LONG POST AHEAD. The most commonly recognized years for zillennial are based around PEW and are 95-98. That’s what I’m basing this off of. 95-96 being on the millennial side, 97-98 on the Z side. It could be pushed in both directions an additional year or two, and the purpose of this post isn’t to gatekeep but to provide insight into the (us-centric) zillennial experience. A lot of this may be subjective though I’ve tried my best to note when that’s likely. Please feel free to add anything I’ve forgotten or gotten wrong.
Early years- (1995-2003)
During this period we ranged from infancy to mid-childhood. We watched shows such as Blues Clues, Barney, Franklin, Arthur, Dragon Tales, teletubbies, Dora, Maggie and The Ferocious Beast, Rugrats, Hey Arnold, The Wild Thornberries, Lizzie Mcquire, Catdog, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Goosebumps, Rocket Power, Even Stevens, SpongeBob, etc. During the Web 1.0 and dial-up era we mostly played computer games like Pajama Sam, Freddy Fish, Spy Fox, and on flash sites like Neopets, Nick and Disney. We listened to radio Disney, and a lot of us probably tried to win contests (I won tadpoles and they kept dying. They’d send new ones and they’d always die after growing legs lol…), we also remember the sea monkey and ant farm craze and probably accidentally dumped some out. We started elementary school at some point within these years, and the millennial side (95 and early-mid 96) were already in school by 9/11. Late 96, 97 and 98 were in preschool or of the age to be. We played with toys such as Beanie Babies- and are the very last to potentially remember the craze-, Barbie’s, GI Joes, Nerf, Polly Pocket, Bratz (I personally hated these), various baby dolls, Easy Bake Ovens, Shrink-a-dinks, Y2K toys such as Furbys, poo-chis, Robobaby, etc. If we played any video games it was probably on a game boy, game cube or ps2. If they had one, our parents cellphones probably had antennas lol (mine did) and we used landlines. We went to blockbuster and got VHS tapes then DVDs and remember both. Our parents used physical maps when we went on vacation. We listened to a blend of cassette tapes and cds. Malls, bowling allies, skating rinks, and places like Discovery Zone were very common family activities and they were slam packed- in stark contrast with how these places started to look in our mid childhood.
Mid-childhood- 2003/2004-2006
All of us were in elementary school together in these years. We watched some of the same shows as above and new ones for older kids like Drake and Josh, Neds Declassified, Unfabulous, Zoey 101, Phil of the Future, That’s So Raven, Suite Life, etc. We got rid of dial-up and entered the Web 2.0 era. We played computer games, played on our Gameboy Advance SPs, PSPs, DS, Xbox 360, Gamecube, PS2 and 3, and on websites such as miniclip, obscure open world online games (maybe that was just me lol), and later Webkinz. We played with toys like Furreal Friends, tamagotchis (they had a big resurgence in the mid-00s), moon shoes, razor scooters, pogo sticks, Heelie’s, RipSticks bop-it, etc. (Some of these were in our early childhood too). We listened to music on CD players and MP3s, then later iPods. We went to blockbuster for DVDs then at the tail end we ordered DVDs by mail from Netflix. On demand was popular as well. Skateboarding had a resurgence in popularity during this era so we probably tried to learn that, later on it would be long boarding. We printed out Mapquest directions for our parents before trips. We discovered YouTube and watched videos like Charlie the Unicorn and Fred. We learned about the Iraq war in real time, we were all very concerned about the hole in the ozone layer, we remember hurricane Katrina, the tsunami of ‘04, and those of us who lived in/visited nyc remember seeing the rubble from 9/11. We were exposed to a lot of trash tv (especially those with older siblings like me) like Maury, the simple life, Dr.Phil, Jackass, SouthPark, etc. We called our friends on our landlines and talked for hours (my friends and I did at least) and there were still always kids playing in the neighborhood in a way that wasn’t so common just a few years later. We explored the internet with awe and curiosity, for better or worse.
Late childhood-early teen years 2006/7-2010-
All of us had at least one full year of middle school in this era, and the millennial side started HS (1995 babies in 2009, and late 95-mid 96 babies in 2010) During this period we watched icarly, Hannah Montana, wizards, and started watching more mature content as well, such as degrassi, Jersey Shore, skins, weeds, one tree hill, breaking bad, vampire diaries, how I met your mother, etc. just as examples. We had cable, on demand and DVDs we ordered from Netflix, and some families began streaming in this time. We listened to music on iPods when on our own, and to the radio and CDs in the car and when with others. A lot of us got more into pop culture in this period- we loved Miley, the jobros, t-swift, Coldplay, Akon, Pink, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Red Hot CP, Green Day, Artic Monkeys, Rhianna, Chris Brown (yikes), Beyonce, Kanye, I could go on forever. It was the recession and we were old enough to understand but only really care if it affected us or our loved ones because we were hormonal tweens/teens who honestly lived a much simpler life than tweens/teens now due to lack of social media (trust me, MySpace doesn’t count). Otherwise, we remember the recession for playing with friends in all of the abandoned under-construction neighborhoods (they were everywhere and no one could really stop you from going into the unfinished houses 🙃 ) During this period we likely got our first flip phones. I got mine for my 12th bday in ‘08 and it was tiny. Later I got a razr, a keyboard AND keypad phone (it slid both ways and got stolen when I was in 8th lol), and then a knockoff blackberry in 2010. This was very normal for the time to have gone through this progression with phones. 95-96 (and maybe 97) likely used MySpace in middle school (I did, 07-09), we used AIM to talk to friends, but still talked to them on our landlines for hours because all of our phones were pay-as-you-go without unlimited texts or minutes. We made prank phone calls, played ZAP, took stupid pictures on our digital cameras, made even more stupid videos/skits on our camcorders, smoked smarties, spent time online on the most random and obscure websites, discovered porn and watched 2 girls 1 cup, read Harry Potter if we hadn’t already, obsessed over Twilight (we were the target age demographic for it at its peak), wore LiveStrong bracelets, saw the rise of 80s nostalgia with shutter shades in every aisle, we secretly bought 5 hour energies, Red Bull and monsters at gas stations with our friends and thought we were bad, ate takis, either were a, or knew scene kids (rawr), went to the malls that were already in the midst of dying, got dropped off at theme parks (only if you lived near one ofc), roamed freely with neighbor friends but noticed a lot of the younger kids weren’t doing the same (completely subjective- it was my experience), people said “gay” and the R word as a derogative all the time, everyone wore either Abercrombie, hollister, Delia’s, OR pac sun, hot topic, Spencer’s. Everyone was into being “random” and everything was “awk”. We hung out with friends at shopping centers doing absolutely nothing and toward the later end of this era… stole half smoked cigs from ash trays (maybe my friends and I were just losers tho), we largely got our facebooks at the end of this era or right at the start of the next. Some of us (like me) started experimenting with alcohol and weed.
Main teens years- early adulthood (2010-2015/16)
We all shared at least one year of high school together (when CO 2013 were seniors). A lot changed during this era as you all know. When we were finishing middle school and starting high school, pretty much no one had an iPhone. Most of us had knock-off (or real for the rich kids) blackberries during this period and they didn’t connect to the internet. We got better phone plans though, so we largely no longer used landlines for calls. We all got Facebook and used Facebook messenger constantly. MySpace and AIM disappeared from relevancy at the very beginning of this era as Facebook was just where it was at (poke). We updated our status every few hours, “Anycatch is MY SISTER IS SO ANNOYING UGH” iykyk. Our families replaced our CRT monitors and everything looked “fake” on tv for a while (soap opera effect). Girls wore skinny jeans, and the “indie/hipster” movement came in hot. Everyone girl a “La Lune” shirt and wore scarfs, and every guy dressed like Mac Miller or dressed preppy. Sagging skinny jeans were in for guys too. A lot of people had a fancy and expensive digital camera they took everywhere and everything was posted onto Facebook- which we still exclusively used from desktops. We took shitty pictures in front of graffiti walls and train tracks. Because of shows like Skins and movies like Project X, and it being the electropop era, people were very into house parties and everything that came with them (drinking drugs sex). At my school there was one somewhere almost every weekend, but I went to a massive school with over 3000 kids in a well off area (but the student body was diverse regardless). We knew how to party and you wouldn’t find people on their phones when socializing throughout all of high school. It wasn’t something we’d ever been distracted by before so it didn’t happen very quickly for us. Longboarding was very popular, and neighborhood streets with hills were often taken over by large groups of kids longboarding. Teens still smoked cigs and camel crushes were popular. Because there weren’t a million makeup tutorials, people had TERRIBLE make up just caking up their face (got better towards the end of this era and originated from the last). Around 2012, iPhones became a more common sight around campus and by late 2013, almost everyone had one or an android- but they were never out during school because they’d be taken away and it just wasn’t a thing to have them out. Instagram started to get popular around 2012 but exploded in 2013. We posted “indie/artsy” pictures and didn’t even care much if no one liked them because it didn’t matter at first. There weren’t any algorithms, reels, or ads, just our friend’s pictures. We were really the guinea pigs for social media and because we didn’t care we posted pictures of ourselves drinking and smoking weed. Snap chat came in around my junior year (2012-2013), but wasn’t huge until my senior year. I never used it. YIK Yak (and this was truly a zillennial app- everyone born in the mid-late 90s experienced the terrible YIK Yak) and vine were very popular for a while in this period and then disappeared just as fast. We played on the Wii, the PS3 and PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox one. We were all in a rush to get our licenses, and sneaking out was super common. We still spent most internet time on desktops, and websites like StumbleUpon were a lot of fun. YouTube became easier to post on, and there were no ads on it. When tumblr came along it blew up and we all “became artsy”. We watched shows like Breaking Bad, GOT, Weeds, American Horror Story, Girls, The Walking Dead, Orange is the New Black, Black Mirror, etc. We listened to Coldplay, Vampire Weekend, Lady Gaga, Kid Cudi, Mumford and Sons, Tame Impala, Slightly Stoopid, Mac Miller, Rhianna, Beyonce, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, The Black Keys, Imagine Dragons, Drake, Justin Bieber (but we hated on him), Post Malone, Lil Wayne, Maroon 5, Kesha, Adele, etc. on our iPod touches and on pandora. We quickly saw the world change and thought the rapid changing of tech (in terms of phone styles, tv systems, etc.) would never end- we were wrong.

