Junna Hoshimi ⭐ 星見 純那 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thestarknows) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
yumemigaoka2025-02-18 05:17 pm
thestarknows) wrote in yumemigaoka2025-02-18 05:17 pm
Entry tags:
EVENT #10: AND MERELY PLAYERS
- By now, entering a Disturbance is familiar. That isn't a good thing -- the way that it takes that extra effort, like pushing your hand through molasses; like a wavering mirage that almost pushes back against your gaze. It's a sign of someone in distress.
But after entering the Slumbering City, the Dreamers have made their way into this newest Disturbance. And then, they've pushed onward... and everyone finds themselves on a long path through darkness, lit only by stage lights.
Welcome to Junna Hoshimi's Disturbance event! To recap from previous events and the monthly post, Disturbances are surreal and dangerous dreamscapes that draw directly on the struggles, fears and emotions of a single character, similar to the TV world dungeons in Persona 4 or the Heartscapes in Blue Reflection Second Light. They're unique among Outlying Locations in that they vanish once resolved and incubate extremely powerful enemies at their core who must be defeated to save the person at its heart – in this instance, Junna Hoshimi.
Using the descriptions in the log below, you may freely top level and have characters explore and investigate as you please! The descriptions given in this log are to give direction and progression to the events but please feel free to play around within the bounds of what's established as much as you like. Characters wishing to investigate and uncover additional hints and lore nuggets at the heart of the dungeon should indicate they are investigating in the comment header of their top level. Pinging Tex on Discord may also help in case his emails and notifications act up.
To clear the event and prevent a negative outcome on the plot that will effect both the Dream Sphere and Yumemigaoka, characters must clear both the Mid-Tier and Boss Combat Encounters by the OOC deadline of March 3rd.
SUNSET BOULEVARD
- Upon entering the dream, all Dreamers will first find themselves walking down a long path through darkness, lit only by stoplights. In the way of a dream, though, at its end, it turns into the front of Promised Morning Academy at sunset.
The building is lit up by sunset, with weather that suggests it is spring. It seems almost pleasant... but there is a buzz of tension in the air. It should be the time that people have left for the day, but there are lights on inside the school. There are murmurs, stressed and worried, but wordless. Sunset -- the time people should have left and gone home, but are still working -- never seems to end.
In that light, it isn't such a pleasant image. Still, this is a place where Dreamers can return to, to rest, coordinate, and take a breather before exploring further.
The way forward is the double doors, leading into the school. They are larger than they should be, more imposing that the ones in real life, and heavier to push open.
!SCHOOL DAZE
Upon entering, the Dreamers find themselves in a warped, endless version of Promised Morning's first floor. The hallway stretches out east-to-west, but there is a subtle curve to it. And if someone walks the full length of the hallway, it loops back around, leaving them trapped.
The Dreamers aren't alone here. There are shadowy figures, like silhouettes, wearing the uniforms of Promised Morning. Each are carrying large stacks of paper.
⧖ HAZARD ALERT: If someone touches them, they seem to fuzz and not quite feel real. But each of them will put stacks of paper that are quite real into an unwitting Dreamer's hands. So many papers, in fact, that a Dreamer could be literally weighed down by them.
After escaping the shadowy students, Dreamers can pass countless class rooms and clubrooms. Each of them has a locked door. It might feel hopeless, until a freight elevator is found at the end. There is a large, blinking red light and one button. The only way to progress is to go down.
The Dreamers aren't alone here. There are shadowy figures, like silhouettes, wearing the uniforms of Promised Morning. Each are carrying large stacks of paper.
⧖ HAZARD ALERT: If someone touches them, they seem to fuzz and not quite feel real. But each of them will put stacks of paper that are quite real into an unwitting Dreamer's hands. So many papers, in fact, that a Dreamer could be literally weighed down by them.
