#better crops and foraging

[cometkinssdv]

BCAF Has Updated For 1.6!

I don't remember how to do this anymore but hey I updated for 1.6. The new crops, seeds, and also the new giant crops have been added. Happy gaming

[obsessivevoidkitten]

The Wolf and the Rabbit

Male Alpha Wolf Hybrid Tsundere x Male Omega Bunny Hybrid Reader CW: Mildly dubious consent (Not the sex but other actions), consensual sex, knotting, being chased, pheromones, a/b/o, biting, scent marking, scent kink, underarm kink, huffing underwear, masturbation Word Count: 2k (This was written at the request of a good friend who wished to remain anon, I hope you all enjoy it. If you REALLY love it feel free to tip me at the link in my pinned post or even commission me.)

City life had gotten unbearable. The constant bills and dead-end job. The hustle and bustle of the environment. Traffic and construction. It had all just become far too much. It was suffocating and oppressive. You clearly needed a change.

And what better place for a bunny hybrid like you to live than in a nice forest. You saved up your money and sold many of your possessions to buy a nice burrow under a great oak tree.

It was everything you had hoped for. The burrow was the size of a small house. A bedroom, bathroom, living room, and small kitchen. Outside, there were plenty of wooded areas for you to forage, and clear spots near the burrow entrance allowed you to grow crops. Lettuce and carrots were a must.

One sunny day, after you had finished unpacking the last of your boxes, you decided you should explore the edges of your property. You hummed to yourself as you went along, putting any food you found in a basket. You had amassed a sizable amount of dandelion greens.

Suddenly, your ears perked up, and your nose wiggled. Something was off... you felt like you were in mortal peril...

You heard a snarl and bolted. You could hear footsteps giving chase behind you, but you didn't dare look. In no time, your pursuer caught up to you and pushed you to the forest floor. You tried to crawl away, but he flipped you over on your back, giving you a view of him for the first time.

A growling wolf man.

He leered down at you with cold eyes of steel, the blue-grey fur on his ears and tail bristling. He was much larger than you were, fairly chubby but also very muscular. His scent was that of an alpha.

“Think you can just wander into my territory and get away from me, creampuff!? No, I gotta teach you a lesson!”

Tears streamed from your eyes as you stared at his bared fangs. You were sure he had gone feral and was going to rip you to shreds. You futilely stammered out some pleas and protests. He rolled his eyes and pinned you down, putting you into a bit of a chokehold as he rubbed your head into his underarm. He continued this until you thoroughly reeked of his scent and then got off of you with a grunt and left.

“There, now you know my scent, I’m Lupin, and this is my territory, don’t come near it again!”

“I-I’m…” You muttered your name to him as he walked away, though you didn’t know why you bothered.

He hadn’t been trying to do anything sexual to you. You were an omega, but he told himself that he wasn’t interested. He was above all that and valued his solitude above all else. But as he left, he had to conceal a massive boner. That night thoughts of hunting you down and marking you all over with his smell haunted him. He had no choice but to masturbate to the thought.

The incident had a similar effect on you. You started producing quite a bit of slick. Once he had shown he had no interest in harming you, his scent became erotically stimulating, and it clung to you heavily. Of course you knew that it was not a sexually charged act and that he had only marked you because you had violated his property, but you couldn’t help jerking your cock and slipping your fingers into your slick lubed hole while thinking of him hunting, marking, and fucking you.

You just couldn’t stay away. You did for a few days, but you couldn’t resist your fantasies. So inevitably, you found yourself “accidentally” out of the bounds of your property line.

It didn’t take long for Lupin to descend upon you. He hadn’t been far, and he could detect your omega pheromones easily. It surely wasn’t because he had been brooding near the shared border of your properties in hopes that you would come by again.

You zipped away, and once more, he gave chase. This time, you knew who was there and didn’t have the same type of fear and were much more clear-headed. Your evasive skills were better as a result. The both of you enjoyed the hunt immensely. The thrill of catching and dominating you spurred him on while the rush of resistance and submission drove you.

This time, when he caught you, he made a big show of acting frustrated and annoyed at the very notion that you would dare to invade his space a SECOND time. Clearly, he had not properly put you in your place.

Feeling a bit more resistant than you did during the first encounter, you just huffed and turned away from him.

“Stubborn fucker.”

Then he did the same as he had done the first time but finished by removing his shirt and scenting it by rubbing it all over his sweaty body before forcing you to wear it. It was far too large and looked rather comical on you and steeped you in his scent even more thoroughly than you already had been.

You blushed and looked away, trying to seem undaunted as he pointed and laughed at the sight while trying not to make it apparent that seeing you in his clothing while wearing his scent wasn’t the hottest thing he had ever encountered.

He quickly left, leaving you to deal with the growing pool of slick that was soaking your pants. The wolf-man only waited until he was out of sight before he whipped out his cock and started fervently jerking off. Similarly, you didn’t make it home either before you had to pleasure yourself.

It quickly became a favorite game for both of you. You'd enter his domain and act like it wasn't on purpose, and he'd chase you away and act super annoyed when he finally caught and marked you. You'd hurl insults at him and tell him he stank, and he'd call you an idiot with no common sense.

And when the other was out of sight, you'd each fervently tend to your arousal.

Though one time when you went seeking to get scent marked, he was curiously absent. He had gone to a little marketplace where all the nearby forest dwellers gathered to trade and purchase wares. No one had told you about it yet. Lupin had a stall where he peddled foraged items and wood carvings he made.

As you ventured deeper and deeper into his land, you made sure to make a lot of noise, even resorting to straight-up shouting insults. You were about to give up and turn back when you stumbled upon his house.

It didn't appear that anyone was home, though, so you were still going to leave... right after you walked around outside a bit so he would know you had been there. Just to annoy him.

While you walked around a bit, you noticed a captivating smell. His smell. Though not very fresh, it still made you leak a bit of slick. It was wafting from an open window. You knew you should have just ignored it and that what you were doing was a massive violation, but like a moth to a flame, you climbed right in anyway.

Your sensitive nose found the source of his scent immediately, a dirty close hamper with some recently worn boxers on top. So you did what any omega bunny close to heat would do... you grabbed his boxers and put the crotch to your nose and inhaled deeply before shedding your clothes and wiggling into his warm covers.

They smelled of him too.

You continued to huff his under garment as you began to wank your cock desperately, his scent sending you fully into heat a bit earlier than expected. You alternated between slipping fingers into your naturally lubed hole and playing with your cock, but nothing satisfied you.

The self pleasure session must have lasted over an hour by the time it was interrupted by Lupin opening his room to the sight of you entirely debauched, your cum on your belly, slick pooling on his sheets, and his underwear in your hand. You stopped immediately when he entered and stated at him wide-eyed in an expression of fear mingled with surprise.

After a long silence, the wolf man finally spoke up, "What the fuck do you think you're doing you gross little weirdo!??"

The room was filled with the smell of your lust charged omega pheromones, he feigned a look of abhorrence while hoping his rapidly hardening cock didn't make a noticeable bulge in his pants.

You were blushing with embarrassment and a bit out of it due to your heat, but you managed to collect yourself.

"I was coming over to bug your grumpy ass when I went into heat... and well... even your disgusting smell will do when I'm desperate..."

The two of you traded insults, and he got slowly closer as the two of you did so.

"Your musk is really inadeq-"

He stuffed your face in his armpit before pulling away and getting into the bed with you. Your mind was fuzzy as your heat and a direct dose of his alpha pheromones claimed your senses.

"I don't... want your smelly dick in me... but it'll help my heat, so..."

You turned away, blushing even more deeply than previously as you spread your legs for him.

"Well, I don't want to either... but whatever gets you to stop being so needy and out of my bed..."

Your hole was so lubed and well prepped by your own fingers that he slid in every inch of his thick cock into you effortlessly. You shuddered as he entered you, your eyes rolling into the back of your head as he nibbled at your neck while he fucked you.

"Heh, such a needy slut. You take me pretty well, though."

You scoffed half-heartedly at the comment.

Lupin flung your legs over his shoulders and forced you into a mating press before pounding into you in earnest. You, at least in the moment, abandon all pretense of not wanting it. As does he.

A loud moan escapes you as you cum hard, he isn't far behind and instinctively bites your neck as he knots you. The two of you lay panting a moment before he started grinding his knot back and forth within you. You went several more rounds, until you both were sore and barely conscious. The two of you found yourselves passed out within one another’s embrace.

You both awoke the net morning roughly at the same time. Each of you hardening your expression when you remembered you’re supposed to hate each other.

“Fuck, I can’t believe I let you put that gross knot in me!”

Hey! Don’t act like the victim here you fucking freak, you came into my house and got your slick and pheromones everywhere! It clouded my brain. Fuck look at the mess you made!”

You scrambled out of the covers to get your clothes on as he did the same before hopping out of the bed, your little cotton tail wagging in annoyance.

“Well what the fuck ever, I have to go!”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t let the door hit you on your way out…”

You made for the door as he asked under his breath, “Same time next month…?”

You had already shut the door behind you by the time you had registered what he had asked. You opened the door briefly to give your response.

“Yes please.”

You then slammed the door, feigning anger, and headed home for a much needed shower. You blushed and grinned like an idiot the entire way back.

[citrlet]

because i was asked for what mods i use, i decided i'll just make a whole post!

most of everything here is pretty cottagecore/naturey~

under the cut because my game is heavily modded this list is long!!

visual

medieval buildings

way back pelican town

seasonal cute characters base / expanded / east scarp

all cuter animal replacements

vibrant pastoral 1.6 (temporary fix)

overgrown flowery ui

medieval craftables

dynamic night time

cottagecore fences

lamps

gwens paths

animated gemstones

foliage redone foliage only

rosedryads fairies

elle's town animals

sve facelift

more grass

medieval dnt

flowergrass and snowfields

expansion fish redesign

clothing / hairs

more accessories and stuff

cozy scarves

hoods and hoodies

vanilla pants and skirts

the coquette collection

seasonal hats

ani's colour collection

improved and new hairstyles

kyuyas hairstyles pack

furniture

idalda furniture recolor

h&w outdoor furniture

h&w fairy garden furniture

west elm furniture

nano's retro style furniture

asters big furniture pack

gameplay / mechanics

cjb cheats menu (just to walk a little faster)

cjb show item sell price

greenhouse gatherers

craftable mushroom boxes

advanced casks

lumisteria serene meadow

growable forage and crop bushes

cornucopia more flowers / more crops

atelier wildflour crops and forage pack

wear more rings

tree transplant

passable crops

no fence decay redux

multi yield crops

crop fairy

challenging community center bundles

better chests

automate

spawn supply crates on beach

expanded storage

bigger backpack

blue eggs and golden mayo

better ranching

npc map locations

data layers

expansions

stardew valley expanded

east scarp / lurking in the dark / never ending adventure / always raining in the valley

lumisteria visit mount vapius

misc

jen's cozy cellar

cozy farmhouse kitchen

asters walls and floors megapack

wrens expanded greenhouse

cuter coops and better barns

nicer sewer

also recommended

hudson valley buildings

elle's seasonal buildings

seasonal fences

ridgeside village

immerisve farm map 2

[rjzimmerman]

I'm going to invite these scientists to our house and yard. We have dozens and dozens of grackles at our feeders, making their grackle noises and bullying away our other "resident" birds. But in case they're right, here's an excerpt from an Audubon story:

As people have remade the American landscape, they’ve also shaped the fortunes of Common Grackles. The iridescent blackbirds flourished in the grain fields and pastures that European settlers cultivated after cutting down forests in the 18th and 19th centuries. By the 1970s, an estimated 150 million grackles inhabited a vast stretch from the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains, and today they are regulars across much of the continent. But the birds are disappearing—and no one knows why. A new tracking project aims to reveal what’s driving the mysterious decline.

Birders were among the first to gather evidence of the species’ troubling trajectory. In winter, grackles join Red-winged Blackbirds, European Starlings, and other birds in giant swirling congregations. Audubon’s annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC) long tallied roosts of up to tens of millions of birds. But in the past couple of decades, participants have rarely found flocks of more than a few million, says former CBC director Geoff LeBaron. Other blackbirds are in decline, too, but grackles have become noticeably absent from winter roosts.

