute, youâre fucked for the rest of it.
And today, you feel like youâre fucked. You leave your apartment like a parent leaving for the airport; panicking about the time and trying to make sure you have everything. You feel smug catching the subway right when it pulls into the platform and getting in a nearly empty subway car. The smugness fades when you transfer to another train that happily sits between stations for 30 minutes and then decides to switch to the express track. Itâs not express for you though, of course. It puts you a good mile away from where you need to be, instead of the five blocks you planned for. The extra distance isnât an issue, for once you might show up on time without having to walk around the block ten times. It is, however, unseasonably warm for February and now your coat is overkill. You stop and take it off, juggling your bag from hand to hand as you remove it. Itâs insane, not even being able to feel cold in February in New York.Â
While you walk the unfamiliar sidewalks of the South Bronx you think about how this is your brother-in-law Tommyâs doing. You donât even know how or why heâs sending you up to the Bronx as some kind of backfill in the Gang Unit. You arenât a cop, so you have no idea why theyâd want you up there. You feel like itâs going to look pretty strange, a senior analyst for the NYPD in the Intelligence Bureau, joining the Gang Unit. Gangs in the Bronx arenât really on your radar; the majority of your time is spent juggling mostly empty threats against NYC. Analyzing the message boards and social media where people spew garbage 24/7. Itâs weird to think that maybe this will be a break from that.Â
You do know a little about Duarteâs reputation. For as much as Tommy thinks gossiping is a female trait he certainly loves to partake in it. You heard all about the drama between him and Captain BensonâTommy was almost gleeful when recounting it. You get the impression that like most men in the NYPD Duarte is only happy when he gets his way. You could be completely wrong, itâs not like Tommy is the most reliable narrator.Â
â-
The precinct looks different than you thought it would. You had imagined something along the lines of a bland box with windows, but this is a beautiful limestone building. Some of the stone work looks like it belongs in an Italian palazzo in the 16th century. The inside reminds you of an old library with the heavy wood furniture and dim lighting. Itâs really quite somethingâall these disappearing architectural gems throughout all the boroughs. As you walk towards the Desk Sergeant you wonder how much longer it will be around before the city turns it into a glassbox citing progress in the neighborhood.Â
When you ask where you can find Captain Duarte you realize the charm seems to end with the interior and doesnât really extend to the people. She looks like youâve just ruined her day by speaking to her. She nods her head towards the stairs and says itâs the third floor. You thank her, thinking maybe thatâs her problem, no one ever sounds grateful for her assistance. Halfway up the stairs you do consider turning around and walking right back down and out of the building. You suppress the urge; dealing with Tommy in the aftermath of flaking would probably be worse than whatever fresh hell is waiting for you a few flights up.
You duck into the bathroom when you get to the third floor and are relieved when you find it empty. You set your bag on the edge of the sink, and drape your coat over a stall door. You turn back to the mirror and give yourself a once over. You were going for an overall look of extreme competence so you went with all black. Black silk button down, black skinny jeans, black thick soled loafers. You think maybe you look like youâre about to attend a funeralâprobably your own. You hike up your jeans a little and try to ignore how much your feet hurt. You look back up to your face in the mirror to check your makeup. It still looks good; your eyeliner is intact and hopefully giving the impression that youâre precise, detail oriented. Your hair looks fine, the gray pieces framing your face, glossy under the overhead lights. You used to hate that you started going gray fairly young; you must have spent thousands covering it up over the years. At some point you stopped caring and just let it be. It came with a fun bonus, men you worked with suddenly thought you were old and left you alone. You give yourself one last once over before washing your hands. As you grab your things and head out of the bathroom you run through the little information you have like youâre cramming for a test.Â
An officer shows you to Captain Duarteâs office and tells you that you can wait inside, that he doesnât know when heâll be back. Itâs very you to think that youâre going to be late to something and be the person that ends up waiting. When the officer leaves you put your bag on one of the chairs and drape your coat over the back. His desk is neat and you donât see much in the way of personal effects on it. Thereâs a few books and youâre tempted to go to the other side of his desk to get a better look, but restrain yourself knowing the moment you do, he will come walking in. You sit down in one of the chairs and wait.Â
â-Â Â
As Duarte approaches his office he can see you sitting inside. He had put your arrival out of his mind once McGrath had told him and seeing you now throws him off for a moment. He should be prepared, he only knows what McGrath told him. Although, heâs sure that since McGrath is the one who sent you here, the information isnât reliable. When you get up and introduce yourself, his initial impression is that youâre prissy. The way your coat is folded over the back of one of the chairs. How youâre now clasping your hands in front of you. Your outfit, a far cry from the recently departed, hoodie-clad Muncy. He canât tell what he hates more right now, the way you look or that you were foisted on him by McGrath.Â
Duarte closes the door to his office and turns back to face you.
