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Post by wombat on Feb 12, 2013 2:54:34 GMT
Maybe the Court wanted a medium who was a bit more long lasting than Surma was; perhaps they fear that Annie would become pregnant and they'd have to go through this whole choosing a medium process again in just a few years. ...she's only 12. Or maybe it's 13 now? She'd still have the opportunity to get pregnant a lot sooner than Smitty.
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Post by Rasselas on Feb 12, 2013 3:42:11 GMT
I wonder if the Court has gleaned anything about Annie's attempts to help Jeanne. I doubt they have, but it occurred to me as a distant possibility for the next announcement.
I mean, she's messing with the one thing that's protecting the Court from the Forest in a very physical way. Things are going to go very crazy once Annie removes that.
Also, she has Coyote's Tooth. God I love this comic so, so very much.
In any case, if the Court further antagonizes Annie with some chastisement in the next announcement, I doubt the eventual consequences will be in the Court's favor.
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Post by undyingshadow on Feb 12, 2013 3:57:52 GMT
God I feel terrible for Annie right now. I can't help but feel that the "furthermore" bit is going to restrict Annie from going into the forest. Which could begin the first (and last) battle of Gunnerkrigg Court. Upon hearing these words, the witnesses who might survive would swear they actually saw Annie's eyes burst into actual flames. No one one knows for sure, but what is knows is what happened next. Before anyone realizes what has happened, Annie has drawn the Coyote blade and charged the headmaster, but before she can close the distance, Reynardine, driven forward instantly by a whisper, possesses the headmaster, and then begins jumping from from body to body, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Eglamore, reacting quicker than the rest, runs to take out Annie, but is intercepted with a snap from Ysengrin, who flips him into a wall and begins to try to eat his face. Parley, attempting to assist James, draws her sword and tries to teleport behind Ysengrin, but Andrew's ability causes her to teleport both herself and him somewhere in or around South America. The Donlans all run for the door, but not before Kat summons forth a robot horde to try to stop her now quite insane friend. Annie, hacking her way through anything she can slice (which is everything) and ethereally throwing anything she can't slice, moves forward, only to see Jones directly in her path, bringing her fist forward. Everything is moving in slow motion, both Annie's blade and Jones fist moving closer and closing together until finally... They meet.
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Post by Nnelg on Feb 12, 2013 4:33:10 GMT
Look at Coyote. Just look at him. He isn't really surprised by this. In fact, he planned it. All is proceeding as he has foreseen. I can't help but feel that the "furthermore" bit is going to restrict Annie from going into the forest. If so, then the Headmaster is just blindly playing into Coyote's hand. Never before have I honestly hoped someone will turn out to be a master manipulator, rather than a paragon of ineptness; for otherwise Coyote shall continue his plot unopposed. Problem: Annie remembers her last visit to the forest just fine. Not only that, but it made her correctly suspicious of Coyote, not just Ysengrin. It's hard to see her putting herself in Coyote's power voluntarily. Coyote knew this, but he also knew that the direct effects of that event would malign her with the Court even more. Remember what Coyote's goals are (probably): - Returning Renard to the Forest's side.
- Disabling the Annan Waters defence system (Jeanne).
- (Acquiring the Seed Bismuth?)
The only thing left tying Renard to the Court is Annie. Every wedge he can drive between her and the Court is a step towards bringing Renard back to him.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2013 4:43:30 GMT
Look at Coyote. Just look at him. He isn't really surprised by this. In fact, he planned it. All is proceeding as he has foreseen. I wouldn't be surprised if everything Coyote does is part of one or another Xanatos Gambit leading up to... Remember what Coyote's goals are (probably): - Returning Renard to the Forest's side.
- Disabling the Annan Waters defence system (Jeanne).
- (Acquiring the Seed Bismuth?)
The only thing left tying Renard to the Court is Annie. Every wedge he can drive between her and the Court is a step towards bringing Renard back to him. Whoah, wait, what? I think you got some 'splainin' to do.
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Post by Nnelg on Feb 12, 2013 5:20:46 GMT
Whoah, wait, what? I think you got some 'splainin' to do. I posted my initial revelation on the last comic thread, and have now made a dedicated thread for it. But think about it, what- or rather, whom- was Coyote after when we first saw him? And when did he leave that day? As soon as he saw Antimony, saw Renardine protect her, he had found his opening. The second objective is an obvious goal of his, although I think that's secondary to his schemes. It's probably the reason he gave Annie the Tooth, though. The third is my best guess at his long-term goals, although it's probably nowhere near as simple as that.
