01x07 - I Am.

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Lovecraft Country". Aired: August 2020 to present.*
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Based off the Novel this series is set in the 1950's; Atticus joins his friend Lititia and Uncle George on an advenure road trip to find his missing father.
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01x07 - I Am.

Post by bunniefuu »

[TV STATIC DRONES]

[BRIGHT TONE]

[GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING DISTANTLY]

♪♪

[TENSE MUSIC]

♪♪

Come on, light up.

[GROANS]

g*dd*mn it!

Mama!

Pumpkin, I asked you to stay in the car.

Mama, I don't think we're supposed to be here.

What does this have to do with Pop's death?

He was here.

[LIGHT MUSIC]

♪♪

[SIGHS]

I'm sorry.

I just can't figure it out.

♪♪

They need to tilt based on how they rotate on their axis.

[CURIOUS MUSIC]

♪♪

[SOFT CHIME]

[SWEEPING MUSIC]

♪♪

[EERIE MUSIC]

♪♪

[LIQUID BUBBLING]

Did you k*ll them?

No, they were already dead.

I just... transformed their blood into a potion.

- [EXHALES DEEPLY]

- Ruby, it's okay.

You have been lying to me this entire time.

Nothing that has happened since I met William... sh*t, you... has been real.

What you know of William is true.

Captain Lancaster did try to k*ll him, and in fact he succeeded.

So this has...

this has been about revenge for your dead lover?

Yes.

I want revenge for William.

But I want so many other things too.

[SCOFFS]

Just listen, please.

Please.

My father was a leader in the Order of Ancient Dawn.

What the hell is that?

It's a group of powerful men who wield magic.

They don't allow women to join.

I begged my father to teach me anyway, but he refused.

I sought William out to seduce him into being my teacher, to prove I could be better than the son my father wished he had, but the more William taught me, the more I realized how silly it was to limit my pursuit of magic around impressing my father.

William's spell, which I completed, was the beginning of bigger ambitions.

I could be so much more.

Do things most people couldn't even imagine.

Like f*ck me.

As a man.

I never lied to you.

The words may have come out of William's mouth, but they were mine.

I wanna know everything.

Right now.

No more secrets, no more half-truths.

Every f*cking thing.

The whole truth involves lost pages from the Book of Names and your family.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪♪

[SCREAMING]

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

[BELL DINGS]

You been up here all night?

I translated about half the pages.

The ceremony at Ardham was complicated.

They had this symbol, written in chalk all over the lab, which makes me think it's important.

And then they had all these weird mechanical elements I-I've never seen before.

It's not as simple as just saying the words.

Titus and Samuel and that entire lodge spent decades studying this stuff, and they all d*ed in failed attempts at casting these spells.

Not you.

Not Hanna.

She managed to escape the fire, ran right out the front door.

How you know she ran out the front?

[CURIOUS MUSIC]

[SIGHS]

I don't, not really.

This'll probably sound crazy, but...

I think I had a dream about her this morning.

Were you in the lodge while it b*rned around you?

♪♪

I might've had the same dream.

Uh, Hanna's standing in the doorway.

I felt like I'd been chasing after her, and I'm...

What?

You're what?

I'm, um, not scared.

Even though the house is burning around me.

How are we having the same dream?

I think Hanna might be trying to tell us something.

Warn us maybe.

But I can never hear her.

Could you?

She doesn't say anything in mine.

She's just standing in a doorway smiling with that book.

What book?

All the things to take when you're pregnant and running out of your master's burning house, and you stop to grab a...

The Book of Names.

No, it can't be.

If Hanna escaped with the book, wouldn't there be magic in your family?

I barely know anything about my mama's side.

She's the only one who survived the riots in Tulsa.

[EXHALES DEEPLY]

If the Book of Names is still out there, that's not just some more spells.

That's instructions on how to cast them.

Christina's going after the pages.

We gonna get the whole damn book.

♪♪

♪ Listen to me, honey, listen to me ♪

♪ I, I need your lovin', oh, can't you see ♪

- ♪ Let's do it ♪ - ♪ Let's do it ♪

- ♪ Let's do it ♪ - ♪ Let's do it ♪

- ♪ Do it, do it ♪ - ♪ Let's do it ♪

♪ Let's do it ♪

♪ Ah, baby, let's make some love ♪

♪ Baby, let's make some love ♪

Oh, come on, baby. Love me tonight.

