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gently caress it, go for the checkup. We're a borderline corpse only being kept together by stubbornness and spite, what's the worst he could do, kill us?
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# ? Feb 5, 2021 03:51 |
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# ? Jun 1, 2024 03:48 |
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I voted to offer food, a boon for a boon is a safer exchange than simply putting our lives in his hands.
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# ? Feb 5, 2021 04:11 |
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Black August posted:Wait. Please. Wait. I'm messed up. I'm really messed up. I'm scared. I admit it. I'm barely holding on and I have miles to go. I'm really hosed up and I keep thinking my heart is about to stop. I can't let go, or I'll start screaming. I'll start thinking about how unreal the last day has been and how many times I've almost died. I can't. I really really can't. i'm in this picture and i
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# ? Feb 5, 2021 05:08 |
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JT Jag posted:I voted to offer food, a boon for a boon is a safer exchange than simply putting our lives in his hands.
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# ? Feb 5, 2021 06:08 |
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I should. I should kill kill. Run. This is dangerous. This is stupid. But instead I... I need to run away right now just run just take off go now into the forests hurry - 0 Don't move. Don't. Stay still. Just slowy back away. Slow. - 2 Ok. Ok. A check up. A doctor wants to give me a check up. - 25 Offer food. Offer it, demand a quick-fix, anything, now. - 7 [Murderous Intent] Yeah Doc yeah yeah Doc fix me up pick me up, get just close enough and I'll [-Bullet] [-Bullet] [-Bullet] - 3 LOADING... ...LOADING
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# ? Feb 5, 2021 18:34 |
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TYRANNY: [1%] [ HP: -60 / 20 ] [ FP: 35 / ▓14 ] OST: King Claw Blue I feel sick. A doctor wants to help me. I can't fight the voice, our voice, screaming for him to stay back and not touch. But I can accept that voice is too weak, too confused, too scared to care about that law. The bandaged man stands from his chair, and then squats down while he looks me over. His voice is medically measured. "At ease. This is why; yes, I'm armed. I'm dangerous. But your twitch reflex is much more active than mine. Any wrong I'd do would be condemned, wouldn't it? You'd have draw and drop on me in an instant. So let me help. I'll give you examination, I'll make my recommendation, and administer the reconstruction. Deal?" What am I supposed to say? I've walked this far past the line already. If he's going to kill me, then I'm already on the doorstep, begging Śmiercią to come out for harvest. I hate this. I hate this easy weak. I hate being helped. So, help me. "Excellent. Let's see then. No need to bare yourself; just take off the suit coat, nothing else. Let me get some tools." Small machines. Most of them jury-rigged and worn, but well well cared for. Some of them clearly advanced and exceptional. A mixture of the divine, mechanical, magical, and psionic. He starts with two of the simplest- the one that goes on your finger, and snitches about your heart. The one that gets pressed to the body, the little circle. He's preparing them and I'm sitting drunk on energy while high on dying. I remember. I remember. ??? posted:I remember after it ended. When Śmiercią gave the world her gift. I had an examination. We all did, to see what needed to be fixed so the permanence could set in. There was nothing that couldn't be point-killed away, nothing that couldn't be mended. I sat in the sterile stone room, and felt nothing. I stand in the perfect-angle field, and I feel nothing. The circle is pressed to my back. Breathing is methodical. To the chest, finding method to not set my teeth bared and hand gunwards. Even to the scar, carefully, and it's allowed because it's not like he can hurt it. It's not like he can hurt it. It's not like he can hurt it. Put my finger out, ok. Little clamp. Crystal worn on the head. Band tightened around arm. Of course. Of course, as he sniffs and sniffles behind his bandages; that dispassionate professionalism. That drive to examine and mend, even when a corpse shambles electric to your shack drive-thru window. One predator to another... why do I smell wet fur? Why do I feel the weight of a giant slithering into the room? The Silver Mind Is Dim But Still It Casts A Reflection Infinite In Which posted:I remember when it began. On the ship I had wandered onto by numb chance. Smile and wave, act like you belong. So far it wasn't the Hell I expected, and I simply let it happen when I was told the colony Doctor would like to meet and treat me. Mandatory for us all. Was it a clean trick to have me strapped down to begin an eternity of hate? Probably. But the numb was taken ahold of and thrown behind me- even for Hell, who expects a Doctor like this? Barely able to slither into the room, followed by a quartet (hadn't it been a trio?) of hyena-like people. But they weren't a surprise - I had seen one of them before, dusty gold, spoken to her, and she had... "I have no idea what's wrong with you." My head creaks up from the disassociation. He's writing things down in a little dirty notebook. Referencing numbers and peeking in his books. He nods at me, voice turned reassuring. "Not that I can't help. Understand, I've been given a wealth of medical chance. I've been taught by the best doctors, have years of field experience, and the pleasure of always being able to operate on myself. Been able to work on a staggering spread of biologies. But you, your injury and form, make very little sense to all that experience. Let's give you the basics first." He reads down his notebook, sometimes fiddling with an instrument to confirm what he's seen. "Lots of good news. Your lungs are a marvel. Staggering peak flow, unusual size and shape, profoundly high blood oxygen, superb capacity. Your heart rate isn't good, since you appear to be in a traumatic state of physical shock, but it otherwise seems almost as potent as your lungs." He writes for a while, and keeps my focus and my calm by being perfectly