According to CBC data, Common Grackles have been dropping at a rate of 3 percent per year, which amounts to a roughly 78 percent decline since 1970, says Tim Meehan, a quantitative scientist at Audubon. Meanwhile, federal Breeding Bird Surveys, which take place each summer, have found at least a 50 percent decline over the past half century. These data clearly indicate that there are fewer grackles across the board, Meehan says: “It’s a slam dunk.”

Michael Ward, a University of Illinois biologist, is one of the lead scientists delving into the conundrum. In 2021 he and his colleagues ruled out a hunch that grackles were failing to produce young: 60 percent of chicks in nearly 200 nests that he monitored fledged successfully, a higher rate than most songbirds achieve. Whatever is harming grackles is likely affecting adults, Ward says.

It’s possible the resourceful foragers, which eat everything from grubs to grains to garbage, are exposed to something dangerous in their diet. The researchers suspect insects and corn could be hazardous meals: Both may contain high levels of neonicotinoids—insecticides commonly applied to grains that have been linked to a decline in avian biodiversity in North America and beyond. Ward’s group plans to study what grackles eat on their breeding grounds to help determine how great a risk their food poses.

Meanwhile, the scientists want to better understand the challenges grackles face after leaving their breeding grounds. In addition to stringing up mist nets to snag birds in residential neighborhoods and at roost sites, Ward and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Kelly VanBeek set live traps baited with seed and mealworms at Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s Goose Pond Sanctuary. They outfitted 14 Common Grackles with satellite tags throughout the summer and early fall of 2023 as the birds prepared to depart for their wintering grounds in the Southeast and southern Midwest.

On those journeys, VanBeek says, there are plenty of opportunities for the migrants to encounter other possible chemical culprits like fungicides, which may disrupt birds’ hormones and metabolism and are typically applied in the fall when grackles are on the move. Blackbirds’ penchant for foraging on farmland in large flocks makes them a target for culling as well. Between 1974 and 1992, the federal government killed up to 18 million Common Grackles in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama to reduce damage to agricultural crops. The pace has slowed, but the practice continues: Wildlife Services, a USDA division, killed more than 630,000 Common Grackles over the past decade. That’s on top of birds taken by farmers under FWS permits.

[mostlypetty30]

SJM, Research Things. I Beg You.

Things SJM could have researched that would have made the story a little bit better. Honestly, this is just me getting out my pet peeves. It's super picky so like ... take this with a grain of salt.

Village Dynamics. A small village often worked together to survive. There are also many parts to a village including hunters. We barely get anything about this village. It's weird.

Barter & Trade Systems. A poor town is not using only money for goods ... be so for real right now. Feyre should have been trading her furs for goods not coin. Small villages and areas even to this day primarily operate on barter and trade!

Hunting. Children 11 and 14 are not that young. That's average in modern times. It was often younger in older periods. Deer also weigh a lot. It's hard for a grown ass seasoned hunter to drag a deer out of the woods. Field dressing is a must.

Cleaning and Disease. I'm still mad about that dead bloodied deer being thrown and gutted on the kitchen table. That place is gross. They have a disease now.

Curing Meat. The meat could not have been cured overnight. At a minimum it would need 24 hours.

Weaponry. The fact that barely any weapons are mentioned in this story aside from swords, knives, daggers, and bows is a travesty. It doesn't matter that Feyre was just a hunter. There are more than just bows and snares for hunting. Illyrians having such base weapons for a warrior culture is abysmal. Did you know a lot of weapons were created from farming and building tools?

Disabilities. Enough Said.

Vegetable & Crop Rotation. I'm hoping Elain's book fixes this but as of right now it's criminal. Especially with Illyria again and not giving them crops and veggies to cultivate? Emerie has her garden, sure, but the rest of the camp? There are so many things you can grow in a cold mountainous environment. Imagine the stuff we could have had aside from just ... stew and porridge.

Foraging. Why isn't Feyre foraging? I get not many books mention it, but like it would be so cool if they did! Especially ones like this with a starving family and you are telling me hunting and Elain's failing garden are the only way?

The Arts: Dancing and Painting. ugh... at this rate if you know you know.

War, Battle, and Politics. I have a whole other issue with this trope, but these books really hone in on it.

Geographical Locations and Maps. Whole rant for distance and time here.

Biology and Anatomy

Hair color. Because not all red hair is the same. Thank you!

Political Power Structures & Government Bodies.

Magic Systems the magic use is basic (Except when Tarquin drowned those soldiers with sea water he conjured in them. That was cool!), the system has shown to have no balance, and there is no real power scaling.

Warrior Cultures. The way I am so pissed that her warriors nations have zero respect for Illyrian women but in the same breath says they explicitly breed for strength. Most warrior cultures while being patriarchal and having not great things for women. Still treat their women 100x better than SJM does her Illyrian women.

Also, because the village is roughly closer if not the same distance from the ocean as it is the wall ... why did Feyre not try to fish? They also have a lake near the village. It's where Feyre taught herself to swim, so again ... Fishing? No? Okay ...

[sallie-nathalies]

Due to recently made question, I'm headcanoning (?) every Bachelor/Bachelorette Stardew Valley Surnames.

So, I gonna explain the logic behind these:

1-I headcanon that their surnames fit into hobbies or personalities, more than into proffesions (I will leave this to all non datable characters).

2-I will go assuming that the majority of them took their father's last name (with some exceptions).

3-I read all names meaning, so it helps me to decide their last names and add more layers to their character. I ignore if Maru comes from María Eugenia or from Japanese word Circle, so is the only case I ignored her name.

4-Personal aesthetic. I will chose those what sounds good to me.

ALEX George, Evelyn and Alex Mullner are canon so I can't explore more. Their surname means miller. I think that Alex used to have his father's surname, but for obvious reasons he changed it. I would like to think that he used being Alex Barrett, because Barrett means troublesome.

ABIGAIL Pierre and Caroline are French origin names. I considered Marchand surname (literally means Merchant), but as I said, I don't want surnames based on professions. Also, I feel that even if Abigail is not Pierre's bio daughter and there are many discussions and differences between them, its obviously that they love each other. I think that it would be cool that, at least, she can inherited a surname from his father that fits her personality. Pierre, Caroline and Abigail Piper, because it means "flute player". Yes, I know that Abigail has a more adventurous side, but I also assume that those flute classes weren't free and this is something that her parents made for her that she actually enjoys.

SHANE, as I explain in a previous post, I named him as Shane Gwaltney (anglicized Welsh-celtic last name meaning hawk of may) .

Extended explanation here

LEAH. Our cottage girl who loves art and likes foraging in her free time. She broke up with an abusive partner and gave up her life in Zuzu city to pursue her art career. Basically, cutting to grow into something stronger, healthier. Let's not forget that trimming, cutting and reaping are techniques used in gardening to encourage blossoming. Due to this, I would say that her complete name is Leah Cropper as an occupational surname that used to reap crops and trim trees.

ELLIOT. In the beginning I was thinking giving him a last name related to the sea. But I think there are other aspects of him that are more important. Like his creativity, his poetry, his tenacity to fight for his dream even if many think he won't be able to do it. I found that Elliott Garnett would fit him better. Garnett means seller of hinges, but also means "seller of pomegranates" that he loves. Why I'm centering on pomegranates? Because they are a symbol of resurrection, fertility and creativity. Something that fits into Elliott's character!

MARU and SEBASTIAN. I like to assume Demetrius took Robin's surname, because I don't see her as a person who takes their husband's surname. And Sebastian...uggg, even if I feel bad for him, I think he has Robin's ex husband last name. But, that's not kinda his story arc? That he feels ostracized from his family? So, I think that Robin will keep her maiden name and Demetrius and Maru would take it. All of them have different hobbies, professions and interest. But it's a fact that all of them depend somehow of living by the forest to express themselves (Robin works with wood, Demetrius is an environmental scientist, Maru needs clear skies to observe through her telescope, and Sebastian loves solitude). So let's name them Robin, Demetrius and Maru Atwood (English last name, meaning dweller at the wood) and Sebastian Blackley (English last name, meaning dark wood) because even if it's not obvious, he still belongs to his family.

SAM. I know I've said that "no last names related to professions" but I make rules to break them, specially, because I think I must do it in this case. Kent is traumatized by war and this has a huge impact on his family. We know by dialogue that he used being much more happy, playful and carefree. Probably, he was like Sam before war (cries). Also, Samson was the name of a soldier and Vincent is good at shooting (dialogue said during Valley Fair festival). So, yep, I find no reason to not give them a military last name. So, from now, I'm gonna name them as Kent, Jodi, Vincent and Sam Krieger (German last name, meaning soldier).

EMILY and HALEY. These both sisters are so different, but I think that the have something in common and it's their pursuit of beautiness in the world. It could be in the form of creativity and self expression or from observing surroundings and vanity, but it's basically the same pursuit. So I will name the sisters as Emily and Haley Belcher (Norman last name meaning Fair face, cheerful, pleasant temperament).

PENNY. This was difficult. Because I can't imagine naming Penny with a last name related to alcohol or naming Pam after books. They are opposite in personalities and values and pursuit different goals. But then I realized that both were hurt by the same man who abandoned them. This unknown character left nothing behind, except his last name that its stills haunting this family. Also, I totally headcanon that Penny changes her last name for her partner's as a symbol of breaking from her past and going after the bright future she always dream about. So let's name them Pam and Penny Wanless (Scottish, meaning hopeless or luckness).

HARVEY is our kind doctor. He is timid, scareful, but sweet and a good guy in general. He loves everything related to flying, but due to his own fears, he never tried to pursuit that career. He learns to overcome his fears thanks to the farmer. I think that a last name related to birds will fit him. Also, mostly birds spent their lives with the same partner and this sounds like Harvey to me. So let's name Harvey Finch.

KROBUS because, why not? I headcanon that all magical creatures have Zoroastrian last names (because the word magician comes from there). Krobus told us that his name means bridge-crosser in his language. Curiously, there's a bridge related to Zoroastrian beliefs called Chinvat bridge (bridge of judgement, very interesting,but too long to post it, so look on it on Wikipedia), so last name him Krobus Chinvat.

[alexanderwales]

Alright, here's my dream Stardew Valley style game, designed for my own tastes.

You come to a small town with the usual twenty to thirty people. It's in the middle of nowhere. It's a fantasy town, and no one actually farms anymore, partly because it's only questionably profitable, partly because a lot of the knowledge has been lost. Instead, everyone uses these magic doodads which are very powerful but also very limited. The tavernkeeper has a doodad that makes him a single kind of weak ale and a single variety of off-tasting wine. The clothier has basically a square mile of linen to work with, and everyone wears her drab clothes. Tools are made from a doodad that the blacksmith owns, not even made of any actual metal, just a material that wears away after a month and needs to be replaced by a new copy from the blacksmith's doodad. People get their meals from the doodads. They get their medical checkups. It's all a bit shit.

Because I'm a worldbuilder at heart, I would have this all exist in the wake of a large-scale war that depleted the town of its fighting-age population, with the doodads being a sort of government program to ensure that more of the lifeblood of the town could be drained away. And for there to be some reason for the town to continue existing, perhaps the government is harvesting some resources necessary in the creation of doodads. That's enough for a pro-doodad faction and maybe some minor drama with them, though I do like the idea that the only reason things are Like This is because there was a war and things got bad. It's not necessarily a bleak town, but there's definitely a listlessness to it, a "what's the point".

So you're a farmer, but no one is really a farmer anymore. Maybe there are a few books, but you don't learn farming from books, you learn it from practical experience; that's a lot of what this game is about. When you start, there's no one to buy seeds from, there's just a bunch of wilderness where farms once stood, now all long overgrown.

So you go out and forage, for a start, and you clear the land, and you pay attention to the plants and how they can be used, and you start in on making recipes with them, maybe with the help of your grandfather's old, partially incomplete books. You find some wild corn that's a descendant of the old times. You find some tomato seeds in an urn. You discover potatoes because you see them dug up by a wild boar, which itself was once a domesticated animal.

