Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
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Posts: 403
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Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Sept 26, 2024 22:55:38 GMT 9
HealPokemon: Mudkip Move(s) Used: Protect Move Type(s):  Move Target: Self spLA4H9m1-121-12 |
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Sept 26, 2024 22:18:01 GMT 9
HARBOR ENTRANCE > SUNDIAL ENTRANCE
"I thought you were supposed to be the next Houdini," Bergamot huffed as she hauled Buzzster Hooperham out of the water at the Harbor Entrance. She'd emerged perfectly dry and unharmed from the descent down the whirlpool, past the Dragon Palace dungeon, and into the secret tunnels. It had been easy— nay!— enjoyable!
She wasn't sure why she'd assumed Zac would be in the same boat, apart from him literally being in the same boat while they'd been waiting for the raid to start. Honestly, Bergamot had been a Swimmer so long she'd forgotten everyone couldn't breathe underwater.
"Ugh! There's nothing left to do," Bergamot said, putting her hands on her hips as she looked around the Harbor Entrance. It had taken so long to drag her unconscious uncle out of the water that half the colorless Pokemon in the cavern were already restored and swimming free. Double ugh!! "How boring. Come on, Buzzster, let's go see what's in the other zones."
Ever since they'd sold their usernames to Chanda Mama for matching golden tongues, it had become harder and harder to think of her actual uncle by his actual name.
Bergamot checked her minimap and saw a blinking group of other player icons was right on the other side of the tunnel wall. "Oho! What if I just..."
She stopped to make a smug face before leaning against the stone, then simply—
—falling through it.
"Ohohohoho!" The players at the Sundial Entrance would hear the villainess chortle as she suddenly phased through the side of the chamber and into a pile of sand and colorless Pokemon. "Ick! Disgusting. Uncle, you shall love this." She did a double-take as she saw Galarian Articuno, marked with a player icon that read Ruby. "Oh my."
But Bergamot had little time to gawk, lest these other n00bs steal her glory. She sent out Krony 2012 the shiny male Salandit. "Go, Krony 2012 the shiny male Salandit!"
Krony appeared, shiny tongue flickering nervously around his masculine jaws. Bergamot also sent out Jack, who was a Mudkip.
"You two do something, I'm going back for Buzzster," Bergamot ordered vaguely, waving her hand at her Pokemon and walking back through the wall. It was fun to be incorporeal, but that ability unfortunately didn't extend to everyone else.
Krony and Jack looked at each other.
<Ssssssss...> said Krony.
<Peep peep!> said Jack.
They set to work. Clouds of healing poison wafted over the piled bodies as Krony attempted to summon his two brain cells with Nasty Plot. Jack smashed rocks, sending fragments flying everywhere and thonking into motionless, colorless Pokemon. Last, the Mudkip let out a mighty PEEP that resonated magnificently through the echo-chamber.
Somehow, the clumsy combinations of attacks worked. A Darumaka and Sandshrew sat up and looked around in wonder. They saw a Litten jump to its feet. They saw a Tepig sprint off, squealing. And they did finally see Bergamot drag Buzzster Hooperham in through the normal entrance, huffing and puffing before dumping the unconscious redhead in the sand.
"Well, I'm not doing that again," Bergamot said, dusting off her hands. She did a double-take as she saw her own Pokemon. "Why do you both look so dizzy? Heal yourselves up, please." Jack obediently peep-peeped and summoned a healing shield of water around himself and Krony, though the fire-type didn't look quite as rejuvenated.
Bergamot propped Zac up against one of the walls. "Don't worry, uncle, you'll be perfectly safe here when I leave you behind for greater glory and riches deeper inside." She patted him comfortingly on the cheek, then checked inside his suitcoat pocket for any spare BYTES.
{COLORLESS POKEMON}Please delete Pokemon and move types from the list as they are completed! Copy+paste the updated list from the person above you. SUNDIAL ENTRANCE Sandile - Fairy Scraggy - Fire Elgyem - Dark Pansear - Fire Cacnea - Bug Gible - Fire Dragon Silicobra - Bug Rock Varoom - Dark Minior - Ghost Golett -  Dragon HARBOR ENTRANCE Stunfisk - Rock Wingull - Ice Gastly - Poison Finizen - Water Flying Ice Dreepy - Psychic Tynamo - Fighting Wattrel - Flying Chinchou - Flying Dhelmise - Poison Rock Piplup - Ice Water Steel Oshawott - Rock Ice NEXUS ENTRANCE Grubbin - Electric Snivy - Electric Grookey - Fire |
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Sept 26, 2024 21:45:57 GMT 9
HealPokemon: Mudkip Core Ability: Buff Ability Target: Bergamot Gristleborg's Salandit Move(s) Used: Supersonic, Rock Smash Move Type(s):   Move Target: Silicobra, Sandshrew, Golett, Darumaka, Tepig GifEC3iTsupport4support4 |
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Sept 26, 2024 21:30:59 GMT 9
HealPokemon: Salandit Core Ability: Escape Ability Target: Self Move(s) Used: Poison Gas, Nasty Plot, Ember Move Type(s):    Move Target: Vavroom, Tepig, Litten s92iYqWPsupport5support5 |
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Sept 25, 2024 10:28:20 GMT 9
Morgana stood on the pier of the Drowned Harbor, wrinkling her nose at the fishy, rusty smell. This place was unpleasant. Empty. When she'd first come to this Area, she'd attempted to go fishing the way she'd used to on Beta Island in the early days-- but it had been pointless. No matter how long she waited, not so much as a Magikarp nibbled on the line. Even the seas were devoid of life.
