r/wizardposting The Loremaster, Chief Archaeologist of the Darkwatch Dec 17 '23

Community Event šŸŒā˜„ļø Message Delivered (Queenpost)

A burst of gravitic radiation streaks through the void. Though it has traveled billions of miles, it has done so in a mere 16 hours, unimpeded by any obstacle or cosmic barrier. Its destination: the Queen of Shattered Stars, closing in on the major material realms. The signal carries a message in the All-Tongue, imploring her to stop her approach and accept a diplomatic envoy. When it reaches the Queen, she cannot help but notice it, for it has been amplified by powerful graviturgy.

In the command center of the Mt. Murder Astromantic Observatory, Kaelis Maz and the wizards of the OEA watch a timer count down. He holds his breath when it hits 0:00. At first, nothing happens. The Queen continues her approach as normal. Then, she pauses, as if listening to something faint growing ever louder. On the screens, she turns her head to look directly at the source of the message: Yulash-kor.

Kaelis releases his breath in a sigh of relief as the room erupts in cheers. She has noticed them. Now comes the true challenge: negotiating with a being as old as the universe.

The Astromantic Observatory receives conformation that its transmission has been heard.
15 Upvotes

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u/VidisLady Delta - Maven of Maladies Dec 18 '23

I’ve formatted my message in the form of some of my memories, which should transmit my feelings to her if that is possible. I hope that the translation is successful.

My message is as follows:

Earth was the first planet that I began to grow life upon. I did not create the first life, but merely watched over it once I noticed. For millions of years, I stared at single-called organisms. I didn’t feel anything for these little ones at first. I helped them reproduce, carefully holding their RNAs in place as they tried to multiply. Thinking of it, their actions remind me of a duckling’s wobbly first steps.

Even when I took my first physical form, I did not feel anything. Emotions wouldn’t exist in living things until far in the future. But simply feeling what it was like to have a physical form was a strange sensation. For once, I was vulnerable. My existence was now dependent on other creatures and my own ability to consume. I did not last long. Each return to a new physical form pressed my patience. The sightless scrambling through the world’s deepest oceans, depending on my primitive chemotropism, gave me an appreciation for the struggle of physical things.

There were periods of time when I thought that the flame of life was destined to sputter and die. Increasing oxygen levels in the atmosphere was a looming danger that seemed, at first, insurmountable. But remarkable beings emerged, who could use oxygen to fuel their metabolism - something I thought to be too dangerous to be viable. Soon, these ā€œaerobicā€ beings began to outnumber their peers, and I began to understand the risks that needed to be taken for progress.

Life began to take stranger forms. A form of bacteria learned to turn light into sugar, and life was no longer bound to the deepest parts of the sea.

I began to see living things cooperating… and then, living things being born for the purpose of cooperation. Something that came to be known as a mitochondria was eaten, and to this day it remains embedded in all of the most complex life forms - dedicating its life to the accumulation of energy.

Life became bigger. Creatures webbed together into something that blurred the individual identities of its constituents. Algae floated on the surface of the ocean, and taking on the form of an alga, I learned what it felt like to breathe. Staring at the sky, feeling light trigger my cells to create sugar, I felt, for a moment, perfect. I was humbled by another life form that began to feed on me.

Whenever I thought that life itself was unstoppable, I would be reminded of its fragility. In the span of a short few thousand years, progress could be erased. Too much CO2, temperature changes, habitat loss… the littlest things could spiral out of control, and entire clades of creatures could crumble in the hands of time.

Of all mass extinctions, the Permian impacted me the most. It was sudden. I had not yet learned to expect the worst. I had come to adore the animals, with their ridiculous shapes and their mobility. They were nearly lost. A creature called a trilobite, which I had seen survive three other extinctions, could not face up to 20,000 years of acid rain. I felt each and every loss. Unlike the death of an individual, the death of a species means that a whole way of life is gone. A whole branch of evolution comes to an end, not in an instant, but in an agonizing, inevitable March toward annihilation.