In my ideal game, you need to pay attention to the soil quality, to how far apart things are planted, to what crops work well together. Farming is a matter of companion planting and polycultures. You get some chickens by giving them consistent feed, and you keep them around because they're natural pest control. Your climbing beans climb the stalks of your maize. You're attracting pollinators. (From a gameplay perspective, yeah, we probably put this all into a grid, and you have crop bonuses from adjacencies, and emergent gameplay that comes from all that, some plants providing shade, others providing nitrogen fixing.) You're a scientist making observations about the plants, maybe with your incomplete book giving you confirmation on the nature of all your crops once you hit certain production goals or a perfect specimen or whatever.

Cooking is the same. There has got to be a system that I like better than just "combine tomato with bread to get tomato bread". I'm pretty sure that it's some variant of the actual process I use when cooking, which is making sure that things are properly cooked, balancing flavors against each other, adding in a little salt or acidity or umami or whatever. Time in the kitchen, in this game, is often about making meals, ensuring that if you have a fatty piece of meat you have some asparagus that's coated with lemon to go with it. (From a gameplay perspective, I think building the dish once is probably sufficient and it can be automated after that, and building the meal is the same. I don't want to play this minigame every time I'm cooking a dish, I just want to play it a single time until I have good knowledge of the best way to grill a BBQ chicken breast with a homemade sauce.)

But if we're having a little minigame here where we pay attention to how long we're cooking the kale to make sure that it's the right texture, and we're paying attention to abstractified mouthfeel and palette, then we can get something else for free: variation. See, you're not just cooking to get an S grade, you're cooking for people with different tastes. The cobbler has a sweet tooth, the librarian loves fruity things, the mayor cannot stand fish, that sort of thing. From a gameplay perspective, maybe we represent this with a radar graph with some specific favorite and least favorite individual flavors, and maybe it's visible to the player, but the important thing is that player gets feedback and have a reason to strive for both "good" and "perfection" and some of this is going to depend on the quality of the ingredients.

And this is, gradually, how the town is brought back into the fullness of life. You're not just cooking for these people, you're also selling them food, and they're making their own recipes, and all the stuff that's not food is making their businesses not suck anymore. After the first test keg of ale goes swimmingly, the tavernkeeper wants more, a lot more, and puts in an order for hops, wheat, grapes, anything he can use to make things that will improve nights at the tavern. The clothier will skeptically take in wool and spin her own yarn, and then eagerly want more, because how awesome is it to have a new textile? There's a chemist who is extremely interested in dyes and paints, and wants you to bring him all kinds of things to see what might be viable for going beyond the ~3 colors that the doodads can provide.

So by year two, if you're doing things right, you're the lynchpin of the revivalist movement. People are now moving to the town, for the first time in decades, because they hear that you're there and doing interesting things with the wilderness. Maybe there are other farmers following in your wake, but maybe it's just new characters who are specifically coming because a crate of wine was shipped to the capital city. Maybe some of them bring new techniques for you, or a handful of plants from a botanical garden, and there are new elements for the minigames, or maybe some automation for the stuff that's old hat.

I think something that's important to me is that there's a reason for the crops you plant and the things you do. I always like these games best when it feels like I'm doing something for someone, when I can look at a plot of cabbages and think "ah, those are the cabbages I owe to Leon". Where these games are at their worst, everything is entirely fungible and I've planted eight million blueberries because they have the highest ROI.

And yeah, in most of these games, there are other minigames like fishing and mining and logging and crafting, and since this is just a blog post and not a game, I definitely could massively expand an already sizeable scope.

I think for mining the player would use doodads of their own, and maybe you could make a mining minigame out of that, using the same planting tile system to instead create an automated ore harvesting machine that plumbs the depths of the earth (possibly dealing with rocks of different hardness, the water table, and other challenges along the way).

Fishing is a question of understanding the different fish species, what they eat, where they congregate, and then setting nets or lines, since I have never met a fishing minigame I really enjoyed. Again, there's some idea that the player is gaining information over time, building up a profile of these fish, noticing that some of them go nuts when it rains, understanding the spawning season, that they go to deeper water when it's cold, etc.

Crafting really depends on what you're crafting, but if you're reintroducing traditional artisan processes to this town, then people are going to need tools and machines and things. I'm not sure I know what a proper crafting game looks like. The only experience I have to draw on is wood shop, where I made wooden boxes, cutting boards, and picture frames. Since this is an engineering-lite puzzle-lite game, you could maybe do something in that vein, e.g. defining a number of steps that get you the correct thing you're trying to make, but ... eh. I love the idea of designing a chicken coop, for example, or building a trellis if I want my climbing beans to not need maize, or whatever, but I don't know how you actually implement that. There are definitely voxel-based and snap-to-grid games where you build bases, and I tend to find that fun ... but it's mostly cosmetic, for the obvious reason that doing it any other way than cosmetic requires programmatic evaluation, which is difficult and maybe unintuitive. The closest I think I've seen is ... maybe Tears of the Kingdom? Contraption building? But I don't know how you translate that to a farming game. Maybe I should ask my wife about this, because she's always doing little projects around the house (an outdoor enclosure for our cats, a 3D-printed holder for our living room keyboard, a mounting for our TV).

Making an interesting crafting system is difficult, which is why pretty much no one has done it.

And if I'm talking pie in the sky, without concern for budget or scope, I want the villagers to all have a mammoth amount of writing for them. I want petty little dramas and weird obsessions, lives that evolve with or without my input, rudimentary dialog trees that let me nudge things in different directions. This is just an unbelievable amount of work on its own, it would be crazy, but I would love having a tiny little town game where sometimes other people would fall in love. I would like to be invited to a wedding, maybe one that happened because I encouraged the chemist to hang out with the clothier, and in the course of working together on dyes, they fell in love. With twenty people in town and another ten that come in over the course of the game if you hit the right triggers, I do think this is just a matter of having a ton of time/budget. You write tons and tons of dialogue so there's not much that's repeated, you have some lines of conversation between characters that are progressed through, you have others that trigger off of events, and then you have personal relationships between NPCs that can be progressed through time or with player intervention. Give single characters a pool of love interests, have their affections depend on their routine which depends on what's changed in town ... very difficult to do without spending loads and loads of time on it though.

Anyway, that's one of my dream games. No one is ever going to make it, it would be a niche of a niche, and as scoped here, is too much for a small team to ever actually finish, let alone polish. But it's the sort of thing I'm imagining in my head when I think about playing Stardew Valley and its successors.

[studentinpursuitofclouds]

Can you rank the sdv bachelors/bachelorettes on who would adjust the best/worst to farm life? I'm curious on your opinion :))

Sure thing, let's do a ranking on our marriage candidates 😃 Thanks for the ask, dear anon! 🫰💕

Also, I think it's worth saying that I think all candidates will adjust well to their new life on the farm. This is where I described and judged candidates when they first moved onto the farm, from day one. This is just my opinion, so if you think differently, feel free to write about it here in replies!

_____________________________

SDV bachelors:

Shane gets a confident 8.5/10. After all, he didn't get the nickname "chicken man" for nothing, as he takes excellent care of hens on his aunt's ranch. So much so that he's bred his own breed of blue chickens! Plus, I'm sure Shane has helped Marnie take care of other animals while in the barn, and knows a fair bit about growing crops (at least his favourite hot peppers). So he will adapt almost instantly!

I'll probably get some hate for this, but I'll give Elliott a 1/10. With all due respect to our gallant writer, he literally has a quote where he says he "won't water the plant with salt water this time." ...Who would ever think of watering a freshwater plant with salt water, even without a background in gardening? So it's going to take Elliott a long time to adjust to life on a farm, especially if it's a Beach Farm ("Don't water the tomatoes with seawater!").

Normally Sam's mother, as she herself claimed, didn't make him and Vincent do house work, and there's no garden or hint of anyone in the family taking care of the houseplants (most likely Jodi doing all the work). So Sammy jumps from the life of a carefree musician to one full of farm chores, at least partially. In fact, he doesn't mind giving it a try, just doesn't know where to start ("Honey, help me"). 3/10, he's a little confused, but he got the spirit.

Being constantly busy working with patients, despite the small size of the town, and a bunch of other things to do in his clinic, certainly doesn't leave Harvey enough free time to do much gardening. But at least there's some time to read books, and the library just happens to have a couple of interesting ones about farming. I think it will at least give him the opportunity to grow tomatoes in a pot (albeit decorative ones). It's going to be a lot harder with farming, but Harvey even likes it. Still, 3.5/10, he's trying.

Similar situation with Sam, Sebastian will jump from a life of freelance programming work to the farm work. Of course Farmer won't force Sebby to work for them, after all they love him for who he is, not as free labour. But emo himself feels he should help his spouse with their work somehow. He's so-so at growing crops, but taking care of the chickens and goats is much better. 4/10, the black hens are his favourite, btw.

Oh, Alex will fit into farm life quite nicely. The athlete may have difficulty tending crops, watering potatoes and garlic with too much water, but in terms of physical tasks he does just fine. Drag heavy bags of seed/hay? Heck yeah! Load heavy pumpkins into the shipping bin for sale? Easy, he'll do it with one hand! It's like a workout for him. 6.5/10, go Alex!

SDV bachelorettes:

Penny may not have had the opportunity to grow melons or have a small garden near her house (well, trailer in this case), she was constantly reading books about foraging and farming, overflowing with dreams of having her own green place. Soon her dream came true, and all the theory they read was not wasted. Of course, the young teacher will definitely have difficulties, as this is not a small garden but a huge farm, but she will adapt quite well. 7/10, very nice.

4.5/10 for Maru. Actually, she's been a great helper on the farm from the beginning, only her area of expertise was different. Maru will easily fix any broken oil maker or calculate the proportions of minerals for fertiliser, but when asked to take care of the vegetable garden, the young inventor will definitely fall into a stupor. Still, I'm sure she will get used to it, because Maru is a genius, and if she can create an intelligent robot, she can handle growing strawberries as well.

I was going to give Haley the same number of points as Elliott, but I thought her trying to learn how to interact with cows and my idea that she wanted to learn about growing sunflowers deserved another point. So let it be 2/10. Yes, very low, but Haley used to be squeamish of any dirt and smells, so farm life, which is just full of dirt and smells (especially from the barn) will be a bit difficult for a girl.

In general, Leah's knowledge is closer to foraging than to farming, but the talented artist is definitely not afraid of hard work, and has a basic knowledge of growing crops. She definitely offered her then (future) spouse help on the farm several times. Yes, it was flirting, but Leah was actually willing to help carry seeds and water the plants, even had something to share about growing mushrooms on stumps. 7.5/10, she's a great fit.

On the one hand, Abigail has some experience in farming, as Pierre definitely asked her for help in his small vegetable garden behind the shop. On the other hand, the purple-haired girl didn't really show much interest in all this and she seemed to lack patience with plants and flowers before. It's different now, but Abby thought at times that her father and mother's chatter about plants was for a reason after all. 4/10, not too great, but not all bad either.

Emily takes care of the flowers in the house, so some knowledge she has. She loves nature and being outside, that's undeniable. Farming skills? Well... yes and no. Emily is a hard-working bee, but almost all of her time has been taken up at the Saloon, cleaning the house, and a passion for tailoring, so she doesn't have much experience. Still, it's there, and I'd give it a 5/10, but more because of the fact that Emily definitely takes good care of the animals ("My friends")

_________________________________________

So, from best to worst (SDV bachelors):

№1: Shane; №2: Alex; №3: Sebastian; №4: Sam; №5: Harvey; №6: Elliott.

From best to worst (sdv bachelorettes):

№1: Leah; №: Penny; №3: Emily; №4: Maru; №5: Abigail; №6: Haley.

[heroesrest64]

Character Sheets

(more to be added later)

Sky

The local carpenter, a sleepy young man who completes his jobs… eventually. You can often find him napping just about anywhere, even on his feet! A romantic at heart, you won’t regret getting to know this loveable young man.

Birthday: Spring 10

Family: None

Weapons: Broadswords, Whips, Claws

Style: Combo Connoisseur (Often starts combo chains while fighting)

Favorite Items: Wood, Pumpkin Soup (“Reminds me of home”), Feathers

Least Favorite Items: Poultry (“Why would you think I would like this?”), weeds, Spicy food

Four

The local blacksmith who always seems to be everywhere at once. He has a special penchant for weapons, and is happy to assist you in making whatever you need.