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AS ALWAYS, PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THIS THREAD CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE ARCHON QUEST.

Please do not continue down this thread if you have not finished the archon quest and/or story spoilers significantly impact your experience.

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Road Not Taken, Anime Megathread

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Archon Quest Chapter IV: Act VI, "Bedtime Story"

You arrive at the Adventurers' Guild in Sumeru. Katheryne seems to have a very tricky commission for your docket, you need to track down a missing man.

Cold Case Commission

• Atossa: Every time we talked, it always seemed to be around dusk. Time always passed by really slowly. Even when it felt like we'd been talking for hours, the sun would still be at the same position in the sky.
  • Paimon: Well, time always seems to pass slower when you're relaxed, right?
    • MC: Based on what we've learned, this is definitely not a regular missing person's case. What Atossa just told us about time could be the key to unraveling this whole mystery.

Memories That Should Not Exist

That mysterious voice MC heard in their siblings memory, the one who called himself a Sinner, who is he?

• Dain: Let me ask you this; do you believe your sibling to have betrayed you?
  • MC: I want to have faith in them.
    • Dain: I sense hesitation in your words. After all, you still haven't figured out the whole truth of what happened. There's still hope for the two of you to reconcile. Irreparable damage has not yet been done. The Sinner you wish to know about, his situation is different. He and his fellow sinners have long betrayed me, and long betrayed their nation. His name is Vedrfolnir, "The Visionary." I'm loath to admit it, but he is also my kin. My older brother.

What happened between the two of you?

• Dain: There were five of them, the Five Sinners of Khaenri'ah. One day, I shall have my vengeance.

1. "The Wise" Hroptatyr
2. "The Visionary" Vedrfolnir: Dain's brother, Vedrfolnir, is the voice of the Sinner who inspired Chlothar to create the Abyss Order.
3. "Gold" Rhinedottir: Rhinedottir is the one who created Albedo
4. "The Foul" Surtalogi: Surtalogi is Skirk's master
5. "Rächer of Solnari" Rerir

• MC: If that's true, then the stone slates we found in that ruin in Fontaine, the ones that outlined Fontaine's prophecy, that was likely Vedrfolnir's doing as well.
• Dain: They were once people of great esteem in Khaenri'ah, those who carried the hopes of the nation. They were the best of their peers, outstanding in their respective fields. The six of us, together should have been the ones to prevent the disaster, the ones to stop the Vinster King from continuing to rock the foundation of the world. Yet, deep within, the five of them craved something more. They could not resist the call of the Abyss, and divided among themselves a power that could destroy the world. So they became Sinners, but also transcendent beings, each in possession of world-shattering power. When the cataclysm occurred, not one of them stood up in defense of their nation, not one came forward to prevent the tragedy, and for that, they shall never have my forgiveness
  • MC: then my sibling came into contact with your brother
    • Dain: Indeed. If they are not stopped, the day is sure to come when they will also betray the entire world.

Dain what have you been looking into all this time?

• Dain: I've continued to investigate the questions surrounding the Loom of Fate. It's been quite some time since the initial operation was launched. By retrieving the eye of the first Field Tiller, we were able to stop part of their plan from coming to fruition; However, it's obvious that was just some kind of technical experiment. The eye was integral to their plan, yet somehow, despite failing to obtain it, they've skipped the experimental phase and found some other way to keep moving forward. Our most pressing concern is to determine the purpose of the Loom of Fate. From there, we'll be able to deduce the Abyss Order's true objective. Based on the intel I've gathered so far, I suspect the Loom of Fate is related to the Ley Lines in some way. Traveler, you were able to observe your sibling's memories last time. I believe that was due to the fact that the Ley Lines in that area were unstable. My recent investigation has shown that Abyss Order activity in a particular area is usually followed by a series of issues with the Ley Lines.

---

• Dain: There appear to be certain memories in my mind that weren't there before. Memories of the missing villager. It wasn't a dream. They're memories; memories that suddenly appeared in my mind after I woke up. I'm certain I've never met this person before. I remember handing him the eye of the first Field Tiller. It appears he possesses the ability to "implant" memories into the minds of others.
• Dain: Whatever the Abyss Order is planning, an important truth has been revealed to us this morning. Their goal is still to obtain the eye of the first Field Tiller. I am the only person who knows its location. Perhaps implanting that particular memory was an attempt to interfere with my mind in some way.
  • MC: Is the eye still safe?
    • Dain: Your concerns are not entirely unfounded. I don't believe the Abyss Order is capable of altering reality like that just yet; However, considering their single-minded pursuit of the eye, I would say an equal level of caution is in order on our part. We must check whether the eye is still in our possession.
    • MC: (But, what if someone follows us? If we go straight there, and someone is on our tail, aren't we just exposing the eye's location? Maybe that's the reason the Abyss Order implanted that memory in the first place, To force Dain to confirm the eye's location. Given what I know of him, though, I'm sure Dain has already thought of that possibility. It seems like he might already have a plan)

---

• Dain: Just as I suspected; The false memories were a trap. The Abyss Order just wanted to follow us here. Now that they're in the vicinity, we should have a chance to see-- Argh...! Can you feel that? There's been a disturbance in the Ley Lines. It must be the work of the Abyss.
  • Paimon: Wow, you must be really sensitive to that sort of thing. Paimon doesn't feel it.
    • Dain: You two, use that mechanism over there and leave this place. The Abyss Order is putting something in motion. If you return to Vimara Village, I suspect you might finally have the opportunity to locate the missing villager. Just think of it as a way to divide and conquer.
    • MC: Alright. (Dain does have a point. But, something still feels off. What am I missing?)
• Dain: I knew going along with your trap would be the only way to meet with you face to face.
  • Abyss Sibling: You risked your safety and that of the eye. That's quite the gamble, Dainsleif. But I believe that I am the one walking into a trap laid by the Twilight Sword.
• Dain: So you came here all on your own? What about those followers of yours?
  • Abyss Sibling: When the Twilight Sword is prepared for battle, any army I could send would only be marching to their doom. Better that I face you alone. I know you must have a lot to say, but if it's a conversation you want, you'll have to defeat me first.

---

World-Order Narration

• Paimon: We're in someone else's memory, just like how you entered your sibling's memory last time! That would also explain why we seem to be at a time before he went missing, it's a memory, after all. If the missing person is someone who only exists in people's memories, then we're finally on the same turf! But, Bahram just said he saw him leave the village with someone? Where should we go look for him.
• MC: Let's go through what we know so far.
  • We pretty much figured out that the missing villager has the ability to implant memories into the minds of others. Lets try to figure out a bit more about him using what we know of his ability. Does it maybe leave a trace that would somehow give him away?
    • MC: (Implanting memories into the minds of others must be an imperfect process. There's no way the new memories could perfectly blend in with the old ones. There has to be some kind of tell)
• Paimon: All this time, and the sky hasn't changed a bit. That must mean time isn't passing! That's the tell of the fake memories! The implanted memories are basically taking place outside the regular twenty-four hours of the day. If the memories included the regular passage of time, it would be easy for people to tell that something was off. Like, there could be overlap or something. People might start to wonder why they remember doing two different things at the same time of day. That's why he makes sure the memories take place at a specific moment in time, rather than over a period of time.
  • MC: If we consider this in conjunction with what we already know, then the question of whose memory this is seems to have an obvious answer.
    • Paimon: This is definitely Atossa's memory!

---

• Atossa: So, you see, Granny Jehiet was a mercenary when she was younger. She just talks like that out of habit. She's not trying to scare the children on purpose, hehe. Oh, there I go again... always talking about my own things. Do you, maybe, have anything you want to share? Um... It's okay if you don't. You could also just Talk about what you think of me?
  • Caribert: I think you're an incredibly strong and thoughtful young woman. You'll meet many amazing people and live a very happy life. You won't miss someone like me...
    • Atossa: Are those your friends over there?
• MC: We finally found him. But why does he look kind of familiar?
  • Caribert: Friends? I guess you could say that. It must have taken them a lot of effort to find me. So I should see what they need. I'm sorry, Atossa. We'll have to continue this conversation another time.
    • Atossa : Another time, yeah! Okay! I'll head back to the village, then. Talk to you some other time!
• Caribert : It's nice to see you. I believe this is the first time we've met.
  • MC: You're...(Factoring in the memories, the Abyss Order, the Loom of Fate, and everything else, I need to think of the one person that can connect all of this together.) You're Caribert Alberich.
    • Caribert: You know me? That's quite the surprise. I don't believe I've met you before. Ah, I see. It was the memory, wasn't it? Your sibling's memory. You saw the me from back then. This is Atossa's memory. I came here to say goodbye to her. But, I suppose I'll just leave her a message instead. Let's find somewhere else to talk.