âI donât really know what youâre doing here. You have no gangâno actual police experience. Iâd wager to say youâve never used a gun. I donât care about your intelligence experience. Frankly, you could single handedly bring down all gang activity in this city and it wouldnât matter to me. If you think whatever relationship you have with McGrath is going to help you here, youâre wrong.â
Itâs a lot all at once and you try to ignore the way he says ârelationshipâ. As if you slept with Tommy to get you a job with the Gang Unit. If youâre going to sleep your way to a new job in the NYPD, it wouldnât be for a mostly lateral position all the way in the Bronx. You can feel yourself about to do that thing where you match the energy thatâs being directed your way. Itâs great when the person youâre dealing with isnât an asshole. But if theyâre looking to take the low road, well you own a home there.
âIâm sorry, I must have blacked out. I think I missed a part where you said something like âIâm glad to have you on the team.ââÂ
The look on his face tells you he was expecting you to be more yielding in your response. Maybe eight or ten years ago you would have been. Youâre tired of minimizing yourself to make men in the NYPD feel better.
âIf I felt that way, I would have said it. This is real shit we deal with, no one here has time to babysit you.â
âWell, Iâll just have to cut the crust off my own sandwich then, wonât I?â You try to keep your voice calm. âLook, Iâm good at my job and whatever it is Iâm supposed to do here, Iâll be good at that too.â
Duarte grabs a box off of his desk and thrusts it at you.Â
âI think youâre going to find your confidence is misplaced.â
You balance the box on your hip as you pick up your coat and bag from the chair. You consider not saying anything else, but when you get to the door you turn around and smile.
âI just have to say, this has just been so pleasant. Really looking forward to working with you.â
He huffs in your general direction before turning back to his desk. You know heâs setting you up for failureânot giving you a single inch already. Heâs probably looking forward to watching you spin your wheels and flame out. If thereâs anyone that can dig their heels in itâs you, so if he is looking for some kind of low level fight youâre ready.
â-
Youâre unpacking the box at your desk when you see a friendly face standing at the desk across from yours. It could be Satan smiling at you at this point and youâd take it. You both introduce yourselves as he sits down.
âShould I call you Jordan or Williams? I know how much everyone in the NYPD loves going by their last name.âÂ
âHa! True. Honestly, either is fine.â
You pull another stack of files and a hard drive out the box and look at your computer for the time. When you see itâs barely 10AM you know itâs going to be a long rest of the day.Â
âWell, Jordan, can I ask you something?â
âLet me guess, your face is giving me, is he always like that?â
âHa, yes that is the question.â
Jordan lets out a sigh, âIt depends. Heâs still pissed at McGrath I think. After he let Captain Benson snatch Muncy from us. And then Benson gets attacked, I donât know, thereâs a lot going on.â He pauses for a moment. âItâs fucked up, but heâs probably worried McGrath sent you up here as a spy or something.â
âWhat if he did?â
Jordan leans back in his chair and scans your face trying to determine if youâre telling the truth.
