"Yeah," he says, drawn out as a suffering sigh of acknowledgment. "At some point I have to figure the universe just has it out for me."

It does not, of course, for he's nowhere near significant enough to think the universe cares an ounce about how good or bad things are for him. Maybe the universe just has it out for all of them. Darkly, he wonders if the world eaters are some sort of solution to that problem.

But no, of course, life is a gift and all that. Just hard to be positive about much today. "Cheers," he says anyway as he lifts his tasteless drink.