SAY SO LONG TO INNOCENCE, open

[maxine julianna warren]

YOU TASTE LIKE HEAVEN,

but god knows you're built for sin,
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The sunset came and went as Maxine Warren sat at her desk, typing away at her laptop. She watched it through her window, wishing she could be outside enjoying the warm California like everyone else. But of course she'd procrastinated and saved the paper for last minute, which meant she had been spending all day trying to finish it before its due date the next day. She was alone in the dorm room right now, which was a good thing because otherwise she would probably be talking to her roommate instead of actually doing the paper. Even now, was finding ways to distract herself. She did some shopping on iTunes with some leftover gift cards from her birthday, decided she was dirty and so went to take a shower, got hungry and went to the cafeteria to get a sandwich, and so on. Each seemed a legitimate thing to do at the time, but the distractions were adding up. Now it was eight o'clock and she still had a few more pages left on her research papers. Who the hell gave research papers within the first month of school, anyhow? Back at the high school in New York, they rarely gave research papers at all, and if they did then it was towards the end of the semester. The workload at Norrington had been a shock last year when Max had first arrived. Luckily enough, she was capable of completing the material -- just not always in a timely fashion.

By the time eight thirty rolled around, Max still had two more pages to write. Simple enough, except she'd already had to start bull-shitting the paper a couple pages back, and she was running out of things to ramble on about. She wasn't too worried though, since her BSing usually somehow managed to earn her a high grade. But now she was getting frustrated, and she really wanted to be able to go out and get some fresh air before curfew at ten thirty. With a sigh, she stood and began rummaging through the paper bag sitting on the end of her bag. Grocery shopping had been one of the "legitimate distractions" she'd used earlier to further procrastinate. And naturally, the bag as filled with a lot of junk food. Not her fault Cheetos were so amazing. There were also quite a few healthy snacks in the bag, because her brother would probably have an aneurysm if she only spent her month on junk food. There weren't any meals in the bag, just snack food; the cafeteria was where she ate her main meals. After pulling out a bag of Cheetos, Max sat back in the chair at the desk and stared blankly at the laptop screen as she munched on the cheesy snacks. Eventually she set the bag down and sucked cheese off her fingers before beginning to type again.

Finally at nine o'clock, the paper was finished. Max saved it and printed it before turning the computer off and standing up. She debated on a coat for a moment, then decided it was definitely warm enough to go out without one. Five minutes later she was exiting the dorm building and standing there wondering what to do. Not enough time to drive somewhere really, so she'd have to do something on campus. The gym was a no, and she wasn't hungry so there was no need to go to the dining hall. And after doing a paper for four hours, she wasn't keen on going to the library and doing more reading or homework. Eventually she wandered of to the dining hall and simply got an ice cream cone before leaving again. After that she plopped down under a tree on one of the lawns, and sat there relaxing in the warm autumn air. She watched the crowds go back and forth as she licked her ice cream; there were quite a few people out still, but most people were inside or heading inside. It only took her a couple minutes to demolish the ice cream, and then Max was simply nibbling on the cone as she picked at the grass and continued to relax.

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Y O U ' R E B U I L T F O R S I N

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WELL HELLO THERE! THIS THREAD HERE IS TAGGED FOR NOBODY, IT'S OPEN AND IS CURRENTLY COMPLETED. IT HAS A WORD COUNT OF A WHOPPING 695. MY CHARACTER JUST SO HAPPENED TO THROW ON THIS OUTFIT. OH YEAH, THE LYRICS ARE BUILT FOR SIN BY FRAMING HANLEY AND THE HEADER IMAGE WAS MADE BY ME. MY MUSE CURRENTLY IS LAME. AND ONE LAST THING. THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY RHIA, SO NO TAKING WITHOUT PERMISSION, KTHNX.