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yinglung
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Post by yinglung on Feb 12, 2013 5:26:13 GMT
Guys, settle down. Annie not being the medium is not necessarily a bad thing.
Also, even if she is prohibited from visiting the forest, that might not anger her as much as everyone seems to think it will. While Coyote has been nice, by and large, she has seen some unsettling behavior.
What I hope is for Annie to learn to use the ether like Coyote does, as an extension of herself, but also with the same delicacy he has. Long term, that could mean having a child, and splitting the flame, not giving it. Short term, she needs to be somewhere non-flammable to practice fire magics.
Finally, Smitty might be the best opponent against Coyote. Coyote is a trickster, which is especially worrying to the supernatural fandom. Smitty... reorders reality to his will. Think of all the times we've seen smitty, and how immediately his desires are answered. he throws a stone which hits a bird to land in the right spot. Was that bird already flying there, or did it come about as a reasonable way to make the intended trajectory? Then, Parley happens to be watching a romantic movie, and subconsciously teleports to him, in time to save Annie... and accept her love for Smitty.
Assuming that was the goal of his desires, there are a number of things that were already happening prior to his intentional invoking of his power (to get the blinkerstone down): Parley's movie reaching a romantic point that bird being in the area the robots showing annie the story of jeanne (bringing them all together)
the story of jeanne could have happened at any time, but it only came up when smitty and parley had a fight.
smitty is the new haruhi.
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tpman
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Post by tpman on Feb 12, 2013 7:09:14 GMT
Annie's face! (To be honest, based on her behaviour this year, I'm not entirely surprised by the final decision. Of course the court wants a Medium that doesn't favour the Woods, if not outright favours the court, and Annie's bee wild and shown little respect for the court recently.) I'm actually a little afraid now that the next order of business is expelling her. Oh please, let's be rational here. That would be like if J.K.Rowling had Harry Potter leave Hogwarts part way through the series, and that would just be... ...precedented?
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tpman
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Post by tpman on Feb 12, 2013 7:20:26 GMT
I'm wondering how Coyote is going to react (you know, beyond "oho!")... on one hand, he probably wanted Annie as medium seeing how sympathetic she was to him and the Forest - but then, this is also the kind of tricky twist I think he'd rather enjoy. New fan theory: Annie is expelled, then is "employed" by the Forest as THEIR medium. I don't know. There's been just under four books worth of Courtly shenanigans and shifting the viewpoint to the forest would be weird, considering the name of the comic. The only way I could see Antimony permanently moving to the forest was if the overall story is supposed to be about two close friends on opposite sides of a conflict- Kat and Antimony. That's still very unlikely though. For one thing if that was the goal you would expect to see a more equal focus on the two characters (and factions).
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tpman
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Post by tpman on Feb 12, 2013 7:57:12 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]1[/glow]The "Furthermore" will be limiting Annie's access to the forest. I wouldn't be surprised at an outright ban. I wouldn't be surprised if we find out eventually her father had a hand in it. The reason: she's not the medium and there's no visiting the forest allowed (there's still the Annan waters division and the bridge, remember?). The court doesn't want people visiting the forest anymore than necessary. [glow=red,2,300]2[/glow].I think Coyote knew Annie wasn't chosen earlier the morning when he called to tell her the secret - and the incident with Ys was an attempt to make her seem less friendly to the forest and more appealing to the court. It didn't work it seems. Two responses: 1-Definitely. Lots of people are speculating that she won't be able to visit the forest anymore and this is the most convincing reason. 2- An interesting theory. I think most people underestimate Coyote's politicking and that this is actually quite plausible. Coyotes are wily pack animals after all, and this one's a trickster god.
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tpman
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Post by tpman on Feb 12, 2013 8:46:09 GMT
Apparently I must learn to put all my thoughts into one post. Kind of assumed other people would be posting things in between those few up there though.
I think the real question here is, "why did Jones speak out?". Knowing Jones it couldn't have just been a kneejerk emotional reaction to being ignored. I figure she's trying to send a message about where she stands on this. Trying to call into question a man she feels is unfit to lead the Court and stabilize a worsening situation? Trying to throw Annie a bone (Either out of fondness or for political reasons)? Trying to maintain some measure of favour with Coyote? Or perhaps Eglamore? Maybe, she was just trying prove to somebody that she wasn't lying when she indicated to them that Annie would be the next medium. I'm going with calling Mr."The Court" into question myself, but she probably took the impact her words would have into considerable consideration as well.
