Year 2: Black and White
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Year 2: Awake Again
The world won’t stop shaking, the ground feels as if it might crack, voices swirl around in a tornado of emotions, and in the center of it is a lone being. Their nubs for hands cover whatever they can as it’s curled into a ball. Its attempts to ignore the voices are in vain, for they have already invaded his mind. It’s so loud, they’re all so loud, they taunt, and laugh.
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They never stop, stop, stop, “stop! . . . It’s quiet?”
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No, not quiet, the wind whispers in a calming tune. “Calm? I can’t feel calm.”
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Orio rises to his feet looking around to a field of dead soldiers. Either left to starve after being trapped like that or fallen in battle.21Please respect copyright.PENANA16u3XLDk6o
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“We failed. . . ?” 21Please respect copyright.PENANA4RxLjGdxUS
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Orio travels through the battle fields riddled with the bodies of the fallen. He can only feel sorrow and the sorrow grows with each body he sees. He tries to push them out of his mind but he could never forget them. Even if he truly wanted to. Ori reaches the ruins of the wall that once guarded the people of the shadow realm. Now all that's left is rubble and unstable structure, waiting to fall. 21Please respect copyright.PENANAWNbbJK0P4m
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Orio manages to fit between a crack in the wall. Better this than risking walking on the unstable structure, even with his light body. He squeezes through the other side causing some rubble to fall beside him. It startles him and he grows annoyed at it; he kicks a rock at a nearby building that immediately collapses once hit. Ori looks on in disbelief before slowly walking away.21Please respect copyright.PENANAL9P5FC11b4
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“I’m sure no one will miss that. . . sadly.” Ori runs through the houses trying to find his way to the castle.
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He has memorized nearly every route in this place since he usually gets a good view of it from the castle. Within 3 minutes he made it to see the castle was also not spared from these creatures' carnage. It’s horrible but he only needs one room to be at least somewhat functional. He reaches the main lab to see some of it damaged and even more destroyed. 21Please respect copyright.PENANAwpMa0xKHk5
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He begins to lose hope until he sees it. “The dimensional warp. . .”
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a prototype meant to give easy access between the shadow realm and our allies. Ragna was meant to finish it but he never got the chance to create its core. Ori makes his way to a nearby control panel that is remarkably intact; but the wires needed to keep it connected to the dimensional warp have been torn. Luckily Ori knows exactly what he needs. 21Please respect copyright.PENANAiTi8jybLRH
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He's spent countless hours watching Ragna work; he's sure he can fix some of his wires. Ori runs out of the room and looks around the halls until coming upon Ragna’s room. He opens it to be met with it mostly intact only turned a bit upside down. Whatever these creatures were must’ve had no interest in the castle. Good for Orio because Ragna’s supplies box is simply lying on the ground for the taking. He opens it and grabs the correct wires for the control panel. He rushes back unaware of the light that follows behind him.21Please respect copyright.PENANAXuMKppQ2DP
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Orio spends nearly 20 minutes on the control panel before he's able to get it to function.21Please respect copyright.PENANAHUBFTjqzcW
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“Perfect! Now just the core. . .” Orio then realizes he has no idea how to create the core because Ragna never did.
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“SHIT! No, no, it's fine. I’m sure there's something around here. A hint. Anything, that could tell me.” Ori is about to search around for it before noticing something out of the corner of his eye.
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He turns to the hall entrance to see two black eyes staring back at him with a white ghost-like body. Ori immediately readies his guard as it floats around the room. 21Please respect copyright.PENANA85z6rYTaN8
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It floats like one of those shadow demons but it doesn’t seem hostile. It seems to be trying to get Ori to follow it, so he walks without dropping his guard. The ghost leads him to a box sealed shut only to be opened by the necessary DNA scan. Orio knows which type of scanner it is. It’ll only take a scan of Ragna, Crimson, or him.
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He places his nub on the scanner, “Hope this works or if I’m even right to help you.”