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[elijah emmanuel van hout]

IT'S HER FACE AND THOSE EYES,
I CAN'T ESCAPE 'EM

warm air and the setting sun seemed to call to eli as it streamed in through his dorm room's windows. it was wednesday night and eli really hadn't had much going on. his weekends were always infinitely busy, with parties and baseball games and whatever else he had on his plate. but weeknights? all he had was baseball practice and homework. and practice only lasted two hours right after school and homework hadn't been much of a bother lately. it never really was for the boy, even though he was taking many advanced courses. he really was a substantially bright kid, he just never really let on. in part because it was just easier in that way, and in part because it wasn't what people expected of him. and as eli had learned in the past seventeen years, the van houts were always what people expected of them. charming, smooth, soft but authoritative, smart, and of course, polite. eli was already aware of the fact that his family planned for him to be the face of his family's company - not necessarily the brains of it.

but he didn't want to think about that. not at all. he sick and tired honestly of his family, their title, and what it all meant for him. all he wanted to focus on was school, baseball and friends. speaking of friends, eli was getting a bit lonely. he hadn't really seen either of his dormmates so far and was feeling the need for human contact. and as he rose, he realized, exercise. he could use a bit more of that too. with that in mind he opened up his dresser and grabbed a plain tee shirt, one he didn't mind getting gross and traded his slightly nicer shirt for it. next he swapped his khaki shorts for athletic shorts. and lastly a pair of sneakers intended for actual use, none of those flashy just for looks ones that guys were beginning to wear so much. eli didn't even bother looking at himself in the mirror, he rarely ever cared how he looked, which of course was not how his parent's thought he should feel, but for now, that was the truth. he locked the dorm and slid the key into the pocket of his shorts before heading downstairs and out the door into the fresh, slightly cool california night air.

his watch read eighty forty-five as eli took off at a jog, his sharp brown eyes washing over the school as he moved through it. it was a bit different that hokebourne, where he had been the year before, but really, in eli's experience, most private prep schools were essentially the same. stately ivy, old buildings filled with new technology. it was different but exactly the same. except, this time, there were girls. in truth, eli probably would perform better academically without them present, but where was the fun in that? exactly, very little. and it wasn't that he had no experience with them either, because he did. not an over extensive amount, but enough. he turned his thoughts to other things, like how his sister was doing, or what they would do for practice tomorrow at his lean legs carried him at the easy jog. it wasn't exactly right to classify eli as a jock, because he wasn't quite. he loved baseball and was a bit addicted to exercise, it just had the ability to clear his mind. and he needed that a lot sometimes. plus, on a night like this, how could he not be out?

the scenery changed from buildings to grass and eli found himself on the grounds of the school's campus. again, it was very pretty, with its manicured lawns and neat floral arrangements, everything was just so. he slowed his pace slightly to take it all in, to take a minute to stop and smell the roses, as the saying went. as he slowed, his eyes shifted to a girl sitting by a tree, a mostly eaten ice cream cone in one hand, the other was busy picking at the grass beneath her. eli hesitated for a second before jogging over to her. he didn't want to intrude, if she was looking for some quiet and solace. but at the same time, he was in need of some conversation, and if it just so happened to be with a girl that looked as good as she did, well then so be it. he slowed as he got to her, an easy and friendly smile was slung on his lips as he asked her,

in need of some company?


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status! finished
tagged! maxine
words! eight one one
lyrics from!
notes! hope it's okay i nabbed this thread :)

[maxine julianna warren]

YOU TASTE LIKE HEAVEN,

but god knows you're built for sin,
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The fingers met damp earth as they picked away the last of grass within a few square inches. A bit of dirt slipped under her nails, but Max hardly cared. She wasn't the type of girl to always care about her appearance and being sparkly clean. Growing up with the lifestyle she had meant being tough and getting dirty -- both metaphorically and literally. You couldn't survive in those settings if you had a meltdown over every split end and broken nail. Max had always been a tomboy, and it hadn't changed since the move, even though a lot of the girls in this city were totally high maintenance. Maxine hadn't even started wearing make-up until she'd gotten to Santa Ria and saw all the other girls wearing it. The kids back in her old neighborhood and in her old schools either piled the make-up on (and it was all cheap drug store stuff, nothing like the high class products the Santa Ria kids used) or didn't bother with hit at all. Max had fallen into the second group. She didn't need to look pretty while stealing cars. Plus, her brother had always said she didn't need it. Then again he was her brother, and that was kind of his job to make her feel good.

