All Comments on 'Life as a New Hire Ch. 48'

I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much I love you so much

Long awaited..... Finally here

Thank you James, you haven't lost your touch

My favorite man-whore is back! Thanks!

I’m glad I waited four years for an update just to get three and a half pages of a laundry list of stuff again.

I may be in the vocal minority here, but this kind of stuff doesn’t make the story better to me. It just takes me out of it completely. I don’t need to know exactly what planes this Air Force has, or what kind of rifles this black ops force has, to enjoy the story.

Thank you thank you thank you. Welcome back!

Now I have to go back and read the whole thing again...

Oh, five stars and welcome back.

Yeah!!!! again.

Well worth the wait thanks

Welcome back! I just recently decided to reread the series. Glad I don't have to wait any longer.

I won't deny that I was incredibly excited to read a new installment of LaaNH, but more than anything I hope that this means you and your family are doing better. <3

Thank you. Please keep this coming I love the series.

Glad to see you back. I have been waiting for your newest chapter. I want to see Aya win the hunt.

Very nice lead-in to the great hunt, and update on world events.

Thank you sooooo much! Loving it!

As always this is another great chapter to continue Cael's journey. BigCoreySKR the laundry list you point to is for myself any ways a small peak into the world building James has done and a useful tool for understanding why things happen the way they do in Cael's life. Thank you James for yet another wonderful chapter and all the other stories you provide.

Welcome back and thanks for continuing this story, and thanks for all the works you have given us. It seems the Chinese are sipping nearly boiling water/tea 6x/day and

inhaling steam 4x/day. On the fifth day one is cured of the Wuhan virus. I have been doing it to avoid the virus . Stay well. Cowboy100

Welcome home FS. We missed you brother.

Been waiting for this for ages.

-AoD

I thought part of this chapter was going to explain who was the traitor inside the Host.

I honestly thought that you were done writing the story, I am so glad that you have continued! This story is by far the best written story in the entirety of this website! I can't wait to see what you do next.

Dear James

I am so delighted that you are writing again, and especially about “The Hunt”.

Glad that you are feeling better... and yes, I am so looking forward to the next book.

Stay healthy for us all

P

Wonderful reading about Cael again.

Welcome Back!

We’ve missed you.

Glad to see this is being continued. Knowing this is continued gives me a joy that gets cant be cheapened or lessened. Cant wait to see how this turns out. Welcome back in full mate. Loving the return.

Welcome back! Great to read more of LAANH. Hope it continues.

Wonderful to see the story continue to unfold..dreaming about art for the cover

I am hoping your Muse is back, it's looking good so far!

Stay safe and happy upcoming holidays.

MDG

From Dark Son I knew you were writing again, but I am very happy to see that you are well enough to get back to this awesome story. Hope all is well with you and yours, and wishing you the best.

Could you clearly demark the sections of textbook military history, tactics and weapon breakdowns please. It would make it easier to skip over. Otherwise the 2 pages of story where enjoyable as always.

Thank you very much for returning to this story! We might finally get the Great Hunt... been waiting on this for a while now 😀 Well written and engaging as ever!

I do agree with my fellow readers some stuff we can put the dot just by ourselves no need of alot of description no offense bro really appreciate the story though

A Welcome Return..

... to my favourite story on Lit.

So good to see your mojo has returned and The Hunt is finally upon us.

Looking forward to the next chapter, and whilst i enjoy reading the political/military portions, i hope the next one will be entirely focused on Cael and Felix, and the former's plans to enable his cheat codes as and when he desires.

Stay safe

Welcome back, James. I hope your health is well enough to allow even more chapters of LaaNH. Hope you and your family have a happy AND healthy holiday season

FS has said in previous posts that Caels kidnapping was set up by Katrina. It was to advance some of the spy-mistress' plans. Pamala almost killed her over it, but Katrina knew Cael would win out.

God is good to see this chapter. Thank you, James!

Hi James

So very glad that you are BACK!

Firstly, just re-read all of Cabbage Head’s exploits from Chapter 1. Yup, needed my fix again...

Secondly, can you post book IX on Amazon so we can put a little money into your bank account.... for all those of us who love this story, buy the damn books so we can keep getting the chapters.