Well, except for Ultra Beasts.
"Let's try this again," Bergamot said, sending out James the Kartana. "I'll make a token effort."
There was a notable change in the invasive creature. Not because of Morgana's love, care, and support; but because it was back in Ostellia. A calm swept over it, like a junkie being given a cigarette. She could have sworn its papery chest fluttered and fell in a sigh of relief.
"Feeling better?" Morgana was a demanding mistress. She gave James little time to readjust: she twirled around, her dress flaring out as she threw up her arms dramatically. She stopped, pointing at Kartana. "Today is your final test!"
James was only at +0, but trial by fire, she supposed.
"Dexterity. Self-control. Polite conversation. Ohohoho! Today, you will give me a haircut!"
Much like fish, there were no hair stylists in Ostellia. There were in Briarbane, of course, but unless you wanted to look like a gothic mistress or a cowboy with a buzzcut, Bergamot wouldn't recommend going there.
She pulled up a chair from her inventory and sat down, crossing her legs. She tossed her long, chestnut-brown hair over her shoulder airily. "I'd like two inches off the back, please. And an asymmetrical razor fade undercut," she added, deciding at the last minute to raise the difficulty level. She wouldn't want it to be too easy.
Her hair in-game was several shades darker than it was in real life. Chryssa had always liked it-- it felt stronger than she was used to. Less faded, less wispy. You could tie a knot in Morgana's hair and it would slip right out again like water through your fingers.
Kartana hovered behind her, looking out to sea, seemingly unresponsive.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" Morgana asked. She made a scissors-like motion with her fingers. "Come on now, I don't have all day!" In just a few hours she'd be headed out to sea with her Uncle Zac, preparing for the World Event.
Strange whistling sounds modulated from the Ultra Beast as it stared out across the ocean. [tangent="This one can't go back empty-handed"]"⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⍜⋏⟒ ☊⏃⋏'⏁ ☌⍜ ⏚⏃☊☍ ⟒⋔⌿⏁⊬-⊑⏃⋏⎅⟒⎅..."[/tangent]
"What are you talking about, of course you can do it," Bergamot said dismissively, waving her hand.
[tangent="This one will be taken, just like the others. This one won't be forgiven. The Mother will know..."]"⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⍜⋏⟒ ⍙⟟⌰⌰ ⏚⟒ ⏁⏃☍⟒⋏, ⟊⎍⌇⏁ ⌰⟟☍⟒ ⏁⊑⟒ ⍜⏁⊑⟒⍀⌇. ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⍜⋏⟒ ⍙⍜⋏'⏁ ⏚⟒ ⎎⍜⍀☌⟟⎐⟒⋏. ⏁⊑⟒ ⊑⟟⎐⟒ ⋔⍜⏁⊑⟒⍀ ⍙⟟⌰⌰ ☍⋏⍜⍙..."[/tangent]
"Less chitchat, more snip-snip," Morgana raised her voice over the Kartana's bizarre speech. "Look, I'll show you."
Boldly, she reached up and took one of the origami creature's paper hands in hers. She'd switched hands with it once, back in the Steel Chef event, and she was familiar with how they worked. Which edges were sharp, and which were safe.
Morgana drew the floating creature down like a helium balloon, then firmly gripped a handful of her own hair. She sawed at it gently with the Kartana's hand until a few chestnut strands fell away, drifting across the dock. Puzzled, James continued the motion after she let go, sawing away. Snip, snip, snip. Its unsure motions gained confidence, slowly, and it continued around the rest of her head. Bergamot nodded, settled back in the chair, and closed her eyes.
"See?" she asked softly once it was done. "Aren't I beautiful?"
...She looked absolutely fucking terrible.
Kartana has become Uncommon (+5)
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Sept 23, 2024 23:00:46 GMT 9
"I have the perfect plan," Bergamot announced.
There was nobody in particular around to hear her. Guillotine, her usual penguin-in-crime, had been abducted by invasive species in Ostellia a few months ago. The game had been surprisingly lonely ever since.
She'd checked everywhere: the Nexus, the Everworld, even Reddit. The last had given answers, at least: rumor on the internet was that the game devs were holding onto peoples' Pokemon until the Ostellia World Event. Fine with her, she'd thought, but the event had been pushed back again and again ever since as players tried (and failed) to complete the various Story Quests littered around Area 3.
Morgana supposed she could have tried to help. Then again, she was supposed to be the villain.
But she still missed Guillotine. She had no one to say the Team Rocket motto with anymore. Thankfully, she had the next-best thing: a replacement!
"James, come out!"
The brunette tossed a Pokeball in the air and a crackling origami soldier materialized. It was a Kartana, an Ultra Beast, a grass-type, and about as far from Guillotine (except for her name, in a literal sense) as possible. Its name was actually yet another tired Titanic reference rather than a Team Rocket one-- that was just a happy coincidence.
"I'm going to teach you the motto. Now, you have the more difficult part, because you need to think of a rhyme to go with whatever I say first."
Kartana shuddered, as if multiple strong winds were blowing across it at the same time. They were not in Ostellia, and it seemed to be responding badly. It crumpled itself up into a ball, then uncrumpled itself, then crumpled itself again. It seemed agitated. Tormented, even.
"I'll go first: To protect the world from devastation!"
