Saturos Prox
Swordmaster
The Wildcard
I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.
Posts: 351
Etruria Fame: 1
Profession: Undercover Operative
Affinity: Anima
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Post by Saturos Prox on Apr 22, 2015 18:35:08 GMT -6
"A little of both. I like the ride, but I'd be hesitant to make it into a career," he replied, still staring out over the water. “I value my ability to come and go places as I please, and while technically a ship gives you just that on a worldwide scale, it doesn’t change the fact that you’re stuck in a wooden box for weeks on end.” Saturos sighed wistfully, looking at the red-head standing beside him. The early morning sun was glinting off of her hair with stunning effect. “I’m a free spirit. A child of the world. I need room to stretch my legs. You should know that.”
He winked at Syana, then looked down at the railing, tracing the grooves and lines in the wood with his finger. It was all true, but he made sure to add a bit of the Saturos she knew to it. Maybe he should rip his shirt off while he was at it.
"So, are you looking forward to seeing Aidan and friends again?" he asked with a bit of singsong in his voice. "It has been awhile, and the rebellion is now in full swing. People are dying now, for the cause, every day." The operative's voice took a sharp turn for the dour and the serious. He wanted Syana to realize what she was getting herself into. "Think you'll be able to get back into the swing of things? Ready to swing that sword of yours?"
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Apr 22, 2015 23:50:50 GMT -6
Syana couldn't help but smile. There was her old friend. For a few minutes, anyways, before he fell back into being serious. She wasn't sure how she felt about this new, more serious Saturos. Or maybe this was the real Saturos, and she had only ever known a mask. But she didn't think that was the case. More likely, he was a mix of the two. Again, another thing to file away for another time. "It'd be nice to see the big guy again." She decided to adopt a similarly serious tone to respond to his next question. "I'm already back into the swing of things. I won't lapse like that again, can't afford to. I understand that people are dying daily. I know what a war is, Saturos, and I know how to fight one. I might not be as seasoned as you, but I can hold my own."
"And as for this sword..." She patted the sword on her hip, a smile creeping back onto her lips. She looked back up at the blue-haired mercenary. "Well, if we weren't on a boat, I'd tell you to come and take it if you don't think I'm ready to swing it. But since we are, I'll just assure you I'm ready to go." A full on smile broke out on her face. "I mean, if you wanna know if I'm strong enough to swing it, we can wrestle and I can prove it. But, you might get a little bit embarrassed if a girl kicks your butt." She gave a wink and laughed.
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Saturos Prox
Swordmaster
The Wildcard
I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.
Posts: 351
Etruria Fame: 1
Profession: Undercover Operative
Affinity: Anima
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Post by Saturos Prox on Jun 9, 2015 15:17:39 GMT -6
“Is that a challenge?” inquired Saturos with a raised eyebrow. He eyed Syana, then looked over his shoulder at the deck. There were a couple of sailors working with the sail rigging, a couple more cleaning the decks, but all in all the deck was mostly empty. Enough space for a good, old fashioned, hand-to-hand spar? Probably. Lower decks were mostly filled with people and supplies, so they weren’t the best location for physical activity, which by elimination made the upper deck the best place for such a contest. Saturos would want to make sure they didn’t get in the way of anybody’s work, though.
“Then how about we head just over there,” said the operative, pointing a finger at an empty spot on the deck, “and find out if you’re capable of embarrassing me or not?” Not waiting for a response, Saturos walked himself over to the aforementioned location and began unfastening his sword scabbards from his belt. Once they were removed he undid his cloak, wrapped it around his weapons, then placed the makeshift package neatly off to the side on top of a spool of rope. He then gestured for the redhead to join him.
“Come on, now, don’t be shy,” he said, a lively twinkle in his eye. “I don’t take kindly to unfounded boasting. If you want to make claims, you’ll have to prove it.” While the statment was true, Saturos wasn’t the competitive type. He didn't feel a need to prove himself to every last person who would question his ability. But he knew Syana had a bit of a competitive streak within her, and that a little taunting would no doubt goad her into a tussle. Why the need? Well Saturos had largely confined himself to lower decks for one reason or another over the previous leg of the trip, and he imagined a bit of physical activity would help get his mind off of the events surrounding the mine. Maybe even help with his sea-sickness.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Jun 18, 2015 14:59:02 GMT -6
Syana smirked and unfashioned her scabbard as well, placing it down on top of a nearby box. It had been a while since she had done some good old fashioned hand-to-hand fighting. Fortunately for her, her brothers had always tried to prove which one of them was the alpha male, so they wrestled a lot. And once she was old enough, Syana had started to join in. While she lost a lot at first, eventually she started to win at least some of the time. By the time she had set out on her journey, she could pretty easily beat three of her brothers. While Saturos was an unknown, she felt fairly confident that she would at least be able to hold her own.
