Pumpkin Picking Gone Wrong (Event)

To say that Kalama was uncomfortable with the situation that she found herself was an understatement. Here she was, leaning up against a tree, watching her companion picking pumpkins from a large field that was covered with the orange fruit. The tall white haired mage did not have a problem with the task itself and she had to admit that the Sakuramori was a lovely place with a gorgeous view. No, the problem was the amount of other people who had also picked today to do precisely the same thing. There were children and adults everywhere and the occasional glance that they sent her way was the same look that she always seemed to get from almost everyone she came across. People took one look at her and they instantly started to fear her, regardless of whether she actually meant to give off that impression or not. Ever since that god damn curse had been set upon her had this been happening and after a while, she had just become tired of it. Kalama had never been a social animal but now it seemed like her aura was enough to frighten people off, which in turn only fuelled her resentment towards others.

However, she had reluctantly been convinced to come along and to her credit, Kalama did have a couple of baskets beside her full of pumpkins. Despite her hesitance, she had taken part in this little job and was now quite content with watching her petite friend as she busied herself. Her expression did not show it but it was somewhat of a relief to see her closest friend actually enjoy herself for a change. Their road up to this point had been anything but easy and had taken a toll on both of them. They had both been scarred so deeply on that horrible night and even now, the effects were still incredibly strong. Was there a cure to their pain? Kalama did not know although deep down she desperately hoped there was. To look in the mirror every morning, expecting to see her old self, only to be disappointed was a daily cycle that she just could not break and the pain never diminished, no matter how many times it happened. It was as raw today as it had been on that first morning, which felt like an age ago now.

Snapping out of her depressing thoughts, Kalama would glance up and pick out her friend from the group of figures that were left, “Have we not collected enough yet, Aoi?” Her tone was one that you might hear from an older sister although hers was probably far grumpier. As she spoke, one or two of the other children seemed to jump in surprise, a reaction that did not exactly help Kalama’s mood. “I think we have enough to feed a thousand people by now.” She would stand up, revealing her rather tall stature, standing at almost six feet in height, her purple coloured eyes focused on her young looking friend.

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Going pumpkin picking wasn’t really the easiest going idea that she had come to the decision of doing herself. While the cursed girl wasn’t keen on going out much in public for extended periods of time, she was frankly being bored to death. Their curses were wide spread differently, but in the end, Aoi had been in the same boat her friend and her precautions gave her fears, sometimes nightmares. Those weren’t really ever told to Kalama though. Worrying her was the last thing she ever wanted to do, but at the least, the mouthguard they had made for her to wear was a helpful tool to hide the screams and mumbling words in her sleep or those being cried out as she’d jump out of her sleep.

But today was to help avoid all of that. To give the pair something to do while at the same time being able to have some kind of fun. Pumpkin picking, while laboring to some, had Aoi in a cheerful bit of ideas. Firstly, she’d been much of a farm girl her whole life up to a few years prior to their curse epidemic, so the idea of playing farmer Aoi again was a little too enticing for her own good. Then, another thought came to her mind; What if they could make this into an act of kindness? Could they possibly be able to fix their curses by doing deeds with ultimately good outcomes? Well, what better one than getting a small cart, picking out some pumpkins, then headed to a small village to hand some out for kids to have a fun holiday! It made her elated to wanna do something for those who couldn’t again. A bit of a family tradition and this year, this time, she could do it with the only family she had left; Kalama.

Her work wasn’t really easy. Being the one whom had this idea, she hardly gave the details of it before they even came here, but she’d been trekking pumpkins in twos and threes back and forth, stumbling each time until she got around 13 of them in the cart. Letting out a huff of air from her nose she was ready to go for one more trip, but this time hand them off to a small group of kids who were deciding on what one pumpkin to get. If she wanted to be kind enough to make this count, she wanted to go all out as best she could. So, there she went, walking by Kalama holding the 4, large, misshapen seasonal vegetable when in one step, she hesitated and lost her balance. Making no noise, she fell onto her back where two of the ones she carried smacked into her gut and knocked the wind out of her. The pumpkins then rolled in multiple directions and suddenly, something caught her eyes.