Kartana flew at her in a blur of sharpened paper edges. Bergamot hiked up her skirts and ran away, her UI making custom ricocheting-bullet noises as she pulled up her Equipped Classes menu. "Nice try!" she said, equipping it in Support. She couldn't help but feel a bit smug: she'd expected something like this would happen. She stood back to enjoy the rain of papery blows, which were now like a comfortable massage on her back. She could feel her HP increasing already! "Now, you say 'To unite all peoples within our nation!'"
"⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⍜⋏⟒ ⟟⌇ ☊⏃⌰⌰⟒⎅ ⏚⏃☊☍ ⏁⍜ ⏁⊑⟒ ⋔⍜⏁⊑⟒⍀ ⏃ ⍀⎍⋏⏃⍙⏃⊬ ☊⊑⟟⌰⎅ ⎅⟒⌇⟒⍀⎐⟒⌇ ⏁⍜ ⏚⟒ ⌿⎍⋏⟟⌇⊑⟒⎅ ⎎⍜⍀☌⟟⎐⟒ ⋔⟒ ⎎⍜⍀☌⟟⎐⟒ ⋔⟒ ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⍜⋏⟒ ⟟⌇ ⌇⍜⍀⍀⊬ ⏁⊑⟟⌇ ⍜⋏⟒ ⎅⟟⎅⋏'⏁ ⋔⟒⏃⋏ ⏁⍜ ☌⍜ ⌿⌰⟒⏃⌇⟒, ⌿⌰⟒⏃⌇⟒..."
"I don't think that was quite it," Bergamot said as James twisted and tore itself in apparent agony. She remembered buzzwords like 'positive feedback' and 'constructive criticism' and added "But your accent is perfect!" as an afterthought. (It wasn't. The Kartana's speech was still deeply disturbing.)
She wondered how her Uncle Zac was getting along with his Kartana. They'd both caught the same one, after all-- technically, hers was just a copy. So were they different Pokemon, assigned different Natures and personalities at the moment of capture? Or were they identical clones on diverging life courses, each becoming something new and exciting?
One thing was for sure: Bergamot's had to be better.
"Let's try that again. To unite all people..."
Kartana has become common (+0)
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Sept 23, 2024 3:07:55 GMT 9
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Aug 30, 2024 10:04:42 GMT 9
Malice became tangible for the first time in the kitchen as the parade of constellations feasted. Blood splattered alongside stardust, and the warm, wafting smells of freshly-cooked dishes took on a metallic tang.
Morgana approached the spirits holding stones, holding out her hand. "Give," she ordered, and the weight of the inkstone settled comfortably into her palm. Stinging pain erupted across her forearm as cursive words drew themselves across her skin, leaving it red and irritated.
Speak only in rhyme.
"I can do that, piece of pat," Bergamot said. She rubbed the mark, lingering a little longer than she had to, then moved on to Spin the Wheel.
When it finally stopped, Bergamot stood looking at her theme prompt. For the first time, her usual smug, airy confidence seemed to waver.
FLOWERS
Flowers. Flowers… a little tame, wasn't it? She eyed the 'vermin' and 'salmon migration' options enviously. Should she re-spin? Or spend the extra points to choose? No… she needed everything she could get if she was going to sabotage all the other players down the line. Sacrifices had to be made!
Morgana checked her Pokemon Box, almost as a desperate measure. She stopped. Her eyes widened. Then she began to laugh. "Oh…ho…ho!" They thought she only had water-types, hmm? They thought she wouldn't have a Pokemon with flowers?! That she, Bergamot the Swimmer, wouldn't have one grass-type?
It happened she had exactly one grass type.
I'll show them!
"Now before we're too far gone,
I have the perfect Pokemon!
A grass-type much to my delight
Clad in shades of red and white!"
A Kartana materialized! Joy of joys!
…Kartana did not like being out of Ostellia!
"James! Stop that immediately!" Bergamot ordered, then quickly ad-libbed "Or I'll be forced to get weedy with thee!" Sigh. She dodged a flurry of papery blows, hiking up her skirts and running around the other side of the kitchen counter to put some obstacles between herself and the out-of-control Ultra Beast. "James, what are you doing?! Everyone's booing!" They weren't yet, but would be soon.
James the Kartana shuddered. Its papery arms folded and unfolded madly, like an invisible child was correcting their work. Long, horrible ripping sounds came from it, then it lunged, tearing apart an unused mango like a living blender. Well this isn't good.
It was too late to send out another Pokemon— she'd already locked this one in for the round. She needed another out. "You, show me your stone, lest I be undöne!" Bergamot seized a passing spirit. This one had two stones—one in each hand. This time Morgana read the tooltips before accepting.
Trashcan Tattoo: You can only cook with scraps. Use food discarded from other player's dishes.
Hand Tattoo: You switch hands with your Pokemon.
That was it!
Morgana rolled away as Kartana's blades came slashing down behind her, grabbing both stones out of the spirit's hands. She crawled under one of the prep tables, gritting her teeth as the curses worked their magic
First, all her ingredients from the pantry—broccoli, rose water, anything floral that would have massively helped her in the next round— dissolved into ash. No matter! Kartana's grassy, grassy power would make up for it, Bergamot was sure!
Second, the deadly paper blades which had been so threatening before vanished, appearing on Morgana's wrists instead. In turn, her own dainty human hands appeared on the origami alien.