Walking towards the blue-hair swordsman, her smirk grew wider and she cracked her knuckles. She knew it would't actually intimidate him, but she was getting into this. If this had been with her brothers, a lot of trash talking would be going on, but she decided that would be for another time. As she walked, she undid her chest plate and shoulder guard and tossed them back towards where she had rested her sword. No point in wearing armor for a thing like this, it would only slow her down. She stopped a few paces away from Saturos and started bouncing back and forth on her heels. Still grinning, she stared down the swordless swordsman. "We'll go on your say so. And don't you dare take it easy on me. You'll regret it," she said with a wink.
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Saturos Prox
Swordmaster
The Wildcard
I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.
Posts: 351
Etruria Fame: 1
Profession: Undercover Operative
Affinity: Anima
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Post by Saturos Prox on Jul 13, 2015 1:50:01 GMT -6
"On my say so?" Saturos acknowledged, raising an eyebrow. She was quite the confident one, letting him make the first move, wasn't she? He couldn't say for sure that he'd make her regret it, since he had no idea if that confidence was unfounded, but if she was giving him this control, then, "Well alright... go!"
In one fluid motion the taller man turned away from Syana, so that his left shoulder was facing the red-headed woman, then stepped forward and attacked. His hand was oriented upwards, so that his palm faced his opponent, then his arm shot out like a spear, straight and fully extended, aimed right at the mercenary's right shoulder. Although the attack did involve a small lunge, the strike itself was fairly weak, with most of the striking force coming from the extension of Saturos's shoulder and elbow. That meant the attack would have a minimal effect of Syana if it did connect, but he was merely testing the waters, which was oddly appropriate given their location.
If he had thrown more power into the attack he would be forced to follow it through, thus leaving him with less options in the case that Syana managed to read his approach and respond with an appropriate counterattack. Instead he was getting a feel for Syana's fighting style. It was typical behavior for Saturos. His philosophy was that when one's opponent was largely an unknown, it was best to asssess them before making any big moves, much like the way one gathered intelligence on a fort before trying to breach its defenses. Well, that or take them down quickly and silently before they had a chance to react, but that wasn't quite the scenario here.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Jul 14, 2015 21:44:59 GMT -6
Syana kept bouncing back and forth on her heels until Saturos yelled go. It might seem like a foolish stand to take, as a lot of fighters prefer a more grounded, sturdy stance. For her, however, she liked the movement. Sure, a sturdier stance could more easily block or take a blow, but being ready to move at any moment allowed for her to have more options. Plus, her style of fighting was less take a hit and hit back and more avoid, avoid, avoid, strike. So, when Saturos lunged at her, she decided against the more common attempt to block his strike and parry the attack tactic. Sure, she could have done it and most likely succeeded in blocking it, but where would she go from there? Saturos would then be in close and had both the height and weight advantage. Any blow she threw straight to his body might stun him for a second at best before he was able to go on the offensive again. And while she was fast, Syana wasn't fast enough to get out of range of his next strike.
So instead, Syana split her legs apart in mid bounce, falling towards the deck of the ship. She threw her hands out on either side of her body to catch herself before she actually made contact and immediately began moving her body. Putting her weight onto her right hand, she pushed her body into a counter-clockwise spin. In doing so, she sent one of her legs flying directly at Saturos'. If things went according to plan, the swordsman would either be knocked to the deck himself, leaving him open to another attack, or he would be forced to jump. Jumping would get him out of harm's way, but would also give her a few more seconds to set up her next attack.
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Saturos Prox
Swordmaster
The Wildcard
I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.
Posts: 351
Etruria Fame: 1
Profession: Undercover Operative
Affinity: Anima
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Post by Saturos Prox on Jul 29, 2015 16:07:43 GMT -6
Saturos jumped, if just barely, away from the counter-attack. He could feel the air rush past his pant legs as he widened the space between the two of them. Syana's move had been fluid and fast, and truth be told, while he had been trying to keep himself open to any response, he hadn't at all been expecting such a drastic dodge from the red-head, nor had he expected her to follow it up with a leg sweep.
In Saturos's experience Ilians tended to be infighters, wrestlers and boxers, so he had expected her to respond with something more traditional, likely an approach, but apparently that was not to be. If Syana was already throwing kicks then she was definitely an outfighter, which meant he could likely expect continued attempts to space him out. She'd stay on the defensive and keep him at a distance, minimizing the amount of hits she'd take fighting while waiting for lulls in his own tempo to strike.