Well, good morning.

Morning.

I figured since I spent the night, I could at least make breakfast.

No, what you figured, since this was the first time I let you spend the night, you would make a big old production out of breakfast.

Drop the needle in that record for me.

- Yes, sir.

- [CHUCKLES]

[SOFT VOCALIZING]

♪♪ There's nothing in your cabinets but whiskey, so I went to the store.

On the way, I ran into this woman with this cute little African scarf.

Would you believe, she said she got it at Marshall Field's.

[LAUGHS]

I ain't never seen not one colored go into that store.

♪♪ That was Bernice.

My neighbor.

It was at the bus stop.

She didn't see me come in or out of here.

♪♪ What's this, pork?

I don't eat pork.

They ain't have no beef sausage down there?

The Queen of Sheba herself don't eat beef sausage.

When'd you get off of pork?

Why are these grits so runny, Sammy?

I-I like my grits firm.

You... you know this.

What you gonna moan about next, that the coffee is too wet?

Too much sugar in it.

Why is it that every time you feel like we're getting too close, you make it a point to show me you don't care about me?

Did I say that, Sammy?

Don't put no g*dd*mn words in my mouth.

No, I'm not gonna let you play me crazy this round.

Hey, Sammy.

Wait.

I'm sorry.

♪♪ [SOFTLY]

Excuse me.

So it is true.

You are a f*gg*t.

I'm still your g*dd*mn daddy!

And you'll respect me!

Get outta here!

You get out!

Don't you ever call me out of my f*cking name!

Did Mama know?

Yes.

[SOMBER MUSIC]

♪♪

Why y'all come here?

[HUFFS]

[GRUNTS]

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

I, uh...

I asked him how he found out about your mama's family.

He said she had a cousin that survived the riots too.

He tracked a friend of hers down in St.

Louis.

We get Woody, yeah?

It's only a three-hour drive.

Okay, yeah.

He said he had to whup my ass so I wouldn't be soft.

[CHUCKLES]

That's not the real f*cked-up part.

The f*cked-up part is I told myself it was because he cared about me.

Wasn't never about me.

He was beatin' my ass, whuppin' my ass, beatin' my ass 'cause he's a...

[RAGTIME MUSIC PLAYING]

Thank you for babysitting, Ruby.

- I know it was last-minute.

- No, it's no big deal.

I had to get out of the place I was staying for a bit anyway.

Dee, you ready to go over the checklist?

It's all there.

Don't need to go through this stupid checklist.

This was a tradition with her father.

Checklist topped off by a travel comic for the road.

Well, I'll get her to invite some friends over, have a party while Mom is away.

Pick up her spirits.

Oh, right.

Thank you, Ruby.

[ENGINE STARTS]

Hey, Aunt Hippolyta, you heading out someplace?

A guide trip.

We were hoping we could borrow Woody for a day or two.

Well, obviously you can't.

- It's important.

- So is my trip.

We just sent out a new print, and Uncle George would not want you driving around here...

Did George put you in charge of the guide before that sheriff you say sh*t him?

No.

Then I sure as hell don't need your permission to do guide work.

Back up.

[TIRES SQUEAL]

Looks like we're taking the bus to St.

Louis.

sh*t, yeah.

If we leave now and get to the house and pack a bag, we can maybe get there on time.

Yeah.

Or I can go by myself, if you want to stay, talk to your sister.

[CHILDREN PLAYING DISTANTLY]

So where have you been staying?

How many days after I moved out did you start to care?

Ruby.

Things have just gotten away from me a little bit lately.

Do tell.

Doesn't matter.

It's no excuse.

Our last fight was one of our worst, and it was my fault.

I should have told you about the money coming from Mama.

All these time I've spent thinking about all the things I hated about her, it never occurred to me that I could actually become her.

I may not be a hustler like her, but I tried to hustle you.

For that I'm sorry.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

♪♪

I never heard Mama apologize in all her life.

So maybe y'all aren't exactly the same.