âDid he?â
You give Jordan a wry smile.
âNo. But it will be fun letting Captain Duarte think so.â
You canât help but laugh because itâs so dumb; that someone would think you were sent up here to spy. It seems like something Tommy would doâsend someone up here to unknowingly spy for him. Tommy is an idiot, but youâre not.Â
Jordan chuckles as he shakes his head.
âI think itâs going to be good having you around.â
You both chat a little more and youâre able to get from him what you couldnât from Duarte; what heâs actually looking for. You already had a feeling that he wanted to treat gangs like terrorist groups and your theory proves true. It also proves true that he wanted someone with your experience but who was also a detective. He must think Tommy short-changed him with you so he could have a person on the inside. At least now you have a clearer picture of why he hates you. Youâd probably hate you too if you were in Duarteâs shoes.
You spend the rest of the morning going through everything Duarte gave you. Itâs strange trying to apply everything you know to a completely new set of circumstances. You can already feel some doubt creeping in. Yes youâre good at your jobâbut this is not that. You think that Duarte probably views you as some interloper trying to use this as some kind of play to get ahead. Take credit for fixing a problem and leave behind other growing problems. Itâs only partially true; you donât care about taking credit for things but you are an interloper. Itâs not like this is really your community; you donât live in areas impacted by gang violence. You donât have the depth and breadth of knowledge on the specific systemic issues that allow this type of thing to flourish. With counter-terrorism it always seems like a much broader issue where the violence impacts many, where gang violence only affects the few. Itâs something that you feel like youâre going to be unpacking for as long as youâre here.Â
Duarte and Williams leave early in the afternoon. You donât know if you were expecting Duarte to tell you whatâs going on, but he doesnât. He just gives you an annoyed look as he passes by your desk and you give him a tight lipped smile. You think back to this morning and wish you would have taken the high road and acquiesced to his running commentary of your lack of abilities. Itâs the ârelationshipâ jab thatâs bothering you the most for some reasonâprobably because it was so unnecessary. You wish you were the type of person that could just move on from comments like that but youâre not; itâs probably why your last relationship ended. So you know youâre going to hold on to that relationship comment much longer than necessary.Â
With Duarte gone you feel like you can finally relax; your shoulders drop and you take a few quiet breaths. You plug in the hard drive to your laptop and try to figure out where to start. When you first started with the bureau in counter-terrorism, it was overwhelming, but you quickly found your footing. It was a lot of research and developing counterintelligence reports. It was your job to plan, research, develop, and communicate in-depth analysis of targets, networks, and issues to key leaders in the department. You know how to plan and implement strategies based on a combination of information and gut feeling. At least here you wonât be starting entirely from scratch. You have your experienceâand while this is a different set of circumstances you know whatâs needed. You settle in and start familiarizing yourself with all the information you have.Â
You want to memorize the faces, the names, everything about the people in the files and computer in front of you. You know right now the focus seems to be BX9, but you also know as these groups collapse they splinter off or join existing gangs. You work on putting something together that you can leave for Duarte. The thought crosses your mind that if he doesnât expect anything of you then why bother, but you have enough self respect to not do that.
â-
He sees you in his office as he comes into the squad room. He can see through the open blinds that youâre standing behind his desk, looking out of the window towards the street. He was hoping youâd be gone and that he wouldnât have to deal with you again today. He just wants some fucking peace.
âDo you need something?â Duarteâs voice is quiet as he enters his office but he sees you jump a little in place at the sound of it. As you turn around and see itâs him you half smile. He recognizes it as the kind of smile that says you didnât want to see him either. He thinks for a moment how this could have gone differently. How he could have been given someone qualifiedâa real detective. He wouldnât have this generalized annoyance heâs been feeling since this morning.