Birthday: Fall 21

Family: Smith (Grandpa)

Weapons: Broadswords, Magic Wands, War Hammers and Bow and Arrows

Style: Well-Rounded (Performs well no matter where you put him in the lineup)

Favorite Items: Metal Ores, Magic Stones, Four Leafed Clovers (“They’re good luck!), Coffee

Least Favorite Items: ocean forageables, trash, deserts (“Too sweet for my taste.”)

Time

this man runs the other farm in town alongside Twilight, mostly focused on cultivating crops and the like. He’s experienced (Read: Old) so if you need any tips or tricks, he’s the guy that you want to talk to.

Birthday: Summer 4

Family: None

Weapons: Longswords, Claws, War Hammers

Style: Heavy Hitter (He’s a bit slower but his attacks hit that much harder)

Favorite Items: Any Vegetable, Lon Lon Milk (“Better than any alcohol”), Elderflower

Least Favorite Items: Bitter recipes, soggy newspaper (“What am I supposed to do with this?”) moon dust (“…”)

Wind

An aspiring fisherman who makes deliveries from Lurelin Village and who can even ferry you down there. He’s a very nice young man, inquisitive, and always ready to lend a helping hand.

Birthday: Summer 19

Family: Aryll (Sister), ‘Granny’ (Grandma)

Weapons: Longswords, War Hammers, Clubs

Style: Sleight (Because of his smaller size, he can sneak attack enemies easier, and can even nick some of their items if he’s lucky)

Favorite Items: Elixir Soup (“You could never make it like my Grandma, but this is pretty close.”), Ocean Forageables, Fish

Least Favorite Items: Spicy foods, vegetables (“What’s a sailors least favorite vegetable? Leeks!”), egg shells (“Are you trying to curse me?”)

NON ROMANCEABLE

Legend

The curator of the local museum. He claims all of his attractions were stolen by a man in a bunny hood. A little standoffish at first, but knowledgeable beyond his years.

Birthday: Spring 25

Family: Fable (Sister)

Weapons: All Weapons

Style: Veteran (Capable of wielding all weapons with high dexterity)

Favorite Items: Hibiscus(“Reminds me of somebody… Thank you.”), artifacts, apples

Least Favorite Items: rabbits foot (“Where did you get this? It’s disgusting.”), Mermaid Scale, Goddess Statue Figurine (“I swear it’s like she’s looking at me…”)

Hyrule

The town's healer. He’s a little sassy at times, but is always very helpful and never gives up. Unfortunately, his cooking leaves a lot to be desired…

Birthday: Fall 8

Family: None

Weapons: Broadsword, boomerang, magic wands

Style: Magic and Mayhem (Has innate magical abilities that don’t need a conduit to activate.)

Favorite Items: deserts, herbs, Honey (“I’d say it’s for tea, but I might just eat it like this…”)

Least Favorite Items: Fairy Wings (“That’s sickening.”), bitter foods, Trash

Twilight

Runs the other farm in town alongside Time, focused on raising the animals there. He’s strong and fiercely loyal to his loved ones. He’s best friends with the town chef, so you can often find him hanging around the local tavern.

Birthday: Winter 7

Family: None

Weapons: Broadsword, Ball and Chain, Claws

Style: Wolf Hunter (Attacks animal-adjacent monsters with more ferocity)

Favorite Items: Pumpkin Soup, Goat-related products, Onyx (“I hear these can make openings to dark worlds. Probably just superstition, but it’s a fun thought.”)

Least Favorite Items: Bitter foods, Perfumes (“The smell is too strong.”), Wolfsbane

Warriors

The village's main protector, previously a knight of Hyrule who retired after the Great War. He’s known to be a bit of a womanizer, but he isn’t known to go out with people since coming to Hateno. What could be the source of these unfounded rumors?

Birthday: Winter 26

Family: Linkle (Sister[?])

Weapons: All Weapons

Style: Leader (Often at the front of the party, dealing decisive blows and commanding the rest of the party)

Favorite Items: Spicy foods, Armor Polish (“So shiny I can see myself!”), Any armor/ weapon (“I can add this to my collection.”)

Least Favorite Items: Trash, monster guts, Crystal Ball (“You had this? …You weren’t watching people through it, right?”)

Wild

An amnesiac man who somehow made his way to Hateno and decided to open a tavern. Despite his memory loss, he’s a natural in the kitchen, and even the stranger sounding recipes turn out excellent.

Birthday: unknown, presumed Fall 13

Family: None

Weapons: Broadswords, Bow and Arrows, Spears

Style: Wild (Often unpredictable in his attacks, either unleashing impossible combos or falling flat on his face)

Favorite Items: Edible forageables, Silent Princess (“It’s familiar, somehow”), Hearty Soup

Least Favorite Items: Wolf Pelt (“That's not funny.”) [Cant think of anything else rn]

Universal Loves: Goddess Plume, Master Sword, Hylian Shield

Exceptions

Legend- Goddess Plume (“More burdens to bear.”)

Universal Hates: Hyrule’s Cooking, Failed Dishes

Exceptions

Wild- Hyrule’s cooking/ Failed Dishes (“It’s okay to fail, as long as you don’t give up.”)

Legend- Hyrule’s Cooking (“Hyrule made this?… Do you think he’d be mad if I displayed it under ‘worlds most deadliest poison’?”)

[tribbetherium]

The Late Rodentocene: 20 million years post-establishment

Scrub Suited: The Mixed Scrublands of Easaterra

The continent of Easaterra, in the Late Rodentocene, is a warm, tropical environment conducive to the growth of various vegetation. Here, there are only two seasons: a hot, dry season, when rain is few, and a wet season, where rain comes in pouring droves, and the dry, dusty landscape gives way to lush greenery, influenced by an intertropical convergence zone and its associated rainfall, that shifts north and south of the equator at different times of the year.

One of the most widespread biomes of the continent are the mixed scrublands: a biome dominated by low-to-medium growing plants resembling bushes and shrubs: but are, in fact, a wide array of the various ancestral crop plants seeded into the planet. Some are small plants grown bigger, such as clovers grown into bush-like forms, cabbages that had reverted to herbaceous forms resembling wild brassica, and even dwarfed stonefruit trees that adapted to need fewer resources in the fickle clime of the scrubland, growing no taller than five or six feet at most.

Easaterra, at this point, had not yet been colonized by the hamtelopes, and thus, in the meantime, have been dominated by herbivorous jerryboas, ones that, like many other groups, have grown much larger to fill grazer, browser and forager niches. Some, such as the tawny brushleapers (Xanthosaltocricetus easaterrus), grow to sizes of about twenty kilograms and feed primarily on the grasses and softer vegetation, while others, such as the dwarf kwonkas (Minimacropodimys albacauda), are much smaller at about five kilograms and specialize on the woody stems and shoots as well as seeds and fruit. Small relatives of the kwonkas, the klingaroos (Arbosaltomys tropicus), adapted into agile climbers, able to scale the few, sparsely-spread tall trees with the help of gripping paws and prehensile tails, and eat the leaves out of reach for most other herbivores of the scrubland.

Other species are found here too, while jerryboas may dominate the landscape. Present here are the now-abundant ratbats, which roost in the few trees present but travel far and wide to dine on the abundance of insects attracted to the bounties of flowers and fruit, with a few predatory ones, such as chestnut brushswoops (Aquilonyctus rubropterus) picking off small furbils and duskmice from the ground. Tiny shrubmice (Virgultumys spp.) take shelter in great numbers among the bushes, hiding from predatory ratbats as well as opportunistic rabbacoons, such as the scrubby bushcoon (Procynolagus arbuscula) which may catch and eat small animals on occasion to supplement their diet of fruits, seeds, leaves and insects. Heckhogs, like the shrub thornrat (Paliuruechinomys spinatus) are also prominent in these regions, rummaging through the ground for insects, ground vegetation and fallen fruit, and confidently emerging even during the day due to their sharp quills granting them decent protection.

Early carnohams, unsurprisingly, are the top predators of the local ecosystem, including jerryboas, rabbacoons, ratbats and occasionally heckhogs in their diet. Forms found in the scrublands tend to be ones of longer bodied, shorter legged species that are better suited to chase prey in dense bushy vegetation, such as the slender jagsel (Pantheromustelomys brevipus), remaining concealed in the thick vegetation before attacking in short bursts of speed to chase its prey.

The continent of Easaterra thus fills the ecological gaps of species from other continents with its own native species occupying niches of those absent here. Easaterra, thus becomes the birthplace of new evolutionary forms, most notably the oingos: eventually becoming the forebearers of the walkabies and rhinocheirids in the future epochs to come.

--------

[ronwestbreeze]

you're gonna go far | 4

pairing: jake sully x neytiri x tsu'tey x fem!human! reader summary: a scientist arrives on pandora (unwillingly) a year after the exile of the rda. now she must deal with the likes of a clan leader, a great warrior, and a thanator rider. . . word count: 6.3k

read on ao3

“You are very loud.”

You heard this after placing a few fruits in your new bag. You found Neytiri up on a branch, looking down at you with a semi-annoyed and semi-light expression.

“I didn’t even say anything.” You frowned, turning to walk back to the compound.

Neytiri jumped down from the branch—surprisingly not making a sound—and followed you. “You did not have to.”

She then came up next to you and kicked your ankle.

“Ow.”

“You walk loud. Attracting creatures to you.” Neytiri pointed at your feet—or rather your shoes. “If you keep going into the forest then you must be quiet. With your feet and body.”

Your brows raised at this, “Really? Hmm. I’ll try to remember that.” Perhaps you would start walking through the forest with no shoes on, they were a bother anyway. You won’t miss it too much. Plus, being barefoot wasn’t all that much of a difference. Back on Earth, you would’ve loved to walk around the world with just your feet. But with everything dying and sick, you always kept yourself protected. Earth wasn’t much of a safe place anymore.

Much less a home.

While your mind whirred on with different ideas and plans for your garden and future attempts at foraging, you continued your way back to the compound, still with Neytiri following after you, noticeably a lot quieter in her step than you were. You cringed.

Maybe she did have a point about that after all.

You glanced over your shoulder at her and frowned, “Was that all you came for, or is there a point to this visit?”

Her ears fluttered, “I check to see if you are not making a mess.”

You huffed, “Gee, thanks.”

As the compound finally came into view, Neytiri ran ahead of you toward your mushrooms’ new spot. On her back, you noticed was a sling of sorts, and sitting in it was a baby.

Usually, you didn’t pay too much attention to babies—but this one was particularly familiar. It was a bit foggy, but you were sure you remembered him sleeping in that very sling before. And someone else was holding him at the time.

Only this time, the baby stared right back at you when your eyes met his yellow ones.

Cautiously, you stood next to Neytiri who was busily crouched down to examine your mushrooms. The baby had yet to stop staring at you.

You shuffled, hugging your tablet to your chest, “That baby yours?”

At the question, Neytiri looked up at you and then at the baby she carried, a free gentle smile tugging at her lips upon looking at him. “Yes. His name is Neteyam.”

You nodded and the baby, Neteyam, smiled at his mother and then looked back at you with the same curious yet innocent eyes. “Hello, Neteyam.”

Of course, he probably didn’t understand you—but it would’ve been awkward for you not to acknowledge him—especially with him staring straight at you at all times. But then again, you didn’t know whether or not the natives wanted you to interact with their younglings, so greeting him shortly and as politely as you could was the best option.

Indulge them—like you would any other human baby a parent forced you to acknowledge back on Earth. Sometimes even that wasn’t enough for them. They would keep pestering and cooing at you to hold them, even though you’d express very clearly that you were not comfortable holding one.

A pureness like that didn’t belong in hands like yours.

Instead of pestering you, Neytiri eyed you for a moment, like she expected something, before turning her attention back to the mushrooms. “Your crops are good. Take great care of them and they will grow well for you.”

“It’s only been a couple of days since I moved it. But yeah, you’re right. They’ve definitely gotten better. Thank you again.”

It was your turn to examine her now. Neytiri didn’t look much older than you—or maybe you were older, you couldn’t tell. One thing you did know was that you were sure that she didn’t like you before—well, your species. Same as that clan leader, Tsu’tey. Now, you wondered why she was willingly helping you with the garden.

Now, you were wondering if this was related to the first time you met her. The very first time.

When she watched you nearly die.

Your eyes glanced toward Neteyam again, who was snuggled into his mother’s chest, eyes drooping close. Honestly, you were surprised at how calm he was. Hadn’t made a peep or a cry once. In the back of your mind—the scientist part of you wondered if all Na’vi babies were like that.

