Day-Glo Afterdark - 1. Day-Glo Afterdark

and on to the story....

Tiredly, Keefer flopped back on the hotel room bed, his arms spread wide, and exhaled loudly. "Vega-5," he mumbled to the air, "not the best destination in all the galaxy… but here I am." He chuckled to himself. "Bet they won't think to look for me here anytime soon." He luxuriated in the knowledge that he should not be found for at least a few days, then he got up and began to unpack the single piece of luggage he had been allowed to bring with the promise that 'his every need and desire would be met groundside'.

"Hah," Keefer grumbled as he put his toiletries away, "how can they meet my needs and desires if I don't even know what they are yet?"

Jayce Ryder neatened up the hotel room, leaving out fresh towels and the like for the day. He liked his job at the hotel, even if his father thought he was over qualified to be working in housekeeping. Of course there were times that he hated his job too, like when he was called upon to clean up after someone who had too much to drink and missed the toilet… from both ends… or worse. It did have its interesting moments though, like when celebrities checked in with all their security, and they patted him down for vids both coming and going even if all he was doing was replacing the towels. Finished with that room, he closed the door behind him and headed across the hall. There was no sign on the door to keep him out. When he turned the knob, the door opened, however he was not quite prepared for what he saw. Today was going to be one of the more interesting days, Jayce thought as a slow smile spread across his face.

Being on one of the upper floors of the hotel, Keefer thought it would be safe to stand nude in the sunlight in front of the open windows. It had been a very long time since he felt the warmth of summer sunlight on his flesh, and he knew in the public places he would be required to wear at least the minimal amount of clothing. Stretching his arms above his six foot four inches, he stood on the balls of his feet and arched his back. Grunting loudly as his joints popped and cracked along his spine, he did not notice the door opening at first. He did, however, notice the soft, "Oh my!" as he turned around.

"I just came in to clean the room," Jayce said as he backed slowly toward the door, "I didn't realize it was occupied." He managed to slip out of the door before the man had the opportunity to dismiss him, or get his name, or any number of other things that could have happened. Jayce had heard stories. He had even told a few of them to the new employees. However, he had never seen a man quite that big before, and the thought of him just made Jayce tingle.

Keefer stood watching as the impish youngster left the room and wondered if he had even been there at all or if he had been a figment of his imagination. "Maybe the advertising was not all that off after all," he said with a feline grin, then he turned back toward the window to bask in the sunlight while it was still above the horizon.

It was afterdark -- the time when Vega-5 came alive with the freaks that called it home and the tourists who came to see the show. Jayce was safely tucked into his apartment, but that was about to change. Today was his best friend's birthday, and he had helped to plan the party. Jayce dressed in what he considered a rather flamboyant costume, but he knew that at The Market it would be considered rather conservative as none of his bits showed. It was not that he was not proud of his bits, quite the opposite in fact. It was that he did not feel the need to show himself to every freak out there in order to find a mate. He knew the right person would come along when they were supposed to; it was only natural. Jayce and Johan had planned Sheel's party to begin an hour past afterdark at the hottest club on the strip.

Jayce arrived early, secured tables, and had already ordered the first round of drinks when he saw Johan and Sheel coming across the dance floor. Sheel, in his lime green thong and iridescent purple chaps, was easy to pick out under the black lights. Then again, Jayce thought, maybe it was the way the words birthday boy were written across Sheel's chocolate colored pectorals in silver glitter that made him stand out in the club's crowd. Johan was a bit more difficult to pick out in the darkness as he wore dark colors against his darkly tanned skin, letting the black lights pick up on his eyes and smile.

Keefer felt silly in the costume recommended by the hotel staff as he walked across the lobby, but once he exited into afterdark he realized he did not stand out at all. The tight shorts left very little to the imagination, and the shirt, which felt about three sizes too small, flexed with him as he moved, gaining him stares of appreciation from both males and females of many different races. Without realizing it, he also attracted the attention of a couple media nets as well. The hotel staff had been happy to supply the names of several places that he might want to visit and the names of several places to avoid as locals who could be rather territorial usually overran them. Keefer smiled ferally as he wound his way down the street and wondered about the local afterdark customs.

