USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."
"They just come with the table, man."
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
"Did we…?"
"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.
My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."
Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.
I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.
Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.
I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.
Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.
Fields of Mistria launches into 1.0 on August 5, 2026! ✨
The full release includes:
💍 Marriage
🍼 Children
🌻 New Saturday Market NPCs
✨ And more!
More reveals are on the way, so stay tuned! 🌱
It should go without saying, but if you are a Lego collector, trader, or parent/buyer...
Do not EVER do business with the store "Bricks & Minifigs." These are known thieves who stole a dying old man's collection that he worked his entire life to build.
They're also in a weird Mormon cult and like to weaponize police/swat people who try to serve them legal court documents.
Dangerous, dirty, corrupt rats who don't deserve a cent. Spread the word, tell your friends family and neighbors. It is incredibly important to rid the country of a company filled with religious cultist rats who couldn't honor a deal and simply give a man his Legos back.
@StevenMWC This is unfortunate, I’ve been really looking forward to getting into champions and hoping we could get the local scene popping. Especially with its accessibility