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Post by artezzatrigger on Feb 12, 2013 14:33:20 GMT
I didn't notice until now, but if you look closely at the second to last panel, Annie is shaking...
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Post by darlos9d on Feb 12, 2013 15:01:55 GMT
[glow=red,2,300]1[/glow]The "Furthermore" will be limiting Annie's access to the forest. I wouldn't be surprised at an outright ban. I wouldn't be surprised if we find out eventually her father had a hand in it. The reason: she's not the medium and there's no visiting the forest allowed (there's still the Annan waters division and the bridge, remember?). The court doesn't want people visiting the forest anymore than necessary. [glow=red,2,300]2[/glow].I think Coyote knew Annie wasn't chosen earlier the morning when he called to tell her the secret - and the incident with Ys was an attempt to make her seem less friendly to the forest and more appealing to the court. It didn't work it seems. Two responses: 1-Definitely. Lots of people are speculating that she won't be able to visit the forest anymore and this is the most convincing reason. 2- An interesting theory. I think most people underestimate Coyote's politicking and that this is actually quite plausible. Coyotes are wily pack animals after all, and this one's a trickster god. Huh. One might almost consider that Coyote also did what he did so Annie herself would be more receptive to not being the medium. Like, so she wouldn't feel as bad about the decision, personally, if she didn't like the forest and/or the people in the forest she's closest to anymore. Maybe traumatizing her with a Ysengrin attack isn't a much better alternative, but it almost seems like he's looking out for her feelings in an odd way, if you look at it like that.
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Post by TBeholder on Feb 12, 2013 15:39:43 GMT
And/or "Furthermore, Antimony, we are transferring you from Queslett to Chester. Say goodbye to all your friends." That would be kind of like scattering a bonfire and discovering it turned into a wildfire. After the events of Chapter 24 Antimony is fairly well liked among her classmates, and got rather popular in Foley after Chapter 36... and now she began to realize that occasionally it's fun... I guess we would have to wait until Chapter 48, but the result is rather predictable. The "Furthermore" will be limiting Annie's access to the forest. I wouldn't be surprised at an outright ban. Also, even if she is prohibited from visiting the forest, that might not anger her as much as everyone seems to think it will. While Coyote has been nice, by and large, she has seen some unsettling behavior. Not right now, but... if she's confined to the Court, they'll discover that "sealing efreeti in the bottle" stops looking like such a bright idea very quickly when you're sharing a bottle with one. Coyote is not the only one wilful creature who may occasionally get bored. Annie did agree to rein in the fiery temper and play a nice diligent young lady, but if this approach doesn't work, she may simply reconsider it again. Why not, if mostly detained already and in the end, trying to find out how far she can reach via blinker is still an option? Life's too short for meaningless boredom, especially for her kind. I wouldn't be surprised if we find out eventually her father had a hand in it. Who? Tony Carver? That guy who not merely avoids to approach the Court personally, but puts up a lot of effort into communicating secretly with his closest associates only and remain untraceable? Uh- huh.
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Post by spacemansays on Feb 12, 2013 15:49:12 GMT
Registered just to be able to throw in - I agree that this spells out BAD NEWS for Smitty.
I mean, let's face it. Even if deep down this is all part of some ingenious Coyote-spawned ploy to get Annie and Renard to defect to the forest, on the surface he's just lost his favorite toy, the fire-head girl. And so has Ysengrin...
Ysengrin, who last he REMEMBERS (thanks Coyote) was still besties with Annie, and who is prone to flying into violent and deadly rages at the drop of a hat.
This does not bode well for our new medium. I actually suspect this is why Jones, in her impartiality, recommended Annie - because recommending either Parley or Smitty would basically hand them a powder keg with a very, very short fuse.
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Post by exdevlin on Feb 12, 2013 17:52:02 GMT
I'm just gonna throw out the smoothest one: "Furthermore, Antimony Carver will be Mr. Smith's advisor -- but with no access to the forest."
I actually forgot all about Annie's poor school grades ala cheating. Thanks everyone who did remember.