The first place Keefer visited had come highly recommended by the hotel staff, and as he feared, it was a tourist trap. He quickly finished the two-drink minimum downing the Cosmic Catastrophes in as few swallows as necessary before leaving. By the time he left the third place, Keefer was slightly drunk and very happy. He almost decided to call it a night when his delicate nose caught a familiar scent amongst the humanity. The waif of that afternoon was nearby. Keefer stood and breathed deeply, then turned slightly, scenting for him. Half an hour later, Keefer stood across the dance floor from the waif. Someone placed a tube of smoking liquid in his hand and encouraged him to drink for it was his birthday. Keefer smiled at the young human and downed the fluid. His eyes never left the waif or the male who touched him so possessively.

Johan's hands traced light circles on Jayce's back up under his shirt as he watched as Sheel went around passing out Climatic Eruptions to complete strangers. Had Jayce not been drunk, he never would have allowed such intimate contact, but in his current state he almost craved it, and Johan was happy to oblige.

"Wanna dance?" Jayce whispered against his skin as he ground his scantly covered flesh into Johan's thigh.

"Sure, can you stand up?"

"Ummm hummm," Jayce agreed as he stood, pulling away from Johan long enough for Johan to stand as well, then he stumble-shuffled to the dance floor.

Keefer watched as the waif, his body lithe and a little fey in the eerie lighting, began to sway to the music. He did not realize when his own body had begun to sway to the music, nor did he notice that he moved closer until his body pressed up against the other side of the boy who had so entranced him that afternoon. The boy looked up over his shoulder and smiled as he pressed his body more firmly against Keefer's muscular form.

Jayce wasn't sure when it happened, but he had been dancing with Johan; then he found himself dancing with a man who made his skin tingle and his loins throb. Wrapped in this stranger's arms, he felt safe, wanted, needed, and most of all he felt like he belonged.

Keefer sighed as he held the waif close, protecting him. This was what he needed. This was what he desired. He breathed in the young man's scent deeply and felt his loins rise in response. The dark skinned boy who proclaimed it was his birthday made his way over to them and wrapped his arms around them both. Keefer had never been in such a situation.

"You know, if you hold him tight enough and long enough he'll bond to you," Sheel told Keefer with a grin, "we've all tried it, but so far none of us have gotten him to this stage."

Keefer was confused at first, but then he looked at the waif, who was slightly glowing. If Keefer had not known the races, he might have thought it was a trick of the lighting in the room. "He's Oren?"

"Half, but that is enough to cause all sorts of trouble if you do not want him to bond," Sheel said with a tone that suggested he was much more sober than Keefer would have thought and much more sober than Keefer himself was.

Keefer tried to think; did he want the waif to bond him? Did he not want him to? Did it really matter what he wanted? "I don't even know his name," he finally managed to say.

"I'm sure he'll tell you if you ask," the birthday boy said as he sauntered off with a giggle and a wiggle to join some other friends.

Keefer looked down at the young man, who seemed oblivious that there had just been a conversation around him, and swallowed hard. He did want this but he was unsure what would happen to the waif when he had to leave Vega-5 and return to reality. Leaning in he buried his face into the crevice made by the waif's collarbone and neck and breathed deeply, then whispered, "I can't, by all the gods, I can't," as he pulled away.

Keefer fled. Tears of shame blurred his vision. He arrived back in his hotel room with no other mishap. The cloying scent of the boy clung to his flesh pushing his arousal beyond his control as he roared his lust out to the afterdark. Starlight danced across his form as his seed sprayed off the balcony to rain in pearlescent drops to the street below.

Johan had been sitting and chatting with a friend when he felt the energy in the room change. There were very few things that could cause that sort of ripple, and his eyes immediately searched for Jayce. He found him dancing with the stranger still. Well, it looked as if they were dancing, but then the stranger just left. Jayce made no move to stop him, which struck Johan as odd, then there was another energy spike and Jayce lit like Day-Glo. The energy pulsed and reached out toward the stranger, who never saw it coming and made no move to deflect it. Then it was over and Jayce crumpled. Johan was not sure who made it to Jayce's side first, Sheel or himself, but Sheel managed to get Jayce's head in his lap and was brushing the hair off his brow.

"Jayce Ryder, what have you gone and done now?" Sheel asked the unconscious Jayce, "You should know that is going to make the media vid, and your father is going to hear of it. What are you going to do now?" Sheel shook his head and kept murmuring random things to his friend as Johan went about keeping everyone back until the club's security could get through the throng and assist. It was not everyday people saw an Oren Bonding in person and the freaks were curious.