âNo, sorry. Was just leaving something on your desk.âÂ
You brush past him as you say it and it breaks him from his train of thought. He watches you grab your things from your desk and then turn to leave. He sees you stop as Williams comes back to his desk. He watches as you say something to Williams but itâs not loud enough for him to hear. Whatever it was it must have been funny because Williams laughs. Duarte calls him into his office and he hears you say goodnight as youâre walking out of the squad room.Â
âYou need something, Cap?âÂ
âI want you to keep an eye on her.âÂ
âYeah, of course.â
âI need to know if sheâsââ
Williams cuts him off and shakes his head.
âI donât think sheâs like that if thatâs what youâre getting at. I like her.â
âGood for you. Just do what I ask.â
âAye, aye Cap.âÂ
Williams turns to leave and Duarte closes the office door behind him. He goes over to his desk and opens the bottom drawer and pulls out a bottle of bourbon and a glass. Itâs incredible how fucking exhausted he is every day. Every day since the subway attack in Manhattan has steadily been draining him. And then Benson getting attacked and her inserting herself into the investigation; he feels like everyone is coming at him from all sides. He feels like a tire slowly losing air. He uncorks the bottle and pours himself a drink and downs it before sitting in his chair.Â
He mulls over the decision the DAâs office made every single day. On the surface he understood the reasoning behind it. But deeper, he felt it was a mistake, a decision made for optics. A lie that Manhattan has rid itself of BX9. That only the poor fucks in the Bronx have to deal with them from now on. Well that went out the fucking window once Benson got kicked in the ribs. If she had listened to him instead of only thinking about her case it would be a different story. Instead he has two dead kids in Rikers and heâs hunting for more. He pours himself another drink while he tries to ignore the pressure building in his chest. Heâs grateful for the nearly empty floor, the quiet.
He leans in his chair and notices a manilla folder on his desk; it has a post-it with his name on it scrawled in unfamiliar handwriting. Maybe youâre already resigning, it wouldnât surprise him. He knows he wasnât very welcoming. He has no desire, no energy to beâthis job is all consuming. He grabs the file folder and opens it. Inside he sees youâve put together a briefing based on all the information you went through. You seem to have analyzed what you view as gaps in the systems that are being used to monitor gang activity currently. Youâve even outlined the resources youâll need. Itâs not even entirely focused on BX9âyou included other gangs in your briefing, gangs that werenât included in the information he gave you. He feels a little sting of something reading through everything. He canât tell if heâs impressed or irritated that you put this much together in a day. He realizes that he knows almost nothing about you, having put in almost no effort to find out. He closes the folder and starts making some calls. He wasnât expecting so much from you on your first day.
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Animaniacs: King Yakko Review (Comission by BlahDiddy)
Hello my beautiful technicolor rainbow! Itâs time for Animaniacs, and while there is no balonga in my slacks there is one last christmas review for my friend to finish up, and after two visits to Acme Lab for the spinoff weâre finishing up with a look at Animaniacs proper. Suprisingly for a show that stands so easily on itâs own itâs existance is entirely thanks to another show: Tiny Toon Adventures, which had largely the same staff, including ep and co-creator stephen speilberg and Todd Ruegger, who was brought aboard from A Pup Named Scooby Doo. Since TIny Toon was a colossal hit with tons of awards and merch, including some very good video games I wish Warner would find a way to re-release, I mean.. come on if disney can rerelease the disney afternoon games (If...not..for..switch), and LIon King and Aladdin games (If somehow FOR switch), then Warner, which has itâs own game stuido no less, can put together a collection of the good Tiny Toons games when the new show comes out soon.Â