casual and unworried. But neither was he leering and excited over his findings. "Neural activity is a black wall. I can't get any accurate readings or measurements with any of my equipment. So I can't tell exactly how you're injured, just that you very obviously are. As for your head, I won't ask, because I don't have the knowledge to understand that. The skin on your right hand shows signs of unusual burn damage, but nothing serious. The torso scarring from your last-life wounds are severe, but the diagnosis returned them as healthy and clean, so there's no need for an active examination." He sits back down, packing up his books and bandages. He's about to say more, but his comment about my scars makes me ask him- what's up with those tooth wounds? He pauses, and looks at me. He shrugs, sharing the reason freely. "I am afflicted with the terminal lunar illness. The wolf-eaten curse. Because my sire is of the first blood, I was given an extreme blessing. I change like any of us do when the moon is full; but when that revelry ends and I return to this biology, it's with complications and leftovers. So I clean myself of the leavings, finished just in time for my next lunacy. Now, let's talk treatment." It's his turn to interrupt, as he stands with a handful of things he presents to me. "You're in danger. I don't know where you nest but you need to get there and to bedrest as soon as possible. It's not safe here, or in the miles beyond. I have a few choices of treatment- I'd pick myself, since you're not in a good state of mind to make an informed choice, but we're pressed for time. So please. Any of these WILL get you back in one piece." There's one syringe, autospring, slender small and filled with something like blood. There's two gelcaps, large, catching the light like two cloudy amethysts. There's three teeth, fanged, hung from a ritual crush-cord. Or I could just walk away.
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 22:11 |
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Amethysts are pink. Not the pure tourmaline of the holy end, but close enough to be a good omen. I vote for the gelcaps.
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 22:21 |
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I like Dr. Werewolf
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 23:02 |
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2/3 seem to be do not go home, go directly to lycanthropy. So pills it is.
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 23:08 |
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This dude is chill as heck. Kinda wish we got the chance to say hi to his boss way back when.Black August posted:The torso scarring from your last-life wounds are severe And going back a bit for some speculation... Black August posted:WASH is here.
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 23:23 |
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The last life stuff does tie in to the theory that this world might represent some sort of "fall" of a previous one. Holy End might even be that prior, uncorrupted world, and this is some sort of ruined echo of events that already played out.
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# ? Feb 6, 2021 23:33 |
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Voted for the pills but I got more of a vampire read from the syringe.
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# ? Feb 7, 2021 00:05 |
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So this last update gives some context to the dialogue we had with Alyssa. Namely:quote:['Oh. You don't know? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I make assumptions. Well! History lesson! Goodness what an excitement. I should ask first, were you born into this life, or are you one of the passovers?'] It seems there are people who were born in this... uh... let's call it Hades, for lack of a better term, since it's a kind of afterlife. And then there are the passovers, people who died and ended up here. I'm thinking Alyssa and West are the most obvious examples, they seem to have come from a nation similar to the US in the middle of the 20th century. We're also a passover, which may shed some light on our identity. Complicating things is the fact that we have multiple worlds converging here, we've seen the dreamlands as an example, the Pluto mushrooms, the Leng spiders. I don''t know if they would be considered passovers or natives, and I suppose the answer to that question may vary depending on who you would be asking. But at least this seems to be confirming our character died to (or at least suffered through) some sort of fire/explosion and came to this world. West seemed to recognize we were a war veteran, so this would be consistent with that. And that might be why we have the murderous intent skill, maybe the trauma from those days left a mark in the psyche of our protagonist. Also this: quote:I remember after it ended. When Śmiercią gave the world her gift. I had an examination. We all did, to see what needed to be fixed so the permanence could set in. There was nothing that couldn't be point-killed away, nothing that couldn't be mended. I sat in the sterile stone room, and felt nothing. By now we know that Śmiercią is Death (it's her name after all) so this is probably alluding to a mass-extinction event of some kind. Maybe this is what the Fall actually is. Or a part of it. And we have yet another reference to a dusty-gold hyena-like person. Whoever this is they'll probably be important later. Maybe Mom? I'm still feeling Mom and Merkja might be the same person but it's more of a gut feeling on my part than anything else to be honest. But at least we know the Pariah isn't the Doctor from the Holy End. The doctor seems to be a giant woman who 'slithers'. Maybe a Lamia? Grond fucked around with this message at 17:10 on Feb 7, 2021 |
# ? Feb 7, 2021 01:04 |
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Grond posted:So this last update gives some context to the dialogue we had with Alyssa. Namely:
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# ? Feb 7, 2021 05:31 |
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GilliamYaeger posted:This dude is chill as heck. Kinda wish we got the chance to say hi to his boss way back when. Wash is the Heaven End version of the starmetal body we faced on the roof of the Pluto building, not us.