---

• Caribert: In the new world, they bade farewell to the shrouded sun. You see? We're both still here. In the end, he whispered softly.
• Paimon: Hey, look at those Hilichurls over there.
  • MC: They seem strangely calm?
    • Paimon: Weren't they acting super agitated just a little while ago? Why are they so calm all of a sudden?

---

• MC: What is this place?
  • Caribert: I suppose you could call it the realm of my consciousness. I'm someone who no longer exists in the real world, after all... as you well know. Ah, it's nothing. I still have enough strength to play the part of a good host. I've always hoped that I'd get the chance to talk to you like this, and now, the time has finally arrived.

What exactly happened to you?

• Caribert: Extreme sorrow and pain. Hope and regret coursing through your veins and a degree of Abyssal power that defies comprehension. Father told me that once I possessed all those elements, I would become the Loom of Fate. But, despite his intentions for me, I never truly became the Loom of Fate. I was merely used as a means for its "construction." In truth, I died the moment I set everything in motion. The "person" you see before you now is nothing but a remnant of consciousness leftover within the Loom of Fate.
  • MC: (Caribert is dead. That's why he no longer exists outside of people's memories.)

What is the Loom of Fate

• Caribert: The Loom of Fate is a device capable of weaving Ley Lines. In its primitive form, it can only be used to create and implant memories. But, as more of it is completed, its power becomes stronger and stronger. Until finally, it has the power to weave real Ley Lines of its own. Once fully completed, the moment it gains the power to weave Ley Lines, it loses the lower-level ability to influence memories; but it also becomes a tool that can change the entire world.
  • MC: That was the source of your ability to implant memories?
    • Caribert : Yes. I have the ability to control the Loom in its semi-completed form. I suppose you could think of it as a form of compensation. After all, its existence cost me my life.
    • MC: (So the memories that suddenly appeared in Dain's mind were implanted by Caribert through the half-finished Loom of Fate. I'm still lost as to why he went so far as to "introduce" himself to all the residents of Vimara Village.)

Why did you implant memories of yourself

• Caribert: I was wrong to implant those memories. I just wanted them to feel like I once existed in this world. As if I had a chance at life.
  • MC: (So that's why. I would have never guessed. But is there any kind of meaning to this? Does only existing in people's memories really count as living?)
    • Caribert: I know what you must be thinking. Why would I do something so meaningless. But I just couldn't accept it. I had to know what it would be like if I had my own life — what kind of person I would be, what other people would think of me. What would it be like if I could live alongside them — no cataclysm, no curse, just a quiet life in a peaceful village. I was curious, so I selfishly tried to have my own life. Even if that meant piecing together the version of myself that could have been, one memory at a time. I know it sounds stupid. After all my life ended a long time ago.
    • Caribert: Any chance at living was stripped away from me when I was eight years old, my consciousness left to mature in an illusory world of nothingness. Even the form you see before you is nothing but an invention based on my father's appearance — an imagined version of what I would look like if I had had the chance to grow up.
    • MC: (In the end, this all stems from the tragedy that occurred in Khaenri'ah back then)
• MC: You know everyone is looking for you.
  • Caribert: I know but, there's nothin I can do to make them find me. If I could exist in the real world, I would return without a second thought and surprise them with the suddenness of it all. But that's not possible for me.
    • MC: As I understand it, even though you only appeared in their memories, they all believe you once lived among them. Well, now that I've found you, let's continue this conversation some other time. Dain might still need my help.
• Caribert: Captain Dainsleif, Twilight Sword? No need to meet up with him. Things should already be settled on his end. As someone who could only exist in people's memories, the fact that I'm able to talk to you in my consciousness like this can only mean one thing; The Loom of Fate has already been completed.
  • MC: (The Loom of Fate is already complete? That means the eye of the first Field Tiller must have fallen into the hands of the Abyss. Could something have happened to Dain?)
• Caribert: No need to worry about Captain Dainsleif. He's absolutely fine. The only reason he lost the eye was because I happened to guess exactly what he was planning. Captain Dainsleif has had the eye inside his body this whole time. His plan was to lure the Abyss Order to a false location, capitalizing on their pursuit of the eye in order to have the chance to confront Abyss Sibling. He would then hand the eye to you, and tell you to take it away from that location. That way, Captain Dainsleif could accomplish his own goal and ensure the safety of the eye all at once — a very thorough plan.
  • MC: But Dain never handed me the eye
• Caribert: That's right. Because, in his mind, he had given it to you already.
  • MC: You made him think that when?
    • Caribert: Before you two entered that false location. That was when I implanted the memory of him handing you the eye.
    • MC: (So when Dain froze up back then, it was because a false memory was being implanted in his mind)
• Caribert: Given the tense situation at that time, Captain Dainsleif failed to notice anything out of the ordinary and took that memory to be real. I'm sorry, but I needed the Loom of Fate to be completed, and to do that, we had to retrieve the eye.
  • MC: (So, Dain had the eye this whole time until the Abyss Order took it away. I'm not sure there's anything we could have done.)

Now that the Loom of Fate is complete what are you planning to do with it?

• Caribert: I promise I'm not trying to conceal anything from you; I truly have no idea what the Abyss Sibling is planning. Teyvat's Ley Line system is deeply entrenched in the planet. Creating new Ley Lines can neither "replace" nor "extend" the ones that already exist. In any case, I had my own use for the Loom of Fate, and my goal has been achieved. After my father, Clothar Albierch, used the power of the Abyss to restore consciousness to my Hilichurl form, I suffered from an indescribable level of mental anguish. To comfort me, my father told me a story. That this was a fairytale world, where I had to take on the form of a little monster. That story managed to dispel my fears even if just for a moment. My goal was simple — to use the Loom of Fate in its near-completed form, when its ability to create memories was at its strongest to implant a specific memory into the minds of the Hilichurls. In that memory, I would tell them a story, just like my father did for me. It was a story of fairy tales and love. But, more than anything, it was the story of us.
  • MC: (So the thing that caused the Hilichurls to calm down back then was Caribert's story. That was the only thing he wanted. He had a device as powerful as the Loom of Fate at his disposal, and all he wanted to do with it was to offer the Hilichurls a moment of comfort and peace.)
• Caribert: I can't change the world, not when I lost the very right to exist within it. Implanting those memories, that was the most worthwhile thing I could offer. All that's left of my existence is a wisp of residual consciousness tied to the Loom of Fate. In truth, that trace of my consciousness should have dissipated long ago. My goal was the one thing that allowed me to hold on all this time. But now, the bedtime story is finished, and it's finally time to rest.

---

Talk to your sibling :')

• Well how about a conversation? The chance to just stop and talk like this is certainly not easy to come by, wouldn't you agree?
  • MC: Yeah. I almost can't believe it's real.
• That battle earlier was tough. The one against Dain, I mean. I didn't expect that after everything, he would still hesitate to raise his sword against me. Were it not for that, perhaps I'd still be no match for the Twilight Sword. Even after five hundred years.
  • MC: What exactly are you planning? What are you going to do with the Loom of Fate?
• The Loom of Fate, huh, I still haven't found a way to utilize it to its full potential, but there's still time before the Heavenly Principles "awaken." For five hundred years now, ever since the cataclysm in Khaenri'ah, the Heavenly Principles has been asleep. There's been no sign of activity. Not long ago, you witnessed the Hydro Archon destroy her divine throne. Such a flagrant disregard for the "rules," and still Celestia took no action. I suppose that's proof enough of the Heavenly Principles' situation. However, the Heavenly Principles will awaken. We just don't know when that will be, or what might trigger it.
  • MC: You really hate the Heavenly Principles, don't you?
• You could say that. Just look at Caribert. He was so pure and single-minded. The space we now find ourselves is a perfect representation of who he was — quiet and peaceful. Even as a Hilichurl, seeing the terrible sight within the mirror wasn't enough to taint his spirit. He brought comfort to the people of this world... even though he was denied the very right to be a part of it. So, ask yourself this; Who was it that deprived him of that right to exist? Of course, that's only one example. My feelings about the Heavenly Principles are too complicated to explain in just a few words.
  • MC: There's so much I wanted to ask you, but for some reason, I'm not interested in asking those questions right now. 🙃 There's just one thing I have to ask, one thing I could never understand. Why can't we continue our journey together?
• At the end of my journey, I arrived at a place known as "The Sea of Flowers at the End." Do you remember? A long time ago, when we traveled between worlds together. You told me you wanted to find a place in the universe where that one flower was in full bloom. To have a place like that suddenly appear before me. Well, would you think of that as a coincidence?
  • MC: You mean...
• I miss you. But as this war continues to rage, and as I continue to seek that final answer. I don't even know how to face myself sometimes, let alone my own sibling.
  
  • MC: What's going on?
    • This space has lost its tether. I doubt it'll be able to exist much longer. In fact, aside from our inability to physically interact with each other, there's something else you should know about this space. With Caribert gone, we won't be able to remember anything that happened here. Everything in this space will be wiped from existence including all memory of our reunion.
  ---
  
• Paimon: Paimon woke up a little earlier than you, so Paimon will fill you in. The villagers said they saw us sleeping near the village yesterday. They couldn't wake us up no matter how hard they tried, so they decided to just bring us back here. Oh, and Dain came by just now. It looked like he was injured. He just made sure that you were alright and left.
  