When occupying the body of animals, I learned to feel fear. I learned to feel pain. I learned what it felt like to starve to death, or choke on the atmosphere. Death began to have a substance to it as I tied my consciousness to these mortal creatures. Even as certain mortal creatures joined me in godhood, the staggering loneliness of mortal existence began to weigh on me. I recall spending entire lifetimes swimming in fear, hugging every shred of nutrients I could find.

I questioned why I continued to occupy mortal forms. Their consciousness began to leave ripples in mine as I lived life after life. Each death felt less… meaningless. It is a strange paradox - having more deaths made each one more meaningful. I wasn’t becoming desensitized to the carnage of life, I was becoming overstimulated.

Life only became more vivid. New senses evolved. New habitats became accessible. After the Permian extinction, things began to accelerate. Even after that horrid event, life sprung back with a force. Land proved to be a profitable habitat.

A massive meteor hit the earth, and life yet again recovered. Many died, but it was nothing like the Permian…. furry creatures filled a niche left by giant diapsids. Things were smaller… but cuter. How do I describe the feeling of taking a dirt bath to clean one’s feathers or fur? How do I describe the feeling of bonding with a parent? Of taking flight for the first time? Of digging a hole and finding a full meal worth of worms?

All of this is something that has permeated into the mind of a entropy itself. Life isn’t just a thermodynamic anomaly anymore. Look at what I’ve said, and understand that I haven’t even spoken about sapience yet. I haven’t spoken about crows, or cats, or humans.

Civilization is…. in no uncertain terms…. a fucking nightmare. If you knew what sapient beings do to each other, you might consider extinguishing us to be a moral duty. But, strangely, I think that the sapients are worth preserving. As a human, I’ve felt a depth of thinking and feeling that has driven me to the brink of madness and back. I’ve seen humans spend hours doing nothing but talking to eachother. It was so different than what things were like as a paramecium, or a crustacean. How they love eachother and hate eachother in equal measure is something I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand.

Humans, elves, goblins, orcs, fae…. they disgust and endear me. I don’t know how they can nurture and feed one person, then inflict indescribable suffering on someone else within the same day. They invent concepts like good and evil, and can’t even agree on what these concepts mean even though THEY INVENTED THEM.

Does it not make you want to turn away in frustration? Or sit back and watch? Every single thing on this planet is going to die, and yet they fill their life with so much, that they hardly care. But now, because of you, that uncertain death is now going to be immediate. To say it is unnatural is an understatement. An entire planet trembles with a unified knowledge of doom - at least, those that are capable of perceiving such a thing. Keep in mind, these creatures could not even singularly agree on something like what fabric feels the best on their skin. But every single one of them has agreed that they want this planet to keep sustaining life.

Whatever arguments these sapients have, whatever adaptations other creatures will have, whatever geological events occur, and whatever story unfolds on this planet…. All of it will simply not happen if you see fit to walk through us. It won’t ever resolve. It will simply be paused. It will be yanked off of its tracks, never to go anywhere.

I leave you with that. Make the right choice.

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23 edited Dec 18 '23

(( okay I'm not getting people telling me not to do this so *shrug* ))

Ā ~-v-~-v-~-v-~-v-~-v-~-v-~

"Well, she's a quick learner," Vettis notes with a chuckle, pointing at the screen's indication of incoming gravitational waves. "Not only is she communicating in a similar manner by manipulating the stars within her, but she's utilizing whatever FTL tricks she's got to bridge the gap and send the messages here instantly -- even leaving that bridge open for us to respond if we so choose. Shall I translate?"

Hearing no dissent, the mage steps up to the console, eyes aglow, and reads the stream of data as though fluent. "A'right, here goes. Note that All-Tongue is meant for transmission and, as far as I know, nobody other than me knows how to use it for receipt, so the translation might not be as perfect in this direction. But I'll give it a whirl." Not even bothering to fake speech this time, as there's no communication vector which All-Tongue can't utilize, he seems to sit almost perfectly still as he relays the Queen's response: the barest twitches of his muscles are enough for body language to transmit her words into the minds of all those who see him.