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It shines green before opening to reveal a helmet seemingly made of bone with two drill-like weapons laying at rest beside it.21Please respect copyright.PENANAd6rLFrzuF5
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“You wanted this?”21Please respect copyright.PENANAAo2WA3qsVU
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The ghost circles the items before diving into them forming a warrior a bit taller than Orio thanks to the helmet it dawns. Two drill-like weapons lay on the ground before he puts his hands inside of them and raises them before Orio. Ori is unsure if this is a sign of respect or a threat. He then puts his arms down and the weapons disappear. He picks up a nearby cloak and dawns it.21Please respect copyright.PENANArbkiS5fPpM
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“Well, now that that's done, mind repaying the favor? I don’t suppose you know anything about that machine do you?” The little ghost nods before wandering around. “While we’re here do you have a name?” The little ghost walks to a wall before summoning a drill and carving something into the wall. It reads “Center.”21Please respect copyright.PENANA0X95j5mujs
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“Well that's an odd name but I'm no one to judge.” Center walks over to the machine before pressing a button revealing a battery. “How did you know about that?”21Please respect copyright.PENANACXH3REtHmg
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Center only glances back before suddenly supercharging the battery with its own energy. The energy feels as if it'll never end before the battery glows white. Center puts it back in and pressing the button once more as the machine glows with life.21Please respect copyright.PENANA06WJDL6G30
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“That was so unexpected but very useful so I won’t ask!” In Ori’s mind, “What the hell is this thing for it to almost be made for Ragna’s work?”21Please respect copyright.PENANAvN0Ix8uVjF
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Ori dashes over to the control panel and puts in coordinates to the time council. “If I remember correctly we got word that team eclipse was moving there. Maybe we can get some help from them?”
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The machine charges with energy before opening a gateway through the dimensions to the time council. “It works!” Ori jumps with joy as Center just watches with eyes that seem soulless. Ori grabs his hand and rushes in, “Come on!”
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Year 2: Technical Downgrade
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>Main Command: protect the children, failed.21Please respect copyright.PENANAO2DoDVJdgI
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. . .21Please respect copyright.PENANA4sEKFmRkoT
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>Secondary Command: protect Red’s legacy, failed.
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. . .21Please respect copyright.PENANA1I4sNMKAPL
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>Tertiary command: kill the intruders, failed.21Please respect copyright.PENANAduGvjPd4j1
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. . .
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. . .
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. . .
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. . .21Please respect copyright.PENANAsvHH5O9YEb
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>New Command: Avenge the Fallen, Active.21Please respect copyright.PENANAUFCRw7Ydlf
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Litzo opens her eyes to see a ruined time council. She moves her arms to see herself put back together. Not nearly as good as before but enough to keep her functioning. Most of her combat functions are offline along with most of her optic scanners. She looks over to see a familiar puffball sleeping on a counter.21Please respect copyright.PENANAD3PdED2tqK
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“Orio?” Her speech still works, good.21Please respect copyright.PENANASUnZWzwObD
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Ori bounces awake happy to see her functioning. “Ori! Ori! Or!21Please respect copyright.PENANA8R87oJeiPm
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Litzo can’t understand him, her multi-language settings must be offline.21Please respect copyright.PENANAIymJdV1tBK
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“Slow down Ori, I can’t understand you. Most of my functions are offline.”21Please respect copyright.PENANAaSGyNiS3do
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Ori nods and jumps down to waddle over to her. She’s hooked up to many wires constantly feeding her energy. Her previous power source still lies dormant within her she can feel it. Ori must not know how to activate it if he's set all of this up just to get her to function.21Please respect copyright.PENANAX1Jdpz9uH1
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“W- wait, why are most of my functions offline? What happened–” Litzo cuts herself off seeing the sorry state of the time council. “Orio, what happened?”
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Ori chimes but none of it gets through to Litzo. Eventually she manages to suppress her feelings. They are not needed, not now.