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# ? Feb 7, 2021 06:18 |
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VOTING CLOSED - Picked My Poison One red syringe. - 6 Two violet pills. - 18 Three white fangs. - 5 Walk away. - 3 LOADING... ...LOADING
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# ? Feb 7, 2021 18:23 |
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Neat, Gauntlet-style potion rules.
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# ? Feb 7, 2021 18:56 |
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Hostile V posted:Neat, Gauntlet-style potion rules. I think you mean Nethack rules. Hopefully with less asinine alchemy rules. At least we are on track for only a third of the endgame's bullshit.
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# ? Feb 7, 2021 23:24 |
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One pill makes you larger And one pill makes you small Take two together And nothing happens at all
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# ? Feb 8, 2021 00:00 |
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Want to take a second to thank Black August for putting all of this together. This is really something special, and I'm honestly honored that I get to witness it as it unfolds. Thank you!
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# ? Feb 8, 2021 05:57 |
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do NOT jack off posted:Want to take a second to thank Black August for putting all of this together. This is really something special, and I'm honestly honored that I get to witness it as it unfolds. Thank you! it brings a little joy even to the worst days
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# ? Feb 8, 2021 06:18 |
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I don't think. I go with my gut, which is telling me it'd like to eat the pills here instead of being stabbed with a needle or subjected to... to whatever the teeth do. Grabbin' the the pills, I wolf them down as the doctor nods and packs the other pieces away. "I thought you might make that choice. It's a nasty cocktail, but it'll do the job. You'll channel an enormous amount of positive Mana, which should work with your mitochondria to provoke a healing reaction. But it has side effects. It channels the Mana from its source in the Dreamlands, dragging it around with you as the medication peaks and your sense of self blurs. Now, go! You need to leave; Salt and Jono will have caught your scent by now, and they won't show the same bedside manner." I stare at the bandaged man, as body and mind digest the intake. I step back once, and begin to walk away quick and clumsy, keeping an eye over my shoulder and a hand near my gun. I breach the perfection of the uniform treeline, tumbling back into the dim forest; one last glance back reveals only empty field. I turn back and climb over a car, and... oh, is that a Buick Y-Job? In purple, even. I'd need a purple key for it. No time. I push through the brush, a sense of unease starting to mount in me. When I clear the woods back into open field, I head right for the sidewalk and keep my head down in the crowd. Something strange is happening to my body. Electricity currents run from negative to positive, and my knees almost buckle. (HT - Positive Mana Overflow!) 14 - [2]+[2]+[2] = 6 - Success! [+8 HP!] I feel my ribs pop, and realize they're scared of the rustling noise a mile behind me. But wait, wait... (A King's Perception) ? - [6]+[6]+[3] = 15 - ? (A King's Perception) ? - [5]+[4]+[5] = 14 - ? My gut, I listen to my gut, who is keeping watch. It tells me- Garbage Disposal posted:RUN. NOW. (HT - Run Run Pull Out Your Gun) 9 - [2]+[5]+[1] = 8 - Success! I'm off, across the puddle plains, fresh with rains. My gun is out, and I feel the biology-shock, incredible energy pouring off of me in a haze of jade light. I have to stay under the blanket to throw the dogs off my trail. They smell so well! It's around the time I It's around the time we It's around the time you throw the blanket off, to better wade through the valley snow drift, that you realize your ego has finally bled out. But you're so gone on the jadeflow that you don't mind and don't know. You stumble a few times in the rush to escape the attention of the superpredators, Kings bringing Kingdom everywhere they go - if they catch you by your peasant leg they'll poach you dead while you beg. Gotta hide! Gotta hide! (HT - Positive Mana Overflow!) 14 - [1]+[6]+[6] = 13 - Success! [+1 HP!] No! No time to hide! Your body is bright as a jewel. You're rushing by the island jellies, waving hello as you go - silly stupid slimy things. Wigglin' and jigglin' on their island, and is one of them wearing Deimos' hat? Wait. No. No! No time for sight-seeing! The dogs are near. The hour is here. Past noon and high gloom. You didn't silent sneakily enough, glittering bright as you are. You pause for breath once you near the swamp; you can't bear to look at the crystal waters contrasted against the angry crimson. It makes no sense. Momma Fireswamp was ̡ ͢ ͡ ̨ ̸ instead, you push out of the snow, near the border of the Flowering Forest, to watch the army marching to the west. The wolves were invading, under the Lost winter moon, led by the awful Kings at the demand of their dread sire. Good thing they don't smell YOUR blood! They're going to be defeated anyways, and then, then the ratlings will come to visit and trade, with carnival and acclaim, and they'll be sold SO many wolf products. Wolf skins, wolf clocks, wolf utensils, wolf daggers, wolf tools, wolf stew, wolf... Wolf? WOLF!!!!!!!!!!! (HT - Positive Mana Overflow!) 14 - [5]+[6]+[2] = 13 - Success! [+1 HP!] GOTTA GET OVER THE RIVER GOTTA GET THROUGH THE WOODS GOTTA GET TO GRANDMA'S HOUSE LET'S GO!!!!