  • MC: He never changes, does he? I'm having trouble thinking straight right now.
• Paimon: We were in that memory, and we saw that guy you called Caribert. He was the missing villager we'd been trying to find, right? And after that Paimon doesn't remember what happened.
  
• MC: Caribert and I talked for a while. He told me about the Loom of Fate. After that, I can't seem to remember. (Maybe I'm just tired? I feel like something else happened, but why can't I remember? I'm not sure why but, it almost feels like I lost something)
  
• Bahram: The village organized another search party yesterday. It didn't feel right to leave all the searching to the adventurers. So there we were, searching away, when suddenly this one guy said it all came back to him. According to him, one day around dusk, he was passing by this one tree outside the village, and he saw our missing villager. There he was, sleeping under that tree all by himself. His parents came a little later to wake him up, and they all left together. They looked like quite a happy family, apparently. And, after that, we all started to feel like that really is what happened. Kinda strange that we forgot all about it for so long.
  
  • MC: (So, that's how Caribert said his goodbyes. That was the last memory he gave them.)
• Bahram: Oh, and we also remembered his name — Caribert. Now, that's not a name you hear everyday. Would've been helpful if we remembered it sooner.
  
• MC: Caribert is gone. The Loom of Fate is now complete and no one else will try to change the villagers' memories.
  
  • Paimon: Paimon wonders how Atossa's doing. Maybe we should go check on her? If she hasn't "remembered" like everyone else, we can tell her what happened. Hey, Atossa! How's it going?
• Atossa: I was part of the search party, so I remember what happened to Caribert now. I just can't believe I forgot something so important.
  
  • MC: Maybe he wanted you to forget him. I'm sure he wouldn't want you to forget him.
    • Atossa: He always seemed to appear out of nowhere, and now he left just as quickly. If Caribert wants me to forget about the time we spent together, then I'm willing to try. I relied on him for a lot of things. But, I'm sure with enough time, even the deepest of attachments can fade.

Group Photo From an Unknown Time (1); Group Photo From an Unknown Time (2) A precious group photo that has surpassed the rules somehow, being taken by some unknown person using unknown means in a space that should no longer exist.
The writing in the picture translates to- "You must get along with each other, the two of you."

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Achievements

• The Town Where Only I Am Missing: Investigate "someone who only exists in people's memories.
• Long-Awaited Moment: Without your knowledge, Dainsleif crossed swords with your sibling..
• The Proof of Existence: Enter Caribert's "realm of consciousness."
• Bedtime Story: Complete "Bedtime Story."

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Posts

• 08/08/2021 Teyvat and the nine realms
• 08/22/2022 Analysing the Letter found on top of Favonius HQ (Spoilers for Hidden Strife.)
• 09/06/2022 Ruin Machine Codes are likely based off Norse Creatures Real-life references
• 11/14/2022 The 3 Wells of Yggdrasil and Ragnarok
• 11/28/2022 khaenri'ah actually had a god.
• 04/18/2023 Etymology of Khaenriah, and how they are demonized in Sumeru
• 10/05/2023 ll Roads lead to Apollo - or a protracted guess at who the Sinner is using some of Genshin's real world inspirations.
• 11/02/2023 The energy systems of Khaenri'ah: counterfeit gold
• 11/16/2023 Pierro True Identity Followup
• 12/03/2023 Sinner = Fenrir = Third = Naberius?
• 12/16/2023 Why Rhinedottir isn't the antagonist. (Part 3 - Der Ring des Nibelungen)
• 01/19/2024 The meaning of the 8-pointed star
• 01/30/2024 My theory on Surtalogi
• 05/12/2024 Something about the crimson moon in Arlecchinos ult that I want to share.

Search the Sinner Post Flair
Search the Khaenri'ah Post flair

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Boughkeeper Megathread
We Will Be Reunited Megathread
Requiem of the Echoing Depths Megathread
Caribert Megathread
what is the loom of fate? (Genshin Impact 4.7 lore, theory, and speculation) by u/roozevelt

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https://preview.redd.it/44zox5x1v13d1.png?width=1601&format=png&auto=webp&s=0acaa55bb573f20ef8848f36f0af7a73e874965b