[UPBEAT MUSIC]

♪♪

[SINGING IN FRENCH]

♪♪

[SINGING ALONG IN FRENCH]

♪♪

Hi.

Ah.

♪♪

[LIGHT DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪♪

Let me get you some more macaroni and cheese, baby.

[CHUCKLES]

Excuse me.

- Ms. Osberta.

- Hmm?

How'd you know my cousin Ethel?

Our husbands served on the deacon board at First Baptist Church.

Sherman and I were married for years.

So y'all met at church and just stayed friends?

Mm-hmm, yes, oh, yes.

[CHUCKLES]

Not long after Sherman went on to glory, Ethel's husband passed too.

It was hard, and we just didn't want to be two lonely widows anymore.

So one day Ethel said to me, "Bertie..." that's what she always called me...

said, "Hey, Bertie, I don't know what's left for two old gals like us, but this sure ain't it".

[BOTH CHUCKLE]

But you asking about your mama's people, huh?

Lord, Ethel loved to talk about them.

They were so close growing up.

So close.

She ever...

say anything about the Book of Names?

I don't recall that.

Oh, wait.

You know, I do think there was some kind of family book, but from the way Ethel talked about it, I thought it was something like a photo album.

Mm-hmm.

Or a family Bible or something like that.

That might be it.

I've been trying to track it down.

I was wondering, did she tell you anything about it?

I'm sorry.

It's gone, baby.

It's gone.

Those white folks b*rned up everything in the m*ssacre.

You ever saw a photo of your cousin Ethel?

No, ma'am.

Well, let me get that photo album then.

Uh-uh, don't get up.

Don't get up.

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC]

♪♪

[LAUGHTER]

- That's ten.

- Ooh!

- Y'all didn't even make board.

- Ha ha!

When's Bobo coming back?

'Cause he know how to play.

Damn, I can't concentrate.

I'm hungry.

- Mm-hmm.

- When's dinner?

Let me check.

Don't want you two to have any excuses next time we kick your asses.

[LAUGHTER]

Don't you dare ask me when dinner's gonna be ready.

All right, fine.

[CHUCKLES]

But you... you never told me where you've been staying.

I'm still on the North Side.

Hmm.

With a white man, then?

Seems to me you oughta be concerned with your own love life.

Your boyfriend paying you rent yet?

'Cause Atticus seems to be the only man from the South Side without a job.

So what does he do to keep himself busy?

Oh, he's a big help around the house.

[CHUCKLES]

That house needs as much help as possible.

[LAUGHS]

It looked like you and Mr.

Fix-It were trying to hit the road earlier.

Tic just had family business in St.

Louis.

Why didn't you go?

Because I had my own family business here.

- [SCOFFS]

- What?

Get over here.

Taste this.

Tell me what it's missing.

Ooh.

What's in there, garlic?

What is wrong with...

You love garlic!

I might be developing some of your allergies or something.

That or you're pregnant with Junior Mr.

Fix-It.

[DISTANT LAUGHTER]

[UNEASY MUSIC]

Oh, Jesus.

[MECHANICAL CLICKING, WHIRRING]

♪♪

Oh, that's the church's woman's retreat I was telling you about.

Guess who that is.

[PHONE RINGS]

Who could that be at this hour?

[RINGING CONTINUES]

[OMINOUS MUSIC]

♪♪

Hello?

One moment.

For you, baby.

Hello?

Hippolyta's had Hiram's orrery the entire time.

She must've taken it from the house.

- How you know that?

- I'm looking right at the damn thing.

It has, like, a set of coordinates engraved in the top.

The way she was acting earlier, I think she knows we lied to her about Uncle George.

sh*t.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

She ain't on a guide trip.

If she's going where this thing's leading her, she's in danger.

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪♪

[MACHINE WHIRRS]

[MACHINE WINDS DOWN]

[MYSTERIOUS MUSIC]

♪♪

[ENERGY PULSATING]

Mass, rotation, velocity, and radius.

Mass, rotation, velocity, and radius.

The length of time it takes for each planet to travel around two suns.

, ...

[WONDROUS MUSIC]

♪♪

[LOUD BANG]

Captain Lancaster appreciates it a lot, keeping an eye on this place.