It made sense. As a woman she was smaller and lighter than most men, but more agile too. Rather than trying to combat Saturos on his own turf, fighting him within arm's reach where his size and weight could be leveraged best, she was going to stay out of his zone of control and get in hits when she could. Well, that is if she didn't tire out first. At a distance she lost a lot of power, and the bouncy step that kept kept her light on her feet, and harder to hit, could wear her out if she didn't end this quickly. That meant she'd be focused on going for big hits, rather than wearing him down with attrition. Again, given the size disparity, that made sense.
So Syana thought herself something of a martial artist, hmm? Saturos would have to make sure not to disappoint with sloppy moves. But instead of returning to the offensive, he kept his guard up and his stance tight, and took a small step towards the woman, keeping his eyes fixed on her feet.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Jul 31, 2015 13:14:09 GMT -6
Syana popped back up to her feet after her leg sweep failed to knock Saturos down. Admittedly, she would have been surprised if her first attack had brought him down, as she knew he was no slouch when it came to fighting. Then again, neither were her brothers, and she could take them down so why not Saturos as well? Before any of that could happen, however, she needed to figure out what her next step would be. Saturos had declined to take the offensive again, and instead had taken a defensive stance. He was smart. She watched as he took a small step towards her and his eyes focused on her feet instead of her face. That meant that it would be harder to distract him, and that he would know when she was about to launch an attack.
Even so, she had to do something. She had an idea, but she wasn't sure how well it would work. Keeping her eyes on Saturos, she dragged on of her feet across the deck in front of her. It was possible this could throw her opponent off if he thought it was the start of an attack. In reality, she was testing how slick the deck was. It wasn't exactly smooth or slick, but it was thankfully smoother than a normal wooden floor was. This might not work perfectly, but it should at least work.
She kept dragging her front foot back and forth across the deck a few time, while slowly moving her weight to her back foot. When she was ready, she pushed off of her back foot and sprinted towards the swordsman. When she was a couple of steps from him, she went once again to the ground, this time sliding by him. It wasn't as smooth a slide as she would have liked, but it got her around him. As soon as she was by him, she dug her foot in and jumped back up to her feet. With another quick cut, she rushed towards his back and threw every punches in succession. She expected that either she would land several blows onto his back, or he would turn in time, but would have to block them instead of launching an attack of his own.
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Saturos Prox
Swordmaster
The Wildcard
I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.
Posts: 351
Etruria Fame: 1
Profession: Undercover Operative
Affinity: Anima
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Post by Saturos Prox on Aug 16, 2015 12:14:24 GMT -6
Saturos barely budged as Syana zoomed under and around him, his eyes tracking the woman’s wild movement. He was, admittedly, confused. The operative could imagine a lesser fighter being thrown off by the red-head’s wild movement, but all Saturos saw was wasted energy and highly telegraphed maneuvers. It wasn’t difficult. She tried throwing him off with the movement of her foot, but the movement itself was unnatural and thus obviously a feint, and when she charged at him he had bet, correctly, that she had no intention of colliding with him. A tackle was almost always more advantageous for the larger fighter, and he had also managed to read the brief flicker of intention in Syana’s eyes just before she hit the ground.
With the woman’s approach read, all it took for the Etrurian to respond was a simple backstep and pivot. Now facing Syana, Saturos was free to block and parry her follow up strikes. He was surprised how hard she could hit, showing that she had great punching technique and form, and that left the swordsman wondering just how quickly she could lay him flat if she wasn’t wasting so much effort on flashy moves. Great fundamentals, questionable execution. It was like viewing beautiful wooden furniture covered up with an shoddy coat of paint.
But enough thinking. Time for his response. The assault had forced him into the defensive, but defense didn't occlude offense. Just as Syana threw her last fist, Saturos responded with a knife-hand to her solar plexus. It was a sharp, quick, clean attack, which reflected the bulk of his fighting style, and if it resulted in a solid hit the attack would knock the wind out of the red-head’s lungs while also forcing her into a retreat.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Aug 19, 2015 21:00:18 GMT -6
Syana didn't have the time to react when Saturos threw his knife-hand and it struck her right in the middle of her chest. Besides knocking her slightly off balance, it drew all the air from her lungs. She was able to jump back a few more feet before gasping for breath. She looked up and cursed the swordsman for being such a smart fighter. One of her tricks would have worked by now on any of her brothers or most other fighters. But that was her fault for putting too much faith that Saturos would fall for them too. She should have known better.