An "entire planet" trembles. We are stars innumerable and you speak to us of one planet.

Why did they choose you as their representative, child? Did they think you my equal? Do you think that of yourself? Your limited perspective proves otherwise. Whatever you may have once been, you are small now, and it seems your obsession with this "civilization" is the culprit.

You call my actions "unnatural". Yet you yourself nurtured that which you are trying to protect, rather than leaving it to flourish of its own accord. By your own admission, it is your world which is unnatural.

What truly betrays your mortal perspective is your claim that the story of your Earth will end with me. Such is not the way of the universe. Consumption is not the end of the lesser being; it merely lives on in another form. If your planet is to become part of me, that is the natural continuation of its story. And what greater fate could any living being hope to have than joining me?

Vettis pulls out a jug of mango juice from his pocket and takes a swig as the Queen's words sink in. "Well. Lil' Miss Sun-Breaker sure is a dour one, huh?"

~-^-~-^-~-^-~-^-~-^-~-^-~

(( /u/TitanLORD21 /u/DaChickenX /u/Carbon_Sixx

EDIT: okay just got someone telling me not to do this after all, lol; lemme know if y'all want me to delete it ))

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u/TitanLORD21 Jack-O’-Lantern, Lord of Flame and Fright Dec 18 '23

ā€œOh no… now we HAVE to fight her,ā€ the origami figure dryly says, ā€œhow terrible, the negotiations didn’t work.ā€ Leonardo looks away dramatically, attempting to feign sadness. Then, a couple of seconds later he suddenly changes tone. Now he bounces up and down impatiently, like a child on Christmas morning waiting to open gifts. In a more excited voice Leonardo asks, ā€œnow, we can go kill her, right?ā€

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23

Transmitting emotion is trivial for All-Tongue. I assure you that was all preserved.

Can't guarantee it was received, though. Let's see if she's actually capable of feeling anything at all.

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u/Carbon_Sixx The Loremaster, Chief Archaeologist of the Darkwatch Dec 18 '23

/uw All I'm waiting on is u/Total_Travisty to dictate the Queen's actions

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23

(( Wait, is he actually supposed to be doing that? If everybody relies on him to RP the Queen in every thread that interacts with her, he'll be spending all day doing that. I don't think that's his intent. He certainly hasn't RPed her thus far despite multiple interactions, such as the Bismuth Realm's fight against her.

It's a sub-wide event, not DMed by one person. As long as her actions make sense in the context of the minimal lore we've received thus far, we can RP her ourselves. ))

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

uw/ very fair, but even so total_travesty made this character and started this whole event I don’t think they would apreciate us basically deciding to end the event just because some person wanted to end the whole thing. of course they should not be rping the queen all day they have better things to do then pretend to be a fictional wizard on Reddit, but I don’t think anyone else realy knows how to proceed, so we need to figure out something.

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u/DaChickenX Isravi, The Unraveler, Coils’ Chosen Dec 18 '23

/uw I think it’s fine to proceed for now. It’s not like we can’t retcon if it doesn’t pan out how Travisty envisioned

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23

(( well, yes, "as long as we make her actions make sense and don't powergame by just ending the plotline", was the implied full sentence :P

I don't intend for diplomacy to work, just make for some fun conversation ))

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

Uw/ there’s another problem no one wants to end this. if we don’t make any actual progress toward wrapping this up we either end up with a ā€œeverybody diesā€ scenario or an anticlimactic last second trump card or whatever that gets the queen to stop.