Hey, sir, what makes this machine so special?

How the hell did it get turned on?

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪♪

Over there.

Let's go.

♪♪

Speak up, gal!

Who are you?

Sir, I-I just got lost on the road.

Don't lie to me.

How'd you know how to turn this thing on?

[LOUD BANG]

Larry, is that you?

- Atticus!

- [g*nsh*t]

Oh, sh*t.

[MACHINE SPARKING AND WHIRRING]

No!

[g*nsh*t]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪♪

[SCREAMS]

[SOFT WHOOSHING]

[SCREAMS]

[OTHERWORLDLY MUSIC]

♪♪

Tic?

Atticus?

[BRIGHT CHIMES]

[DISQUIETING MUSIC]

♪♪

[EXHALES DEEPLY]

[GASPS]

[MYSTERIOUS WHIRRING]

Who are you?

What are you?

I am.

Where am I?

What are these things in my arms?

You can't keep me here.

You are not in a prison.

No, no!

No, let me out!

Let me out!

Let me out!

Somebody help me!

Somebody!

Somebody help me!

[GENTLE ELECTRONIC WHOOSHING]

Salt in the air on the beach.

Sufficient oxygen.

I didn't get dizzy when I wasn't in the ship.

Is it a ship?

Am I on another planet?

The sand was strangely springy.

No, I was lighter.

Not like Orithyia Blue on Mars, but just enough to feel it in my tendons.

Gravity turned down just a notch.

Come on, come on.

What would Dad say?

Gustav Mie.

He warned of gravity shifts in the future.

There's no known planet with sustainability.

Was she human?

number settings.

From zero, zero, zero to .

[WONDROUS MUSIC]

♪♪

Makes the total possible combinations...

[GRUNTS]

[GASPS]

Ten to the nd...

power.

trillion celestial...

panoramas.

♪♪

[YELLS]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪♪

[YELLS]

[ELECTRONIC WHOOSHING]

Let me go!

You are not in a prison.

Where do you want to be?

[GROANS]

Name yourself.

[LAUGHS]

Name yourself.

What the f*ck are you talking about?

Where do you want to be?

Name it.

Who do you want to be?

Name it.

Name it.

I want to be dancing on stage in Paris with Josephine Baker.

[WHOOSHING]

Go.

Go.

[JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING]

Ahh.

Ah.

♪♪

Presenting Miss Josephine Baker!

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

♪♪

[APPLAUSE]

♪♪

[WHISTLING, APPLAUSE]

Stop your gawking and do the moves.

♪♪

[APPLAUSE]

[CROWD WHISTLING]

[CHEERS AND APPLAUSE]

See, go!

[CROWD SHOUTING, APPLAUSE]

We rehearse for -hour days, and for what?

You make us all look bad.

The manager must stop with the American girls.

They always make us look bad.

And this one's the worst.

Clearly not ready for the big time.

Ha, you ought to take your ass back to wherever you came from.

Listen,

Cheri!


Cheri.

Now, we've all had those nights, even me.

Lord, you should've seen my ass back at Old Chauffeur's in St.

Louis.

But you've got to come correct tomorrow.

Now, here's the step.

[SCATTING]

[GIGGLING]

Yes.

Ah.

You're not in America anymore.

You've got to loosen up.

[SCATTING]


[GASPS]

Loosen up.

♪♪

["LADY MARMALADE" BY PATTI LABELLE PLAYING]

♪♪

♪ Hey sister, go sister ♪

♪ Soul sister, go sister ♪

♪ Hey sister, go sister ♪

♪ Soul sister, go sister ♪

♪ He met Marmalade down in old New Orleans ♪

♪ Struttin' her stuff on the street ♪

♪ She said, hello, hey Joe ♪

♪ You wanna give it a go? ♪

♪ Mm-hmm, gitchi gitchi, ya ya, Dada ♪

♪ Gitchi, gitchi ya ya here ♪

♪ Mocca chocolata ya ya ♪

♪ Creole Lady Marmalade ♪

♪♪

[SPEAKING FRENCH]

- Salud.

- ALL: Salud.

[APPLAUSE]

Salud.

Got a match?

Oh.

Hmm.

Got that look again.