She made no movement, instead her attention became wrapped up in the view she now had. Her eyes widened as she looked up and saw just how beautiful the trees and the sky as the background truly looked. It was almost mesmerizing, if not for her locking onto the strange breach in her new view. Her head shifted over to Kalama when she would just point up into the air. By then, a circle of crows would begin to squawk and circle around above them. Honestly, the girl didn’t know what to do herself, so she hoped Kala could help her out in that.

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There was the slightest hint of a wince from the white haired woman as she watched Aoi tumble over and with a sigh, she was soon moving over towards her so she could help her up. However, her gaze soon turned upwards as she followed her friend’s finger and Kalama’s eyes rose as she watched the murder of crows that had suddenly begun to form. Her mind naturally jumped to the idea that they were hostile and the other kids in the area seemed to think that too, as they quickly took off home or grasping hold of their mother’s hands. There was something strange about the flock and they seemed to give off a cold aura that began to infect the area around them. The mage, however, merely shrugged it off and simply took a step in front of her friend, as though she was trying to shield Aoi from the gaze of the flock. She did not care what their game plan was. They would not touch her closest and honestly, only friend that the Kalama truly had. Aoi was the only one who looked at her without flinching these days and that made all the difference to her. The curse had wounded Kalama in a psychological way and the damage was deep.

“I hope you brought your blade with you,” Kalama uttered to her friend out of the corner of her mouth, “As I have a bad feeling that we may need it. They are not typical crows and they are filled with magic.” Whatever they truly were, it did not seem to make any difference to their behaviour and as soon as she had finished talking, they would suddenly start to dive bomb the pair, piercing beaks and claws soon flying around the pair, trying to find an opening. Calmly, the moon mage would draw a circle in the air, causing a circle of small moon shaped orbs to appear around her. For a few moments, they would simply hover around her, before beginning to move on their own, homing in on the birds and exploding when they made contact. The birds would caw in panic, trying to fly away from the woman’s relentless spell but the orbs matched the flying creatures move for move and the ground would soon be covered with feathers. They were not very strong individually and a single orbs was able to easily put pay to a few of the birds. It was child’s play really.

The remaining crows would quickly fly away and start to fuse together, taking on a far darker shape and while it did so, Kalama would quickly turn around and offer her hand to help Aoi up. “I am not sure just what they are doing over there but I do not like it. Seems that we are going to have to play the hero and defend these people. Get ready Aoi.” Her tone was rather firm and solid, with there not being the slightest hint of excitement from her. The thought of fighting these things did not fill her with adrenaline, it just annoyed her that they had decided to ruin Aoi’s fun.

(529 Words)
(1034/1500 Total WC)

The formation of the crows accruing together was a rather sudden turn of events. Like something out of a horror movie, they began to catch the attention of more and more people until the parents were albeit scooping their kids up and running off with them. Being picked apart by some angry, hungry crows was not on her bucket list either, but she couldn’t help but be a bit in awe watching them. Seeing them gathered about in a unison and hunting together in a pack of sorts. It got her thinking. Places where those out casted or special by the order of society banded together. Be it they formed cults or guilds was among their own prerogative and desires. But that whole idea, watching the way the murder of crows acted had her flushed with a new inspiration. However, to express this, she knew she’d actually have to explain it verbally. What a pain in the ass...

Snapping free of her more childish like antics, she saw Kalama had jumped into action as the crows swooped around from other places. Quickly there after, she watched the balls of lunar light circling around them and then flying off to blow the crows away like she were popping balloons. Her eyes and head shifted around for a moment as she watched the black feathers raining slowly to the ground, again being lost in just how surreal and the way she seemed to take things on mentally since this whole issue with her curse was suppressed as it currently was. Again, her friend had to snap her back to the situation at hand and it was then that she had listened to her asking her a question. ”Mhm!” The muffled confirmation and a nod left the voluntarily gagged brunette. With a chance of being free of being stood over, Aoi kicked her feet up and pushed herself off of the ground. She shifted herself over and then landed on her feet, shaking small bits of dirt and assorted debris from her hair while she jogged her way over to the cart.