Eventually, you moved away from the mushrooms, adjusting your bag of fruits you nearly forgotten. “I’ll harvest the fruits later today, um, first I’m heading to my mother’s burial.” You then frowned, remembering Tsu’tey’s warning—although mirky. You can’t forget the way his scowl seared into your skull, tattooing itself onto your mind. “Would that cause any problems?”

“No.” Neytiri adjusted the sling careful not to disturb the nearly asleep Neteyam. “But I will go with you. You are still too loud.”

You rolled your eyes but didn’t bother to protest.

Mixed with exhaustion and spending most of your day foraging, you didn’t have the energy to fight her about it. Besides, last time she was with you, it wasn’t too bad. Better than her than random warriors watching you with severe gazes. Like you were about to attack them and not the other way around.

You weren’t entirely sure what to do about her son. Even though he was near asleep, you supposed you’d possibly get used to his presence as time rolled on.

Judging from your memory, it took a few minutes for you to find your mother’s burial. It was a good long way away from Hell’s Gate, that you definitely remembered. Mostly because you were counting the time in how much oxygen you had left in your mask.

When you found the familiar lump in the ground and the flowers surrounding it, you quietly sat down in front of it while taking your mother’s songcord from around your right wrist and holding it in your hands The size looked different in your blue palms compared to your human ones.

Neytiri sat down a couple of feet away from you, cradling the sling and Neteyam in her arms, humming a gentle tune to the infant. You found yourself watching the two in a faraway daze until you noticed a beaded necklace attached to Neytiri’s waist.

You nodded to it, “Do you have a songcord?”

She looked at you and nodded, “For my son. And another for my mates.”

You nodded, slightly intrigued. “I didn’t know Na’vi weren’t monogamous.”

There were some aspects you knew of the Na’vi—you weren’t totally in the dark about some things. Like the mates part. You weren’t entirely informed about it, but all you did know was that mating was common among them. Joan’s videos mentioned it once and didn’t go into too much detail. Not even researchers understand most of it.

So you couldn’t help but ask, “Do you guys often have more than one mate?” Neytiri’s ears flicked, a reluctant look on her face. You frowned at this, “You don’t have to tell me—”

She shook her head, “The Great Mother will give us one and sometimes more. She decides. And we listen.”

The Eywa bit was still a bit confusing to you—but you weren’t going to touch on that quite yet—perhaps that would be something else that could distract you later on.

Instead, you focused on her songcord, “How do you make those?”

Neteyam squirmed in the sling, his little tail swishing against Neytiri’s stomach. She caressed the side of his head to calm him, “You must understand our way before you make one.”

“I doubt your people would like that.” You scoffed as you tied your mother’s songcord back onto your wrist—this time the left. “Much less that Tsu’tey.”

“He is protective of us. Of his people.” Neytiri defended with a frown. “He is our Olo’eyktan, I do not fault him for being that way. And you are an outsider. You should not be here.”

You hummed, “So I’ve heard.”

Neytiri stared at you. And you stared back until you dropped your gaze back down to the songcord.

Somewhere in the back of your mind, you were aware of your tail moving behind you. Swishing back and forth against the forest floor. Neteyam giggled and Neytiri, speaking in her native tongue, spoke to the infant in such adoration, that it was almost startling to you.

Your ears twitched toward them.

Surprisingly, the baby’s sounds were somewhat comforting. Easing the tenseness in your muscles.

Neytiri then spoke after a long pause, “What would your songcord say? If you make one. If I taught you how.”

You thought about it for a moment before shaking your head, “You said they’re for remembering, right? To be honest, it’d be too sad.”

Neytiri’s frown deepened which confused you, “Life is not one moment. Your—grief for your mother is forever but life does not stop moving.”

You winced. And she was staring at you again—god, she did that a lot. Her intense gaze drilled into the side of your head but you instead focused on the flowers surrounding your mother’s burial. Vibrant, just as your mother was.

“She was all I had.” You mumbled numbly while glaring at the lump in the ground. “How can something that was so permanent in your life suddenly be gone? How can you move on from that?”

Neytiri’s tail lashed behind her, “I never said you do. It is just the way of life.”

“Well, life’s shit.”

Surprisingly, Neytiri smiled. This time it was directed toward you. “You sound like Jake.”

“Hmm, he sounds somewhat smart then.”

Neytiri noticed you did not smile even when you made the joke.

You gently ran your fingers along the lump and soil of the ground. And for a moment, it was just you and your mother. Never mind that Neytiri was there with you, never mind the strange new world you were now trapped in. Right now, it was just the both of you.

“I’ve always wanted to come to Pandora.” You said to no one in particular. “With her. It was our dream. Then she went without me and….now I’m here. In the place of my dreams, the place I’ve always daydreamed about since I was a child—and I still can’t move. I feel so heavy. Even when I get up, even when I distract my scorpion-filled mind, I still feel like going back to bed and staying there until the world forgets about me.” You snorted bitterly, clutching the soil between your fingers. “Instead, I would rather be the shadow of my mother’s tombstone instead of going forward. How sad is that?”

And then there was the exhaustion. This heavyweight kept you rooted to the ground, even when you wanted to fly away into the clouds. The ground would swallow you whole instead.

“It is sad,” Neytiri spoke up, drawing you a bit out of your drowning thoughts. Even then you still felt like you were underwater. Like it was endless. Her voice was almost a muffled sound barely reaching your water-filled ears. “Being sad is okay. There is no need to hide it or ignore it. It is the way we are. We have loss. That is a very unfortunate truth for all of us.”

You made an absent sound of agreement, gaze never leaving the burial. Still not entirely there. Still not entirely human yet. “I still wonder if it’s worth it, you know? The loneliness—it’s the loneliness, I can’t take it sometimes…”

Something in your eyes ached, your throat feeling tight until you finally caught yourself. You glanced toward Neytiri who was—as expected—still watching you. This time with a familiar look in her eyes. Understanding and something else. Something you despised.

You felt stupid then.

Opening up to a stranger. Asking for pity from someone who probably went through a lot worse than you? Neytiri—as far as your knowledge of the war a year ago went—had lost her people and home. Who were you to even ask for her sympathy? For her pity?

It was so pathetic.

With that, you straightened your back and turned your gaze away from her, your walls slowly building themselves back up out of obsessive protection. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said all that.” You got to your feet, pissed at yourself, still avoiding Neytiri’s look.

Something about this area.

It always left you too vulnerable.

“I should go harvest some of the plants now…” You gave a jerkish nod to Neytiri. “I’ll see you around.”

You didn’t wait for a response as you began your journey back to the compound.

Neytiri returned to the village, deciding to keep today’s events to herself.

It wasn’t something to speak about yet. Not to Jake. Not to Tsu’tey.

Not yet.

“There you are.” Jake smiled toward her and Neteyam in greeting as she entered their shared hut. Neteyam instantly reached for him and Jake took the little one in his arms, face alight with warmth and love as he held his son close to him.

Neytiri found herself smiling in relief and adoration at the sight as she took a seat on the floor. There was a sense of comfort and ease whenever she came back home to her mates and child. Even with today’s events, she felt her tense muscles relax a bit just as in this simple scene. At Jake’s love for their child. For their firstborn.

“Where did you take him this time?” Jake asked, looking up at her with the same adoration.

“To the Sky Person. She has a false body now.” Neytiri responded honestly, putting her bow down. She noticed her songcord tied to her loincloth and stared at it in particular.

A surprised look crossed his face, “You went to see her?”

She frowned in confusion at his reaction, “Yes.”

“And?” Jake watched her reaction curiously.

Neytiri noticed this and she, for a moment, while watching her son tug at one of Jake’s locks, considered her words carefully.

“It is sad. Very sad, Ma’Jake.” And that was all she offered. Jake just looked at her, the comfortable smile now gone and instead replaced with a contemplative frown. She then leaned toward him curiously, “What do you think of her? You were like her once. You understand their emotions and their way of expression better than most.”

Jake’s ears twitched and moved his gaze down. It wasn’t avoidant but thoughtful as she spoke, “Besides the obvious, she found out her mother just died, so there’s not much mystery to her reactions there. I understand it…and I, well, I didn’t exactly do a great job at empathizing before. If anything, I probably only made things worse when it came to her.” He winced as if he were remembering something—an expression that had become very common these days when it came to him. “Other than that, I can’t get a read on her. And I don’t know if that’s unsettling or not.”

“She is much easier to read in her false body,” Neytiri added thoughtfully, patting down a rebellious strand of hair on her son’s head, watching him nuzzle himself into his father’s chest. “Perhaps you should talk to her as well—my mother seems to believe her and Eywa, she has favored her for a reason. I want to understand why.”

He snorted, “I don’t know if we should even be left in a room alone together.”

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t know. One of us might kill each other.”

Neytiri gave him a look at his joke, “Then I would come to make sure you both behave.”

“I don’t know if behaving is the problem.”

Before Neytiri could question his comment, their attention immediately snapped to the two figures now entering their hut. Tsu’tey being one of them with a relaxed smile on his face as he greeted them, “Ma yawne!” He approached Neytiri first, wrapping her in his arms from behind, one hand resting on her stomach. “How is our little one?”

Tsu’tey also seemed more relieved and at ease as soon as he entered their shared home. It was like a safe place for them. Away from clan duties, away from the Sky People, away from the world entirely.

She smiled, leaning further into his hold, “Strong, like his Papa.”

“Good, good.” He held her and her stomach a while longer before moving toward Jake and Neteyam.

Glancing over her shoulder, Neytiri frowned when she saw Artsut standing at the entryway of their hut—looking disapproving as usual. And with that, Neytiri took to ignoring her, turning her attention back to her mates. Focusing on her comfort.

Tsu’tey was now holding Neteyam while Jake gently squeezed the former’s spot between his neck and shoulder—the very rare physical affection that he would only show around herself and Tsu’tey. Another strong difference between the Sky People and her people. They weren’t as carefree with affection as her people were. Just another way of reserving their emotions that Neytiri didn’t quite understand.

Silently, Neytiri decided that this was too good of a moment to ruin. That the Sky Person who could not smile would have to wait for now. She decided this, even though she could not stop thinking about you.

But of course, Artsut could not let things simply be.

“The time to find your last mate is nearing.” Artsut huffed, nose turned upward. She stared down at the small family as if they were a small bug she could step on. “There will be no more time wasted on this, son. It is time to begin choosing.”

Jake’s jaw tightened. Tsu’tey sighed. And Neytiri continued ignoring her.

“We’ve just had Neteyam and have another on the way,” Tsu’tey responded patiently, pressing a gentle kiss to their son’s head. “Let us be grateful for this. There is no rush—”

“I will not be at rest until you are fully accepted by Eywa—”

“And how do you know we aren’t?” Tsu’tey’s voice was calm. Dangerously so. Neytiri could see he was seconds away from snapping. With his duties as Olo’eyktan and now his mother’s constant badgering on a knowingly sensitive subject was just about it.

Artsut hissed, “How do you know that you are? Considering you’re mated with a demon, it barely makes up for—”

“Mother, I warn you.” Tsu’tey snapped his eyes glaring over Neytiri’s head at the older woman.

But she continued with venom practically dripping from her tongue. “I want a true grandson of our blood! I will not accept any more of your half-breeds—”

“That’s enough!” Jake hissed as he shot to his feet before Neytiri could stop him—face roaring with vibrant rage. Jake wasn’t an expressive man. So him losing his resolve so quickly at that, was quite startling whenever it did happen.

Neytiri stood, grabbing his arm to try and calm him. They should not allow this woman to get to them. She was already used to the older woman’s attitude toward herself and her mother. So, Neytiri was all too familiar with how poisonous she was. How vicious her words could get. Even against her own sons, Arvok specifically.

Now Artsut was angered, hissing at Jake—looking extremely similar to Tsu’tey just then. “Will you allow this, son!? The Demon speaks this way to your own mother and you won’t—”

“Neytiri.” At the call of her name, she turned to find Tsu’tey now on his feet as well, offering Neteyam to her. She took her son in her arms as he turned and stalked toward his mother, “Outside. Now.”