Keefer woke slowly. He was hungry. His temples pounded. He reached for the com-link, but found it missing. Disoriented, he rolled to one side and did not feel the bulkhead behind him. Then he remembered he was on vacation. His mind rummaged through the previous day's events and came to the conclusion that he had gone out drinking the night before and obviously over indulged. What he needed right away was fluids, then food. He managed to sit up and changed his priorities a bit -- shower first, fluids, then food.

By the time room service was knocking on the door, Keefer was wrapping a towel around his narrow hips. Thus dressed, he opened the door, standing slightly behind it so the cart could be pushed in with minimal fuss. Once the wait staff had left, Keefer sat down and flipped on the media vid screen looking for something to occupy his mind while he ate. The first few channels were nothing of interest, however there was an entertainment news story concerning the son of a high level official in the galactic council, neither of which could be named until reports could be confirmed, whom, it seemed, went and got himself married on Vega-5 the previous night. Keefer laughed.

If he had done that his father would kill him, right there, on the spot. It would not matter what services he had performed in the name of his father in the past for their home world. All that would have mattered was he had disobeyed. Then Keefer laughed again. Here he was on Vega-5, very much against his father's wishes, just to get away from orders for a while. His father would never look for him here; besides, his father did not know he had taken a vacation. Officially, he was on a research mission to the Moons of Ispodia. Unofficially, he had been dropped off at a transfer station and refused to tell anyone his final destination, including the commanding officer, whom had said he did not want to know. Now, though, Keefer was curious as to which of his contemporaries had ended up on Vega-5 at the same time he had chosen to visit. Then again, he was not too worried; they were probably at one of the larger more popular hotels on the main strip. Chances were he would never even run into whoever it was, or their security.

Jayce woke up to the soft murmuring of voices. "Your father is on the phone Jayce, and he doesn't sound all that happy."

"I don't want to talk to him," Jayce said as he rolled over and buried his face into the pillow. He did not remember much of the night before, but what he did remember was not good. His family was not going to be pleased, and he just did not want to deal with it until he could come to grips with it himself. He remembered clearly the man from the hotel room that showed up at Sheel's birthday party and held him. He also remembered quite clearly how it made him feel. Something inside him blossomed, and he could not contain it, at the end, he did not want to any longer. His mother had tried to explain how bonding felt, but she was female and said it was different for males. It was not much different from what she described, and that made him wonder even more about himself and his already strained relationship with his father.

He knew he was an embarrassment to some members of his family, but he had not lived with them or even used the family name since he moved out shortly past puberty and his discovery that he enjoyed the company of males to females. His mother understood. She said there was a whole caste in Oren society who was like him, and she had wanted to send him to live with her parents, but his father strongly disapproved. It was in their marriage contract that their male offspring were to be raised by his societal standards, and the females could be raised according to hers. So, while his brothers scorned him, his sisters accepted him. Oddly, he was the only one of the boys who had been able to manage to bond, although his married brothers had all tried with their wives. Married. Jayce blanched then he looked up at Sheel. "I'm married," he managed to get out.

"Yes, it seems you would be, even if the other party isn't aware of it. Do you even know who he is?"

Jayce shook his head.

"Well that's just dandy. What if he's already left?"

"He couldn’t have left," Johan chimed in, "the spaceport was shut down by a certain government official to make sure that 'no one' left," he nodded his head toward Jayce when he said 'no one' and grinned.

"Well I guess that gives us time to find him. Do you have any clue as to where to start looking?"

Jayce nodded. "Hotel… checked in yesterday."

"Just yesterday? We've been trying to bond you for years, and you pick a guy you just met yesterday?" Sheel sounded a bit hurt and upset, "So what is mister romantic's name?"

"I don't know."

Sheel looked surprised.

"Stop picking on him, Sheel," Johan said as he stepped back in the room. "I told your father you were in the bathroom puking your guts out, and it sounded like your mother said something about that was a side effect of a botched bonding and she wants me to take you to a Oren Mystic or some such and then there was some stuff I couldn't make out before your father got back on the phone again, and he said that he hoped you felt better soon and you have to call as soon as the Mystic says you are able."