Sliding over a pumpkin, she pulled out a small dirtied cloth that she managed to make good use of. For her, aside from the clothes she wore, was the only thing left of the place they used to live together in. From it, she pulled out a rather out of place kind of weapon for a girl like her. A scimitar with a blue tinted blade, being the only useful object to her magically aside from the brute strength that she possessed. Thankfully, she had someone to help her learn how to use this thing, though she was far from a master using it. No true technique caused her to be a very inadequate, but her random twist on things tends to throw off many people.

As she turned back around, Aoi tossed the sheet back into the cart and then started her way back to the already paranoid sounding Kalama. She have come off that way, but the cursed girl was pretty well off in her suspicions. So if something seemed to bother her in a way like this, she wasn’t going to blow her off for it. And frankly, if this were the case, she was gonna do this the right way. Her free hand would reach up and grab a hold of her mouthguard, pulling it slightly enough to loosen it and let it drop, catching on the back of her neck and now hanging like some oblong looking necklace. ”Well, hope y’all don’t mind some sand in your eyes, sweetheart~” A coy, sharp toothed grin left the brunette’s mouth in a rather off sort of accent.

Taking off, she would dart past the other girl and jump off the ground. Her arm stretched over her chest with the sword over her free arm. Her arm then swung across, first striking the bulky looking crow with a slash before a stream of sand would whip in after, striking it again. With it, the sand would begin to fill the around, circling around and expanding. It pushed the people out of the tornado, expelling them from the patch while it continued to knock into the crow and sending it further and further up as the stream carried on until it looked to form just a large tornado of sand. ”Have no fear, Kal! I ain’t gonna be too long. But I do have to ask ya somethin’ while we’re here.” Her attention focused away from the crow lord as it became released from her sandy tornado. ”Why don’t we go join one of them mage guilds?” She asked, looking now onto Kalama for a moment.

Without even looking away, her sword held hand swung up and with it, decapitated the crow lord before it crashed into the ground with a small crack in the ground and then bouncing away by a good foot or two, the head rolling around then stopping by the corpse. ”Them crows got me thinkin’. I know we ain’t too keen on wanting to be ‘round others, but we have to face that we can’t just be isolated all the time. Think it over. One of them Wizard of Oz reject scarecrows done showed up for ya, Dorothy.” With an informative nod to behind her, Aoi pointed out the new enemy which began to cackle in a rather annoying fashion. She was gonna take pride watching her friend rip this one to shreds.

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The white haired woman did not look amused by Aoi’s suggestion and she was ominously silent as her friend finished off the crow lord. It was not something that appealed to her at first and there was an awful amount of doubt inside her about them even being accepted into such a place. She automatically jumped to the negative, a trait that seemed to have only grown stronger since the curse had taken place and she did ponder if that was part of hers. Guilds were places of life, light and joy. Where was that in her now? She felt like an empty shell at times, with nothing but her darker thoughts to comfort her. “They will turn us away the moment they set eyes upon us, as everyone else does or try to use us for their own personal gain,” she answered unhappily, “Is that what you want Aoi? To be a pawn in someone else’s game?” It was so difficult for her to actually say what she meant now, which in truth had always been a fault. There was just this wall around her emotions and feelings that she had built around herself and breaking through it was just beyond her. She had become hardened to the world around her, whether she wished it or not. There were just too many scars.

Whatever else she might have said was swiftly cut short as she heeded Aoi’s warning and turned around. Standing before her was a strange scarecrow with a deranged smile on its face, cackling insanely. With a slight roll of her eyes, Kalama would reach a hand out in front of her, creating a blade of pure moonlight, as well as creating an armour of the same substance that surrounded her body. She would sprint towards the creature but just as it was about to swing to meet her, the mage would suddenly vanish from sight completely and reappear from behind him. With a cry, he would try to turn but was far too slow, resulting in Kalama striking him with a powerful blow across his midsection, before raising her head above her head and slamming it down, almost cutting him in two. With a screech, it would desperately slash at her, trying to at least score a blow but in that moment, Kalama would briefly stealth, leaving an after image behind and the moment he hit that, it would explode with the power of the moon, causing the creature to simply disappear.