People-watching had always been a hobby of Maxine's. Back in New York, she'd always sat outside the crappy apartment building she and her brother (and in the earlier years her mother) lived in, and simply watched everyone go buy. Now that she was in California, the habit hadn't changed, but the people definitely had. In New York she'd watched beat-up barely-working cars go by; in her California neighborhood, it was all Mercedes and Beemers. As she sat under the tree, she was watched contentedly as the crowds passed. A few punk-wannabe freshmen here, a goth junior there. Some preps over by the bench. Max wondered vaguely what group she fell into. Not goth or emo or punk. Not a jock, and hopefully not a prep or nerd. After a few more moments of though, Max decided she must fall somewhere in between the cliques. She was something of a floater. That worked for her; she didn't want to be labeled.

She glanced down at the mutilated ice cream cone, which was missing holes in random places. The girl definitely had odd eating habits. She ate circles around her sandwiches, ate one thing at a time when she had multiple things on her plate, and so forth. Not that she really cared, but she did think it was a little weird. A little breeze blew some strands of honey-blond hair into her face, and she brushed it away with some annoyance. Why hadn't she brought a hair tie? She was still pondering her forgetfulness when she heard a voice near her. Blinking, Max looked over and found herself staring at a pair of legs. Her eyes traveled up said legs until they found the head attached to them. And what a handsome head it was. But she wasn't sure if she recognized it. Maxine had only just come in junior year, and had barely gotten to the point of recognizing most the girls in school when suddenly the boys had been thrown into the mix.

The idea of an all-girls school had seemed pointless to Max. Had anyone really thought that would keep the genders apart? Even before the boys had come to Norrington, the Hakebourne boys and Norrington girls had been socializing and hanging out. Many of the boys at Norrington now weren't from Hakebourne, and Max had barely gotten to know any Hakebourne boys anyhow. It was basically like being at a new school all over again, which new faces to see and new names to learn. But the co-ed thing made more sense, in Max's opinion. Pulling herself out of her train of thought, Max smiled up at the boy that had addressed her. "Sure," she replied before scooting over a little, a demonstration that it was okay to sit next to her. After wiping the dirt off her hand, Max held it out for the boy to shake. "I'm Maxine. Well, Max," she informed him with a pleasant smile.

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Y O U ' R E B U I L T F O R S I N

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WELL HELLO THERE! THIS THREAD HERE IS TAGGED FOR ELIJAH AND IS CURRENTLY COMPLETED. IT HAS A WORD COUNT OF A WHOPPING 705. MY CHARACTER JUST SO HAPPENED TO THROW ON THIS OUTFIT. OH YEAH, THE LYRICS ARE BUILT FOR SIN BY FRAMING HANLEY AND THE HEADER IMAGE WAS MADE BY ME. MY MUSE CURRENTLY IS STILL LAME. AND ONE LAST THING. THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY RHIA, SO NO TAKING WITHOUT PERMISSION, KTHNX.

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[elijah emmanuel van hout]

IT'S HER FACE AND THOSE EYES,
I CAN'T ESCAPE 'EM

as eli's legs settled into the familiar motion of running, his mind wandered. it wasn't unusual for the boy to think about other things while he ran, a lot of the time that was why he ran in the first place. well, that and he did it to stay in shape. it was funny, before in miami, he hadn't been as concerned with his athletic performance, he never really had a reason to be. in miami, with his parents watching him every step of the way, every second of his days were planned. which got annoying quickly, but he supposed that was the price you paid for being "privileged." with his mom not working and his father growing even more concerned with his ability to take over the family company, it seemed as though his parents were even more and more in his business. it was homework after school, volunteer work after that and then whatever else his mother had planned. and of course, he was not allowed outside of the house unless he was looking what his mother deemed as "presentable." yes, they meant well, but sometimes eli just got so fed up with it all.

