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I am born in a savannah, with my mother running and leaving me behind for a moment despite the small cries for help. I understand why, though, once I follow her with determination with my stubby legs, finding some trouble getting footing as I waddle about through the yellow grasses.

She comes back for me then, seeing that i'm intent on living this life, and then finally explains it.

She's lost.

Or at least, she plays off that she is. After living my life, I understand that she was probably trying to run away from the City given the situation it's in but, that's for later.

What's important now is that she makes a new 'home', right in the midsts of these tall trees in the midst of a muddy swamp. Mother tells me to stay warm near this strange stick that she put in the ground, and despite the discomfort I feel in her leaving me behind, I listen as she's well... the only one I have out here.

I quickly learn that my gut feeling was right, as a hiss and rattle nearby shakes me and makes me all too ready to run away and let this be the end. Fight or flight, and i was all too eager to choose flight... until that prior determination to live on returned. I must live on, even if the world (and my mother's sense of direction...) is dangerous! So I steel myself, and I cry out what I can manage in baby babbles, hoping that my mother will return and bring me away from the danger creeping at the edge of the looming trees.

'S - N - A - K - E'

She's still gone, so I try again

'S - N - A - K - E'

The situation seems bleak, my stomach begins growling and I continue to cry in anticipation that she'll return, to embrace me in the comfort of her... questionably loving arms and save me from my aggressor. She finally does on my last cry... and then says something i'll never forget. "Yeah, it's friendly. Play with it." Clearly... clearly she doesn't want me around. But, I made it this far, and she's found the remains of a camp for us to stay in. Then, I finally get my name: Noel, Noel Lenser.

I'm pleased with this, thanking her with a happy smile as she brings me to the camp. It's very, very small... and very poorly planned as I can tell with my aging. Once i'm free of her arms, I wander around and see what there is to offer in the camp. The farm is growing in the opposite direction of the water... not good. The only berries around don't have soil to revitalize them should they need it, and judging by the berries left and my growing belly, I know that this won't last long. WE won't last long. I have to work quickly now to ensure our survival, I have to prove to mom that it was worth keeping me around. I run back and forth, eating to stay alive but not be full and taking stock of what's around. Basket... ponds! The ponds I found... eggs, there were eggs! I run off with the basket, filling it with eggs and bringing it back to the camp. I look around again, shoving a gooseberry in my mouth as I think on how to cook them. There's plates, but I can't do that. The eggs need to be cooked before they go on a plate, I don't want to eat a gross gooey uncooked yolk! Maybe... maybe if I find a stone flat enough, put it on some heat... but I have to find that stone first. I speed off, looking for a gooseberry to take for the road and did a large circle to not lose the camp. Going a bit farther than what I hoped to, I finally see it, and I pick up that rock and bring it home as fast as possible.

Good, we can get started now.

I run around, getting the materials for a fire, instinct kicking in as I pick the juniper and grab the fire bow-drill from the ground and bring them to a shaft near a maple tree. Soon, a flame is born and I patiently wait for it to die just as quickly. While I stare into the low flames I try to remember where the other eggs are so I can get them quickly and keep making food for my mother and I. The flames die, and I shove the rock on and get cooking as fast as I can go. Omelets will make us thrive! ...For now at least. In between cooking I make runs for more eggs, continuing at a steady pace until they are gone. Years go by, continuing to do whatever else is possible for me, firing plates, moving soil, and looking for what I need to make a hoe so I can restart the farm. While I pick a branch from another maple tree, my mother shows up holding my baby brother, Aquarius. A brother! I wasn't aware that I had any siblings, and I soon find that I have a baby sister as well as I near the berry bushes for a quick snack. I'm all too late however, and she drops to the ground before me. She was the only female, so our line will end here unfortunately.

But, that doesn't deter me from trying to live on regardless. We continue to do what we can, my baby brother showing how talented he is by getting to work on a forge with haste as I personally have no idea in how to do such a feat. It was a miracle my mother had him, honestly. I wander again in my young adulthood, and my mother passes by me, mentioning a city nearby that we can steal from should we need materials. I'm not personally too keen on stealing, but the mention of a city interests me. After all... wasn't mother lost? Hm...

I continue wandering on from there, remembering what she said and looking for more to create for our camp. Suddenly, I run into a clothed girl, who seems surprised by me just as much as I am with her. Though, that might be because of my indecency, but I can't help that now can I? We greet briefly, and then she goes off again, but with notable purpose. I'd be lying if I said that didn't pique some interest, so I follow her around. Her face reminds me of mom... something seems off here. I continue to stalk on behind her through the badlands, savannah, desert, whatever it takes to see where she goes. A part of me thinks I shouldn't continue on, that it might make her suspicious of me and she might get me killed as a result. After all, an unfamiliar face wandering around butt-naked in the wilds was something to be hesitant of, but curiosity compels me to seek this through, just as my determination early on got me this far.

And then I find it, I find home.

It... it was a mess, and I was incredibly awkward for the first few years. I lurked around the berry bushes into my adult years, gooseberries sustaining me as I listened in on what was going on and scouting to find a role that would fit me. It makes sense now, why mother left. Soil is sparse, but thankfully a very helpful ginger girl brings baskets of them in by the cart-load. I did what was easiest for now, and I began fertilizing and watering the berries I was mooching off of. It was only fair, after all. I see the my mother wander in and out from time to time as well, though her last journey through was ironic and sad at the same time.

She was bit by a rattlesnake, the same fate she wished upon me prior.

Poetic justice in a way, but at the same time i'm incredibly grateful that she allowed me to live this long. She struggles up to me to say her final words, a weak "Son" before she is gone. My little brother arrives shortly after, and we both remorse about the loss while I manage a joke to try and lighten the move.

"I can't believe she lost this place."

For the rest of our lives, Aquarius and I try to mend a breaking town. We restart production of plates and pies, a practice abandoned and desperately needed as a second famine hits the town. Other hands quickly come in to help as much as possible, quiet but helpful women lending hands with production and resources. I wander back and forth as my years finally start to wear me down, bringing wheat, making flour, flour into dough, dough into crusts, crusts into pies. My brother brings me back a backpack at some point after promising it what feels like only minutes before, the only personal item I acquire in this life. It's nice, and it keeps my back warm at least. I don't end up using it anyway, but it's the thought that counts.

My last minutes on this earth are spent reminding people the importance of the bakery, and I die with a final request:

"Tell my brother I said bye."

With that, and one of my warm mutton pies in my hand and the backpack made by my little brother, I collapse and leave this Earth in the place I hoped to save, dead in the town's bakery.

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Thank you to Maggie (Mother), Aquarius (Lil Broski), and whichever fourth cousin I followed to the town (Sunnie or Beauty) for making this life one of my most memorable so far! I've only been playing the game for about three days now, so having an experience like this was a very sharp contrast from the easy farm lives I normally live that was super appreciated! It got me thinking very quickly which i'm not used to in this game, but hell was it fun!

Hope to have more fun experiences like this one <3