Lastly, oh yeah baby, it’s so on! Great setup.... I love the fact that you weave in multiple stories with great research.... Yup, for those of us who like a little Clancy in our reading diet, the technical side is welcome... for those less interested, it’s not so hard to skip over the “technical bits”.

I hope that whatever was ailing you is under remission, and that in these crazy COVID times you are keeping safe and well.

And let the hunt begin!

Glad to see you back, looking forward to more instalments, greatly enjoying both the strategic/political and more personal parts of the story. Can’t wait to see what the Amazon’s do with their own city

Hi James....you know i was reading this chapter then i realised that most people will mispronounce the word bakongo because they don't pronounce 'Ba' correctly.....to most Bantu (read:southern African) tribes including mine the word bakongo is actually two words combined Ba and Kongo with them together meaning the Kongo....history actually tells us the bakongo and my tribe (the bemba) actually descended from the same ancestors somewhere in Cameroon..... Or at least that's what we are taught anyway.....

By the way am sorry to do this to you James but i must you use your platform for this....guys am an African young upcoming author looking for an editor knowledgeable in southern African history as that is my focus contact me at temwanji30khunda@gmail.com if you are interested

what is the amazon name of FInal Stand? also who is cabbage head?

I'm so happy that this series is continuing. One of my favourite series on the site. Fantastic writing and a really engaging story. Thanks for keeping this going.

First off, FinalStand in the Amazon (Hittite) tongue would be:

Linkiya Arappisziasse

From:

Appisziaz = last

linkiya ar- = to stand by an oath.

<-sse> = he

Thus ~ He who stands by his final oath

As 'Final Stand' was my pledge way back when to not commit suicide because of the deep depression I was going through. My own 'final oath' if you will. Mind you, this was a decade ago I chose the name and I'm much, much better off now.

Secondly, 'Cabbage Head' was the cruel nickname the other kids gave Cáel back in elementary school due to his first name, substituting 'Cáel' for Kale which is a cabbage. All I've got to say is "whose laughing now?" eh?

I hope this has helped. Take care,

James aka FinalStand

Wakko, just in case you didn't know, Animaniacs is returning to Hulu with new shows on 20 Nov.

I have read this story many times and I am so happy you have the time and ability to add to it.

Thank you.

What BigCoreySKR said.

Thanks for coming back to this story. I certainly hope that you will be able to finish it.

Great to see your return to the story and the beginning of the Great Hunt. A great deal of politics some sex and a dab of abusing Amazons and their pride. These are the ingredients for a fantastic chapter.

I sincerely hope that you will provide some explanation and/or closure for the kidnapping of Aya and Cáel. Cáel may be able to understand and forgive his kidnapping but he could never forgive what happened to Aya. There has to be a reckoning for this.

Clearly, Katrina was behind this action and Cáel knows it (so does Pamela). She acted on her own or with the involvement of other house heads. Felix does not work for her nor is he associated with Katrina's house in any way so his involvement was at the direction of his boss / house head or Katrina talked him into it. Cáel may understand and even forgive Felix but if anyone else finds out about his involvement in the kidnapping of Aya, their future queen, he is a dead man. As for the other Amazons working with Felix, they were either from Katrina's house or another house. Either way, they should be safe from retribution because they were acting under orders they believed to be from the Host. Their house heads will suffer the same fate as Katrina, however.

Katrina's involvement is the most perplexing, however. Without serious insights from her house goddess she could not have predicted that Aya and Cáel could overcome dozens of kidnappers without outside help. Therefore, she had to want them in the hands of their enemies but that makes no sense. Please explain this for us!

First off, Katrina acted on her own as head of Executive Services. This allows her to ‘draft’ members of other departments for operations she deems critical. No other House Head was involved.

Felix was ‘drafted’ into the mission because his presence was deemed critical in convincing the Seven Pillars operatives they had a significant asset inside of Havenstone.

Is Felix a ‘dead man’ for putting Aya’s life in danger? Yep. Felix thrives on the suspense and danger. He is an Alpha’s Alpha after all. What Felix doesn’t know is that Aya would pardon him for his actions because he participated on ‘Aunt Katrina’s orders and ‘Aunt Katrina’ did what she did to put the Amazon Host in a better position via-vie the Seven Pillars. Felix is certainly not dumb enough to brag about what he did either ... not until he's retired anyway.