which was why moving to california had been so great. his parents had bought a big house in the hills, which was fine, but he had been sent to hakebourne. and while most boys his age might not like the idea of being sent to an all boys boarding school, eli on the other hand, was all for it. it meant a chance to be on his own, without his parents micromanaging every moment, every move. and yeah, the no girls thing had been a bit of a downer. but eli had his own car, so going into town and meeting people hadn't been very hard. meeting people had never been very hard for eli. he always attributed that fact to his money and family name, his family was fairly well known, and a lot of the times people just wanted to know him so they could say they knew him, or because they thought it would come with perks. stuff like that. it never really occurred to him, although several people suggested it, that it was the way he looked. eli didn't necessarily view himself as unattractive, he just didn't think he was anything special.

hakebourne had been good for him, it had allowed him to focus on school and athletics, and he soon discovered his love, and talent, in baseball. he had played it a lot when he was younger, but never seriously. now, however, he was ranked amongst the top in the area and had thus become a bit addicted to exercise. maybe not all exercise, but running definitely. very little compared to runner's high, and sometimes eli just needed an excuse to get outside. like right now, for instance. he just needed to get out of his dorm room and get outside, and honestly, it always looked a little bit creepy or sad when a teenage guy was walking around by himself. especially at nine at night. and true, he was a tad lonely. but he wasn't looking for anyone, but this girl, well, she just looked a little lonely. much like himself, so he figured he might as well see if that was the case.

eli was relieved when the girl accepted his offer of company and he sat down next to her after she had scooted over to give him room. his sharp brown eyes fell on her face, a smile warming his strong features as he extended his hand to meet her own. his hand clasped hers in a handshake that was friendlier than the business one his parents had spent so long teaching him. letting his legs extend in front of him, eli ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair and said,

pleasure to meet you. i'm elijah, but eli's much more preferable.

with his eyes alight with a friendly warmth and curiosity, he asked,

so what brings you out so late?


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status! finished
tagged! maxine
words! seven oh six
lyrics from! the maine, singing girls do what they want
notes! cuteness

[maxine julianna warren]

YOU TASTE LIKE HEAVEN,

but god knows you're built for sin,
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Maxine decided she liked this boys handshake. Some kids at Norrington were pretty laid back and cool, but many were uptight snobs who insisted on being formal and mannerly. Maxine still hadn't quite mastered it; she'd grown up with her brother and his friends, a group of delinquent boys who had about as many manners as a group of pigs. Still, she didn't quite like the prissy-ness of many of the kids at the boarding school and settled for being somewhere in between OCD and repulsive. As the boy settled next to her, Maxine shoved the remaining few bits of the ice cream cone into her mouth and unceremoniously wiped her sticky hands on her jeans. Had she been in a crowd, such a display would surely have earned her some disgusted looks and some muttering about how that's what napkins were for. But Max wasn't going to have a meltdown over a bit of ice cream residue on her jeans. She didn't care about public opinion. Or so she told herself. But it was hard not to feel at least a little self conscious when she was in an entirely new world. Back in New York, in her comfort zone, things were different and she was more relaxed. But being surrounded by a group of primarily rich kids made the girl a bit uneasy.

"Nice to meet you too, Eli," she said, mentally approving of his name. Too many people around these parts had odd names that screamed snob, like Maximilien or some such nonsense. And people loved to tack on "the third" or "the tenth" and such to their names, as if people honestly gave a rat's ass about how many people of that name preceded them. During introductions, Max often found herself feeling like she was being introduced to a show dog instead of a human being. Thankfully, Eli so far seemed more down to Earth. Or at the very least, he wasn't acting like a complete pompous ass. She'd only been talking to the fellow student for all of perhaps two minutes, but body language and tone and gestures said a lot about a person's overall demeanor. Leaning back against the trunk of the tree, Max crossed her legs and shrugged lightly at the boy's -- or rather, Eli's -- question. "I've been cooped up in the dorm all day working on a stupid research paper," she replied, wrinkling her nose a little in distaste at the mention of the horrid assignment. "Just needed a little breather and some relaxation."