Point is it was a mass sucess and Warner Bros likes money, so they had Speilberg try to get Rutger to come up with another show for the two of them to do, something with name value. Rutger found his inpsiration when seeing the iconic warner water tower and taking some platypus characters, came up with our heroes and the rest is history.. well okay he retooled them from plataupsâ to early looney tunes and other toons style characters minus the racisim of say bosko the tall ink kid but still, the rest after that is history. And the rest of this review is after the cut
The show was, and KINDA still is, a variety show: taking a page from looney tunes, as well as tex averyâs other work, the crew decided rather than just focus on the warners, to instead create a whole cast with various ensembles to work with so we got Pinky and the Brain, The Goodfeathers, Rita and Runt, the Hip HIppos, Katie Kaboom, Chicken Boo, and my personal faviorite Slappy Squirrel.. and the bane of my existance, Buttons and Mindy.. or rather Mindyâs Mom. The kid did nothing wrong. So naturally the first thing Animaniacs related I cover.. is an episode entirely breaking from format for one 20 something minute Warners cartoon. I do intend to do more animanics stuff in the future, so iâll hopefully get a chance to talk about everyone, I just feel unlike with say house of mouse most people reading this probably know who they all are, and I can save any deep dives for if I cover the characters specifically. Spoilers: thereâs probably never going to be a buttons and mindy deep dive unless someone tourtues me by paying for it.Â
So with that out of the way, we can dive into the episode.. which I wonât be covering in my usual recap it point by point because the writers have freely admitted thatâs not what Animaniacs is about. While some of iâts SEGMENTS are more story based like Pinky and the Brain, Goodfeathers and Rita and Runt, most are just based on simple set ups to reams and reams of gags. And I love it. I grew up with this stuff not just Tiny Tunes and Animaniacs but the classic Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and Droopy shorts.Â
Their well timed, well executed feats of comedy and most have aged pretty well.. emphasis on MOST. Iâm keenly aware why there are several gaps in the shorts for both Tom and Jerry and The Looney Tunes on HBO Max, including all of the Pepe LePew and Speedy Gonzalez shorts. Also all of Droopy is missing.Â
My grumblin aside though, it is VERY NICE to have all the classic Warner and Tom and Jerry shorts at my fingertips and it was one of the biggest selling points of Max for me. Last year I gained an intrest in the old disney theatrical shorts, hence my various birthday specials, so I BADLY wanted to revisit the theatrical shorts I grew up with. And honestly.. Max is the best way to do that: their in crisp hd, in neat season collections (Though the Looney Tunes one is better sorted, tom and jerryâs seasons are just.. random smatterings of shorts across various eras), and most importantly EVERY SHORT they felt comfortable with putting up there is on there. Every. Single. One. I make a big deal about this because Disney.. has only maybe 30-40 of their hundreds of shorts on there. Now lucky for me the vast majority are still on youtube and I get why some really arneât suitable.. we probably donât need the donald duck short where he prepares to shoot a penguin in the face or the Goofy short where his own reflection, the goofy equilvent of tyler durden I guess?, keeps saying âHey Fatâ to him. And yes BOTH of these actually happened. But.. thereâs MANY shorts with no clear excuse why their absent like the triplets first apperance, gusâ only apperance, and one a friend told me about.. that time mickey built a robot to box a gorillia. Again not making this up, just wondering why you canât restore the rest of these for plus. Theyâve ADDED shorts ocasionally, but it still dosenât make a whole lot of sense to just.. not have them all up there. and to not put them in some sorta collection for easier consumption but hey itâs Disney. They either full ass things or half ass it. There is no middle ground. Point is Warner.. actually cares about their heritage in shorts and honors it and thus has everything avaliable in the best quality, so thaâts nice.