"I win, I win! So it begins!" Morgana said, crawling back out from under the table and holding up her new hands to examine them. She now had a pair of knives perfect for slicing and dicing ingredients, while Kartana only had weak, human digits. "Ow! Stop that right now!" She ducked as the Kartana shot past her erratically, slapping at her with its new fleshy protrusions.
Now she just had to cook.
How much time was left on the timer?
Morgana slashed the hem of her dress with her knife hands, tearing off the bottom third so her movements wouldn't be hindered, and threw the wad of cloth at James to tangle him up while she was scrounging. "Out of my way, baby gay," she told her friend(?) Ruby , using her elbows to steal a pinch of sunflower seeds, then fled onwards to Buzzster Hooperham 's station. "Give me those sunions, Uncle Zac, else I'll call you weird and wack!"
No time. Bergamot rushed back to her station like a wounded battle princess, trailing scraps of fabric and droplets of blood. She threw the seeds down under a UV lamp, managing to fit her origami-hands under the trigger of a spray bottle to mist them, then turned her attention to the green sunions.
Zac had used about half of them already for his dish, but there might still be a way to restore them. "Argh! Go somewhere far!!" She fended off another slapping contest from Kartana, desperately searching through the appliances. Food processor, stand mixer, drill press, welding iron, time turner…
"It's not a Harry Potter reference,
Alliteration's just my preference!
Turn back time and bulb re-grow,
Bring me back a dish to show!"
Green sunions were the stem of the sunion plant, but the part beneath was what Morgana wanted. She watched, entranced, as the machine turned back time on the vegetable scraps. The green sunions lengthened, missing pieces returning, until the shallot itself reappeared at the end of the stalk. "Stop! Stop! This one's ready! Now I must once more be petty…"
She checked on her microgreens, which were growing well from the sunflower seeds, then hurried back over to Buzzster Hooperham 's station. "I saw that you had Tauros butter— give me some, or I shall shudder!!"
Slippery substance intact, she made one more stop.
"I'm here for your buns, Orion Cayge
Baked with all your wit and rage
And if they're spoken for, too bad!!
I'll point my knife-arms at your blad."
Morgana made a half-jab towards orioncayge's pelvis for clarity (or the rhyme wouldn't make sense), then speared his extra hamburger buns on one Kartana-hand and ran away again.
Plop. Buns in the time machine. She cranked up the power, watching the bread shift and reverse, turning back into its original components. This took careful timing: she didn't want it to go all the way back to wheat. Just flour.
As if realizing its new hands were less than effective, James the Kartana was now shooting Razor Leaf all around Morgana's station. Pity the fool trying to take her universe scraps— it was a leafy danger zone at the moment. Her dress was being torn to ribbons.
Almost done…
DING! Bergamot pulled out her new flour, scraping it out of the machine and off of the counter with her straightedge-hands. She'd sliced up the sunion bulb in a complex grid pattern, making sure to leave the root intact for structural stability, and now she rolled it in the flour before lowering it into a sizzling pan of melted Tauros Butter. Hopefully that's how you bread things. She couldn't imagine any other way to do it.
…The plate looked empty. She needed a salad. Didn't Morpheus have some apple vinaigrette? Bergamot appeared at his station like an orphan to beg for scraps, clad now in little more than torn blue rags. "For this boon, you have my blessing! Lend me thus some salad dressing!"
She pulled her net out of her inventory, braced it between teeth and elbow, and ran around her station for a time, catching Razor Leafs like butterflies. Chunks of her hair went flying, scissored off by passing leaves. "Got you! Just a few will do," she exclaimed triumphantly, standing on top of one of the counters as she leapt to net a whirling green sickle. She was sure they were edible—that was the whole point of having a grass type.
At last, it was time to present to the judges.
"From the top down: it's a flower!
Bursting bright with solar power!
I present: my BLOOMIN' SUNION
But that's not all, that's only one in!
Below you'll see sharp botany,
Sprinkled thick with microgreens!
Sunflower sprouts cast shining rays
Drizzled with some apple glaze."
She looked absolutely insane. The dish, thankfully, looked decent (she couldn't speak for taste). The sunion had turned bright green rather than golden brown upon being cooked, but it emitted a faint sunlight from somewhere deep between its cut 'petals.' Bergamot had served the dish with the Bloomin' Sunion on top and the mixed greens below, resembling a child's drawing of a simplified flower.
She had one more thing to say. It was time to collect her prize.
"Chanda Mama, grant me thus
A prize for effort, if you must
I gave you my name, once before
Once more all's fair in food, and war
This Riddle's sure to win the bout,
Morgana's yours, don't wear it out.
Or if you want my Other Name,
From worlds beyond this cooking game
It's Chryssa G, feel free to brag
Now, golden tongue! It's mine to wag!" |
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Aug 28, 2024 16:19:27 GMT 9
#s://file~garden/ZaK6ZBFYS2j2rOD5/Characters/muir~png Morgana reached out, a strange expression on her face.
She stopped, fingers just short of brushing the midnight shell. Indigo swirls of cosmic gas seemed to shift across its surface like passing clouds, as if it could sense the danger.
What was she doing?
What did she want to do?
End this.
The thought flickered like a distant lightning bolt. Intrusive, unwanted. Thunder followed, rumbling, whispering. Hypocrisy. Who are you to play Mother or God? Who are you to determine whether another life comes into being? For what purpose? For leisure? For self-image? For nostalgia? It wasn't enough. No reason was enough. No reason was ever good enough, would ever justify the cruelty of inflicting existence upon another creature.
Poor, wretched thing.
"I changed my mind. Let's kill it," said Morgana.