Running her hand through her hair to brush it out of her face, Maxine looked back at the boy and studied him a bit as she talked. He had a rather pleasant face with lively eyes, and she rather liked the look of him. "I'd ask you what you're doing, but considering the outfit I'm pretty sure it's something related to exercise, eh?" she asked with a small smile. After some careful training before the move out to California, Maxine had managed to completely lose her New York accent. She actually kind of missed it. Hell, she missed New York period. And she had never thought she'd ever miss that place. But it was probably just because it was so comfortable compared to this new world she was in. Soon enough, she told herself, she'd get used to California and everything would be comfortable here. Until then, it was just about learning to adapt. The government had created a new past for her and her brother, saying the pair was from Northern California. Lots of facts to memorize, lots of rehearsal and practice to make sure she could get it right. But she took comfort in telling herself that all the people around her probably had plenty of skeletons in their own closets, and that she definitely wasn't alone in keeping secrets.

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Y O U ' R E B U I L T F O R S I N

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WELL HELLO THERE! THIS THREAD HERE IS TAGGED FOR ELIJAH AND IS CURRENTLY COMPLETED. IT HAS A WORD COUNT OF A WHOPPING 644. MY CHARACTER JUST SO HAPPENED TO THROW ON THIS OUTFIT. OH YEAH, THE LYRICS ARE BUILT FOR SIN BY FRAMING HANLEY AND THE HEADER IMAGE WAS MADE BY ME. MY MUSE CURRENTLY IS STILL LAME. AND ONE LAST THING. THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY RHIA, SO NO TAKING WITHOUT PERMISSION, KTHNX.

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[elijah emmanuel van hout]

IT'S HER FACE AND THOSE EYES,
I CAN'T ESCAPE 'EM

being pretentious seemed to be a sport at every prep or private school, unless it was one of those bizarre 'alternative' schools. you would meet kids with names that took a whole ten minutes to pronounce and had some number tacked on the end. eli understood why their parents had chosen those names: it made their children sound powerful, important, smart. not to be trifled with. and yes, sometimes that was true. but sometimes the kid just ended up with a ridiculous name that did not sound good at all. eli was quite happy with his name, elijah could bear some pretentious implications, but eli rarely did. his last name however, van hout, just screamed "i've got more money than china has people." plus, lately his family name had been bandied about the newspapers, gaining even more notoriety, which his father liked but eli didn't. which was why he was careful to leave his last name out whenever possible, and lucky for him, very few kids his age introduced themselves with their full names. but in class, when the teacher would call roll, his last name would slip from her tongue and suddenly his classmates would be whispering about it, about him. he should have known he couldn't avoid it.

the girl, max, seemed different already. the way she sat, the quiet, relaxed demeanor that she possessed. it was different. at first he couldn't quite figure out why but it soon hit him. she was real. not that his other classmates weren't, it was more so that this girl wasn't trying. she wasn't trying to be the best, or the hottest, or the smartest, or the most athletic, or the best known. she just was. it was quite a different lifestyle than the one eli had been raised in, where there was always something to do, something to accomplish, someone to impress. but this girl? he felt as though she was completely at ease with herself. perhaps not completely, because honestly, what teenager was. but still, she wasn't looking to impress him, to be better than him. and eli really liked and appreciated this, he could feel himself liking her a lot already. the fact that she was stunning, well that helped too.

eli gave an understanding nod when she spoke, the expression on his face not quite intense, but interested, letting her know he was indeed listening to what she said. he was fairly certain that a good amount of guys weren't looking at her face when she spoke, but instead her body, which eli would admit, was pretty fantastic. and totally distracting. but he was a gentleman and also genuinely interested in what she was saying because he too knew what that was like. eli let out a small, pleasant laugh at her words about what he had been doing. he gave her another nod, a friendly smile playing across his lips as he said,

well aren't you the observant one? but yeah, i was finished with all my homework and kind of bored. so i decided to go for a jog. and before you ask, yes i am a little addicted to exercise, but no i haven't joined a support group yet. although i hear admitting it is the first step to recovery.

his face was filled with amusement at his joke and hoped she would catch onto it. but she seemed bright enough too, so eli didn't really doubt it.