My point after that detour is I really love this kind of humor, and now as an adult I can see the effort the timing, pacing and character chemistry these shorts had takes. And Rugger and co.. they got it. They got it down perfect. And this episode is a great show of that and just how they barely updated this format for the 90â˛s. But as I said itâs more about the jokes and basic setup, our heroes are slotted into x scenario and just left to run wild. Itâs been the basic seutp for looney tunes, tom and jerry and all the gag based greats, and it works perfectly here. Sure thereâs some setting and continuity with the warner lot, scratch n sniff, ralph, plotz and in the reboot Rita, but itâs mostly just our heroes go up against âX assholeâ and it just works.Â
And thatâs.. entirley what this episode is. The short is an homage to the graucho marx film Duck Soup, which given the warners were based on the marx brothers that isnât a huge suprise, a film like brianâs song I have not seen, but genuinely want to. The basic setup is the same: An underqualified womanizer, though since htis is Yakko it dosenât get past hitting on his chancelor, played by hello nurse, constantly, which is still.. ewwwww... but clearly not the same thing, becomes king of a small nation and ends up at war with another country. There were spies and other stuff in the original short but that was left out to streamline things. But this homage stands on itâs own fine: The basic plot is this: Yakko, due to being a distant relative and the last one alive, becomes king of the small happy and very musical, as the wonderful opening number shows, country of Anvilania, which makes anvils and why yes there is one MASSIVE anvil gag as a result at the end. Yakko says heâll try his best and geninely tries to with the shenanigans youâd expect, including Dot not gettnig Polka Dotâs are a thing and instead taknig any mention of it as a sign to polka, Yakko again hitting on his colleague and wanting ot get a new anthem because the current one by âPerry Comaâ puts people to sleep. Honeslty that gag didnât do it for me: Partly because I genuinely know next to nothing about Como and heâs far past my generation.. and because despite this, SCTV did a MUCH better Perry Como gag over a decade before this episode that while still left me baffled as to why anyone cared about mocking him, was 80 times funnier and felt far less like you needed to know who he was to be funny.Â
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That being said itâs one of only three running gags, and jokes period that didnât land for me. The other ones being the hello nurse bits, because itâs aged really badly to have Yakko harass one of his employees and his age is hte only thing that keeps it from scuttling the episode as heâs just 13 or 14. Maybe 15.Â
So SO glad I now have that on hand whenever i need it. The other being the âYour highnessâ joke as it just.. dosenât make much sense and isnât very funny. But thatâs it: a refrence i specfically donât get and I doubt most of you will, and if you do fine we all have our frames of refrences, a joke thatâs dated very poorly, and one that just.. didnât land. And even then the Perry Coma thingâs third use to knock out the opposing army DID work for me as did the VERY clever joke of âSireâ âMaybe laterâ, so even the weaker bits still had some legs. But getting back to what little plot there is the king of the rival country, upon hearing this, assumes he can easily intimidate a child into giving him the throne and goes to a royal reception. Instead, as youâd expect, the Warners mistake him for a party clown, show him no respect and fail to take his delcration of war seriously, and while in a REALLY great gag, and the reason iâm not doing a strict summary is 90% of the review would be me saying something to that effect, Yakkosâ call to action for his troops ends up having them all run off in fear, the Warners take out the army as noted above and then in one of the most GLORIOUS climaxes in the series history...
 In which the Warners give the bad guy âall the anvilsâ as he requested. I sadly coulndât find a clip of it but seek it out if you got hulu, my words canât do it justice as they hit him with anvil after anvil in increasingly clever and insane ways till the guy finally gives up and it .. is glorious. Other highlights not already mentioned include: The opening song, the bad guy dictator from the other nation not being able to hear because of his helmet and his attendee having to lift it, leading to Yakko taking off his helmet just to end the âwhatâ running gag, Yakkoâs bit explaning his distant relation and more. So yeah not a ton to say on this one. Itâs a very good, very funny episode but also very typical of a warner cartoon in structure, just stretched over 22 or so minutes. As I said with few exceptions the jokes work, the anmation is crisp as always, and the climax is one of the series best. A crisp, quick watch and a nice quick review after a week of with some really tough ones behind me and ahead of me and a month of rather large ones a few weeks out. So yeah if you like animaniacs, even ifyouâve seen this one worth a watch, if you have any more animaniacs youâd like me to take a look at feel free to comment or comission and until the next rainbow..
#animaniacs#yakko warner#dot warner#wakko warner#anvilania#hello nurse#king yakko#duck soup#goodnight everybody#hulu#warner bros#kids wb
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