Senga hefted her hammer, interested.
"No, I changed my mind again. We can't kill it," said Morgana.
Senga lowered her hammer, disappointed.
The villainess paced around the castle room. The furniture items here were all familiar— they resembled those Chryssa had at home, in her own bedroom, in her own universe. They were far too low for her here. They were for someone much shorter, someone normally seated, someone with no need for rugs or carpeting because they would get caught on wheels; someone who spent their days watching the sky for signs, polishing silver.
"Muir, I need you."
A humanoid figure appeared as if stepping out of thin air. It was a woman—older than Morgana, perhaps in her late thirties, clad in breastplate and tabard with tassels on the sleeves. She had a thin, steely look, and bore a filigree blade at one side. Once, she had been a Honedge— Bergamot supposed she still was, save for the Noble Seal which gave her the illusion of human form.
<You let me go.>
"And you came back. I knew you'd be here," Bergamot said. She was remembering things, slowly. Things she shouldn't have been able to know. Things from other worlds, other lives, other pasts. Things reflected in the eyes of serpents, things spoken beyond iron doors. She had made someone a promise. She had left someone behind. "I left you here, didn't I? I… forgot." Had she been to the Dream World before? She must have, to find her own Pokemon here. No, not a Pokemon.
Not exactly.
"I need your help. I need to know what to do with this egg."
Muir looked at her, blue-eyed, unblinking.
"I've been trying to hatch it this whole time," Bergamot said, beginning to pace again. "Exposing it to starlight, bringing it to the Precipice Shrine. It must be close to hatching. If I tried just one more thing, I'm sure that would do it."
<You were planning the last step, then.>
"Oh, yes, I was going to do a transmutation." The girl's hand moved in the air, selecting something in her UI. The grayness in her gaze receded. "I have this new power called Alchemist—it's the Midas Touch, essentially. It transforms nonliving things into gold. I thought it would be fitting for Cosmog, since Solgaleo is an alchemical symbol."
<But an egg is not nonliving.>
Morgana turned.
"Are you sure about that?"
Her expression was masked. Delicately, like removing dead petals from a blossom, she peeled away one of her white gloves. "If it isn't, it dies," she said softly. "If it is, it may someday come to live."
Muir began to move, circling around the bed. Clear, measured, military strides. Bergamot matched her pace, circling the opposite side. <You have a theory,> the woman said, clipped. It was not a question. <Tell me.>
"Oh, it's simple enough. What has never lived cannot be killed." Bergamot's—no, Chryssa's eyes narrowed. Fervent. Fanatical. "It's the only way out of a one-way bargain. An egg is the perfect state—the perfect being. The Egg is the World. The Egg is God."
<You're losing yourself. Remember your choice. Remember the serpent.>
The girl blinked. She wet her lips with her tongue. The memory was faint, but important. "I did choose, didn't I? What did that path represent again? Choosing my reality for myself?"
<Perhaps.>
"So I can choose this reality, too."
<This is the Dream World. There is nowhere better.>
It was a difficult pill to swallow; the idea that you chose your own reality. It was defined by your decisions, your thoughts, your perspective. If she chose to be radical, to be justified, to use the Cosmog Egg in her own cosmic war against the Creator, it would become real. If she chose to relent, to relax, to give the unborn Pokemon a chance to find its own brilliance even in a world that sought to crush it, that would become real too.
Morgana thought carefully.
Then she reached out— purposeful, powerful— and touched the egg.
Nothing happened.
"You were right," said Morgana, taking her hand away. She pulled her glove back on, averting her eyes. "It's alive after all. Don't get me wrong—" the girl looked up, narrowing her eyes, "—I could still kill it. But I won't. I shan't," she corrected herself. Something was subtly changing in her. Changing back.
<Danger narrowly averted,> said Muir. <A fortunate soul indeed.>
There was no alchemy performed that night. In the back of her mind, Bergamot had decided not to take that final step. She could have done something less drastic—transmuted a piece of the nest, perhaps, or the page of a book— but she didn't. She would not be the one to propel the unborn Cosmog into UNOVR, or else condemn it. She would leave that final piece in the hands of God, or the gamemakers, or perhaps the game itself.
"Live," she said, counting the stars on the midnight shell with a golden fingertip, "Don't live."
"Live."
"Don't live."
Live… |
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Aug 28, 2024 13:38:25 GMT 9
#s://a~l3n~co/i/4IuJtM~png #s://a~l3n~co/i/4IuJtM~png She woke, as if from a dream.
What happened…?
Feelings. She was holding something tight to her chest—the egg. Yes, that's right. She'd been taking it somewhere. Somewhere important.
Morgana stretched, setting the egg off to the side of the bed, then opened her eyes.
A rush of disorienting deja-vu crashed over her. She was in a bed. Who was she? Bergamot or Chryssa? There were only two times Chryssa Glasgow woke up suddenly in bed. One was after a Deep Dive (or, more rarely, actual sleep), the other was when she'd been taken to the ER.
She'd woken up in a hospital bed more times than she could count.
A shudder ran through her as she gripped her own shoulders, fingers biting bruises through her shirt, then looked down at her arms. She loosened her grip, holding her hands up in front of her face. White gloves.
She was still Morgana.
…Of course she was. Bergamot was the one with the egg. Bergamot was the one who'd stepped through the portal in the Precipice Shrine, aiming to go to the Dream Kingdom. Was it any surprise she woke up in a bed there? It made too much sense, in hindsight.