Chapter 124 Elincia and I watched the rest of the first round of eliminations from the comfort of a padded seat next to Prince Adrien's throne. In front of us, and hidden from the spectators beneath us, there was a board full of the most exotic delicacies: grilled meats, bowls of fragrant nuts and dried fruits, fish cubes floating in different sauces, small roasted birds, steaming loaves of bread, and bowls of fresh fruit. A servant handed me a small plate with an even smaller metallic toothpick. I was at a loss for a moment, but Elincia poked a piece of meat with the little toothpick and brought it to her mouth, shielding her dress with the small plate.
I imitated her. Despite being the Governess in a town far from important urban centers, Elincia was a master of table manners. Mister Lowell had prepared the orphans to rub shoulders with the upper ranks of Farcrest society, so they knew how to handle themselves in a situation like this. I pinched a piece of grilled meat, and a wave of familiar flavors hit me.
I must’ve put a face on because Prince Adrien laughed.
“Surprisingly good or surprisingly bad? Which one is it? ” Prince Adrien raised his cup of wine—a shiny silver cup with golden decorations.
“It’s good, perfect. It just reminded me of my homeland,” I said, appealing to [Awareness] to help me distinguish each flavor. It wasn’t a tall order, but I didn’t want to fumble my words in front of the prince. “Salt, black pepper, rosemary, and a hint of oregano and turmeric, if I’m not mistaken.”
Prince Adrien looked at the old sommelier out of the corner of his eye, and the man returned a barely noticeable nod. I couldn’t help but feel as if Prince Adrien was sizing me up in some unspoken way.
“Have you ever tasted black pepper and turmeric, Miss Governess?” Prince Adrien asked. His exchange with the sommelier passed almost unnoticed as the timing of the conversation was barely interrupted.
Elincia shook her head. “Black pepper is too expensive for a commoner to buy. Even wealthy merchants only buy it for commerce. It’s my first time hearing about turmeric. I think I can taste it, though. The food is delicious.”
“I’m pleased to hear that the food has met your expectations,” Prince Adrien said, picking a second piece of meat.
I couldn’t help but feel I wasn’t off the hook yet.
“You are an interesting fellow, Robert. For a caretaker, you have quite the palate. You don’t seem used to interacting with nobility, yet you have better manners than some people in this room,” the Prince said, glancing at an old baron who stuffed his little plate with a leaning tower of fish and sauce. “When Tauron told me about a local orphanage with enough kids of age to participate in the tournament, I expected something different, Robert. Farcrest is a tiny Skeeth pen for someone like you, no offense,” he added, looking at Elincia.
“No offense taken. I have avoided telling Rob how much he clashes with the environment here so he wouldn’t flee to the capital,” Elincia pointed out with a polite bow. She carried on the conversation surprisingly well for someone with the [Bad Reputation] title.
Prince Adrien laughed, although anyone could interpret his words as an invitation to work in the capital. I wondered if he still wanted me to be his Spymaster.
“I appreciate the compliment, Prince Adrien, but I don’t understand why are you telling me this,” I threaded carefully.
Prince Adrien hadn’t offered me a deal without running a background check. He knew I was from far away, and I had landed in this place after a portal incident. That was why Prince Adrien decided to employ me; I lacked any allegiance other than to the orphanage. He knew, however, that I desired to remain at the orphanage.
“Relax, I’m not trying to poach you,” Prince Adrien laughed between sips of wine. “Contrary to all the rumors and whispers, I didn’t kill my brothers and uncles. Before becoming the heir, I was just the middle child of a powerful family, which meant I got the privilege to travel the continent, visit faraway lands, and meet interesting people. Listening to stories is kind of a hobby of mine, but after traveling so much, it is hard to find new ones. People are more similar than we want to admit.”
I somewhat agreed with Prince Adrien. I hadn’t kept track of how many times one of my students showed me a video of their orange cat causing feline mischief, but it was more than I could count with my hands. Yet every one of my students was unique.
“So, what’s your story?” Prince Adrien asked, glancing across the arena to the pavilion where my kids chatted with Team Nara and Istvan Kiln.
“I was an educator before arriving in Farcrest, so it only seemed logical to continue teaching on this side of the portal. Chance wanted me to meet Elincia before I could learn about the Imperial Library,” I said.
Prince Adrien nodded as Lord Herran's illegitimate sons and daughters comfortably beat a small team from the Jorn Dukedom. I naively believed our team would have the best point difference, but I was wrong. Team Herran scored fifteen points over their four matches.
Prince Adrien gave a half-hearted applause after the Master of Ceremonies announced the end of the fight. He seemed more interested in my story because he turned around on his throne to face me as soon as the ceremony ended.
“Interesting. You knew about the Imperial Library, yet you decided to stay here. Any other Scholar of your capabilities would have decided to go to the Library and pursue a Prestige Class like Sage, Tactician, or Tinkerer,” Prince Adrien scratched his face with a pensive expression. “Considering your decision to stay and the number of titles you have, I can only assume there must be schools for commoners with a sizable number of students in your homeland.”
Prince Adrien's assumptions hit the nail on the head, which was strange considering the kingdom's educational philosophy: find the natural talent and have them level up as much as humanly possible. There was a reason why Holst paid so much attention to Firana but barred Ilya from attending his classes. Firana had the traits, the surname, and the natural disposition towards fencing. Those three characteristics were passed on to her by her family. In comparison, Ilya’s talents didn’t appear in her Character Sheet, so Holst hadn’t bothered looking for them.
“Am I correct?” Prince Adrien asked.
“Y-yes. We have schools for citizens with hundreds of students,” I replied, not using ‘thousands’ to avoid revealing the city's actual size.
Prince Adrien smiled. “I’m glad your nation is nowhere near my domain.”
Public education required tons of resources and logistics, but I wasn’t sure if that was what Prince Adrien meant.
Before I could ask why, the Master of Ceremonies announced the next match. The Imperial Academy cadets led by Holst against Lord Gairon’s team. I left my plate on the table and focused on the arena. This match was the first and only high-profile combat of the day. Lord Gairon, Lord Osgiria, and Lord Herran were among the three great dukes, and the Imperial Academy was the royal family's elite armed forces.
The nobles around us stopped eating.
“The loser of the fight will have their reputation smeared, while the winner will get all the credibility,” Prince Adrien whispered, letting his cup on the table and leaning forward.
“Preceptor Holst is confident the cadets will win the tournament,” I pointed out as the Imperial Academy team entered the arena: three humans, one half-elf, and a harpy with yellow and gold feathers dressed in black uniforms. None of them seemed thrilled about being there. I remembered what Holst had told me. They were about to be expelled.
“We will see,” Prince Adrien replied.
I wondered why the Imperial Academy hadn’t sent their best cadets. If I had to guess, it was some sort of political mess regarding the high ranks of the Academy not liking the current heir to the throne. I was curious, but my sense of self-preservation was stronger this time. I preferred to stay away from any extra political intrigue.
Both teams met in the center, and the aides carried the System Shrine Fragment wrapped in its copper nest. [Awareness] helped me distinguish the diminutive System prompts. Lord Gairon’s team was a mix of martial and magical classes.
Knight Lv.9 Berserker Lv.9 Duelist Lv.6 Champion Lv.7 Aquamancer Lv.9
A shiver ran down my spine. Those were a set of solid classes. Berserker, Champion, and Aquamancer were Advanced Classes, while Knight and Duelist were Basic Classes with outstanding attributes.
The Imperial Cadets weren’t as surprising.
Sentinel Lv.6 Fencer Lv.3 Brawler Lv.4 Monk Lv.2 Illusionist Lv.1
The cadet with the highest level was the harpy. She was only level six.
“Are they at risk of being expelled because they didn’t level up enough?” I asked.
Elincia told me that people usually reach level ten during the first year after obtaining their classes. Reaching level twenty took three to five years. Then came the dreaded first soft cap, which slowed the leveling process dramatically. It had taken Elincia about eight years to reach level 24, but she had to split his time between the kids, gathering materials, and advancing her class.
The cadets seemed far from the desired level.
“I’m prohibited from revealing the Academy methods,” Prince Adrien said, scratching his jawline. “But… I wanted to reward you for your help during the feast. After all, the dukes decided to stay at farcrest because of your… investigative skills.”
It wasn’t hard to read between the lines; Prince Adrien begged me to ask. I wondered if the information was as valuable as adding a Transmuter to the ranks of the royalist faction.
“If Your Majesty is so kind as to indulge me, as a Scholar, I would love to know more about the Imperial Academy,” I said.
Prince Adrien grinned.
“I can’t say no after such a contribution to the royal family affairs. The Imperial Academy methods are a state secret, and cadets are subject to a Silence Hex for it, so don’t go around broadcasting it,” he said as Holst and Lord Gairon chose the pairs for the match. “During the first year, cadets are forbidden from leveling up. These cadets aren’t at risk of expulsion because of their level but their performance.”
The Prince fell silent. Despite the seemingly ordinary method, the puzzle pieces created a clear image in my brain. I understood why Prince Adrien was interested in Zaon and not Firana. The fact that cadets were forbidden from leveling up wasn’t the crux of the matter, but what happened while they remained at a low level.
I smiled.
Any crafting and support class would understand it instantly. There were two ways of improving one’s class: leveling and cultivation. Leveling improved stats, which for non-combat classes were pathetically low. Cultivation, on the other hand, improved the mastery of the class. For combatants, high stats reflected their combat prowess, so leveling was everything. Cultivation was an afterthought, considering they could brute-force almost any opponent with enough levels.
What I did with the kids was the same as what the Imperial Academy did with the first-year cadets: cultivation. My heart rushed inside my chest. It made all the sense of the world. Commoners wouldn’t bother grabbing a sword before getting a class because everyone believed it was a waste of time. The System wouldn’t give them a better class because the measure was the content of their character, not their previous skills.
Only a select group had the mindset to grind their skills to perfection and be accepted at the Imperial Academy. It took a specific personality type to achieve such a feat: obsessed, prideful, unwavering, much like Sir Janus. It was only logical that nobles made up almost all cadets; they were expected to perform to a certain level because of their upbringing.
Beliefs were stronger than more people wanted to admit.
That little piece of information was worth more than all the gold Ginz and I had been funneling out of the noble’s pockets. It made sense for the royal family to keep it for themselves. That way, they could have a monopoly over the best warriors in the kingdom.
“That’s Lord Gairon’s son. Esteffen, sixteen years old, level nine Knight,” Prince Adrien pointed at the arena with his toothpick.
Despite the cold day, Esteffen Gairon was a tall, muscular boy wearing a short blue and yellow robe and sandals. He had curly blonde hair, a turned-up nose, and perfectly aligned white teeth. He wielded a round shield in one hand and a short sword in the other. I couldn’t tell if he wanted me to buy war bonds, join the Alliance, or the Boy Scouts.
The Harpy Cadet stood with the boring expression of a teenager who was ordered to assist with a social event or a family gathering. The all-black uniform didn’t help her to appear any less cranky. I couldn’t help but see a grown-up version of Shu, with her long sunflower blonde hair and golden feathers. Her slender frame matched her weapon choice: a leather shield, a spear, and a short sword in her belt. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her wings as the Master of Ceremonies finished with the formalities.
In the VIP box, the conversation died down, and the nobles focused on the arena. Nobody moved a muscle despite the Knight class being way better than the Sentinel class.
“Fight!” The Master of Ceremonies' voice echoed.
The Harpy Cadet reacted first. She grabbed the spear like a javelin and threw it, the tip gleaming with energy. The spell was so fast I couldn't even notice the moment she channeled her mana. Esteffen raised his shield, but the spear cut through the metal like fabric. He tried to pull out the spear, but it was stuck. He had to get rid of the shield altogether. In an instant, the Harpy Cadet unsheathed her sword and, with a powerful wing beat, pounced over Esteffen.
Before Esteffen could raise his guard, he was two barriers down. The boy’s expression was tainted with fear as the Harpy Cadet continued with her attack. Her style was flawless. There was no delay between her thoughts and movements; it seemed like she let her body move by itself.
Not even Esteffen’s Knight skills were capable of saving him. He summoned a floating [Sacred Sword] and [Sacred Shield], skills similar to my mana blades and shield, giving him three different offensive and defensive options. The Harpy Cadet remained unfazed, dancing around the spells without losing a single barrier.
The nobles were speechless. Only Prince Adrien and the army generals seemed to be enjoying the fight inside the VIP box. There was a reason why Imperial Knights had a quasi-mythical reputation. The difference was overwhelming.
“Esteffen Gairon doesn’t have it,” Prince Adrien sighed. “He will grow to be a Sacred Knight like his father, but he will ultimately be a level-slave.”
The kid wasn’t bad, but the Harpy Cadet was leagues better. I even doubted I was rival enough for her. Other than the piercing shot at the beginning of the fight, the girl hadn’t used a single skill, but the combat was utterly one-sided.
One by one, Esteffen's barriers fell. The Harpy used her wings to jump back and forth and keep her balance during the swift exchanges. She even used them as extra support when Esteffen went on a gambling lunge against her face. The whole fight didn’t last more than a minute or two, but by the end, Esteffen was covered in dust and sweat.
“Is she really at risk of being expelled?” I asked with a trembling voice.
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I have a male cat aged just over 2 years old. He’s a tabby/Norwegian forest cat mix. I’ve had him since he was about 6 weeks old (he was abandoned) and I feel like it may be time to re-home him.
While he is extremely cuddly and playful, he has a tendency to be overtly rambunctious. He parkours off of everything (he even injured himself once), he’s chewed through about 13 pairs of my shoes and several articles of irreplaceable clothing. He’s shattered my huge standing mirror and clawed the crap out of my small amount of furniture I own. He’s even managed to dig his claws into the wood flooring. I have to pay for something to be replaced almost every week when I have so much on my plate already.
Before anyone responds, the only reason this is an issue for me is because I don’t have much to begin with. No matter what feline discipline techniques I’ve tried, claw caps, tinfoil, vinegar, and some crate training, nothing has worked or helped. I even fostered another cat for a month to see he just needed a friend. It didn’t change anything. He’s also fixed.
I play with him daily for about an hour or two. We go outside for walks everyday for at least 30 minutes. He has several toys and cardboard scratch pads through my home. I’ve invested in cat trees, cat canopies and hammocks and he still has not shown improvements in his behavior.
I’m at my wits end. I live in an apartment and I’m starting to feel like he might be better off with a family that can offer him a life outdoors. I think he would be an awesome farm cat. As he gets older it seems like being a house cat is not meant for him and it breaks my heart every time I think about giving him away.