This time, she was going on the defensive. For now, anyways. She took up a much more defensive stance as she fought to gain her breath back. She wasn't foolish enough to think that Saturos would allow her time to catch her breath. She needed a slight breather anyways, as throwing all those attacks in a row had cost her a decent amount of energy. She still had a few more up her sleeve, but for now she was going defensive and gonna play it straight. No flashy moves, no tricks. If she was able to counter Saturos, it would be punches and kicks returned his way. Then, and only then, would she think to try something else. Clearly, Saturos was a better fighter than Syana was used to going against. As she was finally starting to get her breath back, she couldn't stop a small smirk growing on her face. This was getting fun. Digging her feet in and raising her hands up in front of her, she readied for whatever came next.
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Saturos Prox
Swordmaster
The Wildcard
I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.
Posts: 351
Etruria Fame: 1
Profession: Undercover Operative
Affinity: Anima
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Post by Saturos Prox on Sept 1, 2015 15:00:38 GMT -6
Immediately Saturos could see the change in Syana’s fighting style. She pulled back and slowed down, focusing on both her breathing as well as her stance. She also held off on throwing any more attacks, which Saturos assumed was due to the ineffectiveness of her last two attempts at assault. The operative smirked as he considered that Syana's experience may have, up until now, largely been limited to half-drunk Ilian mercenaries.
Saturos didn't think of himself as a particularly amazing hand-to-hand fighter. He was trained, sure, by some of the best assassins in Etruria, but training and practical application were two completely different things. Yes, he knew facts: where to cut a man to most quickly deny the brain blood flow, where to strike a man to create temporary paralysis, how to grab a man to use his own joints against him, and yet he was no martial artist. He had his limits. He had never been that great at taking a punch, nor could he throw the strongest punch himself, and had never had the fastest footwork. But Saturos had always possessed a sharp mind and a keen eye for observation, so he had focused his unarmed training on swiftly and preemptively disabling his opponents, in addition to countering the rare opponent that managed to get the jump on him.
Of course this was neither of those situations, so really all he was throwing at Syana right now was the basics.
Recognizing that it was now his turn to attack, Saturos stepped into Syana's zone of control. Keeping his guard up, he threw a straight to her jaw, though as his fist rushed forward he dropped the punch to her collarbone. He hardly wanted to deck her on the off chance she didn't manage to gaurd.
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Sept 1, 2015 18:24:19 GMT -6
Syana had recovered enough of her breath before Saturos attacked to be ready for it. She had worried that there wouldn't be enough time, and admittedly wasn't at one hundred percent yet, but it was enough. The swordsman finally made his move, stepping closer to her and throwing a punch. She noted that he had his guard kept up as he attacked, so a standard counter and attack wouldn't be as simple as normal. Him attacking, though, was a step in the right direction. Something seemed slightly off, as it seemed the punch changed direction midair. Strange. She would have put more thought towards it, but there was a fight going on.
Instead, she used her defensive stance to her advantage and blocked Saturos' punch, forcing it to her left. Normally, this would immediately resulted in a win for her, as being this close would allow any number of attacks. This was Saturos, however, and so far he had proven much better than most. Plus, he had the foresight to keep his guard up. Regardless, this might be the best chance that she would have to land a solid blow on the swordsman. Syana followed up with a series of calculated strikes. Nothing flashy, not yet. She was determined to keep at least one trick left in her back pocket in case this failed. Just simple, effective strikes. Again, she half expected Saturos to block each one, but she had to try. She began her fury of attacks with a couple of jabs with her right hand, followed by an upper cut with her left. Jab, jab, hay-maker, jab, upper cut, kick, jab. She hoped by changed up the form of attack, maybe one would be able to land and she could go from there. If not, hopefully she would do enough to weaken Saturos' guard that she would be able to fall back and plan another attack.
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Saturos Prox
Swordmaster
The Wildcard
I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.
Posts: 351
Etruria Fame: 1
Profession: Undercover Operative
Affinity: Anima
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Post by Saturos Prox on Nov 4, 2015 22:50:35 GMT -6
One, two...
The first two jabs were simple enough to block, but then again jabs were hardly ever meant for real damage. Jabs were light, fast, and easy to throw in a mixup, and were thus primarily meant for pressure. And these were doing their job. While he managed to block the two, it left him open for the haymaker.
...three...
Saturos leaned away from the punch, sending it zipping past his chin. He had been expecting it. The one-two-punch was a bread-and-butter combination, and while the nominal punch was typically a straight, a haymaker was so widely swung that it was particularly easy to read if you expected anything similar.
...four...