"This must be the castle!" Bergamot said, flinging the sheet off herself and rolling to her feet. Her high heels were lined up nicely on the side of the bed and she stopped to wrestle them on, hopping on one foot. "Where's Ruby? I was expecting tea and crumpets." She seemed to be misunderstanding what role the monarch held in this Kingdom. "I suppose she might be offline." Bergamot had traded DNA with the Dream Queen before, so she knew she wasn't just Mom's Little Helper NPC.
She propped the Cosmog Egg up on some pillows and looked around. She was in a sparsely-decorated room with stone walls, decorated with some renaissance-style art pieces. The bed was the only real sign of luxury. In fact, it was the only piece of furniture in the entire room.
I should be able to redecorate, shouldn't I? If she wasn't mistaken, a sufficiently powerful Psychic-Type could warp reality here.
"Egg, turn into Lunala!" Bergamot ordered, pointing at it commandingly.
The egg sat there, stars whirling softly around its shell.
"Just memeing. Ohoho." She lowered her hand, withdrawing a Pokeball instead. She actually did have a Psychic-Type at Tier 4 already. "Senga, I need some furniture. Make it happen, won't you?"
The female Meowstic appeared in a flash, wooden mallet cocked threateningly over her head. Seeing nothing to smash, she lowered the weapon and focused her power. Her ears stood up as shapes began to manifest in the room, shimmering into being one by one. A writing desk. A chair. A bookshelf, filled with books. A cabinet. A wardrobe.
"Stop! That's it!" Bergamot focused on the wardrobe, walking over to it. She threw open the doors. "Senga, can you put something in here for me?"
<What do you need?> the Meowstic asked, curious.
"The universe."
…
"I always wanted to make a shrine in Ruby's closet," Bergamot said, sticking her head in to test the atmosphere. "A bit colder in the vacuum, Senga. I can barely feel the water in my eyeballs evaporating."
Once the wardrobe was finished, it would be like opening the airlock of a spacecraft, sucking the user through and ejecting them into the Eagle Nebula ('the universe' had been a bit too much for Senga to conceptualize, but a basic space landmark had seemed doable). Truly a delight. As a reluctant afterthought, Bergamot had Senga materialize a safety net to string across the entrance, so Ruby wouldn't be completely taken off guard if she went poking around in the guest room. "It's like a catio," she told the feline. "It's progressive."
The new shrine stood, ebony-finished wood with gleaming, gaudy gold handles and inlay. The doors were carved with what Morgana imagined alchemy diagrams to look like (probably just a modified human transmutation circle from a well-known anime) as well as an inscription:
MAKE THEM REGRET IT
"I told you before, right?" Bergamot said, holding the egg. An egg was like a wardrobe itself, in a way: untold potential waited inside. The only one who could know its contents was the one who'd put them there. "Creation is beautiful, and bitter. Life is suffering, and sublime. Loaned. Given to be taken."
Her eyes grew cold and dark as the Precipice Shrine.
"Are you sure you want to bother being born after all?"
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Bergamot Gristleborg
•
Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Aug 27, 2024 17:52:23 GMT 9
The forbidden colors made unpleasant after-images in her retinas. Bergamot blinked rapidly to try and erase them, enjoying their annoying effect on her vision. "There! See, wasn't that fun? Now, for the times…" She checked the stopwatch on her UI.
"Tut, tut. As expected, Team N00b are the l00sers," said Morgana, sighing dramatically. "By three-tenths of a second. Goodness, that sucks to be you. Here's your victory feast, winners! Catch!" Bergamot threw the winning team (Kyukon and Wolf) some PBJ's. "Those are $4 each, by the way. After the show is fine."
Sarah Lee had been oafishly clumsy as expected, but Alicia and Rose had been surprisingly deft at maneuvering the cheap Home Depot setup. The boy with the dolls, Kyukon, had also done well, and the humanoid Wolf had moved through the course with canine agility. Bergamot felt strangely proud of them for a moment.
She clapped her hands together. "Elimination time for N00bs! Where's my tiki torch…"
Morgana insisted on waiting until dark to do the elimination, so everyone had to go back to their camps (in the Corruption Zone and the Surge Steppes, respectively) to wait the 30+ minutes til sunset. In that time, Paw Wrangler went offline and never came back, so Morgana decided to just eliminate him instead of someone from Team N00b (making the entire previous challenge pointless).
"We gather here to mourn the passing of one of our own," Bergamot said back at The Divide, face lit by torchlight. Surrounded by the shapes of tombstones, it felt deliberately, deliberately like a funeral. Boom-boom. Gyarados played the bongos somberly.
"Paw Wrangler," she said solemnly, taking a (clearly) pre-prepared and pre-written piece of paper out of her pocket. She pretended to be addressing the clearly still AFK player. "You have been voted off the island. Take your belongings and go."
PAW HAS BEEN ELIMINATED!
"Anyway, it's time for a team merger!" says Morgana. Survivor is progressing fast! "You are now united as one tribe. Team Apex N00b, return to your camp in Mistra. I think Zapdos found the other one. Did you try to disguise it at all?" Angry bird noises were coming from out in the Steppes.
The villainess twirled around, threatening to light things on fire with the torch she was still holding. "Have fun bonding! I'll message everyone when the next challenge is ready." |
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Bergamot Gristleborg
•
Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Aug 25, 2024 10:26:26 GMT 9
STEEL CHEF: ROUND 3 THEME
[steelchef]CXW9nv|d1-201-20
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Aug 22, 2024 16:28:25 GMT 9
This wasn't Morgana's first twisted celestial game show (though the inevitable twist had yet to come), and the starry shape of the so-called Dragon was strangely familiar. Almost as if she'd seen it before.