You can access and view the tree via FamilyEcho here.

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Y’Lek hoped that the aliens had understood him - he was pretty certain that he had been able to convey the idea of negatives and fighting when he was trying to communicate with the other alien by the command room, and the aliens certainly seemed to have amazing technology when it came to communication. Despite their violent arrival neither of them had been attacked, although they did have a number of disturbingly efficient looking weapons pointed directly at them.
He glanced at N’Dar’s corpse held in K’Rim’s graspers. It had finally gone still but it was probably an unsettling look. At least, he was unsettled by it, even if N’Dar had been Swarm all along. His spiracles fluttered in a sigh. So much bloodshed when they were so close to breaking free of them.
“K’Rim, put N’Dar down - slowly. Then back away towards me.”
There was a slight pause as K’Rim sized up the alien warriors. They were bulky, sure, but none of them were anywhere close to her height and their limbs were incredibly short. Although they were wearing what presumably passed as their warrior’s suits and she was wearing an emergency pressure suit. She clacked her jaws as she made her decision. She steadied N’Dar so he floated motionless above the ground and took several overly slow and exaggerated steps back away from the alien warriors, their weapons tracking her.
There was the sound of booming from one of the aliens before the precise clicks and hisses of Y’Lek’s own voice speaking Language, although malformed in syntax and composition, could be heard “No fight . You Far-Flung-Seed People ?”
Y’Lek clicked in agreement “Yes, we are crew of the Far Flung Seed. We are People.” He decided to keep his sentences short and uncomplicated as he didn’t know how well this was going to get through to the aliens; aside from the words and sounds themselves, who knew what concepts they might have different from those of the People?
The alien which appeared to have spoken previously moved its armoured head in a strange tilting motion, presumably as it deciphered what Y’Lek had said. The booming returned “We all Far-Flung-Seed People .” There was a brief pause. “We fight not Far-Flung-Seed People ?”
Y’Lek could see K’Rim stiffen in confusion as the alien claimed they were all of the same Family, but Y’Lek was quick to subtly motion her to stillness. He was diplomatic enough to understand that it was probably a limitation of the translation and concepts they had so far been able to patch together. With another click he agreed again and carefully raised a grasper to point at N’Dar “This is a not Far Flung Seed - we stop him.”
Y’Lek deliberately paused, hopefully to make it clear that he was making a new statement “We must check Far Flung Seed for damage.”
Again the alien seemed to be trying to work out what he had said. Several of the aliens seemed to twist their heads slightly as if trying to look at each other with their strangely blank helmets, although they didn’t seem to need to twist anywhere near as far as Y’Lek would have thought given their front mounted eyes. One of the aliens even seemed to make a very familiar shrugging motion - clearly they were able to converse between themselves on some kind of radio system.
Finally one made noises which were translated, or rather butchered into some semblance of speech “We no Language to Language . We Far-Flung-Seed People . You Far-Flung-Seed People . No fight .”
Y’Lek puzzled through it and eventually just clacked in agreement. The aliens slowly lowered their weapons and took up slightly less wary postures, although none of them entirely turned away from them.
Y’Lek finally addressed K’Rim again “Ok, we need to make sure that the…” He paused, unsure whether to name what was beyond the door even given the apparent truce they had brokered; there was no telling what might happen if the alien warriors knew only two of the People stood between them and his Family’s past and future “...door is secure.” he finished and swam over to where N’Dar had been trying to break through the security protecting the memory vault.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Stroud watched as the smaller black clad alien moved over to the massive bulkhead while the bigger alien remained watching them. He had no idea if the translation had said everything he meant it to, but the aliens seemed to be happy enough and he was PRETTY sure that they were “the good guys”, despite the big one more or less skewering and ripping apart one of the small purple aliens right in front of him.
He gestured at his fireteam who fanned out to cover some of the incoming tunnels but also keep an eye on the aliens in the chamber with them. When they were in position he glanced at his communications panel to ensure that it wasn’t broadcasting verbally before selecting the temporary channel he had assigned to Jones and Simmonds.
“Jones? Simmonds? You guys doing OK up there?”
“Yeah, we’ve just been relieved and Jones is having a nice lay down in a medical pod. En-route to the field hospital and quarantine now.” reported Simmonds “How about you guys - all OK?”
“Yeah, all OK - we have met up with friendly ET’s. You two get offline and get some treatment.”
“Roger that!” came the tired but enthusiastic reply from Jones before he clicked off the network.
Stroud sighed before stopping himself - he’d been doing far too much of that today. He was alive and so were most of his men. Fucking aliens! Jesus - he never thought he would lose men under his command after he was discharged from the Navy; these deep space mining contracts were as close to peaceful quasi-retirement as you could get for an old provost - who in their right mind was going to take on a ship which would sooner take a small moon apart than try and fly round it? Just the odd bit of agro from a cooped up crewmember or spurned lovers and all the cross training in lucrative technical fields too.
With an effort he pushed the memories of his all too recently deceased squadmates aside to concentrate on the job. He needed to report and get new instructions. With deft movements he opened up a new channel.
“Alpha Actual - go ahead Delta Actual.” The response came through immediately.
Stroud’s lip quirked up for a split second as he heard the crisp tone of Lt Doug “Diggy” Douglas “We’ve met up with what we think are friendly ET’s with the remains of Delta and Echo and our rearguard has been relieved and is on the way to medical. Need further instructions.”
“We have another shuttle arriving in the next few minutes with additional security teams who will be reliving you - Your teams have done amazing work under immense pressure but we need to get you all out of there and taken care of. In the meantime sit tight and don’t make any sudden moves with the ET’s but if they come for you, you be sure as hell to defend yourselves with extreme prejudice, OK?”
“Understood”
“Alpha are in position as your rearguard so we will pass Foxtrot and Gamma down to your position once they are on site.”
“Thanks; I’ve just spoken with Simmonds but did they look OK?”
There was a pause as Diggy apparently considered his words “You guys have had it really rough today but I think they will be OK - you know how it is, right? We were both on the Melpomene when that went sideways - we’ll get through it together.”
“Thanks Diggy. We’ll keep on keeping on down here then.” They exchanged a few more pleasantries before disconnecting. Stroud looked around at the positioning of his men before considering the big ET that seemed to be staring at him without actually being facing him. Those massive multifaceted eyes were damn unsettling.
With a cough he turned to resume his scanning of the tunnels covering his portion of the room.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rosalind sat in her chair and pored over the reports and footage from her crew on the alien ship - there was still no direct translation on what the name actually meant but the translation matrix was pretty sure they had established either what it was called or that it was alien for “ship”.
She gripped the armrest tightly as she read again the names of the dead - now with another four of her security personnel on top of the engineers and medics who had been ambushed earlier in the day. She might have been tempted to label it a disaster but she knew that by the protocols for both first contact and aiding a ship in distress she had done everything by the book - it was always tempting to ask yourself “but what if” however she knew that way lay madness, especially in the middle of something so extraordinarily out of the ordinary. There was no doubt she would face questions - harsh questions - as and when it came time to review her actions here, but she knew she had done everything as would be expected of her and given the information available to her.
For now it seemed that her crew had managed to aid the aliens in re-securing their ship; her crew had already made tentative contact with several scattered groups or individuals throughout the ship now that it had been pressurised - most of the aliens had remained locked in wherever they had holed up. It wasn’t clear where the alien who had led the initial communication had gone but from the reports it seemed like it and the other larger alien may well have turned up in the tunnels under the giant tree with Delta.
She flipped through several screens to look at the 3D mapping of the interior of the alien ship. It was clear now that it was designed to use centrifugal force to simulate gravity but other than the curved main and utility corridors not much else of the design made sense; there was nothing that even remotely looked like it might be a skip drive, chemical rockets or even cold gas RCS. Large chunks of the ship were simply solid, and a huge amount of the interior was “wasted” with this massive parkland and the tunnels that riddled the walls of the ship underneath it. Even the materials of the ship and the immense solar sails it had unfurled were strange; some kind of crystal that could dynamically channel energy.
There had to be some reason that they dedicated so much of the precious volume of their ship to that garden.
Rosalind just couldn’t figure out what that reason was. They needed a serious talk with those aliens, sooner rather than later.
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I'm finishing my 2nd year as an engineer (design and sim) student in a month and I've started looking into spending about two month working, paid or unpaid.
problem: my entire family tree got their job by shaking hands in person, so they have no advice as where or how to find an intership. Worse problem, my entire family tree is a clinic, ranging from radiologists to er comms, so they don't know anything about engineering.
So I've got a CV, that's bout it. Helwp!