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status! finished
tagged! maxine
words! six oh four
lyrics from! the maine, singing girls do what they want
notes! bah my post's a bit suckish, sorry!

[maxine julianna warren]

YOU TASTE LIKE HEAVEN,

but god knows you're built for sin,
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The blond had to take note of Elijah's attentiveness. With a lot of guys she talked to, she was constantly wondering "are they really listening?" or "do they really even care about what I'm saying?" or some other such inquiries. Often enough she'd look at the guy she was talking to and find his eyes elsewhere, such as on her chest or on the chest of a nearby girl. She felt like most guys didn't really give a damn about what she had to say. And not just guys -- there were a lot of girls around that were excited to see you for approximately thirty seconds, and then they were checking to see if someone better or more interesting was around. Maxine was always annoyed by these types of people; if they couldn't hold a real conversation for more than ten seconds, then they didn't really earn a lot of respect from the blond. This kid that she was talking to now was different though, or at least was a pretty good actor. He was actually listening. It was a quality that Max found to be admirable, and quite rare among much of the Norrington crowd. It didn't hurt that the laugh he emitted was quite charming, also.

As he spoke, it was Maxine's turn to laugh. "Nothing gets past me," she said with a grin. "Oh my, that's quite a serious addiction.... How would you recover from something like that? A few months of couch-potato-ness?" She laughed again as she relaxed back against the tree, leaning against the hard bark. Most trees were usually covered in ants and other insects that traveled along the trunk, but Maxine almost kind of though of bugs as being extinct at Norrington. The people that tended to the grounds of the academy were always sprayed various chemicals in the gardens in order to deter bugs. Obviously not all could be eliminated, but Maxine still thought of it as a little overzealous to try and get rid of insects. No matter what, the little creatures always found a way back. Last year she'd overheard a girl saying she'd found ants in her dorm room, and you'd have thought she was discussing the apocolypse by how monumental the girl made it seem. But Max was the kind of girl that grew up with rats, mice, and cockroaches in her apartment, so she was unaccustomed to the obsession with clean that people at Norrington had. Though she had to admit it was a bit nicer than her former living conditions. [ooc: omg, I just devoted an entire paragraph to insects. -lame xDD-]

"So... sorry if this sounds like a third degree, but hey, I'm curious," Max began with a playful smile. "What grade are you, what school were you at before this, what's your favorite animal, and how long have you been in Santa Ria? And feel free to throw in your social," she added with a grin. Now that the ice was broken and they'd been talking for a little bit, Maxine felt more comfortable with this new guy. She was also brave enough to start investigating, as she genuinely was curious. Besides, all the questions were fairly basic getting-to-know you inquiries, so it's not like he could get offended by any of them. The animal question was perhaps a bit random, but it was at least a bit more interesting than asking favorite colors. "Oh, and feel free to just tell me to shut up and stop asking questions," she added after a moment, as she didn't want him to feel too pressured or intimidated by her random interrogation.

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Y O U ' R E B U I L T F O R S I N

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WELL HELLO THERE! THIS THREAD HERE IS TAGGED FOR ELIJAH AND IS CURRENTLY COMPLETED. IT HAS A WORD COUNT OF A WHOPPING 592. MY CHARACTER JUST SO HAPPENED TO THROW ON THIS OUTFIT. OH YEAH, THE LYRICS ARE BUILT FOR SIN BY FRAMING HANLEY AND THE HEADER IMAGE WAS MADE BY ME. MY MUSE CURRENTLY IS HORRID, AND I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. AND ONE LAST THING. THIS TEMPLATE WAS MADE BY RHIA, SO NO TAKING WITHOUT PERMISSION, KTHNX.

THIS POST IS EPIC FAIL. I'M SO SORRY.

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