"Aha! I see Gyarados!" Bergamot said. She put both hands on her hips in order to strike a triumphant 'laughing pose.' "I have the perfect Pokemon! You dweebs shall never compare with me."
A few minutes later, Bergamot and her Gyarados, Rainbow, were rooting through the galactic pantry.
<How about these? They look tasty to me.>
Morgana came over to eye the massive worms her Gyarados had produced from somewhere in the seafood section. Their jaws were zip-tied shut like lobster claws, and their bodies were striped with virulent neon. They looked absolutely unpalatable to Morgana (though admittedly, she wasn't a giant fish. Maybe worms had some nostalgic value for the Gyarados, like food from its childhood or something). "Ugh," she said without thinking. "Do I have to boil these?"
<Well, they're pretty rubbery unless you cook them,> Rainbow offered, still looking hopeful. <The sulfur springs where you caught me back on Beta Island would do it in a flash. Or maybe even that bathtub you were using earlier would be enough.>
"True, but we need dessert, not a bisque," Morgana declared, standing back and surveying the ingredient shelf. An idea was percolating in her mind like bathwater. "Hold on," she said, closing her eyes reverently. "...I've got something."
It cannot be stated enough times that Chryssa had only rudimentary cooking experience, and a very limited palate to begin with. She'd never been exposed to a great diversity of foods. But a combination of insight into Rainbow's tastes (as a fellow overgrown fish) and the Dragon from Chanda Mama's Zodiac would have to be enough to make up for it, and she thought she had a good idea of what to bring.
"Dirt cups," she revealed dramatically.
<I don't know what that is.>
"Never mind, just find somewhere to put those worms where they can't climb out. We're not cooking them, they're perfect as they are."
While Rainbow wrestled the giant, colorful worms into a massive bowl, Bergamot mixed sugar and cocoa into her infinite supply of Milky Way yogurt, which would hopefully approximate chocolate pudding. By the time the Gyarados came back, the villainess was loading large, football-sized chunks of blackened rock into a mine cart. "Oh good, you're back. Crunch these up for me, will you?"
Rainbow carefully gripped the first rock in her jaws and bit down, increasing the pressure until darkness wreathed her four short fangs. The stone ruptured, crumbling away. To her surprise, it was hollow-- and sweet. <What are these?> she asked, biting down on another one until it fractured into smaller chunks. Tiny pieces of beryl and rare mineral deposits glimmered on the inside of the strange geode.
"I shan't say," declared Morgana, hiding the label that said Ore-O. "Keep crunching!"
Back in the Last Stone Standing dungeon, The Gyarados-themed constellation had showered its summoner in gems and riches. Perhaps this one had an eye for sparkly things, just like its storybook counterpart.
The Dragon constellation they were feeding was much larger than Rainbow, and the two of them had to struggle to put the massive dish together. A massive fishbowl became the dessert vessel, where the live gummy worms now burrowed through alternating layers of rich brown Milky Way pudding and sweet crushed ore. Facets of tiny gemstones caught the glowing worms' neon light through the glass, opalescent.
"Worm for the Wyrm," Bergamot declared. "I call it Cupoeira de la Dir't. Bon appetit!"
<What language is that?>
"Elven."
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Aug 13, 2024 6:29:01 GMT 9
The sound of distant bongo drums summons you back. A small Gyarados is playing them, bouncing up and down. Bergamot Riddle is recording a [tangent="Yes, the network asked me to be the host of Season 47 instead of Phil. Something to do with being an 'inspiration for young women everywhere'? Apparently they originally were going to offer the position to Sarah Lee, but ended up turning her down. She can't even be on camera without breaking out in hives. Of course I've seen them, they're all red and awful. Right, I know. I think it's all psychosomatic, but she refuses to see a specialist. I felt bad for her, of course, but this was my big break. Some people are just born winners, I always say!"]POV[/tangent] while she waits for both teams to show up.
As everyone arrives she stands up, abandoning the pretense of imaginary cameras. "It's time for our first challenge!" Bergamot announces. She's found a tiki torch somewhere, which is an improvement on the previous lack of atmosphere, but is still worrying considering the fire hazard and very dry, grassy plains. "Welcome, Team N00b." The Gyarados beats the drums. "Welcome, Team Guillotine Apex." More drums are beaten. "I hope you've finished scrounging and making fires or whatever, ohohoho!" Morgana hides her loud, obvious laugh behind her hand. "I've set up a fun obstacle course for all of you in the meanwhile."
The 'obstacle course' is what you might imagine one person and their Pokemon could make on a low budget: two long balance beams stretch above a shallow mud puddle with another Gyarados rolling in it like the world's laziest alligator. After the balance beams is a series of slippery stepping stones (repurposed from the tombstones) and a spike pit you apparently have to jump over.
"Chop chop, make two lines!" Your hostess shoos you over to the starting line, gesturing with the torch. "We'll go one at a time from each team, both you and your Pokemon. When one person on your team finishes, the next person can start, and so on. Best time wins!"
The course looks a bit precarious, but certainly not impossible.
"Also, you have to tape this optical illusion over your HUD while you're doing the course," Bergamot adds, producing a laminated sheet of paper with a horrible optical illusion on it. "I've heard you can see the Forbidden Colors if you focus on it long enough."