After escaping the shadowy students, Dreamers can pass countless class rooms and clubrooms. Each of them has a locked door. It might feel hopeless, until a freight elevator is found at the end. There is a large, blinking red light and one button. The only way to progress is to go down.
!THE ONLY WAY DOWN
The freight elevator is not a comfortable ride down. The floor is made of steel, patterned to give some grip. There are no buttons to control it. Once the down button is pressed, all a Dreamer can do is ride it down to the bottom. And the railing on each side is woefully inadequate from a safety perspective: it's only a three foot high steel bar.
Which means, from the darkness, something can jump onto it.
⧖ HAZARD ALERT: Torments begin to leap from the shadows, onto the 12 by 12 foot elevator platform. The Torments, initially, are only a Shadowy outline... but they respond to the Dreamers on the platform. A Dreamer with an idol theme finds them looking like crazed fans; a Dreamer with a sword finds ones carrying axes; a Dreamer with a ninja motif finds their foes include ones carrying katanas. The Torments are easily dispatched, but they keep coming in waves -- until the elevator reaches the bottom.
When it does, there is a ding. The door opens... revealing a hallway.
Which means, from the darkness, something can jump onto it.
⧖ HAZARD ALERT: Torments begin to leap from the shadows, onto the 12 by 12 foot elevator platform. The Torments, initially, are only a Shadowy outline... but they respond to the Dreamers on the platform. A Dreamer with an idol theme finds them looking like crazed fans; a Dreamer with a sword finds ones carrying axes; a Dreamer with a ninja motif finds their foes include ones carrying katanas. The Torments are easily dispatched, but they keep coming in waves -- until the elevator reaches the bottom.
When it does, there is a ding. The door opens... revealing a hallway.
!BEHIND THE SCENES FEATURETTE
The elevator lets out in a darkly lit hallway. Just a short distance away is a large set of double doors, underneath a sign that declares it to be the "MAIN STAGE." And yet, try as someone might, that door will not open. It seems that the only way to get onto the main stage is through hard work.
The hallway connects to many others. There are more hallways in this backstage area than any real theater could ever have. And there are doorways here, too, and each has a poster next to it, depicting a play or a movie. There isn't another door that clearly leads to the main stage... which means Dreamers will need to search the rooms.
The poster outside of each room gives an idea of its contents. Inside, there are people hard at work. Like before, in the school level, they are shadowy silhouettes of students. The shadowy students are engaged in some work based on the movie or play poster outside.
⧖ HAZARD ALERT #1: In this room, four silhouettes are hurriedly building props and backgrounds for a play. Wooden cut-outs of trees and houses that need to be built; organizing a closet full of costumes; painting details onto paper backdrops of a sky and a town. The work isn't done, and the silhouettes are in a panic about this. Dreamers who enter the room have tools pushed into their hands to help -- until the work is finished. If the Dreamers try to leave, they begin to screech and scream, and eventually attack with shadowed claws. The work will never stop, though. The props need to be put out of their sight or the silhouettes defeated.
⧖ HAZARD ALERT #2: Only one silhouette is inside here. A high school student, by the look of her. She cannot speak, but she mimics going through a play by herself. When Dreamers enter, she thrusts a script to them. Then, she tries to get them to act out Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The silhouette wants to play the part of Caesar. If they act it out, the silhouette will want to do it again. She can either be defeated in a fight, or made to play another role, which will stop the performance.
Once the Dreamers have time to thoroughly search the room with the silhouette that wishes to portray Caesar. There is a poster of Yonezawa's Last Paycheck, a movie that came out in April, on the wall. The other materials in here strictly apply to Julius Caesar, with posters of past performances and props related to it.
Pulling down the poster of Yonezawa's Last Paycheck reveals a door. Opening it leads to a hallway, dark, but with the bright lights of a main stage up ahead.
The hallway connects to many others. There are more hallways in this backstage area than any real theater could ever have. And there are doorways here, too, and each has a poster next to it, depicting a play or a movie. There isn't another door that clearly leads to the main stage... which means Dreamers will need to search the rooms.