For a moment, that seemed like the end but the purple eyed woman remained still, her instincts at their maximum. Another wicked cackle would then be heard, as one final creatures made its way towards her. It had a pumpkin for a head and a lantern in its right hand. Kalama moved slightly to the side to try and keep its gaze towards her but it seemed to be unnecessary. It was clearly watching her and after a few seconds, it would release a ball of darkness energy that the mage was forced to swiftly evade. It was a powerful attack but Kalama simply raised her blade towards her foe and unleashed a blast of lunar energy, which would burn the foe and cause it to stagger, before she inhaled a large amount of moonlight and followed her previous attack with a blast from her mouth. The combination of attacks were strong and forced the pumpkin to its knees. Unflinching, she would finally raise her blade to the sky and cause a beam of light to descend on her foe, bathing it in pure moonlight, before it became too bright to see. When the light faded, there was no longer a monster, just the pumpkin that had formed his head.

Without a scratch on her, Kalama would let go of her blade, causing it to return to nothing and then headed towards Aoi. It had been a pair of straight forward fights but it had inadvertently pulled her away from her self defeating and paranoid thought train. As she reached her friend, she would turn her gaze towards her and simply say, her tone completely deadpan, “If joining a guild is what you think is best for us then let us go ahead and join one but Aoi, if I have to wear a uniform then you are going to be in trouble.”

(730 Words)
(1764/1500)

(Event completed.)

The cursed brunette let off a small grown when she heard the reply that Kalama had given her at first. Of course she was right, she didn’t want to be used, but not every place was like that. Ever since they both became cursed, the white haired woman had become more and more introverted. She was cutting off anyone that didn’t want her around and it didn’t seem so fair to her that it happen. She felt bad and the idea was to help break her out of that wall she built around around her. Not just for her, but Aoi’s own doubts weren’t far off. It was just easier for her to be more open when she wasn’t able to speak. The one blessing in her curse it seemed, but the longer she spent with it off, the harder it got for her to control her mouth.


”Well no, but...-” She had no time to continue before the reject scarecrow insighted the wrath of Kalama and her moonlight magical abilities. The blessings she saw in her curse was that itself. That wondrous looking light to which she could bend to her imagination. She didn’t want to distract her while she fought, so she kept her mouth shut while watching her fight. In the meantime, she reapplied her mouthguard and took a breath. She needed to relax and collect her thoughts. Once Kal was done, she wanted to be the reasonable voice that she could trust. She silently watched not only the scarecrow and some haunted pumpkin creature try and stop her, but to no avail could they stop her friend. When it came to fighting, Kalama was a jack of all trades since she was able to use this kind of magic. It was inspiring to watch, to say the least.

When she finished, the mouthguard came off and Aoi took in a deep breath before exhaling and approaching her. ”Ok, while I can be a sensible adult. Not all places are like that. Y’all can’t just sit there closing yourself off to the world forever. If we ain’t gonna be looked at like normal people for this curse, then we need to MAKE them see how normal we are.” With a sigh, she walked up to the sandy tornado and simply pushed her sword into it, letting the sand collect into the blade somehow until the area was left barren. ”Besides, uniforms would look look so damn cute on us! Them skirts showin off those thick thighs~ The curves from them too~ It’d be better than a piece of my Aunt Bessies Pecan pie!” She laughed for a moment, letting the back end of the blade rest on her shoulder and then letting the more serious comment fall on a slightly more serious looking facial expression than childish laughter. ”And uniforms can also signify equivalency. I ain’t sayin we go out and join the Rune Knights. Fuck them. But if somewhere takes us in, treats us well, and all we has to do is wear a friggin uniform on jobs and the such, I say we fuckin be thankful! And if I’m wrong, y’all can kick my ass. Deal?”

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It was not as if what Aoi was saying was wrong but there was that nagging voice in the back of Kalama’s head telling her that joining up with others was only going to end in tears. It was always there, the voice, filling her mind with negative thoughts and making it even more difficult for her. She did not not honestly know whether it was a symptom of the curse or just her own natural pessimism but it was a constant presence in her mind. She wondered sometimes if perhaps the moon shaped marking on her forehead was meant to symbolise the loneliness of the night and that she was the living manifestation of that. It was not a happy thought by any means but it the more she thought about it, the more sense it made to her. The white haired woman had tried to find a logical reason behind their specific curse and so far, all that she had come up with was that it was something to do with their original personalities. Before she had been prickly but now she struggled to talk to anyone other than Aoi, whose curse seemed to have made her more extroverted in contrast to the moon mage.