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“Ori, I need you to do a complete system reboot. I cannot activate it on my own. I need you to access my control panel and enter a code. It will not open to any other person besides Red, but it might also react to crimson's DNA.” Ori nods but just when he's about to leave another being comes in. It seems to have a special skull on its head and is just a bit taller than Orio.21Please respect copyright.PENANAJNJ2CP7Hyp
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“Ori, or ori orio!” Orio squeaks to the being and it listens as if it understands somehow. Litzo cannot find them within her database, could it be damaged or is he new? It walks over to Litzo and places stool to reach her face. It places a hand on her cheek as it scans, the DNA confirms as a panel on her stomach opens.21Please respect copyright.PENANAn06mijbmSp
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“Orio or?” Litzo doesn’t need to understand Orio to know he has the same question.21Please respect copyright.PENANA3qVgaylstU
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“How did he do that?”21Please respect copyright.PENANAgfFWY7QA4c
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Ori just shrugs with a confused expression as he waddles over. “Alright, the code is 4 4 9 1 SKrt–” Litzo suddenly shuts down as the machine she was plugged into malfunctions.
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Year 2: Code Search
“W- what the!” Orio looks on in disbelief before checking the wires to see what happened. “A feedback loop caused the circuits to fry! Aw dammit!”
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Ori jumps down. “She’s going to be out of it for a bit and I’m going to need time to get this back online. See if you can find anything in this place that can help center.” Center nods before dashing off as Orio grumbles something under his breath. 21Please respect copyright.PENANA4dbRs6XZ43
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Center dashes through the many halls of the time council. Every turn leads into more halls and every hall leads into more rooms. It’s a mystery to him how anyone could navigate it and how he can navigate it. Center knows he's never been here, yet these halls feel familiar. He allows muscle memory to lead him through these halls as he dashes between rubble and ducks under swinging debris.21Please respect copyright.PENANAWjR8vxw0RR
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He lands in an office that seems torn by cuts embedded deep into the walls. Traces of temporal energy leak out of these cuts but it's faint. Whatever fight took place here must’ve been long ago. He walks around the room aimlessly before coming across a shattered piece of furniture that seems familiar.
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He digs through the rubble before pulling out a small piece of the broken furniture. It has a note infused with the bottom of it that reads “4 4 * 1 2 * ! 0 * L V” Some of the pieces are scratched out. Maybe Litzo’s database could fill it in. He puts the note in a pocket in his cloak before leaving.21Please respect copyright.PENANADvzvPRknxZ
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He runs through the halls retracing his steps. Eventually he makes it back to see Orio buried under Wires working. He kicks a piece of rubble to get Orio’s attention. Ori peeks up as he pulls out a piece of paper.21Please respect copyright.PENANAddGinAyPeo
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“Oh, what ya got there?” Ori drags himself out of the rubble and walks over. Ori grabs the paper to see the combination. “Nice work! We already know the first scratch is a 9 we just need to get the others. Give me a sec to get Litzo back online alright?”
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Year 2: Technical Regret
>Main processors: online, system rebooting.
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>All systems: Online
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. . .
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. . .
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. . .
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>Correction: main booster, offline. Repairs needed.
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. . .
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>Correction: Energy converter, offline, Repairs needed.
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. . .
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>Error: file name emotional center, not natural, delete?
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. . .
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>Cancel: Deletion negated.
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. . .
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>Activate file?
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. . .
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>Cancel: files inactive.
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. . .
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>Powering on.
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. . .
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>Welcome back: Litzo.21Please respect copyright.PENANAQ5FxtpEaLx
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Litzo wakes up again this time standing, unplugged from the machine.21Please respect copyright.PENANABmNQ7T5YAk
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Orio is the first to say, “You’re finally awake!”