{EXAMPLE POST} "Ohoho, I'll go first!" Bergamot in this imaginary scenario where she was a contestant stepped up to the starting line, affixing the cool laminated image to her big forehead. She stared at the little X, willing the forbidden colors into her mind.
CHALLENGE START!
Then she stepped off the line onto the balance beam. It wasn't too hard to keep her balance. She tiptoed along easily and then jumped off the end. Next waws the stepping stones made of tombstones. She jumped on ten of them or so and then continued on. There was a spike pit after that, which didn't scare her because it was a game and she wasn't going to die, though she woud certainly suffer some pain if she was impaled on spikes. ANyway, she put === her jogj=jee;ed sjoes off to the side and took a running leap over the pit. Then she finished with a flourish, completely un0muddified and uninjured.
END CHALLENGE!
She had a wonderful time throughout and everyone clapped and cheered, then booed her afterwards out of sheer jealousy. Her Pokemon also followed her, because I forgot that part. She also saw 3 whole forbidden colors, which is more than most people see in a lifetime. You're welcome! |
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Bergamot Gristleborg
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Muddy Girl
Mythstar
Posts: 403
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Chryssa Glasgow
OOC Username: M00K
Arena Points: 37
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Post by Bergamot Gristleborg on Aug 11, 2024 14:37:48 GMT 9
Morgana reclined in the marble bathtub. She was clothed, of course, and not wet in the slightest thanks to her Swimmer ability.
"The water's just right, I think," she said. Steam rose off the surface. Her Sneasel, Mystique, peered over the far rim of the tub.
<What's that you've got there?>
"The universe," said Morgana, pulling it out of the water.
It didn't look like much. Half-translucent, almost smoky, like the embryo of an egg floating in a sea of white. It was currently in a mason jar.
<I don't think that's true,> said Mystique, doubtfully.
"Oh, fine, so I took some dramatic liberties. It's a galaxy, technically. Our galaxy. It's the Milky Way. Soon to be the Yogurt Way, if it stays at this temperature for a little longer. That's entropy for you." Bergamot put the bottle back under and clambered out of the bath, tossing her hair.
Chanda Mama had supplied every kind of ingredient to the Steel Chefs, from this world and beyond. That wasn't surprising. For someone as galaxy-brain as Chryssa Glasgow, the galaxy itself would naturally make an appearance in her subconscious's dairy section.
<Are we making yogurt?>
"Not quite. Come here, I need your nose."
Mystified, the Sneasel followed Morgana over to the prep station, where a spice rack was waiting. He had no idea why he'd been the one chosen out of all Morgana's Pokemon to assist her on this occasion.
"Well? What are you waiting for! Start sniffing," Morgana exclaimed, lifting the cat-weasel up and plopping it on the countertop. It flailed, claws scrabbling on the stainless steel.
<What do you mean?! I don't-- oh, I remember this one.> Mystique broke off, sniffing one of the spices. <Chaat masala?>
"We'll put that in, then." Morgana snatched it up and twirled around like a victorious ballerina. "Anything else?"
<Coriander seed?>
"And?"
<Ginger?>
"And?"
<These are all the spices from the market,> the Sneasel said out loud, realizing. <The one where you brought me back from the Everworld.>
"I've never been particularly into cooking," said Morgana. The spice bottles she'd collected clinked together like ice. She moved smoothly, purposefully. "But I enjoyed that trial. I thought I'd like to make something from it again." In real life, she'd never pull it off: but here, perhaps it was possible.
Once the villainess had collected all the spices, Sneasel's Odor Sleuth isolating each one, she twirled over to the pantry. Mystique followed her helplessly.
"Something the color of the sun," Bergamot said, handing a golden mango to Mystique to peel. He sliced it up dutifully with his claws like a grocery store deli worker as the villainess kept digging. "And the color of the moon." She handed a silver mango over next. The Sneasel did a double-take. <Is this one... okay?>
"Of course it is. It's just one of those GMOs, or something," Morgana laughed behind her hand, not concerned. "Now find me a blender!"
Fruit and ice whirled around in the appliance until it was a pale, frothy liquid, and Mystique fetched the finished Milky Way yogurt from the bath to add into the mix. It had become opaque and creamy, and tiny stars glimmered in the whey. Bergamot spooned it into the blender.
"Almost done!"
Morgana stood with her foot tapping, looking over the last two spices. They were both grinders, salt-and-pepper style. One was white, and labeled HUMAN LIFE.The other was black, and labeled HUMAN SUFFERING.
"Well this is difficult," she mused.
The Sun was the source of all life on earth: surely HUMAN LIFE would appeal to it. Chanda Mama was a trickster deity who derived great entertainment from messing with n00bs less fortunate than her: surely HUMAN SUFFERING would suit the spirit's palate.
A pinch of each wouldn't hurt, she decided, and finished adding the spices.
Before serving it to the judges, she put on her salvaged sunglasses from the Ostellia gas station and cracked open a little tub of pure light. She filled the two glasses each half full of brilliant white bubbles, which cooled to a warm, softly-glowing gold. "Just a healthy heaping of photons," she told Mystique, topping off each glass with the yogurt mixture. They shone like amber marbles at the bottom of a foamy, peach-colored drink, flickers of centuries-lost light glimmering within.
"I present my Mango Lassi, with hydrogen tapioca!" The villainess served it up on a solar platter. "Take a fucking sip, babes." |
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Dragon