Tsu’tey had always been a severe man. But always particularly patient with his mother. Usually, Artsut would listen to him—because he was her golden child—but these days she has been way too on edge. Way too reckless with her words.

Once they were gone, Neytiri guided Jake to sit back on the floor. Squeezing his arm gently while rocking Neteyam in her arms. “Do not let her words get to you, Ma’Jake. She will always be like this, she will never change. We must learn to keep the peace on our side, out of respect for our mate.”

Jake’s ears were pinned to the sides of his head, letting out a breath of anger and exhaustion. “How can she expect us to find another mate with her in the picture? I almost don’t want another one because of that woman.”

Neytiri shook her head, smiling sadly. “We cannot deny our duties, ma tiyawn. All we can do is pray the Great Mother sends us someone who is strong. Who will not let Artsut’s poison sink into their skin.”

The next day came. In your human form, you followed Norm to the amino tank room. The last time you had been here was when you met up with Jake—a bitter memory you wished was as muffled as your meeting with Mo’at.

You just couldn’t find yourself wanting to go back to that night. To all of it. It was bad enough that some of their words still stuck with you.

A lost cause.

She’ll be out of the way.

Demon.

As usual, you shook off these memories or thoughts and kept going.

Apparently, Norm often performed weekly check-ups on the unused avatars. Making sure they were still healthy and taken care of with no complications because even if they happened to be unused, they still needed tending to.

“Why not just get rid of them?” You questioned as you studied the stats of one of the avatars. This one had an ugly jagged scar across his face. “Most of these won’t be used anyway. It could save a lot of resources.”

“It would be a waste of resources and money actually if we did get rid of them” Norm frowned from across the room, not looking up from his own tablet. “At the end of the day, they’re still a living being. We can’t just kill them. It’s—it’s inhumane.”

You didn’t have a good response to that so you moved on to the next avatar. Which you recognized as the one that belonged to the late Dr. Augustine. It was a bit morbid, actually. Staring at a comatose avatar with the face belonging to someone who was dead.

You desperately hoped your mother’s wasn’t here. F it was, if you discovered it first before Norm, you’d burn it yourself.

“How are you doing today?” Norm suddenly asked. “Any progress on the garden?”

You didn’t look up from your tablet as you responded simply, “The mushrooms are growing well enough. Neytiri gave me some advice and it’s helped a lot. Just taking it day by day. The progress is being watched closely.”

After a pause, Norm nodded, “Good. That’s good—you know, I’m tryna work on my empathy. We scientists often get too caught up in the work to stop and consider human feelings. Believe it or not, I was a lot more insensitive a year ago.”

“Really.” You deadpanned, completely uninterested in where the conversation was going. Carefully, you examined Augustine’s body, which was as expected in perfect condition. There was something about the stomach though—

“It’s true!” Norm continued as if he hadn’t heard your complete uninterest. “I was absolutely awful before. I couldn’t stand Jake at first because of it. It’s honestly a wonder that Trudy—uh…” You glanced up briefly when he suddenly faltered. There was a familiar look on his face. Somber and grim. “—it’s a wonder anyone would have gone for me. Would’ve liked me despite all of that, you know? Those people are a rare find. Like a jewel.”

For a moment, you watched him quietly and frowned. Norm didn’t meet your eyes as he moved toward another tank with his back now turned to you.

After finishing up on Augustine’s avatar, you moved to another tank as well.

A beat went by before you added, “You’re fine, Norm. Thanks for asking.”

At that, Norm turned to you with a startled surprise, “Really? Wow, I half expected a sarcastic comment. S’nice that I’m wrong though.”

You shrugged, “You were probably the only one here that wasn’t against me, which was nice of you. You didn’t have to do it but you did. Even if I was mildly difficult.”

“Mildly difficult isn’t how I would put it.” Norm chuckled a bit.

“Fine. Maybe an asshole.”

Norm laughed, which was a light little sound in the quiet room. “No, you are an asshole, just not for your reaction to everything.”

“Ah, well, I feel a lot better then.”

Neytiri didn’t come back until a week later when your first mushroom started to show.

You were relieved for the progress and how well they were doing. So much so, that you couldn’t help but want to pick more of Neytiri’s brain. Learning from an actual native was infinitely a lot better than looking at a book—although it was a good foundation—it didn’t beat the real thing.

So when she came out of the forest with her bow in hand as usual—and no Neteyam in sight this time around—your brain was already buzzing with more questions for her, your tail swishing a little behind you.

“This is good.” She nodded, careful not to step on your crops. “Have you planted more?”

You nodded, oblivious to her watching your tail both curiously and intently as it continued swishing against your leg. “Yes, all of them are situated so that the sun is directly on them when it comes out and when it sets—but what do you guys do if it rains? Any coverings I need to know of?”

She nodded, “Yes. After I tell you, I want to show you something in the forest.”

With a frown, you watched as she began examining some of the fruits carefully, her nose scrunching every now and then. “What is it though?”

The scowl she sent you was surprising and you half expected her to hiss an insult at you. Instead, she said, “I won’t tell you now. You will know when I take you. Now be quiet and listen.”

You watched her in surprise, trying to figure out what it was that she wanted to show you. Or why she wanted to lead you into the forest alone. A stupid part of you thought she was probably going to lead you into a trap and kill you—solve the stain on their land by her own hand.

But the more sensible part of you just did as you were told and crouched down next to Neytiri as she began explaining some ways to continue nourishing the mushrooms while also covering them from changing weather without causing any unnecessary damage to the forest.

She also helped with planting a few more seeds that you had left. Physically adjusting and guiding your hands whenever you patted the soil to cover the seed or when you were a little too rough with the plants.

Gardening in itself was relaxing, you had never known that to be true until you had done it with Neytiri. Sure, you took care of a forest that sometimes required a lot of replanting for trees and different plants, but you were never physically out there yourself. You were always surrounded by screens and giving orders from a lab, wearing long white coats and goggles—you weren’t really ever among nature. Not really.

When you first started redoing the garden, it was just a task to keep you distracted. To keep your body busy and moving instead of stiff and motionless.

But now? Well, you weren’t entirely sure what this feeling was yet. All you did know was that you wanted to keep doing this. And that it didn’t seem like much of a hassle anymore. But instead, something you actually looked forward to.

Plus, you were strangely getting used to Neytiri’s presence. Or more like expecting her in your somewhat structured schedule.

You were grateful for her help the past couple of weeks, even if there was still a small question resting in the back of your mind. Left unanswered for now.

Once the two of you were finished, Neytiri led you away from the compound and into the forest. Halfway through the journey, you started watching her movements, noticing how different they were compared to your stiffness. She was fluid, her steps quiet along the forest floor, against the tree barks you stepped over, and in the small creeks, her feet splashed through. Almost like she was one with the forest.

Then there was you. You looked down at your own feet, remembering how she said you had been too loud trudging through the forest on your own. And that it could draw some unwanted attention your way if you weren’t careful.

So you stopped short and decided to feed your scientist brain as you took off your shoes, leaving your blue feet bare to the forest, similar to Neytiri. You then looked up, watching Neytiri move as she continued forward. Quietly, you began mimicking her movements as you followed her. Not perfectly of course, but enough for her to hear a shift in your step causing her to glance back at you with a furrow in her brow.

When you were younger, you had made a game out of it, out of sheer boredom. Your mother had been rushing around her lab working—too busy to give you attention. And you, to keep yourself preoccupied would mimicked her movements whenever she walked around the lab. You’d follow her for hours without her knowing—mostly because your mother was one of those people who could be easily snuck up on—until one day she did and laughed at your antics.

“Well look at that!” Joan would grin. “I have my very own shadow now. I’ve always wanted one, but I didn’t expect her to be so small!”

“I’m not that small!” You would whine.

You stopped short after climbing over a fallen large tree, Neytiri was already on the other side of it, watching you carefully. When you landed next to her, she poked your legs with her bow, “Still too loud.”

“Well, it is my first day after all.” You half-joked, trying not to pant in front of her to show your lack of athletic ability.

Her ears flicked but she didn’t say anything more on it. She continued forward, still glancing back at you from time to time as you followed and continued mimicking her the best you could.

It wasn’t until you recognized some of the trail did you realized where she was leading you. Too distracted by your own antics, you hadn’t stopped to realize or wonder why Neytiri was leading you to your mother’s burial. Before you could ask, the burial finally came into view.

And you stopped, the words falling back down your throat, your mind going blank.

Surrounding your mother’s grave were a bunch of new beautiful flowers. Not only that but a bunch of atokirina were floating around it. There was something heavenly and pure about the scene, something so moving, something so vulnerable—

Neytiri waited at your side, her eyes glittered with delight as she watched your dumbfounded expression.

“What is all of this?” You finally asked, inching closer to the burial. You almost didn’t want to get too close, afraid you’d ruin whatever was going on around it.

Smiling, Neytiri grabbed your arm and guided you down to sit. One of the atokirina floated its way toward the two of you. It didn’t land on you as you expected, instead, it just floated there. As if it was meant for the both of you.

Finally, Neytiri spoke, “I had discovered it the day before. It had a lot more atokirina here but it seems some of them had stayed long enough for you to see it. It was like she had wanted me to bring you here, just so you could see the Great Mother’s work.”

“Eywa?” You raised your brows curiously, looking from the atokirina to Neytiri, “What work did she do exactly?”

The dandelion-looking weed floated toward Neytiri, who had her palm open for it to land. It grazed her palm before floating off. “When I asked the Tsahik she said it meant that your mother now rests with Eywa

Even if you weren’t entirely familiar with their deity, you knew enough about spirituality and religion to understand what exactly Neytiri meant.

And you were speechless—no unsure of your words. What was the proper response to something like this? Should you be happy? Should you be sad? It seemed that Neytiri believed it was a good thing your mother was accepted by this Eywa.

At the end of the day, your mother was still gone but this was—nice. Sad but nice. Like a funeral should be. Like her funeral should’ve been.

In the corner of your eye, Neytiri ducked her head down a bit to get a better look at your reaction, “Do you not like it?”

“I do—yeah.” You assured with a nod, your tail swishing back and forth. “It’s—it’s a lot better than our idea of a funeral, I guess.”

“You Sky People—you do not have burials like this.” It was more of a statement than a question as Neytiri spoke. She looked back at the burial with a small frown, “Ma’Jake told me this, that his people burn their bodies when they have passed.”

You nodded grimly, gaze cast down to look at your mother’s songcord that was still wrapped around your wrist. “Pretty much, yeah.”

“Your way is cold. Your people are cold.”

Again you nodded, “Yeah, we are.”

Neytiri then shook her head, “You are not cold.”

You had no response to that. Instead, you thumbed the beads on the songcord, “This seems like a bead-worthy moment. This burial.”

“Yes. It can be.”

After another long pause, you finally looked at Neytiri. Really looked at her. The question burning at the forefront of your mind.

“You put the mask back on me, didn’t you? When I first arrived. When you killed DeVoe.” You frowned. “You had no reason to save me. I am just another Sky Person to you, so why?”

Neytiri’s ears fluttered, “Why save you?”

“Yeah. Why save me?”

She frowned and stared at your mother’s grave thoughtfully.

“Your spirit is different. I could not kill such a thing, not when Eywa herself had chosen it.”

You hummed, “Huh, that clears things up.”

“You do not believe me?” Neytiri frowned at your reaction, clearly not used to your deadpan sarcasm.

A part of you was amused at that, “No, I believe you.” With that, you stood, stretching your limps. Wiggling your toes on the soft forest floor. “But thank you again. You didn’t have to show me this but you did, for whatever reason.” You dusted off your shorts, “And here I thought you hated me.”

Neytiri stood as well, grabbing her bow from off the ground as she did, “I do not like your people. But I do not hate you—I feel nothing for you.”

“Is…that a good thing?”

She blinked, “I have not killed you yet. So, yes.”

Your ears twitched upward, just slightly, “Good to know.”

You returned to the compound alone later that day, feeling just a little less heavy than before.

Neytiri could not stop thinking about your face. She began to wonder if you ever smiled. What would it look like?

Norm and you were back in the tank room the next day. Norm was mumbling about preparing for the week ahead and something about cleaning up one of the bio labs after a spill—you didn’t listen entirely to know why or how there was a spill.

But you didn’t mind it by now. Nearly a month here and you had a lot to do. Anything to keep you away from your bedroom for a while. Anything to just keep moving.