As my mother is a very deep into her combined issues of alcohol dependency and hoarding, I am reluctant to help her when things happen like recently, a tree fell on her house. She says she doesn’t have the money to remove it. I know most people would feel a sense of moral responsibility to help her but I also feel a little bit like it’s a gateway to other problems later, here’s why:
1) she owns her home 2) she receives a pretty ok retirement income 3) none of her children are owning their own homes or in that amazing of financial situations. I have worked on making financial arrangements for myself but I also want to buy a house and have money for retirement. 4) she doesn’t bother asking me anything about my life and when I contact her, it’s usually results in her complaining about her financial situation 5) I don’t really feel like she gives a damn about me, I shared something positive about my life and she turned it immediately into something that would potentially be negative 6) she said she couldn’t apply for jobs because she didn’t have a computer to make a resume. I said local library, or I would be happy to type up your resume for you. She vehemently denied that she wanted help. 7) I offered to help her years ago with my dad’s funeral, she refused help from me, even after complaining about not having the money. 8) she spent so much time complaining to me about my grown brothers not paying rent but was never able to put a figure to how much they should help her. I asked her this and she just continued to complain about how she shouldn’t have to tell them this. 9) I became financially independent at a young age because I realized how much grief I would go through to ask my parents for help, even if they had the means, they would always make it seem like they didn’t. They did have the means financially, but not spiritually I feel, as they basically used money and control of money as a way of reinforcing the narrative about the family dysfunction.
The money being tight thing has always been the narrative from her, and she made my life hell for things like when I tried to get financial aid in University because she didn’t want me to know how much they made. I already knew how much they made and it was not anywhere near the poverty she tried to convince us we faced. Every time I needed help with something it was such a chore to get basic things like running shoes or whole wheat bread because “money doesn’t grow on trees”, meanwhile she thought nothing about buying a brand new plasma screen TV, and driving around in a brand new 7 seater Leather SUV.
I’m trying to have a financially responsible life of my own and I feel very little need to help her. I just feel like helping her is a gateway to other things later. Why doesn’t she ever bother to check in on me? Why does she assume that her children are able to help her when she doesn’t even seem to know or care what anyone’s financial situation is.
I feel like I can’t really see this situation clearly as it just makes me relive all of the other frustrating financial situations I faced with her.

On my Ancestry family tree I've traced my direct lineage back to a John A Heidler born in 1823 for sure. The trial ends there, however, I have a possibility from some other people's public trees, who aren't related, that his Father could be Joshua Jr Heidler, and his Father Joshua Sr, and his Martin.
John also has several sons one of them named Joshua. there is an 1830 Census that has the households Joshua Sr, Joshua Jr, and Absolom (bother of Joshua Jr), and the records match up for Joshua Jr's household's ages according to birthdates of who should be there at that time. but I guess the Census didn't add all household names until 1850, so I have no concrete proof. Also although the age groups match up for his 3 children there is a 4th child listed I have no info on. I use ancestry and have checked fold 3 and newspapers searching by keyword heidler and sifted through 100s of articles. no luck.I've searched wiki tree and family search as well, and plain ol' google. this is in Pennsylvania btw. What else could I possibly try digging into? I've thought about hiring a genealogist but I'm not sure where else they could grab info from.

A New Era of Cinema: AI Brings an Original Adventure Tale to Life
LINK TO TRAILER
I created an original story with Midjourney and animated it using Pika Labs and RunwayML.
This has been submitted to the world's first-ever AI Movie Trailer Competition (2024). Crazy to think that AI is capable of all of this. Thoughts?
Note: The beginning of the trailer is intentionally slow, but gets progressively more intense.
SYNOPSIS
In a vast galaxy of noble houses, meet Samson, the heir to House Galaxian’s throne. At 15, he abandoned royal life for adventure, but fate beckons him back three years later when House Applestrom destroys his family. To reclaim his throne and seek justice, Samson embarks on a perilous quest with allies from across the cosmos. Will he succeed, or will darkness prevail? The fate of the universe hangs in the balance.

The kids in my family were obsessed with the cicadas. Like, collecting little armies of them, rescuing them from ants, tucking them carefully away in trees.
Now they're chasing around all the flies and jumping spiders, trying to make friends.
We've done painted lady butterflies, which was fun. Easy to care for, and then released a week into adulthood. Any suggestions for other critters that can be kept (sheltered) outside? Especially interactive ones!

A New Era of Cinema: AI Brings an Original Adventure Tale to Life
LINK TO TRAILER
I created an original story with Midjourney and animated it using Pika Labs and RunwayML.
This has been submitted to the world's first-ever AI Movie Trailer Competition (2024). Crazy to think that AI is capable of all of this. Thoughts?
Note: The beginning of the trailer is intentionally slow, but gets progressively more intense.
SYNOPSIS
In a vast galaxy of noble houses, meet Samson, the heir to House Galaxian’s throne. At 15, he abandoned royal life for adventure, but fate beckons him back three years later when House Applestrom destroys his family. To reclaim his throne and seek justice, Samson embarks on a perilous quest with allies from across the cosmos. Will he succeed, or will darkness prevail? The fate of the universe hangs in the balance.

Hi all, first time poster and looking at other comments the people here seem friendly, so I wanted to reach out for advice.
Short version: My husband and I got the keys yesterday and the garden appears to need some TLC. The extent of our combined gardening experience can be summarised as, "Free labour for family". I'm looking for advice about making the garden fit within the rules but also beginner friendly/low maintenance as well as good gardening tools on a budget as we're starting from scratch.
Longer story: We got a short term let with a local church as the landlord. Naturally caring for the garden is part of the package but we noticed that it needs love, particularly the paving, the area around the garden shed, and the border around the lawn. We basically have free rein on condition we do not "change the character" of the property. There also seem to be a number of planters hidden in the border along with some abandoned ones adjacent/hanging from the house.
The problem is, of course, that we have never had to be in charge of picking/tending to a garden on our own before. We know looking at it the garden needs care because we recognise common weeds and there are planters that are abandoned (two of each type near the property are photographed, while the there are also some hidden in the border) because we have tended to such things for family when they need extra labour, but I can only recognise the rose, some mint, and a bunch of weeds. My mother-in-law thinks the tree like ones are black elderflower. I would like to make this reasonably low maintenance where I can since there's a high chance a vicar will be living in the house after us and no promises of green thumbs.
This is also our first unfurnished property so we would also greatly appreciate advice about good gardening tools on a budget (we have had to buy appliances and furniture to arrive this week 💸).
Any tips and ideas are gratefully received.
Edit: I did put a couple of photos on here but they didn't come through, haven't done that on web before so that didn't help.

I think I just hugely fucked that’s going to have serious consequences. I’m on a trip with my family. Myself (m36) partner (f32) two children (2 + 4) are on a British coastal holiday. There’s another large family whose teenage son( 16) is running riot. I’ve seen him vandalising, stealing and trying to intimidate younger children. Tonight I caught him breaking into an arcade machine to steal the money and prize tickets and I snapped and confronted him. He initially denied and I said “I saw you doing you thieving little cunt” he attempted to became physical, grabbing shoving, with me and at this point I aggressively shoved him away and he flew. Into a racing arcademachine footwell. It then de escalated very quickly. My partner had taken the 2 year old back to the chalet earlier so my 4 year old witnessed all of this. The lads family approached me threatening with police. Demanding cctv and I tried my hardest to tell them the truth that he became physical and I just removed him from my personal space. He just flew as I’m quite a big guy and he wasn’t. They are demanding to see the cctv which I said watch you’ll see I don’t actually hit him. However, why did I even confront him? It’s not my machine, not my money, not my prize ticket. I scared my child half to death. And probably now going to have drama for the rest of our trip. What if the park don’t care about the machine and just see an adult “assault” a minor. I could’ve ignored the whole thing and just told my partner a funny story about seeing some stealing. I had to be the “good guy” and royally fuck up. I could fully be prosecuted, rightfully. For what?

Thank you, everyone for your advice in advance I am turning the community out of desperation.
My story, 33 female living in London. In 2021, I contracted meningitis and was hospitalised for a long period of time upon my discharge, I was released to a service to monitor my chronic fatigue which developed as a result of result of the infection. But with no family in the UK and this being during covid times, whilst struggling with recovery alone, I was not able to keep up my appointments and sadly was discharged. For the past three years I have been fighting to get a referral for a diagnosis for CFS by my GP, who told me that it’s all in my head made up I’m silly and then it’s all because of my work and I can’t be in a high powered position after lots of fighting, I was finally referred to a service who diagnosed me with CFS. I am now under the Royal London College Hospital for integrated medicine and I’m being treated with stress management and currently receiving Reiki. I’m currently on a work visa and cannot take time off work or have access to any disability benefits.
I have been reading online about the use LDN and I would love to hear from anyone that has obtained this from Dixons pharmacy and has any negative or positive outcomes, so I can make a more informed decision around my treatmeant plan.
TLDR: 2021 had meningitis and developed CFS and was diagnosed Living alone in the UK with no help from GP around treatment Wanting to try LDN wants to hear your experience
Thank you x