Nights like this, I burn so bright, I feel like a star.

You are a star.

No, no, Cheri, not like a movie star.

Anyone can be that.

Me, I feel like the stars in the black of space...

magnificent, ancient, and already extinguished.

Most of the girls never notice when I get like this.

You know just where to look.

You've found that same thing in yourself, haven't you?

Being here has only shined the light on that old dead feeling.

Hmm.

They don't call it the City of Lights for nothing.

[SOMBER MUSIC]

♪♪

Now that I'm tasting it...

freedom...

Hmm.

Like I've never known before, I see what I was robbed of back then.

All those years, I thought I had everything I ever wanted, only to come here and discover that all I ever was was the exact kind of n*gro woman white folks wanted me to be.

I feel like they just found a smart way to lynch me without me noticing the noose.

Don't it just make you angry?

Furious.

Sometimes, I just...

I want to k*ll white folks.

And it's not just them.

I hate me.

Hate me for letting them make me feel small.

And I hate...

[MELANCHOLY MUSIC]

♪♪

Who else do you hate?

So...

Miss Hippolyta, what are you gon' do with all that anger?

I am Hippolyta.

I am Hippolyta.

I am Hippolyta!

[WHOOSHING]

[SCREAMING]

All that screaming won't save you now.

You're not making a baby.

You're in a f*cking fight.

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

[YELLING]

When you fall to the ground in defeat, you may find yourself asking, "Why am I here?

"Why should I bother getting up when I know Nawi is a great warrior, and I cannot win?" Well, I will tell you why you're here and why you must get up.

You are here because you did not believe them.

Your whole life, they told you you were free, and when they said that, they meant you were free to cook their food, free to raise children, their children, free to work for them.

They even lied to you and told you you were free to run the world.

[YELLS]

[GROANS]

But it is still their world.

You are here because you knew that all they offer was the freedom that a well-kept sl*ve could ever ask for.

Now, I cannot tell you what true freedom is.

You have got to find that for yourself.

But today, you are still too afraid to go looking.

But I, Nawi, will strip that fear away one blow at a time.

Now get the f*ck up!

[ALL GRUNTING]

And raise your sword!

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

[YELLING]

♪♪

[INAUDIBLE]

♪♪

[BOTH GRUNTING]

♪♪

[TRIUMPHANT MUSIC]

♪♪

[FIGHTERS POUNDING SPEARS, CHANTING]

["FIRE" BY MOTHER'S FINEST PLAYING]

♪♪

[ALL YELLING]

♪ You can run to the jungle ♪

♪ You can't hide ♪

♪ Run to the mountain ♪

♪ Oh, you can't hide ♪

♪ Run to the sea, yeah ♪

♪ You can't hide ♪

♪ Brother man we gotta be free now from the fire ♪

♪ From the fire ♪

- ♪ From the fire ♪ - ♪ Fire ♪

♪ Fire ♪

[VOCALIZING]

♪♪

♪ Well, you better be careful 'bout the things you do ♪

♪ 'Cause somebody's watching ♪

[VOCALIZING]

♪♪

[GRUNTS]

We are here because we did not believe them when they told us our rage was not ladylike.

We did not believe them when they said our v*olence goes too far.

We did not believe them when they said the hatred that we feel for our enemies is not godlike.

They say that to women like us because they know what happens when we are free, free to hate when we must, free to k*ll when we must, free to bring destruction when we must.

That is our freedom, that is our prayer, no matter what they think of us after we grind them into the dust.

That is our love!

[ALL CHEERING]

[SWEEPING MUSIC]

♪♪

[SOLDIERS YELLING]

♪♪

I am Hippolyta.

George's wife.

[SWORDS CLASHING]

[GENTLE MUSIC]

[WHOOSHING]

♪♪

What are you looking at, George Freeman?

My wife.

But it was when I was trying to escape

that white room I told you about

that I realized that it wasn't another planet at all, and it wasn't a time machine.

Remember, I read you some of that one article - about the many worlds.

- Mm-hmm.

That's when I knew that the equations in the many worlds theory had to be accurate.

I certainly thought they might be before, but never, never could I have imagined anything like this.

Baby, a world where I can name myself anything.