The poster outside of each room gives an idea of its contents. Inside, there are people hard at work. Like before, in the school level, they are shadowy silhouettes of students. The shadowy students are engaged in some work based on the movie or play poster outside.
⧖ HAZARD ALERT #1: In this room, four silhouettes are hurriedly building props and backgrounds for a play. Wooden cut-outs of trees and houses that need to be built; organizing a closet full of costumes; painting details onto paper backdrops of a sky and a town. The work isn't done, and the silhouettes are in a panic about this. Dreamers who enter the room have tools pushed into their hands to help -- until the work is finished. If the Dreamers try to leave, they begin to screech and scream, and eventually attack with shadowed claws. The work will never stop, though. The props need to be put out of their sight or the silhouettes defeated.
⧖ HAZARD ALERT #2: Only one silhouette is inside here. A high school student, by the look of her. She cannot speak, but she mimics going through a play by herself. When Dreamers enter, she thrusts a script to them. Then, she tries to get them to act out Act 3, Scene 1 of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. The silhouette wants to play the part of Caesar. If they act it out, the silhouette will want to do it again. She can either be defeated in a fight, or made to play another role, which will stop the performance.
Once the Dreamers have time to thoroughly search the room with the silhouette that wishes to portray Caesar. There is a poster of Yonezawa's Last Paycheck, a movie that came out in April, on the wall. The other materials in here strictly apply to Julius Caesar, with posters of past performances and props related to it.
Pulling down the poster of Yonezawa's Last Paycheck reveals a door. Opening it leads to a hallway, dark, but with the bright lights of a main stage up ahead.
!TO SHINE ON THE MAIN STAGE
The doorway leads onward, until the Dreamers emerge onto the main stage. It is a massive, circular stage, but there is a raised circular platform at the center. Rich red curtains have fallen entirely across the elevated platform and hide whatever is behind. One set of steep stairs leads up to it.
But, it couldn't be as simple as approaching the stairs.
First, a bright stage light shines down, and falls into the audience. The chairs there are empty. There is only one living thing there, though it is not a person. It is a massive giraffe, with brilliant green eyes, a pink ribbon, and and a disaffected expression.
The giraffe bellows in a baritone, masculine voice: "To be a Dreamer is to be a performer! To struggle endlessly! To be a light that shines upon the people! I... UNDERSTAND!"
All around the stage, props and stage equipment rises up. Wooden walls, stairwells, and platforms create a maze. Each Dreamer is locked within them, separated from their fellows by a maze of different theater settings: from cut-outs of castle walls, Western towns, modern cities, cut-outs of trees, and backdrops of stars and nebulae.
Up high, though, a four point golden star lowers. The stage light vanishes from the giraffe. The golden star shines brilliantly -- and then at its center, a giant eye blinks, and opens to look down. This is a powerful Nightmare, though it is far out of reach.
⧖ HAZARD ALERT: Navigating the maze -- whether while fighting the Star Nightmare or not -- is a complex matter. First, a powerful orchestral soundtrack fires up (accompanying vocals optional). Stairs and platforms rise up, to provide backdrops ranging from historical dramas to science fiction. These include pyrotechnics and water effects -- which can dazzle, though they can't hurt. Stage lights shine down and blind, sometimes at inopportune moments. Getting to the center of the stage requires navigating through these rising and lowering themed platforms.
But, additionally, the Star Nightmare causes illusions. Sometimes, Dreamers who encounter each other will see one another as powerful Torment, illusions altering their perceptions of each other and their attacks. They can fight each in the midst of the maze, but if they realize that they're fighting a friend, it will stop.
If you need a visual, this fight from Revue Starlight gives an idea of the shenanigans at work:
Dreamers caught here are also able to battle against the Star Nightmare as a Mid-Boss Encounter.