She would have spoken then but her friend just had to open another can of worms by mentioning how they would look in uniform, which quickly irritated her, “I am quite happy with keeping my form under wraps, thank you.” She folded her arms across her chest, quickly becoming defensive, “You know already how I feel about this form and the last thing that I want is to parade it around for the world to see. Keep your perverted opinions to yourself, Aoi.” Her tone was a little stiff and contained a hint of annoyance but she supposed it was better than being depressed at least.

“We are not normal and as long as we are under the effects of this curse then we are not going to be,” she continued, “The scars that we both carry are not going to disappear and all we can do is try to adapt to the way we are now, as difficult as that may be. I am never going to be the kind of person who runs around with a bunch of friends and sees the world as a place of sunshine and butterflies. It is far too late for that. I just…” she trailed off and just shook her head, unable to get out what she was trying to say.

Returning to the topic of uniforms and guilds, she would instead comment about that, “If it were the Rune Knights that you were talking about then I would be wondering if you had taken a blow to the head. They abandoned us when we truly needed them and I have nothing but apathy for them. With that being said, where do we go? What are you planning in that devious little mind of yours?”

(501 Words)
(2265/1500)

She couldn’t help but rolling her eyes at the comment given. A “form under wraps”? Who better of a person to understand that than the one person who became more angered and feral when it came down to the fact she left her mouth open. If anyone could be angered over that, it would be this girl. Not that what was wrong with Kalama wasn’t bad or upsetting, however she couldn’t stand how opposite this woman had become sometimes. It wasn’t so much that this curse took their appearance and warped that to its liking, more in Kal’s than in Aoi’s but that neither of the two were anything like they used to be. It was hard playing the role switch, but she had to quickly grow up in times where her friend needed it.

Already gritting teeth, bared fangs and all had just led to a heavy sigh. She was trying to not explode at her, but she wasn’t as temper controlled as she used to be either. ”As if I don’t understand what in the ever loving fuck what a different form is! Don’t you forget I have to force this damn thing in my mouth like some damn mule plowin’ a farm field!” She motioned to the mouthguard by flicking it with her thumb. ”And I will not keep those opinions from you, because for god sake I think if y’all got laid that mood of yours would improve.” Throwing her arms up on the air as she spoke, she’d then bring them down, folding them at her chest while they had also begun lightly shaking. She could feel the prior and now current lack of use in her guard keeping her calm. Not to mention her angrily yelling at this point was only exacerbating it.

The more that she listened to her friend belittle her own abilities, the more upset it started to make her. What was prior shaking before was turning into visible, seething anger. Part of it was her own, while the rest was her own curse. And while she was ready to go off, she was obviously trying to control her own self to keep those thoughts and impulses together so she didn’t lash out and eventually attack her. She couldn’t do that to her friend again. Once was enough and she had to spend several days in a bind in order to keep that from happening. ”Well, if you’re willing to try, Ive been doing my research on places. We won’t be in a public setting apart from the members. We’ll have the isolation we both need, but it’ll allow us a chance to grow into the role. It’ll be some traveling to get there, but.. we also won’t have to worry if we kill someone... or at least me.” Several droplets dripped from her chin. The final straw in her curse turning her from civil to rabid.

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There would be a matching roll of the eyes from the white haired woman as Aoi continued on her with her perverted musings. Kalama was repulsed by what her friend had said and had no intention of getting laid as she had put it. She had never had such feelings about anyone, even before they had been cursed and she had pushed potential love interests away rather than draw them close. There was a time back in the village where she had regularly been approached by young men but every time her reaction had been one of anger instead of flattery. They had all had the same look in their eyes, lust filled and perverted. How many times had she struck such people? She could not even remember. Now? Who would even want her now anyway? The warped creature that she had become? Having those questions start to circle around her head and annoyed her further and did little to help her mood. Yet, as it was now, she just could not show how she felt, which made everything even worse. It was just a living nightmare that never seemed to end.