Mind you, the Executive Services operatives who participated would also be killed for what they did to Aya … except, like Felix, Aya would pardon them too.

Katrina did predict that with Cáel at her side, Aya would be safe and that Cáel, with the help of the two Goddesses watching over him (it turned out to be three), would find a way to overcome any level of opposition. Katrina has an ability which is borderline supernatural when it comes to judging people’s potential. That is why she chose Cáel over all the other outwardly ‘superior’ candidates to be with Executive Services.

Alas, Cáel didn’t ‘wash out’ of Executive Services training. He had become the Chief Ambassador of the Host thus incapable of working within Executive Services anymore. They created this fiction that he had failed his apprenticeship for the sake of the other new male inductees.

Did Katrina take a gamble with Aya’s life? Absolutely. At the time she didn’t know Aya would become her Queen, but still she loved Aya deeply. It was simply the Amazon Host desperately needed an inside track on what the Seven Pillars were looking for after the attack on the Summer Camp.

The Amazon who ‘fucked up’ and revealed the location of Summer Camp went to the local Executive Services agent at her location on the West Coast and spilled her guts. Instead of slaughtering the traitor, that operative kicked this situation up straight to Katrina who decided to leverage that Amazon into a conduit of disinformation into the Seven Pillars.

She also moved the ‘traitorous’ Amazon to the East Coast so she could be both under better surveillance and also make it possible for that Amazon to gain more privileged information. What the Seven Pillars wanted was to kidnap Cael and someone who could be used as leverage against him.

Well, Katrina couldn’t / wouldn’t dare use Oneida, or Rhada, so it had to be Aya. This ‘traitor’ then created a conspiracy of ‘unhappy’ Runners and males to aid in her plan – the people Katrina recruited – because few other groups appreciate the utter fanaticism of the Amazon Host.

The long term goals for Felix is to be trained by Executive Services then used as a further source of disinformation inside the Condottieri. After all, the Seven Pillars can confirm he is a traitor on the run from the Amazon Host plus he has information of other traitors within the Host the Condottieri would like to know about aka the ‘traitors’ Katrina has under her control running this scam operation.

Remember a lot of people want to believe a top shelf male like Felix could outfox an all-female group like the Amazons – it is their misogynistic bias. A ‘free agent’ Felix could then make some introductions to those traitors then step back so when Katrina decided to wrap up this whole operation, Felix can be swept back up and returned to Havenstone alive and well.

If Felix was to show up on the Seven Pillar’s stoop the risk is simply too high they would torture him to death then interrogate his soul until he broke. Despite Felix not being aware of those risks, Katrina wouldn’t do that to him. Not only would it betray the disinformation operation, it be unduly cruel to a male who has done so much for the Host.

Back to Katrina’s involvement in the first place: who else but Katrina could pull this off? Who inside Havenstone would want to and have the capability to do so? Lastly, after this happens and Aya is revealed to be the Amazon Queen, how much more of an asset is that ‘traitorous’ Amazon to the Seven Pillars? From their point of view, Katrina wouldn’t dare risk her own flesh and blood as an ancillary to kidnapping Cáel. And if she did … couldn’t they use this deadly secret to leverage the Spymaster of the Amazons herself?

Except, of course, Katrina wouldn’t care and even the Amazons who know her wouldn’t suspect her of being so devious and taking so huge a risk (in their eyes). Remember, Katrina only explains herself to the Regency and the Golden Mare … and those four people now already know about the operation … so there is no leverage … though there was some outrage from Beyoncé, Shawnee and Rhada.

Buffy’s response was simply, “Do not risk our Cáel again like that,” then turned around and supported Katrina’s decision to the other Amazons in the room (the reason Beyoncé was there).

In Katrina’s favor, she has a conduit of information she can use against the Seven Pillars any time she wants to use it from a source they have great faith in. After all, it wasn’t the ‘traitor’s fault Cáel got loose and took out the plane full of Seven Pillar’s Commandos … right? Also the Seven Pillars believe if they expose the ‘traitor’, she and her compatriots (aka the team which took out Aya and Cáel) will be slaughtered by the outraged Amazons, so they have them over a barrel.