At the end of the maze are stairs, which lead up to the central platform. The stairs are long and steep, and the curtains have yet to rise. But now, the only way to go is up.
But, it couldn't be as simple as approaching the stairs.
First, a bright stage light shines down, and falls into the audience. The chairs there are empty. There is only one living thing there, though it is not a person. It is a massive giraffe, with brilliant green eyes, a pink ribbon, and and a disaffected expression.
The giraffe bellows in a baritone, masculine voice: "To be a Dreamer is to be a performer! To struggle endlessly! To be a light that shines upon the people! I... UNDERSTAND!"
All around the stage, props and stage equipment rises up. Wooden walls, stairwells, and platforms create a maze. Each Dreamer is locked within them, separated from their fellows by a maze of different theater settings: from cut-outs of castle walls, Western towns, modern cities, cut-outs of trees, and backdrops of stars and nebulae.
Up high, though, a four point golden star lowers. The stage light vanishes from the giraffe. The golden star shines brilliantly -- and then at its center, a giant eye blinks, and opens to look down. This is a powerful Nightmare, though it is far out of reach.
⧖ HAZARD ALERT: Navigating the maze -- whether while fighting the Star Nightmare or not -- is a complex matter. First, a powerful orchestral soundtrack fires up (accompanying vocals optional). Stairs and platforms rise up, to provide backdrops ranging from historical dramas to science fiction. These include pyrotechnics and water effects -- which can dazzle, though they can't hurt. Stage lights shine down and blind, sometimes at inopportune moments. Getting to the center of the stage requires navigating through these rising and lowering themed platforms.
But, additionally, the Star Nightmare causes illusions. Sometimes, Dreamers who encounter each other will see one another as powerful Torment, illusions altering their perceptions of each other and their attacks. They can fight each in the midst of the maze, but if they realize that they're fighting a friend, it will stop.
If you need a visual, this fight from Revue Starlight gives an idea of the shenanigans at work:
Dreamers caught here are also able to battle against the Star Nightmare as a Mid-Boss Encounter.
At the end of the maze are stairs, which lead up to the central platform. The stairs are long and steep, and the curtains have yet to rise. But now, the only way to go is up.
!POSITION ZERO
Those who find their way through the maze and make their way up to the stairs come to where the red curtains are. Once the first Dreamers reach them, the left up. The circular platform has Junna standing at the center, raising a hand up to shield her eyes.
Because every stage light here is shining directly onto her, which blinds her from seeing them. From up here, those stage lights can almost be reached.
They keep shining on Junna, as an elevator platform begins to lower her downward -- as an elevator. The stage lights all turn away, and shine down onto the Dreamers. They threaten to blind them.
Not everyone can go down after Junna. But it might be best to say some final remarks -- especially as Torments are beginning to move up the stairs. Those who descend will need to be protected.
And those who jump down after Junna hear a deep baritone voice bellow up, from below: "I UNDERSTAND."
Because every stage light here is shining directly onto her, which blinds her from seeing them. From up here, those stage lights can almost be reached.
They keep shining on Junna, as an elevator platform begins to lower her downward -- as an elevator. The stage lights all turn away, and shine down onto the Dreamers. They threaten to blind them.
Not everyone can go down after Junna. But it might be best to say some final remarks -- especially as Torments are beginning to move up the stairs. Those who descend will need to be protected.
And those who jump down after Junna hear a deep baritone voice bellow up, from below: "I UNDERSTAND."
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[Chaosbringer's First Rule of Disturbances is never to give the Disturbance the credit it so desperately struggles to deserve. Yes, they're built off legitimate pain and darkness, he gets that, but as soon as you start buying into the hyperdramatic exaggerations, you start giving the hopelessness and despair validation instead of perceiving the problems as they really are, and being able to deal with or address them.]