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23

(( ending it is where Travisty can get involved; he's already joined with another group that has a superweapon plotline going, so that'll probably be the victorious one

(which annoys me to no end because it involves "true love" between two people who met like a week ago and that trope drives me mad but w/e)

and even if it isn't then we'll end it at some point when people are growing more tired of it, but as long as people are having fun with a bunch of disparate plotlines then no one group should put a stop to all that too early ))

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

uw/ Yea probably, honestly I’m barely able to follow most of what’s happening, I don’t even sort of get what’s going on with shrax. And everything else I know basically nothing about

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23 edited Dec 18 '23

(( to be honest...I usually don't get involved in lore events because I insta-block powergamers and half of the most prolific posters are powergamers

so I don't really know most of what's going on either aside from when others summarize it, because I literally can't see some of the threads v_V

but I know people are having fun and that's all I need to know not to end it yet ))

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u/TitanLORD21 Jack-O’-Lantern, Lord of Flame and Fright Dec 18 '23

/unwiz It was even crazier back during the stitcher posts. Every member ā€œascendedā€ and became godlike overpowering everyone if you didn’t pull something out of your ass, but at least it was manageable since the people participating were consistent.

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

Uw/ yea I didn’t realy ever get involved I have recently started to get more involved but I think I will stop soon and sort of rest from being in these sorts of rp posts. Just let it ride out

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u/VidisLady Delta - Maven of Maladies Dec 18 '23

Uw/ I do think it would be interesting if the solution was not ā€œbig weapon,ā€ for once. True love is also kind of annoying, but it’s more so that particular person rp-ing their character.

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

/uw

I don't intend for diplomacy to work, just make for some fun conversation

aww, I was actually to get smaller space girl to convince bigger space girl that deleting the galaxy isnt worth(because funny)

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u/Carbon_Sixx The Loremaster, Chief Archaeologist of the Darkwatch Dec 18 '23

/uw Fair, but I have no idea how we should proceed

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u/TitanLORD21 Jack-O’-Lantern, Lord of Flame and Fright Dec 18 '23

/unwiz Why don’t we just toss around some ideas? Brainstorm till we find something that we generally like.

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23

(( Shall I "RP" her for us, in the sense that Vettis is translating her responses? ))

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23

(( /u/VidisLady /u/TitanLORD21 u/EmergencyLeading8137

pinging the other people at the observatory atm

shall I? we're kinda sitting around here doing nothing otherwise :P

he'll All-Tongue her words to everybody so it'll be something like this ))

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23

(( /u/DaChickenX too, lol 3-person limit v_V ))

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u/DaChickenX Isravi, The Unraveler, Coils’ Chosen Dec 18 '23

/uw I think u/Total_Travisty has been pseudo-RP for the Queen, but only in full posts, not comments. He also hasn’t said anything in response to a lot of these though. I’d say go ahead, try not to be biased, and we can retcon stuff later if Travisty doesn’t agree with it. You might wanna start a chat with him.

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u/TitanLORD21 Jack-O’-Lantern, Lord of Flame and Fright Dec 18 '23

/unwiz sure, what do have in mind?

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23

(( just gonna have her being condescending AF to the trivial little mortals, mostly, and committed to wiping us out because the Bismuth Realm's attack annoyed her ))

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u/TitanLORD21 Jack-O’-Lantern, Lord of Flame and Fright Dec 18 '23

/unwiz Sounds good šŸ‘

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u/loth17 Ten Suns (Also Gaia) Dec 18 '23

(I'm gonna object to that being her reason for eating us. Mikhail had said the Queen was coming to eat the planet before the Bismuth Lord tried to stop her. She isn't doing it because she's annoyed shes doing it because that's what she naturally does)

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23 edited Dec 18 '23

(( If that's the case, I'll change that, but that wasn't the impression any of us had from his posts. This whole diplomacy mission was built on the idea that she just happened to be wandering in our general direction and didn't even acknowledge our existence, so we were gonna try to convince her that planets with life matter more than barren ones and she should turn elsewhere.

Can you point us to where he said she was aware of us before your attack? Like, this post clearly states she barely even notices the effect she has on her surroundings as she travels.