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 02:29 |
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HURRY HURRY PICK SOMETHING NEED TO PICK A PATH RIGHT NOW WOLF COMING ALMOST HOME GOTTA NOT DIE
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 02:29 |
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Thank you for both new and continued reader support.
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 02:30 |
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lmao kickass that we took concentrated temporary ego death, it's a good thing we've already got a symbiotic relationship with mana. I vote for river, it's gonna be dangerous but it'll immediately hide our scent while running through the woods while IDENTITY VOID may lead us into trouble and less avenues of escape. Granted all they would have to do is follow the river to see where we get out and which bank we exit on, but maybe the cold water will help us keep a grip.
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 02:52 |
Shooting the wolf might be a bad idea but I can't not vote for it with the way it's been presented in the poll.
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 03:13 |
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Marluxia posted:Shooting the wolf might be a bad idea but I can't not vote for it with the way it's been presented in the poll.
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 03:39 |
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This is currently a three-way tie. That’s probably quite bad.
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 03:41 |
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pumpinglemma posted:This is currently a three-way tie. That’s probably quite bad.
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 03:44 |
Hostile V posted:Spraying the dogs with a river hose as we all frolic in the flowers. drat, now I'm disappointed "shoot wolf" has pulled ahead by two votes.
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 04:05 |
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I don't think our odds of outrunning a "werewolf king" are great so we should try and scare them off imo. Plus: burgers
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 06:40 |
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the votes are close...
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 06:55 |
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let's just say the best idea isnt always the most fun
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 07:01 |
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no, it's not. i certainly didn't vote for the best idea!
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 07:02 |
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Hodgepodge posted:let's just say the best idea isnt always the most fun
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 07:03 |
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So... people want to get into a gun fight against a sniper with an anti-material rifle? Well, we can always hope she shoots for the head.
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 12:43 |
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That could be a random-rear end wolf mind you. But also remember that the rifle only works in "Human" form so.
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 13:02 |
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I'm more concerned about how the text just before the wolf attacked was talking about the Kings leading the wolves. Shame that "jump in the river" and "shoot the wolf" won't tie, so we do a John Woo dive into the water firing at the wolf.
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# ? Feb 9, 2021 13:59 |
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VOTING CLOSED - Been a long day. Let's end it with- Jump into the river!!! - 10 Run into the flowering forest!!! - 8 [Lionheart] TIME FOR WOLF BURGERS *PULLS GUN* - 19 LOADING... ...LOADING
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# ? Feb 10, 2021 04:46 |
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# ? Jun 1, 2024 03:48 |
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Ah, is condemn the special technique you can use on a building to immediately declare it unfit for use? Not sure why that's a beast art, but i guess OSHA do be like that.
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# ? Feb 10, 2021 08:10 |