So if that meant listening to Norm’s rambles every other week, you were fine with that.

“I’m gonna be surrounded by a bunch of Na’vi kids this upcoming week.” He informed from the tank next to you. “I could use the extra help—”

“Kids aren’t really my forte.” You mumbled, moving toward Augustine’s avatar. “Plus, I got to watch my garden. My mushrooms are finally getting somewhere thanks to Neytiri—I don’t want to risk leaving them unwatched. Even if it is for a couple of hours.”

“Ah,” Norm hummed, looking up at you with both an impressed and amused smirk. “that’s right, Neytiri has been coming around a lot. Usually, she’d only come if Jake were here—and those days are rare themself.”

“So you understand my reasoning.” You nodded, briefly looking up at him. “I can’t miss a day over here. For both my garden and the fact that I don’t particularly feel like angering someone who could tear my head off if she wanted to.”

Norm snorted, “Yeah, maybe you’re right. Plus, I have a feeling the kids’ll be too scared of your intense mug. Avatar and human.”

You gave him a look, “Sure, and I’m the asshole out of the two of us.”

“Oh, you definitely are.”

Norm laughed while you turned your attention back to Augustine’s avatar. Only, you frowned when something came up on your tablet. Strange stats that you were sure you were probably reading wrong. You double-checked a couple of times, just to make sure.

Maybe you hadn’t gotten any sleep. Yes, you were hallucinating strangely detailed stats because of your lack of sleep. Yes, that was it.

That was when you got a better look at the avatar.

“Spellman.”

“Yeah?”

“Come over here.”

A few seconds later, Norm appeared next to you, “What is it?”

You gestured to Augustine’s avatar, “There’s something there, in her stomach.”

Norm took your tablet and examined it. Silent. You watched his brows furrow together then suddenly morph into unmistakable shock.

“This…this isn’t possible.”

You took the tablet from him far too confused yourself. “Does the facility own an ultrasound anywhere?”

finally got this written out lol. sorry for the long wait, last week was just crazy busy for me which left me very little time to write.

but now i've got the fourth chapter for you guys. as usual, let me know what you think!

as you can see, it all starts with neytiri hehehe. i wonder if jake and tsu'tey will follow along because of this...

taglist: @doggyteam2028 @bigbootahjudy @innercreationflower @n7cje @celi-xxmoon @readerofallthings @sillyblues @squirtlebob @saturnhas82moons @1mawh0re @aprosiacperson @loserwithnofriends @garfieldsladybird

[newtthetranswriter]

Soup, Memories, and Feelings

Word Count: 3949

Paring: Reth x Gn! Reader

Summary: Wanting to make something to show your gratitude for all that Reth has done for you, you end up at the Daiya’s farm. After being told about Butternut Squash you remember a small bit of your past. Deciding what better way to show your gratitude than giving the Chef a meal from ancient Humans, oh and maybe some more feelings are shared.

Warnings: None really, maybe just spoilers for Reth’s story

A/n:  Hello people. So firstly sorry I stopped writing for a bit there, my adhd was being crazy and writers block also hit. I also got hooked on playing Palia which is why I decided to write this for the great Soup Boy. Anyways, if you are new here welcome and be sure to check my pinned post for everything you need to know about this blog. Now without further ado enjoy and remember to hydrate or diedrate.

   Waking up in another time with no memories except for my name was such a strange experience. Having to build a new life from nothing was a challenge but luckily I had the help of the villagers in Killima. They all helped me figure out how to take care of myself and be a productive member of their community, not caring that I was human or that I just appeared out of nowhere. Sure they were confused as to how a member of the extinct human race showed up but they eventually just wanted to make sure I was ok.

   Many of them took time out of their schedules to help teach me skills I would need to survive. Teaching me everything from foraging and gardening to hunting and carpentry, each skill I learned helped me establish myself in my new home. And even though I was grateful for each and everyone of them for teaching me these skills, there is one person I can’t help but express my gratitude for. Even while working two jobs in secret to insure his little sister got the medicine she needed, Reth still made it a point to help teach me how to cook.

   After getting to know him and learning of his secret second job, working for the cartel, all I wanted to do was help him out in whatever way I could. Whenever he was in a pinch because either Ashura or Tish were getting suspicious I would help out, running deliveries or helping make food he accidently promised to make. It didn’t matter what he needed, I was there to help out. But even after weeks of helping him out I still felt like there was more I could do to help him, there had to be something else I could do to make sure he knows how much I appreciate him.

  I spent a good portion of my free time brainstorming ideas on how to show my gratitude for the long haired chef. Eventually I settled on making him some food, but I was stumped on what to make for him. I knew it had to be perfect, I also wanted it to be something he hasn’t had before so it couldn’t be just a simple vegetable stew or steak dinner. At a loss for Ideas I head for the Library to look for recipes that might work. 

  Entering the library I nodded to Caleri in a silent greeting before heading to bookshelves that would most likely hold various different cook books. Grabbing a few I sat down at one of the tables and began to flip through them to see what they had to offer. After spending a few hours flipping through the various books, none of the hundreds of recipes seemed to be what I was looking for. Laying my head into the current book I was looking through, I couldn’t suppress the groan that left my lips in disappointment.

  Sitting up from my folded position, I looked around trying to think of an idea on what to do about my dilemma. After looking over the stacks of books that failed me, I looked out the window and watched as Auni ran past. Seeing the youngest of the Daiya family, I was reminded of their farm and how they have a small stall where they sell various seeds and crops. I decided I could look through what they had and maybe get an idea of something to make. Returning the books back to their shelves, I waved goodbye to Caleri as I began heading for the farm.

  When I reached the Daiya’s farm I was greeted by Badruu who was offering some gardening advice to another human who had also recently reappeared. Nodding to the farmer, I began to look through what crops and seeds they had to offer this time of year. They had the classic tomatoes, onions and carrots, as well as some other common vegetables but none of them were really speaking to me. Moving from the fresh vegetables I looked to the packets of seeds resting on the table. As I was looking through them I noticed on one of  the packets there was a picture that looked familiar but I couldn’t quite place what it was, like I had seen it before but the name of the vegetable was just out of reach.

  While I tried to recall what the vegetable was, Badruu came up beside me. “Looking for some new crops to start growing?” He asked, noticing I was looking at the various seeds.

  Picking up the small bag of seeds I nodded. “Yeah, trying to get ideas on some new dishes to make as well.” I explained while still trying to figure out why this one vegetable was so familiar to me. “By the way what kind of seeds are these? I don’t think I’ve seen these before.” I asked knowing that Farmer would have the answer I was looking for.

  “Oh, those are for Butternut Squash. It’s a hearty vegetable that is great for many different meals. Though it does take quite a while to grow, if you planted it would likely be ready to harvest in about three months.” He explained. 

  Hearing the name of the vegetable seemed to trigger a memory from my past. Not a super detailed memory but enough that I knew it was from a long time ago. I could see a beautiful golden soup that was creamy and smelled amazing, it was topped with chopped bacon and served with some nice bread. I was also able to recall how it was made and what all was needed for the soup. With this new found memory of a food from my past, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for Reth. Sure I would have to wait for a few months to be able to make the soup but I was sure it would be perfect.

  Deciding that I wanted to make the soup from my memories, I smiled to myself. “I’ll take them, thank you Badruu you are a lot of help.” I said handing over a few gold pieces before saying goodbye and heading back to my house.

   After reaching my plot, I prepared a small garden plot at the back of my house where it wouldn’t be visible if anyone came by for a visit. I wanted to keep my plan a secret for as long as possible, if everything went according to plan Reth would be the first one to find out about this recently resurfaced memory. Anyways, after getting the plot ready I planted the seeds and watered them. Making sure to put a stake in the soil next to the plot with the bag the seeds came in on it so I knew what was growing there and so I would remember to water it.

   Once that was taken care of I headed inside to the small office I had set up for myself. I grabbed a few extra pieces of paper and began writing down the recipe so in a few months when it came time to make the soup I would remember what I needed to do. I also decided that I would write a second copy so that when I gave the soup to Reth I could also give him the recipe. After writing out the recipe twice, I placed both copies in my makeshift cookbook and placed it on the shelf for safe keeping. All that was left to do was wait for the squash to grow and ripen.

Time Skip

   As I watched the leaves change from green to varying shades of yellow, orange, and red, I also watched as the squash plants grew behind my house. I made sure to keep a close eye on them, not over watering them and making sure no bugs got to the key ingredient of the soup I was dying to make. Each day the squash was getting closer and closer to being ready, and each day it became more difficult to not tell Reth that I had remembered something from my past.

  He had expressed that he hoped that my memories would come back so we could talk about them, and now that I’ve had this memory it was so hard not to run to him and tell him about it. But I wanted the resurfaced memory and the golden soup to remain a secret until I could present him with the soup. So, I held back and regularly checked the squash to see if they were ready.

   Luckily after three whole months, the squash was ready to pick which meant I just had to gather the other ingredients and make the soup. After getting the squash cleaned up and placed in my kitchen I made a quick trip into town. I opted to buy the needed ingredients instead of foraging and hunting for them because it would be quicker and easier then refining everything. I bought some vegetable broth and Surnuk meat from Zeki’s and then bought a few apples and onions from The Daiya's farm. Having all the necessary ingredients ready I headed home to prepare the soup.

  With all the needed ingredients in my possession, I started on the soup. Roasting the squash until it was soft enough to scoop the meat of the squash out of the skin, cutting the apples and ones, turning the meat into bacon. Once everything was ready I put everything except the bacon into a large pot, mixing together the soft squash and vegetable broth with the onions and apples, creating a thick and creamy soup. Placing the pot on the stove, I set it on a medium heat to get warm and happy. 

  While the soup began to heat up, I quickly made a simple loaf of bread that would be perfect with the soup. I also prepared the other things I was planning to give to Reth. I made sure to grab the second copy of the recipe I had written specifically for him. During the months that I was waiting for the squash to be ripe, I decided that I wanted to give a few more things. Knowing that most days Reth barely managed to squeeze in a couple hours of sleep between the inn and the market, I made him a new pillow and blanket to keep in the store room to hopefully make those couple hours more comfortable. Placing the pillow and blanket in the basket I picked out for the occasion, I grabbed the recipe and laid it on top of the blanket.

  Checking the time, seeing that it was close to time for Reth to be done at the Inn and heading to the store room for his short break, I went to check on the soup. After a quick taste test confirming that the soup was perfect, electing a happy feeling and a brief memory of joy at the similarity to the soup from memory, I grabbed the chopped bacon and placed a lid on the pot of soup. Placing the bowl that held the bacon and loaf of bread on top of the basket in my arms, I grabbed two empty bowls and spoons also setting them in the basket. Looking down I confirmed everything I needed was in the basket and then turned and carefully grabbed the pot of soup off the stove.

   When I got into town I took a moment to decide the best route to get to Reth without raising too much suspicion from Ashura or anyone else that may see me carrying the soup. Deciding it would be best to go through Zeki’s shop and into the market than to Reth’s store room, I made my way to the Grimalkin’s store. Carefully making my way into the underground and back up into Reth’s store room.

   I breathed a sigh of relief when I entered the room having not run into anyone between my plot and Zeki’s, as well as making it to the store room before Reth finished meeting with Jel and Tish. After collecting my thoughts I began to set up the dinner I had prepared. I carefully cleaned up one of the small tables, pulling a couple of chairs close to the table. After setting up the table I placed the pot of soup in the center leaving the lid on to keep the heat in, I placed the bread and bowl of bacon next to the pot as well. I then moved to place the bowls on the table alongside the spoons I had brought. Once I was sure the table was perfect, I placed the basket with the other gifts under the table just out of sight so as to not completely ruin the surprise.

  As I took a step back to admire my work, I was startled when I heard the sound of footsteps approaching the storeroom from the direction of the Inn. Quickly calming my racing heart, I turned to face the door as Reth opened it. It took him a moment to register that I was there, but when he noticed me he just stood frozen for a second. As the room was filled with silence I began to worry that I messed up, but before I could start rambling, Reth finally reacted.

  “Hey, Y/n. What’s all this about?” He asked, finally stepping away from the door and making his way towards me, noticing the set table as well as the large pot. “Did I forget a date or something?” Reth tilted his head, trying to remember a date that was never planned.