She did not comment on the matter any further but there was a cold glint in her eye for a moment or two which showed what her words and body language did not. Aoi’s words had stung her deeply and it took a great deal of mental strength on the moon mage’s part to force those thoughts to the back of her mind, to instead focus on what they were going to do next. She doubted that this would be the last time that this pervasive topic was going to come up though and Kalama sighed bitterly at the thought. She had never understood her friends obsession with sex and it just made her uncomfortable, as it always had. It was one of the most intimate acts that two people could participate in together and a thought that almost frightened her to be honest. To be co close to someone was enough to make her blood run stone cold and she quickly shook her head in order to centre herself.

Listening as her friend spoke about her research, Kalama tilted her head and tried to at least give the place a chance. It was so difficult to push aside her strong doubts and prejudices but for the sake of her friend, she would attempt to. The guild in question did not seem quite so rigid as what she had heard about some of them and the thought that the place would not be filled with large amounts of people was a plus too. “So this guild is in the middle then? Neither legal nor dark?” She eventually asked, trying to picture just what they were getting into, “We have both taken lives since we were cursed and I am not sure that I could stay my hand all of the time either. We have both seen more than our fair share of cruelty and if being in this guild means we can remove some of those who cause it then perhaps that is another reason to join.” She was genuinely trying to find positives rather than negatives and as her thoughts drifted back to their defeating the pumpkin king just now, they seemed to reinforce the idea. “Perhaps a life spent using our curses for good would not be so bad.”

(574 Words)
(2839/1500)

(Below is the WC that I'm handing in for us as a C rank job. Aoi's WC includes the post below too.)
Aoi extra WC: 1665
Kal extra WC: 1339
Total extra WC: 3004

Choosing to ignore all other mention of her prior commentary, Aoi wasn’t interested in continuing. She was growing hurried in her trying to convince her friend to get over her stubbornness and get moving. She couldn’t blame her for wanting to stay solo and alone, for a while Aoi had felt the same. Even at first, she wanted to keep away from Kalama from herself, afraid of what the curse was turning her into. Once the tow had figured out a way to quell the beast, so to speak, it was a lot easier for her to at least try and be of help to her friend. In her mind, it was the least she could do for the help she was. And hiding away now instead of pushing forward wasn’t what Aoi wanted. This curse could go south on them at any moment. The sooner they knew what they were dealing with, the sooner they could go back to normal.


”Surprisingly... from what I was told, the sons of bitches are legal. Again, from what I gathered. I could be wrong and y’all may be right in the end.” Then again, she wasn’t really told anything. It was more so that she read it on a couple papers on a job bulletin board prior to coming on this one. ”But, Before I have to put this in again, I have to say something. And I am gonna make it fast. I can’t keep pushing it off.” She paused, her breathing was starting to get heavy. In some cases before her curse took a full effect, she would black out, but others she would be fully aware of the rampage she went on. The hardest part for Aoi was ever controlling it or figuring out what made her curse tick. At least with Kal, she got a magic out of it. All the farmers daughter had to her name was a family heirloom weapon, which she was apparently gifted with the ability to use it. ”You and I both know I don’t admit to anything well... but I need you. Now more than any time in our lives. The nightmares I get and even ones you may have, it’s draining. I don’t care if I ever was cured, so long as you had the chance to be, then I would be fine with that. I just can’t stand being alone anymore. Not.. entirely alone, but you know what I mean. What’s any more fucking insane than isolating yerself as having little society interaction. I’m doing this as much for me as I am for you, and I wouldn’t put y’all through it if I wasn’t ready to do the same myself. I’m ready for any ridicule and bullying from others because I know for every one person who does it, there’s at least 2 out there that wanna help. I just want us both to find at least that one other person we can call our second, even if it’s the only other one.”

She would smile, though not so sweetly in appearance with the dribbling saliva and half assed attempt to hide the increasingly heavy breathing. ”So, why don’t we head off for the island now, huh?” She would let that be her last words before she fixed her mouthguard into her mouth and her legs gave out for a moment. Her sword left her hand and she just let paint after pant leave her as the built up adrenaline of the curse had begun to settle. Between that and the other potential of her body’s abilities playing a part in her combat, she was physically exhausted more than anything, but she managed to pick her weapon and herself back up and stammer off with Kalama. She would regain her stamina soon, but it would be a slower start for the two for sure.

645 words
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