"I didn't know Oren's had Mystics," Sheel said.

Jayce laughed a little, "They don't, Orime's have Mystics but my father is still getting the two races confused even after being with my mother all these years. It is a little joke she likes to pull on him. She knows I am more or less all right and is buying me time to get myself together before having to face him."

Sheel and Johan laughed with Jayce, who held his head. "What did you put in those drinks last night?"

It was a bit later in the morning before Keefer headed out to see the sights. Vega-5 varied greatly in what was allowed, and he had found through one of the hotel staff there was nude sunbathing allowed on one of the beaches a little up the coast. He took public transport to the beach and sure enough, a large sign proclaimed it clothing optional. Whooping with glee, Keefer headed over the dunes where he saw a good stretch of beach about half covered with blankets or towels. Each cloth held one or more gloriously nude bodies. Keefer found a place to spread his beach gear and shed his unwanted clothing in a thrice; then he lay belly down on the towel and soaked up natural vitamin D.

"He's not here," Johan stated the obvious as Jayce used his passkey to enter Keefer's room when they found it locked. There was no 'do not disturb' sign on it, so Jayce had no problem with opening the room. He could just say he was doing his job after all. Well, he would have to explain why he was not in uniform, why he did not have his supplies with him, and why he had two other people in tow, but he could say it.

"Registration said his name is Keef Dell."

"People lie on those things all the time. See if you can find something with his picture on it."

"Wouldn't he take his ID with him?"

"Depends on where he went. If he just went to the pool, he wouldn't need to take it."

"Yeah and most people leave their passports in their hotel rooms when they travel."

Sheel had been looking through the drawer in the nightstand as they had been talking, then he sat down on the bed, hard. "Uh, guys, this isn't so good."

"What?"

"He's Imperialist."

"What?"

"You know Imperialist… Marine."

"That's… impossible," Jayce said, shaking his head.

Sheel held up Keefer's service card. "It says his name is Keefer Dally. That's close to Keef Dell."

"But… a Marine? My father will kill me."

"Oh," Johan looked startled for a moment, "that's right, your father voted to disband the Imperialist Marines didn't he?"

Jayce nodded.

"Hey wasn't it someone by the name of Dally who opposed him in council?"

"I think so."

"Do you think there's a connection?"

"I hope not."

The portions of his anatomy that had rarely seen the warm rays of any true sun were slightly pink when Keefer pulled on his clothing again to catch the transport back to the hotel. As he stood at the stop waiting, he suddenly felt as if something were missing, or someone. Sighing he tried to think who or what it could be as he didn't have any close friends or relatives that he would become homesick over, and when he checked his pockets everything that he had placed there that morning was still there. Yet, there was still the nagging feeling that there should be something or someone else 'with' him.

The trip back to the hotel had him cataloguing every item he had brought with him in his mind, and still he could not place the thing he was missing.

As he entered his hotel room, though, he knew what it was he was missing -- the waif. His scent was everywhere. Keefer breathed in deeply, and a low rumble rattled his chest as he exhaled. The scent and sensual pleasure of the deep vibration relaxed him a little. Now he knew what it was he needed, but he didn't know where to find the waif, or even how to go about looking for him without bringing unwanted attention to himself for it. Not to be deterred, he moved into the bedroom portion of the room and sat his beach gear down on the bed, which moved.

"Hi," Jayce said as he sat up and stretched.

Keefer froze. No wonder his scent was so strong in the room. He was still here. How had he missed that? He blinked, and then smiled. "Hello, I do not believe we have been formally introduced." Keefer stood almost at attention and waited for a moment.

"My friends call me Jayce, do yours call you Keef or Keefer?" Jayce swung his legs around so that he could stand up and pull his clothes back on; he had been lying under the sheet in just his underpants. But before he could stand, Keefer laid his hand on him, pausing him.

"Those who know me well enough to use my true name use it in private. Otherwise I am known as Keef or Kees, depending on the world I am visiting."

"And you would prefer for me to use which version?"

"Whichever you can remember as you cry out in ecstasy," Keefer said, his voice growing husky as Jayce's scent empowered his lust.

It was already afterdark when they emerged from the hotel room. Keefer did not bother to dress up as he had the night before because they were not going out clubbing; they were going to Jayce's home. It took a few minutes for Keefer to check out of the hotel, with much blushing on Jayce's part as he waited in the lobby.