So is... is this real then?

If you're on another planet Earth, am I still here right... right now?

I don't know what...

exactly it all means.

But...

God, it feels real.

- That's what matters.

- Yes.

And after all your adventures, everything you saw, you still named yourself my wife.

[GENTLE MUSIC]

♪♪

What's wrong?

♪♪

I think now I can name this thing that's been eating at me quietly, so quiet.

Sometimes, I thought I was... tired, Sad, or...

missing you when you were out on the road, but really, I was...

I was angry.

So angry.

Because for so much of my life, I've been shrinking.

When I was a kid, I thought I was big enough to have every right to name something out of this world, and then I just started shrinking myself.

By the time I met you, I'd already gotten so small.

And I thought you knew how big I wanted to be.

I thought you saw me.

But you just stood by and let me shrink myself more for you.

Hey, uh, Hippolyta...

Hippolyta, why didn't you... you tell me you felt this way?

I tried.

I tried so many times.

I tried.

You... you had to see that.

May-maybe I did, but I-I-I...

I fell in love with you because you were so curious, and I knew deep down inside, there was a...

there was a discoverer in you, but...

[PENSIVE MUSIC]

♪♪

You're right.

I led you, helped you shrink so we could have a family, so that I could go and do what I had to do and know that you were safe at home, waiting for me.

♪♪

I'm so sorry.

I see now what that cost you.

[TENDER MUSIC]

♪♪

I see you now, Hippolyta Freeman.

And I want you to be as big as you can be.

I am Hippolyta.

Discoverer.

[OTHERWORLDLY MUSIC]

♪♪

[WHOOSHING]

I'm not real. I'm just like you.

You don't exist in this society.

[ALIENS CHIRRUPING]

If you did, your people wouldn't be

seeking equal rights.

[ALIENS CHIRRUPING]

You're not real.

If you were, you'd have some status

among the nations of the world.

[BEEPING]

So we're both myths.

I do not come to you as a reality.

I come to you as the myth.

[WARM MUSIC]

♪♪

Because that's what Black people are.

Myths.

♪♪

I got curious.

Now that you've named yourself, we can fully integrate you into our society.

You no longer need the devices on your wrists.

Is the change permanent?

Yes.

And if I don't change, can I go back through that portal that brought me here, back home?

Yes, we can send you back to your Earth.

Hmm.

Home.

Feels like the wrong word.

How can I fit in everything that I am now...

[LAUGHS]

... into that place?

That Hippolyta.

She was so small.

But Dee...

She needs me.

Hmm.

[WHOOSHING]

[WONDROUS MUSIC]

♪♪

[GRUNTING, GASPING]

[CRACKLING]

Aunt Hippolyta?

[ELECTRICITY SPARKING]

[DISTANT SIREN WAILING]

Aunt Hippolyta?

[SIREN APPROACHING]

Come on!

[MACHINE POWERS DOWN]

[SIREN WAILING]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

♪♪

[SIREN GROWING LOUDER]

♪♪

[ALICE SMITH'S "SINNERMAN"]

♪♪

♪ Oh, Sinnerman ♪

♪ Where you gonna run to ♪

♪ Sinnerman ♪

♪ Where you gonna run to ♪

♪ Sinnerman ♪

♪ Where you gonna run to ♪

♪ All on that day ♪

♪ Well, I run to the rock ♪

♪ Please hide me ♪

♪ I run to the rock ♪

♪ Please hide me ♪

♪ I run to the rock ♪

♪ Please hide me ♪

♪ All on that day ♪

♪ But the rock cried out ♪

♪ "I can't hide you" ♪

♪ The rock cried out ♪

♪ "I can't hide you" ♪

♪ The rock cried out ♪

♪ "I ain't gonna hide you" ♪

♪ All on that day ♪

♪ I said, "Rock ♪

♪ What's the matter with you, Rock ♪

♪ Can't you see I need you, Rock" ♪

♪ Devil was waiting ♪

♪ All on that day ♪

♪ Power ♪

♪ Power ♪

♪ I cried power ♪

♪ I cried power ♪

♪ I cried power ♪

♪ I cried power ♪

[HOLDING NOTE]



- [BRIGHT TONE]
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