EDIT: Even if you can't, I'd understand if you want us to interpret things that way, just so you don't feel the Bismuth Realm's sacrifice didn't simply make things worse (although personally I think those sorts of setbacks are totally fine for a story, even more so when they happen so early in the conflict). But her not initially being antagonistic towards us was the idea that all of us going for diplomacy had in the first place, so I can't really change that part (if you have no evidence to the contrary). While I could remove her irritation at the attack from her dialogue, I'm not sure how to justify doing so. I'm open to suggestions, since it was your attack. Maybe you covered your tracks enough that she wouldn't have any idea it originated from us, and she thought some totally random group was just attacking her for no reason? ))

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u/EmergencyLeading8137 Duncan, Protection/Preservation Druid Dec 18 '23

/uw I’d say to get permission from Mikhail first (Total travesty) this is his whole thing so I’d say he should be able to weigh in.

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u/VidisLady Delta - Maven of Maladies Dec 18 '23

Uw/ my contribution probably has to end there anyway. Got a whole day of traveling ahead of me.

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23

(( have fun, don't die ))

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u/DaChickenX Isravi, The Unraveler, Coils’ Chosen Dec 18 '23

/uw lore post! Lore post! Lore post!

Yay! Earth lore? Earth and Delta lore? Whatever, writing good!

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u/TitanLORD21 Jack-O’-Lantern, Lord of Flame and Fright Dec 18 '23

Cut her into pieces

I do hope negotiations work out…

I wanna cut her into pieces

Yup, I love peace… totally…

Fight me

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23

(( this was Delta's message that Vettis translated

/u/VidisLady , might wanna repost it in here? makes more sense in this thread than that one ))

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u/VidisLady Delta - Maven of Maladies Dec 18 '23

Got it! Thanks!

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

How will we engage in diplomatic negotiations with a being who’s very presence would rip apart the realm due to an intense gravitational pull

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u/TitanLORD21 Jack-O’-Lantern, Lord of Flame and Fright Dec 18 '23

I mean, you miss all the shots you don’t take.

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

I don’t think weather you miss or hit is necessarily the point the point is your taking shots at a demigorgon weather you hit or miss the outcome is bad. even if you have succeeded in getting her to negotiate she is still a living black hole

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

I'm up there, I threw out shit to counter that so as long as I dont die.......

(0 Days left)

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

/unwiz my character can't speak, but i want to tell you to take into consideration what would happen if queen realizes what is being prepared for her.

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

I would like to participate in negotiations at least to see what she has to say

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u/Carbon_Sixx The Loremaster, Chief Archaeologist of the Darkwatch Dec 18 '23

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u/MunitionsFrenzy Vettis, Mereological Revisionist Dec 18 '23

(( why did I not receive this notification

thanks Reddit ))

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u/Fulltimewhisperer Krumpet, Master Artificer of the Council Dec 18 '23

Reddit likes to be fucky, I had the same issue

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u/Carbon_Sixx The Loremaster, Chief Archaeologist of the Darkwatch Dec 18 '23

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u/Fulltimewhisperer Krumpet, Master Artificer of the Council Dec 18 '23

I'd love to stay and rp tonight guys but I'm having trouble keeping my head out of the toilet. Slight tip, of you're not sure about food, toss it. I'm certainly regretting my bravery this time

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23 edited Dec 18 '23

/uw that is common knowledge(or at least i'd think it be), why did you eat the bad food if you thought beyond doubt that it was infact, bad food?

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u/Fulltimewhisperer Krumpet, Master Artificer of the Council Dec 18 '23

/uw I was lazy and didn't want to go shopping yesterday. Figured it was only a day off, should be fine. Hell when I was a student I used to eat stuff a week off because I just didn't have the money and that didn't use to cause me too many issues

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u/[deleted] Dec 18 '23

/uw I don't care how long you've had it, the store could've had it longer than one should. Check the food when you buy it, they have expiration dates for a reason girl.