"My friends will be over shortly. They want to meet you."

"I'm still not quite sure I understand what happened."

"I'm Oren, well half Oren at least, my mother's people have this… ability… to know their true life partner, she explained it all to me when I was younger, and like my brothers I thought I could force it, but I guess it just happens like she said."

"So what does it mean, to your people?"

"A bonding is a prerequisite for a marriage on my mother's home world. If one is marrying for alliance, the bonding is not necessary."

"So your mother is not bonded?"

Jayce blushed. "My mother is bonded, just not to my father."

Keefer looked at him oddly, but then looked away. Some things were best left unquestioned. After a while he asked, "So what does it mean to you?"

"We belong together. This afternoon was a perfect example."

Keefer smiled. It had been a perfect example, but he was not sure how he could explain the presence of Jayce to his command, or to his father. "What if I can't take you back with me and I can't stay here?"

Jayce stopped in his tracks, and Keefer stopped a step further along and then backed up that step. "What do you mean? You want to break the bond?"

"Is that possible?"

"I don't know. I am not sure anyone has ever tried, or has ever wanted to try. I feel… complete… now. I don't want to give that up."

Keefer sighed. He understood, by all the gods he understood, but there were so many complications to consider.

"Don't you want me?"

"Yes."

"Then why would you want to… discard… me?" Jayce's voice trembled.

"I don't. It is just I am not sure I can take you with me. I wanted to know my options. Our options." Keefer stepped closer to Jayce and touched his cheek. The rumble was back in his voice, and the vibrations soothed them both.

"How long until you have to go back?"

"Two days."

"Two… days?" Jayce looked up at Keefer. "That's barely time to get to know you."

"Yet we've already met the requirements for marriage on your home world."

Jayce blushed again, and Keefer chuckled.

"What are some of your traditions?" Jayce asked.

"My people do not marry like most peoples do. We live… in family groups."

"Family groups?"

"A male can take on as many females as he can feed, house, clothe, and otherwise support and breed with her as many offspring as they can support together. Young males are often sent to the military academy or used as farm labor while young females are 'traded' off when they reach a marriageable age if not before."

"So were you planning on taking a wife one day?"

"I am." Keefer looked away when he spoke. "I have to, my father promised her father I would wed her when she reached a marriageable age."

"When will that be?"

"She became old enough just under a year ago, I've been away, but I must go home when my ship returns."

"To get married?"

Keefer nodded.

"Do you love her?"

"I've never met her. Which brings me back to what to do with us."

Jayce had stopped walking again, only this time he had turned toward an apartment building. "This is where I live."

Keefer looked at the building. It was not so imposing, but it had decent security. "It's a nice building."

Jayce nodded, "So she expects to be the first to marry you?"

"She expects to be First Wife, yes." Keefer answered as they entered the building and went up the lift to the top floor.

"I can't undo the bonding. I cannot bond anyone else. Time and distance will never ease the ache between us." Jayce blurted out all at once as they entered his apartment.

"I didn't think you could," Keefer said softly and closed the distance between them as he closed the door behind them.

Johan and Sheel knocked for a good fifteen minutes before giving up. They were certain that Jayce was in the apartment; Johan could feel the energy rippling out of the building like waves in a pond. However, no one would answer the door, and neither of them had a key.

Jayce woke with the morning light pouring in his bedroom window. There was comfortable warmth along his back and a newly familiar thickness of flesh nestled under his buttocks. He wiggled backward a little, and a pair of arms snuggled him up tightly just before he was freshly impaled. Jayce sighed happily and wiggled around for a better position, which Keefer gladly gave him. They had just settled down for a post-climatic snooze when the phone rang. Out of habit, Keefer reached over and answered with a grunt.

"Good morning sunshine," a feminine voice chimed.

"Must be for you," Keef said as he passed the phone over to the lightly sleeping Jayce.

"Hullo?"

"Jaizivion?"

"Mama?"

"Who was that answering your phone at this time of the morning and half asleep?"

"The Oren Mystic fixed me."

"The Oren Mystic…." She paused the started laughing, "You mean the reports were true then? I finally convinced your father that there was no way you could have bonded if your brothers hadn't managed it."

"Well I don't think I did it on purpose."