[So as he wanders through this obvious metaphor for getting buried under your work, he pauses every so often as a shadowy figure foists a ream of paper off onto him -- which he then promptly tosses off to the side. He's a government official, folks!]
You know, I didn't really go for the literature electives and stuff back in school, and every time I wander into a tortured metaphor, I think that was a really smart choice.
Elevator Escalation
[At first, the Torments are only shadowy figures, of course. But they then start to refine, honing their forms against their opponent, shifting into...]
[A form that looks faintly like the silhouette of a long-haired Dreamer that brandishes a bass at him.] I made a mistake once and I've ruined my self-worth because of it!
[A short form, with strange orbs floating in the air above it.] My deep unresolved issues should be ignored wholeheartedly!
[A slender, petite figure with bright stars for eyes.] My public persona is so important I'm not allowed to have a single imperfection! OR a private life!
[Chaosbringer regards this for a moment, then turns to the nearest actual Dreamer with an expression of choked disbelief, both hands stretched out to clearly say, 'Are you SEEING this crap?!']
Whoops
[Chaosbringer resists most anything you can throw at him... with one glaring exception. He has no particular immunity or counter to illusions.]
[So the notion that in this twisted mess of a shifting maze, some of the enemies might actually be friends has not occurred to him. When he spots a 'Torment', he wastes no time -- drawing the Purple Lightning Dreamsmasher to charge!]
elevator escalation
1) She doesn't seem to recognize any of these figures.
2) She is now crying. ]
They sound so sad....
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[Chaosbringer is annoyed -- not necessarily at La Pucelle, but this whole situation. That's a low blow.]
Also, they're about to attack!
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[ I think? This is Saintese for "duh"?!??! La Pucelle y u like dis
Either way, here is her sword, at the ready. ]
Let us push them over the edge.
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[Chaosbringer draws the Purple Lightning Dreamsmasher, which promptly shifts and molds into the form of a giant hammer.]
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[ There's no sarcasm. If you've thought of something superior she would be a fool to disregard it. A commander who thinks she has no room to grow is no commander at all!
She does not stop from enacting her plan, however. A flick of her sword, and a heavenly host of doves sets upon the nearest specter! ]
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papers no thx
[Sonic kicks off the wall to land on the far side of the hallway (that is to say, at the door next to Chaosbringer). Home schooled as he is, does Sonic actually have any room to talk? He knows a super smart kid though, a total genius, and his reams of paper are all tech schematics and crazy equations that look like a alien language. Which is ridiculous, because he can read most languages on the planet! But the point is that those papers had purpose.
This is just a waste]
Is this what happens when you combine a workaholic with a theatre kid? I'd ask "Should we be worried?" but this place speaks for itself.
[he looks to his left] ... [then looks to his right]
It keeps looping me back to the start, so I don't think going through here all super fast is the way to go.
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[Yeah, he's pretty sure he's got these things figured out. They all operate similarly in principle, don't they? It's exhausting.]
So we get to search.
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[finger guns]
Fine by me. I don't know why these things think forcing someone to do paperwork will actually see the paperwork done but eh, what do I know? I'm homeschooled! [/cheerful]
But I've also gotten no luck with the doors so far. Guess we just gotta keep goin- ACK!
[figures one of the shadows would get him while he's not paying attention. Please excuse him as he drops down with the stack of papers suddenly in his arms...]
Don't worry! Everything is Daijou-kay!
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[Chaosbringer has come up with a rather clever idea, if he says so himself -- with both hands gripping the Purple Lightning Dreamsmasher, no one can put in paperwork in them!]
It never ends and it's all responsibility and agony.
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Hmm... So what? Does the door appear before us if we admit that, yes, we're buckling under the weight of our responsibilities. Oooh~ Life is so hard.
[he stops being dramatic for a moment to look down the curving hallway. A part of him wants to run down it again, to see if it'll twist and turn or present some other 'obstacle', but he'd already done it twice. Doing it again and expecting a different outcome was definitely insanity]
So, Sir Chaosbringer, do you think this hallway is another war of attrition? Or should we look for an exit sign? I don't know, this is only the second time I've been in one of these and I'm not great at puzzles.