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Post by atteSmythe on Feb 12, 2013 19:34:01 GMT
Aaaaack. Zimmy very recently thwarted Anthony's attempt to do...something...to Annie. It's long odds, but what if the Furthermore really is that Annie's no longer attending the Court's school. She would have nowhere to go unless Anthony were to a return to take her away...
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Post by TBeholder on Feb 12, 2013 19:45:09 GMT
Aaaaack. Zimmy very recently thwarted Anthony's attempt to do...something...to Annie. It's long odds, but what if the Furthermore really is that Annie's no longer attending the Court's school. She would have nowhere to go unless Anthony were to a return to take her away... Now, now. Let's remember correctly. Anthony, from his secret Moon Base on the Moon, fired the Bonelaser - which he built using secret knowledge of heavy magick he managed to acquire and hide from everyone all this time, faking lack of interest. And now secretly manipulated the Headmaster, before whose eyes he doesn't dare to appear openly, into making an eye-popping decision. ;D
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Post by Nnelg on Feb 12, 2013 22:40:38 GMT
That guy who not merely avoids to approach the Court personally, but puts up a lot of effort into communicating secretly with his closest associates only and remain untraceable? Are you sure of this? It's not like we'd it know if he did contact someone else at the Court.
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Post by todd on Feb 12, 2013 23:19:49 GMT
Aaaaack. Zimmy very recently thwarted Anthony's attempt to do...something...to Annie. It's long odds, but what if the Furthermore really is that Annie's no longer attending the Court's school. She would have nowhere to go unless Anthony were to a return to take her away... The obvious problem with expelling Annie is that if she takes Reynardine with her, the Court won't be able to keep an eye on him, and if she doesn't, that might break her hold over him, which means he can leave his body and start possessing (and thereby killing) people again. Unless they've got a way around it. Whether the Headmaster has made the right decision or not, I find it ominous that: a) everybody but he looks alarmed, concerned, or horrified, and b) he has an angry expression on his face. As I said before, it feels almost like one of those cases of some aging, ailing king past his prime making wrong-headed and tyrannical decrees in a tone of "I am still king, and I will be obeyed!", as in "King Lear". Maybe he's stayed Headmaster too long....
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quoodle
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Post by quoodle on Feb 13, 2013 0:07:23 GMT
The obvious problem with expelling Annie is that if she takes Reynardine with her, the Court won't be able to keep an eye on him, and if she doesn't, that might break her hold over him, which means he can leave his body and start possessing (and thereby killing) people again. Annie: "Who says I still have a hold over him? I freed him a week ago. Haven't you noticed he's in wolf form all the time now?" Renardine: *Grins at crowd* Pandemonium ensues.... Coyote laughs uprorariously
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Post by silentsooyun on Feb 13, 2013 4:26:51 GMT
It's been nearly two years now... perhaps Anthony HAS returned. He would be very unhappy that Annie has been palling around with Renardine, would be set against Annie going into the forest, and would insist on giving her classes based more on science than etherics. Furthermore, he would know about Annie's "condition" and would draw the conclusion that the only way for her to live a long, healthy life would be to never fall in love or have a child... to become as cold and analytical as he is, as she was when she first started attending school.
This would dovetail neatly with the Court's possible desire to "de-fang" Annie, as she has been getting dangerously close to information that could tear the Court apart, not to mention her increasingly friendly relationship to Coyote and the Forest, as well her own cavalier attitude towards Court oversight. By stripping her of special privileges (and her "demon servant") at the request of her legal guardian, they can curtail her travels, more closely monitor her activities, and deny any conspiracy on their part.
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tpman
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Post by tpman on Feb 13, 2013 5:51:38 GMT
It's been nearly two years now... perhaps Anthony HAS returned. He would be very unhappy that Annie has been palling around with Renardine, would be set against Annie going into the forest, and would insist on giving her classes based more on science than etherics. Furthermore, he would know about Annie's "condition" and would draw the conclusion that the only way for her to live a long, healthy life would be to never fall in love or have a child... to become as cold and analytical as he is, as she was when she first started attending school. This would dovetail neatly with the Court's possible desire to "de-fang" Annie, as she has been getting dangerously close to information that could tear the Court apart, not to mention her increasingly friendly relationship to Coyote and the Forest, as well her own cavalier attitude towards Court oversight. By stripping her of special privileges (and her "demon servant") at the request of her legal guardian, they can curtail her travels, more closely monitor her activities, and deny any conspiracy on their part. There is one alternative solution that doesn't involve too much meddling with Annie's life. .... I guess Tony ships AnniexKat?