"Of course not dear, the best bonds happen almost spontaneously. So tell me, what is he like?"

Jayce reached over and straightened the sheets around Keefer so that he was at least decent, then flipped a switch turning on the video feeds as he crawled out of bed.

"My he is handsome. You have very nice taste Jayce."

"Thank you Mama." Jayce smiled. "I always said I took after father a little, must have been in the picking out a mate department."

Jayce's mother laughed. "What race is he? It's a little difficult to tell from here."

"I'm not sure. I think he's a bit mixed like me because what he described as his family life fits with two or three different ones, but not any of them exclusively." Jayce walked into the other room to not wake up the now lightly snoring Keefer.

"You mean you didn't ask?"

"I'm sorry, we've not been doing much talking."

She laughed again, "I'm sure you've been communicating though if you brought him home. You've explained it all to him then?"

"No, Mama."

"Jaizivion! You have to tell him."

"I can't Mama. He has to make up his mind himself."

"Oh honey, it really was spontaneous wasn't it?"

Jayce nodded.

"If he goes, you'll call?"

"I'll make my own arrangements, then I'll call."

"Always so proud. I love you Jaizivion. I hope he chooses the right way."

"Me too, Mama, me too."

On the morning he was scheduled to leave, Keefer sat on the bed he and Jayce shared almost constantly for the last two days. It had been the most relaxing and most intense vacation he had ever experienced, but it was nearing its end. However, he knew his time with Jayce did not have to end. All he had to do was figure out a way to explain him to everyone without 'explaining him' to everyone, and he had been thinking about it for nearly two days straight, well when he could think straight.

He took a deep breath and picked up the phone. Twenty minutes later, he placed it back in its receiver just as Jayce entered the room.

"What time does your flight leave?"

"Afterdark, why?"

"Well it's our last day together, and I was wondering how much time we had left…"

"Oh, about that… do you have a passport?"

Jayce looked up, tears filling his eyes as he nodded.

"I'm not sure it will work, but we need to see a barrister."

"Barrister? Why?"

"Who else do you know of that can fill out a civil union?"

Jayce's face conveyed his confusion.

"Ok, it's not legal in all parts of the galaxy yet, but I happen to know that it is legal here on Vega-5."

"Yes, same gender couples can marry here. It was one of the reasons why I came here to live."

"That marriage contract is called a civil union."

Jayce nodded, understanding slowly dawning. "But you said your fiancé had to be your First Wife."

"Are you female?"

Jayce shook his head.

"Then on my world, we can not wed, however, we can form an alliance that grants us certain privileges to each other's households. Such as my Wives are your Wives if you take no Wives but help me to support my Wives."

"I don't understand."

"Usually it's a pact made between brothers, but the wording is a little odd and I think our situation applies, so I'm willing to try it. The worst thing that can happen is that she will refuse to marry me."

"Because you are already married?"

"Because she has to marry you as well."

"But I don't want to…."

"And I have to."

Jayce nodded.

"There is a bright side to this."

"There is?"

"Intergalactic Martial Law allows same gender partners to travel with officers."

"Oh?"

"And I don't plan on leaving the military for a very long time." Keefer leaned over and kissed Jayce gently then pulled back. "If we start that again now, we will never find ourselves a barrister in time."

A short while later, Jayce and Keefer were leaving the Barrister's office with the official documents in hand. " Jaizivion Riadagar?"

"That's my legal name, I don't like people to know, all right?"

"Any relation to…"

"He's my father." Jayce cut him off. "If you so much as mention his name out loud the media bots will come crawling. I'm surprised they haven't already."

"Well you know this has to be published in the local paper to be legal."

Jayce nodded.

"I managed to convince them to publish that Keef Dell legally joined in a civil union with Jayce Ryder."

"How?"

"Well let's just say I want to be the one to tell my father."

"And he doesn't know the name Keef Dell?"

"Oh he knows it all right, but that's not the point. I paid extra to have us published in the most notorious gossip rag on this rock. He would never believe it was me because I've been forbidden to come to Vega-5, and the picture I gave them of the happy couple were of Sheel and Johan."

Jayce laughed, "Oh they're going to love that."

"I had hoped they would."

"I'm going to miss them."

"We can always come back."

"For a vacation?"

Keefer nodded.

"I think I would like that."

"Me too."

© Lugh 2006.

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