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“Yes, and my language center is back online along with most of my functions.” Litzo walks around taking in the fact she's online again. She takes a moment to scan the wandering skull adding him to her database. “I do not recognize you little one. What is your name?”21Please respect copyright.PENANAoh3LLDy7uo
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Center only stares back before summoning his drill again.21Please respect copyright.PENANApc2BFXdSVl
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Orio chimes in, “let's not do that again! His name is Center and he seems to be mute. Try not to ask him much or else he’ll carve his answers into the nearest wall.”21Please respect copyright.PENANAjlCNY6c9VQ
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“Noted, Some of my functions are still offline.”21Please respect copyright.PENANA9qjjjMesm6
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“Yeah, sorry, I did the best I could with my limited resources.” Orio glances around before saying, “Which brings me to why I did this. What happened here? What happened to you?”21Please respect copyright.PENANAzUgyoOOThk
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Litzo looks down before saying, “I am unsure. Most of my recent memory files are corrupted. I cannot recall much.”21Please respect copyright.PENANAh0NrZUp43h
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“Right, well I’ve sent Center on a lot of supply runs so I think we’ve used this place for all its worth. We’ll have to leave.”21Please respect copyright.PENANAtsN9y9FuDH
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“. . . Why has my main directive changed?”21Please respect copyright.PENANAwFrEOnqyli
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Ori stops in his tracks, “What?”21Please respect copyright.PENANAd5F9VagV1x
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“My original directive stated to protect the children. My new main directive says to, “Avenge the Fallen” but who has been felled.”21Please respect copyright.PENANAEwL0w4LyYZ
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Orio pauses before saying, “Maybe, something. . . I don’t know.”21Please respect copyright.PENANAJbWomiGPAz
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Litzo can tell he is only telling half of the truth, the question is what half?21Please respect copyright.PENANAvSVZw8Kkzm
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“Alright, I will investigate this further until I can further uncover my memories.”21Please respect copyright.PENANAdyQobUVBdq
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“If you don’t mind, can I come with you? There isn’t much for me to go back to.”
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“What do you mean?”
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“. . . The reason why I’m here is because” He takes a breath facing the truth. “The shadow realm has fallen. And, I don’t know where Ragna and Crimson are.” Orio’s eyes start to water as he shakes.21Please respect copyright.PENANALyC107nEFT
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LItzo walks over and leans down to hug him. “I’m sure they’re out there, somewhere. Probably getting revenge against whatever could’ve caused this. We can’t let them down, alright?”
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Orio nods before saying, “Alright.” He thinks before saying, “You know our lab back at the Shadow realm is still somewhat functional. At least more than this lab is. We could go there?”21Please respect copyright.PENANAcVqyJhLRz5
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“Yes, that would be helpful.”21Please respect copyright.PENANAHmkmQeA1Wd
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Ori waves Center to come over as he promptly hops down from a stool and walks over. He then lets out a battle cry cutting through the dimensions opening another gateway.21Please respect copyright.PENANAztwf89iivt
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“Thank you center.” Ori is about to lead Litzo into the portal but suddenly they hear a crash in another wing of the time council.
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“Did you two bring another?” Litzo asks.21Please respect copyright.PENANAIWAT7ayAYH
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“No, we didn’t. We have to go check it out, it could be someone.”21Please respect copyright.PENANAXUqTLvacDx
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“It could also be whoever caused this.”21Please respect copyright.PENANAmBVLvftHgZ
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“Which is even more reason to go.”
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Litzo nods before following Orio who takes off towards the noise. Center looks at the portal and waves his hand as it closes. He follows behind in the shadows ready to attack if it is a threat. Ori stops in surprise at what he sees as Litzo walks in front of him.21Please respect copyright.PENANAvcvihqvI1Q
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“So… What brings you around here?” Asks a man on his knees, seemingly relieved to see them.
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Litzo’s eyes light up in blue energy with the same relief, “I could ask you the same.21Please respect copyright.PENANAvvYQNdVpmx