First Previous Patreon Royal Road is up to chapter 31!
It was a cloudless night with a clear view of the stars when they arrived back at the apartment building. They went up to the tenth floor to invite Talal for dinner but, he didn’t answer the door so they assumed that he was out hunting for food or levels. Then Noah and Mark went outside to eat and make a tally of their gains today, or more like, Mark’s gains as he actually got two levels from the five orcs and that put both his strength and constitution at thirty-five each. “Status”
Name: Mark Miller Class: Healer(Uncommon) Level: 8 Subclass: N/A Guild: N/A Mana: 26 Stamina: 70 Strength: 35 Dexterity: 10 Constitution: 35 Intelligence: 13 Regeneration: 8
Mark saw that his strength and constitution were at a respectable three times the average of ten. But he was not satisfied. He wanted more power, more skills, more spells, especially skills and spells that could make use of his growing stamina pool, he could only hope that there would be a class evolution mechanic to the system like in the various webnovels he’d read.
“Not bad, I got two levels out of those five orcs. There are probably diminishing returns when you kill stuff lower level than you but otherwise, those Invaders definitely gave more experience than the random animals we’ve killed” Mark noted as he analyzed his gains, then he remembered the axe and looked to Noah to get it analyzed.
One step ahead of his cousin, Noah had already taken out of his artifact and used analyze on it. With his [Analyze] skill already at level 7 he was confident that he could at least get some useful information from the axe.
Orcish War Axe – Tier 1 A standard war axe forged for the lowest rungs of the Orc army. [Sell for 5 Mana Stones?]
“Huh, it says it’s tier one and that we can sell it for five mana stones! Give me that fire axe you’ve been using.”
Mark picked the axe up off the ground, it was already pretty beat up with cracks all over the head and knicks covered the whole length of the shaft from blocking that scout’s axe repeatedly. He walked over to sit next to Noah as he analyzed the axes.
Fire Axe – Tier 0 Standard Earth fire axe mainly used for chopping down doors or windows. [Cannot be sold]
“Well damn, it’s tier zero and we can’t even sell it for anything. No wonder though that that axe you got from the orc cut through its head like it was butter, weapons apparently have tiers now.” Noah weighed the two axes in his hands as if trying to ascertain if weight had anything to do with tiers but, he found that the fire axe actually weighed more than the war axe.
“Hmmm, so we’ve got five axes, I’m definitely keeping one for emergencies, you’re keeping two so you can dual wield or just have one as a spare and that leaves us with two that we can sell for ten mana stones.”
As mark listened, he couldn’t help but think out loud “Wonder if wands and staffs are a thing, you know, like in harry potter. I’d imagine that that would be the weapon of choice for a master of all four elements like you”
“Great idea! Let’s check out the store, I’ll go look up wands and you look up staffs.”
As they were scrolling through the store Mark couldn’t help but notice that the lowest tier a staff could go was tier two and those ones cost hundreds of mana stones each, he pressed his finger in the air so as to receive more information on the cheapest staff.
Basic Staff of Fire – Tier 2 A Staff embedded with a low-grade fire-aspect mana stone Grants the ability to cast basic Fire Bolt spell at lvl 9 Grants +2 level to talent Fire Affinity Grants +20 to Intelligence Charge (21/100) [Buy for 999 Mana Stones?]
It looked like a normal stick that you’d find on the side of the road except that it had a glowing red gem at its tip which was unnaturally wrapped in snake like segments of the wood.
“No luck on staffs, the lowest tier on here is two and the cheapest one costs nine hundred and ninety nine mana stones… How you doing on wands?”
“Much better than you, looks like wands are much cheaper than staffs but at the same time pretty trash in its effects. Most of them just give access to some basic spells, though I guess having one is always better, you can apparently charge the mana stones embedded in them so you don’t have to draw from your own mana pool which is pretty cool.” Noah said as he was ruminating whether to buy a wand “They’re all pretty cheap and for ten mana stones, I could buy one of the cheapest tier zero ones…”
“OH WAIT. We should have fifty stones each as a reward for killing those orcs!” Noah hurriedly checked his quest window expecting to get some mana stones but was only left confused as he saw that the counter only showed that the number of orcs decreased.
Eradicate Orc Invaders (0/94)
“Damn, guess we can’t cheese the system” Noah remarked dejectedly while looking at the ground
“Don’t worry I can give you the fifty stones so you can buy a wand. Besides, we’re gonna need your damage if we want to kill that Warchief of theirs”
Noah looked up and smiled at his cousin “You are really the best cousin a guy can ever ask for!”
“Don’t forget about the armors and the bodies, we can probably sell those for a pretty penny too.”
“Yup yup, on it.”
With that, Noah brought out the corpses of the orcs and analyzed them and their leather armors.
Orc – lvl 6(Dead) [Sell for 1 Mana Stone?]
Orcish Leather Armor – Tier 1 A standard Leather Armor made for the lowest rungs of the Orc army [Sell for 3 Mana stones?]
“Okay so we get five for the bodies and nine for the armors since we’re definitely keeping two for ourselves. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
“That leaves us with seventy-four mana stones all together, I should be able to buy something relatively decent with that”
And so, Noah got to work perusing the shop for the most cost-efficient wands, with the seventy-four mana stones he had, he could buy a wand that was relatively decent amongst the trash. And after a few minutes of scrolling, he finally found one to his liking.
Basic Wand of Mana – Tier 1 A basic wand for a basic generalist mage embedded with a low-grade mana stone Grants the ability to cast basic Mana Bullet spell at lvl 10 Charge (16/50) [Buy for 59 Mana Stones?]
Noah immediately bought it and perused some more. Then he had a thought “Wonder if there’s stuff for cultivation” at that thought, he went and put in the word “cultivation” in the search bar and a whole bunch of stuff came up, from pills and potions, to meditation mats that cost a pretty penny. Then he sorted everything from lowest to highest price and he found something interesting “Information Packets”, there were a whole bunch of them with specific topics per packet but what he was interested in was the one called “Information Packet – Basics of body cultivation” it only cost ten mana stones so he didn’t even think and just bought it straight away.
Thank you for your purchase! Scanning… Enough space has been detected… Your items will be sent to you within 5 seconds! Please take a step back!
Obeying wordlessly, Noah took a step back and five seconds later the space in front of him warped and distorted much like when his artifact first came to him. POP. Just like that, a wand and what looked like a piece of transparent crystal popped into being. The wand wasn’t much to look at, it was obviously just a cut off branch of some tree fashioned into a wand with a mana stone sticking out of its butt. He analyzed it and sure enough, it was the same wand he saw in the shop. Next, he examined the crystal and almost immediately a new notification popped into existence
Information Packet Detected… Would you like to download information? [Yes/No]
Noah immediately thought “Yes” and a torrent of information invaded his brain, it was as if the information was a bull and his brain was the china shop, it rampaged around giving him a headache then a few seconds later, the information finally settled down along with his headache.
“Why was that so painful, it was even worse than the time I got my class!”
“Oh, don’t be a baby Noah, now please explain to me what that crystal was?”
Noah grinned and teased “Nothing much, just an information packet pertaining to body cultivation”
Mark jumped up “Did you say cultivation?!”
“YUP” Noah said as his grin grew wider, he was satisfied with his cousin’s reaction
“SO?! HOW DO WE DO IT?! OUT WITH IT MAN!” Mark asked with the excitement of a child on Christmas.
“OKAY okay, just let me examine it a bit”
Apparently, he’d accidentally stumbled upon the basics with his spell [Enhance] which was to fuse every cell in his body with mana, but he needed to make it permanent and more in depth. He sat in a meditative position and sank into meditation. He toggled his innate skill [Mana Sense] on and concentrated on the mana within his body he then cast his spell [Enhance] and felt how the mana actually only wrapped around his cells, eventually dissipated and was released into the air through his pores.
“HEY!”
Noah opened his eyes with a start and blushed “Sorry about that, I kinda forgot about you hehe. Anyway, what you need to do first is to find a way to fuse your cells with mana like how I kind of do it when I use [Enhance] but more uhhh… just more, you know?”
“Hmmm, I think I understand what you’re trying to say. Can you cast your skill on me just so I can refresh the feeling in my head?”
“Sure! Anything for you!”
So, Mark imitated Noah and sat in a meditative position, closed his eyes and told his cousin “I’m ready when you are.”
Noah cast his skill on Mark and after a few minutes, he heard him mumble “again”. He obeyed and cast it again, and again, and again, until after the tenth time when black sludge started oozing out of Mark’s pores. A gust of wind came towards them and he smelled it, the most horrendous smell his nose had ever come in contact with. It was worse than vomit, worse than even the smell of sewage. It made his face crumple up and his eyes water. He immediately cast water ball and dropped it on top of his cousin’s head.
Mark was rudely interrupted in the middle of his meditation but had luckily already finished his cultivation as he was staring at the proof right in front of him.
You have successfully cultivated a [Body of Copper] Physical stats +10%
“I DID IT! HAHA!”
“What did you do?”
“What do you mean, obviously I just cultivated a body of copper! I’m a cultivator now! HAHA!”
“Oh yeah Mr. cultivator? Why don’t you smell yourself first.”
Mark paused and sniffed “WTF! WHY THE HELL DO I SMELL LIKE SHIT?!”
“Worse than shit actually.” Noah interjected as he threw three more waterballs at Mark, hoping that he could wash it all away. But some of the gunk stuck to him like white on rice or in this case, black on sludge.
“You’re going to need soap, lots and lots of soap.”

I don’t know how to word my question, bare with me.
I have a family tree that I’ve been working on for a long time alongside with family information. When I look at a few ancestors, they’re indigenous and says they’re from Quebec, Canada.
They’re not Choctaw as stated but some suspect Alognquin? But then on family search the person wrote in notes that tribes are possibly “Conchates/Couchatis” tribe but when I search that, it shows Coushatta tribe instead. Could it be that they meant to say Coushatta?
I don’t really know about indigenous people necessarily but how would they have been born in Quebec if they were Coushatta? Could they be from a tribe that’s not from the U.S but Quebec specifically?
I’m sorry if my post is everywhere. I’m very confused myself. Their surnames is “Panyouasas” and they’re descendants intermarried with French people.