The jab struck Saturos in the shoulder as he stepped back in. A well-timed strike! He could feel the recoil throughout the muscles in his shoulder as Syana's fist met bare skin, accompanied by a loud smack too. Unfortunately the operative hadn't gotten close enough to cut the power of the punch before it had connected, so it stung quite a bit, but it was just a jab, so...
...fi- ack!
Saturos hadn't let the jab knock him off balance, but it had apparently just messed with his tempo enough to leave him open. Indeed, just as the shirtless Etrurian turned his head to watch for the next attack, he felt Syana's bony fist connect with his chin. There was a cracking sound as his teeth slammed together, and his head swung back, rattling from the force of the blow. And before he could even think about recovering, his feet were swept out from under him by a low kick. He fell fast enough to duck the final jab, and hit the boat deck with a loud thud.
"Gah!" he exclaimed, stunned by the swift takedown. Given Syana's earlier tactics, he hadn't been expecting a combination so fierce and precice, but here he was, the first down. Fortunately his senses seemed to return as fast as they had went, and he looked up at Syana with a pained grin. "Much better than your first few attacks. Perhaps I was the one who shouldn't have been boasting," he said. His was a quick recovery, though. He put a hand on his knee and pushed himself back to his feet, then bounced on the balls of his feet a few times before resuming a tight stance. He gave Syana a playful look, raising his eyebrows a couple times, then spoke again.
"Think you can do it again?"
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Post by Syana Flamberge on Nov 11, 2015 0:24:35 GMT -6
After landing several of her blows, including knocking Saturos to the ground, Syana jumped back several feet. She immediately assumed a defensive position in case the swordsman jumped to his feet and launched an attack. A grin grew on her face as Saturos complimented her attacks. "What can I say, a girl's gotta have a few tricks up her sleeve." She gave him a wink. "I guess we'll have to see, huh?" Bouncing up and down on her heels again, the redhead gave her neck a little crack. Really, she was just killing time while she tried to figure out what attacks to use next.
Clearly, her original tactics didn't work. Saturos was too smart and quick to be fooled by them, unlike most of the men she fought against. Her most recent attack of a more normal fighting style had done the trick, but at the same time he hadn't seemed to be expecting it. If that was it, then he would be more ready if she tried it again. Maybe a combination of the two? She wasn't sure, but she had to decide quickly.
Making up her mind, she dug her back foot in and once again sprinted forward. She had noticed that she always seemed to be the one on the offensive, but that was fine with her. She wasn't sure how well she would hold up defensively against someone like Saturos. Having closed the gap between them, she began her assault. He had a tight guard up, so trying to find a way around that would be key. She had the combo she wanted in mind, but at the same time knew that once again it could be broken at any time. All it would take would be one block and reversal to put Saturos on the offensive.
Once again, she started off with a few straight jabs. Nothing groundbreaking, but a good way to test his defense. Then she really kicked things off. Two more harder right handed jabs, followed by a quick left handed hook. This was then followed by another quick jab, then a kick to mix things up. It had worked last time and maybe it would again. She turned her momentum from the kick into a haymaker, and then followed that up with another couple of jabs. Syana then threw another kick in between even more jabs, and then finally an uppercut. Hopefully that was enough to break his guard. Otherwise... she'd be in real trouble.
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Saturos Prox
Swordmaster
The Wildcard
I'm almost incapable of lying. I'd be a terrible spy.
Posts: 351
Etruria Fame: 1
Profession: Undercover Operative
Affinity: Anima
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Post by Saturos Prox on Dec 18, 2015 22:54:52 GMT -6
Saturos was impressed at how quickly Syana was adapting her fighting style to his tactics, but even so, he was more than prepared for the woman's assault this time around.
When she came in to attack, he responded methodically, matching her tempo and parrying her strikes one by one. Rather than force his way through her offense and into reversal, he took his time and waited for an opening. He kept his arms up to block the jabs, while the kick she threw at him forced him to raise a knee of his own in defense. He watched her momentum carefully, swaying back and forth with her movements, and as she threw a wide windmill punch, his head told him to step in, to deflect the punch and make his move into her open guard. But a gut feeling had him make a split second decision to duck the punch instead. It was a good move on his part, for not a second after the wide swing went sailing over his head did she step into his guard with a tight, well-placed uppercut. A close one; he could feel the breeze blow through his hair as her hand snapped past his face, but close as it was, it didn't connect, and that was what mattered in this very moment.
And with Syana committed to her power punch, Saturos found the opening he had been waiting for. He stepped in and threw a cross at her left shoulder, a power punch of his own to throw her off balance, then reached out with his hands and grabbed at her shoulders. Pulling downards, he swept his leg under hers in an attempted take down.
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