Was the risk to Aya and Cael worth it? Was the permanent maiming of Aya worth it? Only as the war progresses and the disinformation operation unfolds will we learn this. Right now the Seven Pillars are 95% certain of their conduit inside of Havenstone (with the 5% missing being mostly because they have been forced to deal with … women). After all, the almost ended up capturing not only Temujin’s Blood Brother, but the future Queen of the Amazons too! Next time … next time they will not be stopped by a rogue storm and a misplaced faith in their Dark Magic. Next time … the Seven Pillars of Heaven will be victorious!!!

Or so they believe.

I hope this helps. Take care,

James aka FinalStand

Woot! I've missed this series, missed it a lot. Glad you've come back to it. 😁

Wow that's a master piece of a twist really appreciate the explanation it does make sense,now I real would like to see what happens to 7P twins

Even the explanation has me craving more!

It took a while to get back into the grove of the story, but it was worth it. Look forward to the next instalment.

So glad you started writing this again thank you for the amazing story can't wait to read the next chapter

I’m glad your back and at it again. I must admit I did get worried a bit when I’d seen an old update of your saying you were having health issues. Hope you’re doing good bruh. Please continue with the story. I’ve been thinking about how it was going to continue for years now and I’m excited to see you add more.

Do you have an ETA for the great hunt chapter..

Man i am so glad you're back, I was so worried you won't continue the story, fantastic chapter too

My favorite writer is back! I pray you're doing good and will continue the series!

Glad to see you back on your feet, James. Carry on the Great Work and thanks for sharing your art with us.

Wonderful to see your work again, James. I am so happy.

James, what a great chapter... it was so good I am going back to reread the other 47 chapters..... thank for this fine work

Flymaster60 (Mike)

What a great chapter and welcome back. I hope all your health issues are in the past and you are feeling better.

I have read every word of every chapter. I will be looking for you to publish a book in the same nature as this work. Such great work ensures your immortality and a place with other authors that appear to fall short in comparison to your work.

First, I am really enjoying this series. The twists and turns are amazing. Second, a picky point, there is no refinery at Soyo - there is an LNG plant and an offshore service facility. Not sure why Aya would want to have a base in Zaire Province as it is a long way from everybody else and there's no real transportation available, but who knows. Third a while back in the story, they blew up an LNG carrier in China. This is another picky point - if you want to blow up a ship, you would target LPG not LNG - LNG is too cold to form a blevy and/or explode, whereas propane and butane will make a huge boom. Cheers!

Thank you for your comments.

2) The placing of the Amazon homeland in Zaire province is because it is away from everybody else. The Amazons are about to have - courtesy of the Turkish Navy - the third largest navy in the South Atlantic (after the US Navy and Brazil's Navy). Cabinda is about to have a much more updated Air Force as well ~ F-16's and either some upgraded F-15's, or Eurofighters. They would really love some F-22's, but that would be damn near impossible as it is both no longer produced and non-export anyway. Air superiority is critical as they plan to have a small (~12,000) Cabindan military anyway.

As for the refinery - the LNG facilities will earn the government of Cabinda funds which they desperately need as they start rebuilding their government and society. A new LPG refinery will be built in Soyo with the help of the Sulkanen Group (Hana's Dad is in the petroleum business after all).

The biggest thing is the Amazons only want to run their mini-Queendom at a zero sum gain. Five Houses will be given the responsibility of providing military protection (mostly working training up the Cabindan military), two House will have law enforcement duties, another will run the refineries, another will handle jurisprudence and so on through city services. House Ishara will, of course, handle consular duties (as they grow into the role).

Just as an aside, Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan will be the first nations to recognize these two new nations. Nations in opposition to this will be the Republic of South Africa, the Republic of Congo, China and, of course, Angola. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be in an even greater mess over this. Brazil, Cuba, Portugal and the Vatican will be urging Angola behind the scenes to accept the new status quo while India places peacekeepers on the ground in Cabinda.

Given a few months, some of those souls bound for the Khanate will get a chance to volunteer to go to Cabinda instead to help them build their own military and constabulary as well as other engineering and bureaucratic services. Due to the Amazons' influence Cabinda will probably end up being a Constitutional Monarchy as the Royal House of Cabinda and Bokongo both still exist.

3) Thanks for pointing me at the difference between the LNG and LPG systems. And it just so happens China uses LPG too. Whoops.