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1/2
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Escalators Escalators Escalators!!!
What the hell, Chaos?!
[Because it's easier to blame this dude than attack the starry-eyed Torment.]
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[Just because the Torment is reflecting a severely-hyperbolic impression of what Chaosbringer thinks doesn't mean the Torment isn't the one doing it in the first place!]
It's just taking cheap shots!
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[Ruby swings at the shorter shadow with little orbs around it. The men still inch towards the other part of the elevator, a few white flower petals falling and evaporating as they walk.]
Do you have a big gun for these creeps?!
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[As if that's an everyday question, or any other Dreamer in the world who was notorious for having a giant sword would also have a giant gun for some reason. Said giant sword actually becomes something more like a giant cannon as he turns to aim it at the Torments.]
[One big ol' blast later and there's one fewer Torment to threaten them. For the moment.]
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She lets out a little laugh watching one of her own specially-branded Torments go away.]
Take that, jerk! Rest of you should take notes and get lost--
[She smacks another one down, leaving it searing on the ground of the elevator. It's then she comes face to face with the starry-eyed Torment, and hesitates for a second.]
Seriously, I don't like this. Why'd they give you basket cases pretending to be other Dreamers?
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elevator; cw: bullying, probably
[Rhodonite's voice is cold as space as she walks forward to stand next to Chaosbringer, eyes filled not with fear or determination in this moment but disdain. With a picked string on her bass before she even properly holds it, a shot rockets across the platform and into the space where the false Rhodonite was a fraction of a second ago.]
I trusted the wrong people and they glued my self-worth to my desk, flushed it down the toilet, shoved tacks in it, and cut it to ribbons before setting it on fire and letting it burn for eighteen months. [She slides her finger up the string, the sharp sound issuing another shot at the same Torment as all three turn to look at her.] If you're going to spread rumors, at least do it right.
[...then she slowly turns her head to Chaosbringer, expression slowly shifting to confusion at his own face.] What?
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[Is there an echo in here?]
Don't look at me, it's not usual that a Disturbance tries to mess with me personally. Something else must be going on here.
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I give the others advice on occasion, for as much as that's worth...
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[Bringing her bass to bear properly, she shakes her head, letting her fingers lead her into some kind of pop song. She's not paying enough attention to know or care what it is right now, and if she needs to, she can switch into something she can sing.]
Which means I should be able to handle my double just fine. I'm a lot stronger than I think anyone gives me credit for. [A short, sharp bark of laughter.] Me included.
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papers please
Or at least - that sure is what Prisma is thinking over here. He may be tossing the papers aside like it's nothing, but it seems like the girl is struggling with it much more. Maybe it's since she's so much more polite in nature, or maybe it's just that it's a whole lot more difficult to deal with when you're tinier. And physically weaker.
Which means that if Chaosbringer looks at her when she speaks up with-- ]
H-How is it this easy for you?
[ --he will definitely notice Prisma about to collapse underneath the sheer weight of the huge paper pile that has been pushed into her hands. ]
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That's pretty simple. I don't take this crap. Why are you?
[An answer on multiple levels. This part of the Disturbance, the Disturbance as a whole, life in general -- he isn't taking this crap, whatever it happens to be.]
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[ The papers move a little bit. Mostly from side to side, like the pile got unsteady, and Prisma had to stop talking for a moment to try and stabilize the pile again..
But as soon as she's pretty sure the pile won't just fly right out of her hands, she replies to Chaosbringer. ]
Won't something bad happen if we don't take these..? [ Prisma was pretty sure that's how Disturbances usually work! ]
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[Do they have points? Sure. Are they entitled to feel the way they do? Absolutely. Are they right? Nope, totally distorted viewpoints!]
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