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Post by siaynoq on Feb 13, 2013 7:38:31 GMT
I'd wager the Court has long been aware of Annie's cheating and merely stockpiled it as evidence for this. What I wonder is: what is the Court afraid of Annie doing as the Medium?
Dollars to donuts it has to deal with helping Jeanne, and I'm guessing her father is working with the Court [whether as an entity or the shadowy School Board] to somehow try to nullify Annie [who else would be better equipped?]. I get the notion that Annie's father was something of a Court favourite and they likely had something to do with Surma marrying him and not Eglamore. Control what can destroy you.
What tears me up is watching Kat being drawn further into the Court and that she, or her work, will be used against Annie much in the way that Diego turned against Jeanne.
Or, oh god, it's not Annie at all and the Court will take Parley in Jeanne's place, putting the blame on Annie for meddling.
I'm semi-amused at the fanciful notion of Jones taking over as the Forest Medium.
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Post by emanon on Feb 13, 2013 7:52:36 GMT
To be honest, looking at the choice of Smitty, I guess it's not just the only reasonable choice, but wisest.
I mean his ability is something like solving a problem the easiest, speediest way possible. Who wouldn't want that in a diplomat?
Annie's abilities, while sort of nebulous and hard to define don't really compare to that, and Parley's teleporting stuff is nice, but makes her more suited to some sort of travel-related post.
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notacat
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Post by notacat on Feb 13, 2013 16:28:40 GMT
I mean his ability is something like solving a problem the easiest, speediest way possible. Who wouldn't want that in a diplomat? I'm not sure whether his ability is actually to "solve a problem". The demonstration we saw was to throw a deck of cards and have them fall to the floor in proper order: this is only "solving the problem" if your problem was that the cards were out of order. Could he throw a deck of cards in the air and have them land stacked up in a perfect house of cards? How about in a different arrangement? Or is he only capable of reducing the apparent disorder in a system to a single particular state? I guess what I'm asking is whether his ability has been viewed by the Court in the wrong way, and therefore whether his appointment is likely to backfire on them in the most spectacular way possible...after all, there's got to be a reason why he will even need George with him!
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werrf
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Post by werrf on Feb 13, 2013 16:47:54 GMT
A possibility that nobody seems to be considering...
Is it so farfetched to think that just maybe this is an attempt to protect Annie? She's repeatedly shown a proclivity for wandering blithely into horrendously dangerous situations, for acting without thinking or consulting with anyone, ignoring instructions and warnings... She's a lovely girl, but she takes the forest far too lightly, and it's got her into trouble and nearly killed. Not only is she not the kind of person I'd want as a diplomat, she's also becoming increasingly willful, even arrogant, and it's putting her in danger.
Honestly, I just don't buy the Court as the black villains of the piece, out to twist and manipulate everyone to their own ends. They're the vorlons to the forest's shadows - both are perilous, neither is truly evil.
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Post by Nnelg on Feb 13, 2013 18:55:05 GMT
Is it so farfetched to think that just maybe this is an attempt to protect Annie? In interesting possibility. However, if this is true then it seems unusual that Annie wasn't told about the decision ahead of time. At the very least, Jones should have known about it.
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Post by Mezzaphor on Feb 13, 2013 19:00:42 GMT
I've read speculation that maybe the Court's plan depends somehow on Gillitie thinking that Annie is pissed at the Court. So they actually piss her off in front of Coyote and Ysengrin—then as soon as the meeting is over, they secretly offer Annie some other position to get her back on their side.
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Post by Nnelg on Feb 13, 2013 19:25:48 GMT
I've read speculation that maybe the Court's plan depends somehow on Gillitie thinking that Annie is pissed at the Court. So they actually piss her off in front of Coyote and Ysengrin—then as soon as the meeting is over, they secretly offer Annie some other position to get her back on their side. That... Would actually work. In fact, it would explain a lot. Especially why Jones wasn't told: she was, and her reaction is just an act. ( Every reaction of hers is an act, so it'd be impossible to detect.) Note that Jones never said what "she" was the "clear choice" for. Of course, there's no evidence yet saying that scene was anything other than it appeared to be: Jones reccomending Annie for Medium. But it still could work.
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