Thanks once again and take care,

James aka FinalStand

I don't think Odette is human. She is not a goddess, but she is not human either. Is she an immortal being sent to be Cael's companion so that he doesn't turn out like his grandfather, Cael senior. It is believed that his grandfather has lost faith in humanity because he was alone in his immortal for so long. I do wonder what Odette powers will be though beside sex with Cael. Cael senior never threatened Odette in any way, but he did threatened Hana.

Hi James,

I hope 2021 will be a better year for all of us.

I want to thank you for your part of my therapy for depression, i am working on.

With my therapist i worked out two major activities that help me avoid the peaks

(actually the lowpoints) of depressive episodes.

One is cooking for myself (i find chopping veggies unbelievable relaxing),

The other one is reading fiction.

For me your work is in the same range as Michael Stackpole, David Weber and Dan Abnett

Since i already purchased your published e-books on amazon, i ask myself if there are more planed.

Cya around here,

Szass

P.S. I'm from Germany, so if you need any future help with cultural or linguistic oddities from old Krautland (we do not eat that much kraut... don't even remember the last time) feel free to contact me.

P.S.S. on february 9th i will pass the half century mark, maybe there is a chance for new reading material from you?

Thank you for this installment! I have read every chapter and enjoy your style greatly.

I like how you have shared of yourself and your struggles. You are not alone!

I have had a pretty rough couple of years myself and I have to keep taking the right steps and not give up hope.

Take care...

was really excited to finally see a new chapter, i just hope we dont have to wait too long for more now

Welcome back, James! Thanks for this, I’ve missed Caèl

I was just finishing my 5th reread. Reading the Kindle version I was delighted to see this chapter pop up when I ran out of the Kindle material.

Please publish the newer chapters in this form as well, I would love to throw some more money at you.

That said, I'm delighted that you are able to work on this again and hope that good health persists. I love the story and am looking forward to reading the great hunt, but also caels life as a new father. The universe you managed to spin up is magnificent and I hope to see many more installments in the future, whenever they may come...

Good luck and happy 2021

When I realized that you had come out with Chapter 48, I had to reread LANH again (I think the fifth time!)... Just hope that after the Hunt, Cael, will go on as member of the Host. I realize New Hire will no longer apply, so Be Very SURE that those of us who really want to follow your excellent writing in this story will be able to follow as you lead us through the myriad twists and turns I can see on the horizon (and those I'm sure that will pop up!)... Thank you for coming back. We who follow you really appreciate it.

Onyx412.

I read 48 as soon as I saw it. Now I've just finished rereading the whole series. I eagerly await 49. Your imagination is fabulous! Please be well.

For the continuation, an excellent tale with many mysteries yet to solve. I really hope you enjoy writing these as much as I do reading them.

As you will and as you can PLEASE continue this!

Now I have to update the additional background if I can find my original Cast of Characters or it just won't feel right.

As always my best to you and yours.

DaNut

thank you so much for continuing this story. I am retired now due to pancreatic cancer and this picked up my spirits. Thanks again.

The Man is back. Welcome our long awaited Hero. It has been a worthwhile wait. :-)

Sir, I have been following your stories for years, and three days ago when I saw that this chapter was posted, I broke down and cried. Your writing, in every story, has been incredible and reached my soul like few have. I really feared the worst for you, but I couldn’t believe the relief that I felt seeing this under your profile. Every time I read your magnificent work I feel as if I’m transported into the worlds you’ve built. God bless you and your family, I hope you’re doing better. Thank you.

Anonymous

Thank you, Sir. I will endeavor to continue to do my very best. Take care,

James aka FinalStand

i cant wait for more you are a great writer with impressive attention to detail. i was super happy when i saw this chapter posted

James if I may call you that, this is my all-time story, and I am an avid reader, I can't wait for the next installment... so far I put you next to Robert Heinlein... so keep up the good work....

Do you have any timeline for the next chapter?

James, hope your health is on the improve. You are too good a writer for the story to be left incomplete.

Dear James,

I am just coming out of the deep valley of depression and step by step can concentrate enough to enjoy literature again. Since finding your stories here on Literotica i was a fan of your various works... first and foremost LAANH.

I am just re-reading the 8th book on kindle and will then switch to the chapters posted here.

Only wanted to tell you that you are one of my sources of positivity in my live... besides cooking, never considered enjoying that...

Anyhow... thanks for your great work, which as your characters are an inspiration for me.

P.S. friends are people that love you, inspite of knowing you.

So I just figured it out! Cael gets intertwined with Zane(ccsc) and Richard(ravenrook) and they battle Cael's grandfather, the Atlanteans, and the ultra fanatical Christian's. Something goes terribly wrong, and the gender plague is released early. Israel sadly succumbs to the world of women, but his son Jason(Noxii) takes up the fight of the others, not knowing that his true father is out there.

After 48 chapters and years of patience,

I’m looking forward to the Great Hunt chapter.

I noticed other comments mentioning some

health issues. I hope you get hale and hearty

ASAP.

And thanks for all these great tales...

LeFrog

Just re read LAANH from the beginning, having read it years ago. Fantastic story, eloquent and detail oriented just as I have come to expect from your writing. I hope your health is improving and send healing thoughts your way as, we (your readers and fans) await eagerly any writing you may toss our way.

i sincerely hope you are able to continue this wonderful tale. It is rare to find a story so well crafted and researched. To your good health, sir!

Fantastic, I am so happy that you have been able to update since I last read this. 4th time through, and still love the thread of it. Hope you are able to write more soon.

such a great story. ch 46 remains ranked #29 on literotica

would be nice to see concept like this adapted..

two 2020 hollywood A-list action blockbusters >

- old guard - immortals - originally comic

- infinite - reincarnation

both first 'bought' in march 2017

such a great story. ch 46 remains ranked #29 on literotica

would be nice to see concept like this adapted..

two 2020 hollywood A-list action blockbusters >

- old guard - immortals - originally comic

- infinite - reincarnation

both first 'bought' in march 2017

Awesome.

Panting like a dog waiting for the next 1,2 and 3 chapters. terrific work.

Don't get your fetish with that Felix guy.

He is a just such an unlikeable character, no matter what new light you're trying to put him in..

Just put him out of his fucking misery all ready. Please 🙏..

Hate guys like him, always convinced that they can get into our panties.. and use them like trophy's as he did.

I really dislike to have to read anything with him involved.. please make him suffer a long very painful death,or incurable decease..

Love Brandi 💘

This is the second time I have read this story! Please, please don't stop now!!! I need a second part to (I propose) a trilogy starting with the Great Hunt. This story has been a truly FUN ride. I want to see more in Cael's maturation and steps in to fatherhood.

4th time reading it from the beginning.....please add more chapters

James, so sad to hear about the health issues on "The Dapper Mouse Show" as per your bio. Hoping you can stay well and please, please, please finish LAANH - even if its just the great hunt.

Looking forward to the methods the goddesses will choose in order to play with the hunt for their own goals. Please don't finish in Armageddon. Good ending please!

Aside from the depth and breadth of this work, the term magnum opus comes to mind? What really blew me away is the all-encompassing scope of the storyline and the plot with huge amounts of detail regarding literally every topic relevant. Yet what was really endearing was the intimate relationships between characters and that included the sex scenes. Unlike so many other authors who have attempted similar novels, this doesn't meander or become repetitive. The dialogue is crisp sharp and ultra witty and the number of times I laughed out loud was ridiculous. But again with the dialogue and the characterizations to keep up the originality, the depth, intelligence, and again just the huge variety of situations, cultures etc its simply an outstabnding piece of adult literature.

This is the first series I've read from the author. Unaware and, later, rather sceptic of "One in Ten", I was surprised Katrina isn't obviously getting in on the Great Hunt. The crippled Host should be divided (to a degree) into fertile and barren women. And with augur Tadefi confirmed pregnant, no one would test the powers further?

After having had time to read "One in Ten" and not hating it (though liking the Christian School one best of the three series), the above-mentioned avenue of new suitors for Cael felt like it would be a repeat of that part of the other story. This should contribute to writing oneself into a corner feeling.

Good stuff. Though, I'm thoroughly convinced you are possessed by the spirits of Tom Clancy and Douglas Adams.

Keep going! You got this!!!!!!!!

Dang, thoroughly enjoyed the whole ride, then got here and gone. Doh..not finished :(

Hoping you find the mojo/health to finish off a really interesting and enjoyable story.