  Seeing the confusion on his face, I couldn’t help but laugh at the hint of fear he held thinking he forgot something important. “No you didn’t forget anything Reth. This is all me, I wanted to surprise you with a nice meal.” I explained grabbing one of his hands as he stood in front of me. The look of confusion was still present on his face so I explained further. “You work so hard, taking care of the inn during the day, then you go down to the Market and spend the night working there. You do so much to make sure Tish is healthy, even if it means putting yourself at the mercy of the cartel, and I want you to know that I see all that you do and I think you are so strong for dealing with all of this. So I made you this dinner and figured we could eat together and maybe chat while you relax before you have to start working again.” I suggested with a smile, nodding to the table behind me.

  “You didn’t have to do this for me, Fancy Pants.” He said taking in everything sitting on the table. I just shook my head knowing he would try and brush it off as not a big deal, keeping a hold of his hand I pulled him to the table and made him take a seat in one of the chairs. Once he was seated, he sighed in defeat before becoming more curious about the set up. “So what did you make me?” He asked, reaching for the lid of the pot.

  I gently smacked his hand away, shaking my head. “You are not doing anything other than sitting there and letting me take care of you. I said you need to relax and that includes me serving you your dinner.” I informed him before reaching for the lid myself. “As for what I made, It’s Butternut Squash soup.” I told him, sparing a glance his way looking to see if had any reaction to the dish but he just looked confused. “Butternut Squash is a vegetable that is typically in season when the leaves start changing colors, and it’s great for things like soup. This soup was actually really popular this time of year back when humans were still around.” I said pouring soup into each bowl and sprinkling the chopped bacon on top of the soup. “Funnily enough it was one of my favorites growing up.”

  As I placed one of the bowls in front of Reth, I watched as the Majiri processed my words. After a second he spoke up. “Wait, you said it was one of your favorites when you were growing up. Does that mean you remembered something?” He was completely focused on the mention of my past before I appeared in Kilima.

  I smiled as I took my seat across from him, grabbing a slice of bread to eat with my soup. “Well kind of. It wasn’t a super vivid memory but I remember this soup and how to make it. I also remember how good it made me feel to eat it.” I explained while spooning some of the soup onto the slice of the bread.

  Reth also began eating the soup, copying my method of putting some on a piece of bread. “Well at least it’s something, maybe you’ll find more things that trigger memories of your past.” He said, before finally taking a bite of the soup. As he took in the flavors of the soup I couldn’t help but hold my breath waiting for his reaction. After a few seconds a smile spread across his face. “This is some of the best soup I’ve ever had, and that’s saying something because I’ve had a lot of good soup.” I could hear the pure joy in his voice as expressed how much he liked the soup and I couldn’t hold back my own wide smile.

  “I’m glad you like it.” I said, looking down at my own bowl of soup and began eating again to try and hide the slight blush at the compliment. 

   After the brief exchange, we both focused on eating. There was little said between bites, both of us just enjoying the other’s company and the warm meal. Once we had both finished eating, I set the bowls to the side before reaching under the table for the other things I brought. Seeing me reach for something Reth raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What are you doing now Fancy pants?” He asked, trying to look over the table as I made sure everything was in place in the basket.

   “Well, I didn’t want to just give you soup, so I made you a couple of other things.” I said raising the basket and placing it in front of him.

    I watched as his eyes went wide, surprised by yet another gift he did not expect. “You really didn’t have to. The soup was more than enough.” He tried to deflect.

   Shaking my head I thought for just a second before speaking. “Well, how about you think of the soup as a thank you for doing so much for everyone else, and you think of these gifts as a thank you for helping me.” I offered hoping he would understand, but he just looked at me confused. “Reth, even while you were busy with the inn and your debt to the cartel you have taken time to teach me how to cook. But not just that you’ve taken the time to become one of my first friends here. Not to mention how you stole my heart.” I explained with a gentle smile.

   I watched as his look of confusion was replaced with a look of shock, that then morphed to what I could only describe as love. “Well I am a criminal so I’m pretty good at stealing things.” He said with a light chuckle. “But seriously I think you stole my heart first. You also didn’t have to do all this for me.” He looked up at me, making eye contact.

   “You’re right I didn’t have to do any of this.” I said before grabbing one of his hands. “But I wanted to. I wanted to make you this dinner, I wanted to give you these and I wanted to spend the evening with you. I didn’t do it because I had to, I did it because I wanted you to know how much I love you.” I watched as heat rushed to his face, turning it a slight magenta. 

   He quickly tore his eyes away from mine looking back to the basket, clearly flustered by my confession. “Thank you. For everything really.” His voice was quiet but I could tell he meant it. He just wasn’t used to such strong displays of affection. After a couple more moments of silence, he looked back up at me. “I love you too.” He said making eye contact with me. Sure we had given each other our pins, to show that we were serious but this was the first time we uttered the words out loud. I couldn’t help but let my smile grow at the words that meant so much to the both of us.

  Taking a moment to just enjoy the peaceful silence, I looked towards the basket that held the hand made pillow and blanket before looking at the small clock on the wall of the store room. Seeing that there was still a couple of hours before Reth had to be down in the market, I started to stand up, earning a confused look from the chef in front of me. “Don’t worry I’m not leaving. I just thought you might want to try and sleep a little bit before you have to be in the market.” I said, grabbing the pillow and blanket and turning towards the couch. “I’ll stay awake and keep an eye on the clock so I can wake you up before you have to go down there.” I said after placing the pillow against one of the arms of the couch.

   Reth seemed to process my words before standing up and making his way to the couch. But when he sat down he didn’t move to lay down. “Would you lay with me?” He asked quietly. It was clear from his voice that he meant exactly what he said. There was no hidden meaning he really just wanted me to lay down with him.

   After a moment of shock not expecting him to ask for me to lay with him I moved to the couch with him. “Of course.” I said sitting next to him. The couch was rather small but we managed to make it work. After a few moments of awkward adjustments we finally got to a position that was comfortable for both of us. I was laying on my back tucked as close to the back of the couch as possible, while Reth laid on his side next to me. It took a few words of reassurance but he eventually agreed to rest his head on my chest while I wrapped my arms around his back and pulled him in close. 

   Once we were both comfortable it wasn’t long before Reth fell asleep tucked close to my side, head resting above my heart and arm thrown over the top of me. True to my word, I stayed awake watching over him and keeping an eye on the clock. Seeing him so peaceful and truly relaxed for the first time in a long time I couldn’t fight back my smile. I was glad I could offer even a moment of comfort for him after all the struggles he’s been through in his life. I also knew that even though I wasn’t from this time and I had no memories of what life was like before I awoke in Kilima, I would never hope to change how my life turned out.

(dividers by @/cafekitsune)

[caelwynn]

New Additions to Caelwynn's 1.6.9+ Mod List (1/2)

Updated: 01/20/25

Expansions/NPCS

Boothill Honkai Star Rail Mod — adds Boothill from Honkai Star Rail along with his daughter. Has only one heart event (his intro) currently available.

College Boy Mike — adds a nephew for Gus who's currently currently attending university for an engineering degree. Romanceable.

Eli & Dylan — adds a pair of brothers Eli (cryptozoologist) and Dylan (marine biologist) to East Scarp and is easily one of my favorite NPC mods ever.

Eugene NPC — adds a lonely gardner to the Cindersap Forest.

Fievel Goes East Scarp — adds Fievel the Hat Mouse to East Scarp. Based on the movie An American Tail

Fostoria — adds three new NPCs, two shops, forage, fishing, and quests as well as a walking path to Stoffton

Hat Mouse and Friends — adds fourteen new mice that randomly takes turns with the original Hat Mouse to man the shop

Kids for the School — adds additional children to the Little Red Schoolhouse

Law and Order SV — adds a sheriff's office, two npcs, and questlines to potentially put Pierre and Lewis in jail. I have not made it far in the mod

Meet Niki - A Stardew Valley Tribune Journalist — adds a new NPC who works for the Stardew Valley Tribune and writes the articles that appear in vanilla, as well as adding a few more. Romanceable

Mouse Friends in the Forest — Possibly the cutest mod I've ever come across. Adds mice around the forest to interact with. You may find them... familiar

Ranger Taro — adds a new NPC, a new location, heart events, and lore to the world

Stoffton — another large expansion, adding two new large maps, thirty-nine locations, eleven shops, forty-eight NPCs (at least fourteen of which are romanceable), and a progressive storyline. Still in beta

Wild Escapades — adds additional content for Passerby Cemetery

Dialogue/Character Changes

Canon Friendly Dialogue Expansion SVE Patch — what it says on the tin: makes minor changes to CFDE to make it compatible with SVE

Letters from Shane — adds new mail and gifts from Shane as you reach each heart level

Part of a Saloon Breakfast — adds a questline to help the Stardrop Saloon open up in the mornings for breakfast as well as adding in new schedules and events

Unique Winter Star - RSV — expands Winter Star dialogue for RSV NPCs

Gameplay/Quality of Life

Abilities — Experience Bars 1.6 — Adds additional information to the experience bars, such as how much XP you have and how much you need. Also makes it easier to show such information for mod-added skills.

Archaeology Skill — Adds a new skill tree based around digging artifact spots and panning mechanics as well as a couple of new machines, new food, and a way of displaying artifacts.

Better Truffles — Adds the capability for pigs to dig for truffles in tall grass and provide a bubble to show that the truffles are there.

Bigger Fridges — Increases the size of the fridge from 36 slots to 70.

Build and Place Anything Anywhere — Lets you build, farm, or place furniture / objects anywhere.

Cornucopia - Artisan Machines — Similar to PPJA Artisan Valley, this adds ten new artisan machines, over eight new goods, four new special orders, and vanilla-style balance.

Custom Wedding Ceremony — Adds seven different wedding locations, more decorations, changes Lewis's speech, and other delightful small details.

Display Monster Health — Adds an indicator of monsters' health.

Forager's Nooks and Crannies — Adds new maps to the valley that unlock as you upgrade your foraging skill and/or befriends certain NPCs.

The Geology Mod (Update 1.6) — Adds new nods, minerals, and weapons to the game.

Harvest Seeds - Continued — Gives a configurable chance for crops to drop seeds when harvesting.

HxW Mixology 101 — Adds over fifty new recipes and crafting items focused on craft cocktails, mocktails and mixology.

Livestock Bazaar — Displays animals for sale at Marnie (including modded animals) in a grid and allows you to choose which skin it has, as opposed to the game randomly assigning one.

Lost Book Menu — Adds a menu to the library that shows you all of the lost books you've restored to more easily find what you want to read.

Lumisteria Progress Toward Perfection — Receive letters and gifts (with bits of added lore) as you progress towards perfection.

Mailbox Menu Continued — Replaces the mailbox's click-to-open-next mechanic with a fully-functional mailbox menu that shows new mail and old mail with titles and customizable envelope icons.

More Books — Adds sixteen new books and powers.

More Lively Farm Cave — Makes the vanilla FarmCave map more fancy with extra space, tweaks and additions.

Pet Overhaul — Adds new pets that can be purchased, including foxes, ferrets, hedgehogs, mini pigs, fennec foxes, capybaras, red pandas, bears, bearded dragons, and geckos.

PIF - Personal Rooms — A framework that allows the addition of PIFs, rooms that are reached via a purchasable door warp. Allows for the addition of rooms/space beyond what's provided on the map.

Remapping - Minimap Project — Adds structures from installed mods to the mini-map to more accurately reflect the lay of the land.

Romantic Revenue — Spouses contribute a portion of their income to the general fund via either dialogue or mail. Configurable.

Saloon Second Floor — Adds a second floor to the Stardrop Saloon that provides modders with a place for their NPCs to live.

Saloon Speakeasy Space — Provides a basement area for NPCs to hang out in. Three different sized spaces to choose from, plus a quest you can enable to have a special order required to unlock it.

Spacecore Luck Skill — Adds a luck skill via Spacecore instead of trying to unlock the unimplemented luck skill in vanilla.

Special Power Utilities — Allows modders and mod users to easily see what new powers are added by what mods and navigate through them away from the vanilla powers.

Spouses React to Player 'Death' Continuation — Modifies 'death' event at Hospital, Mines, or Island to include your Spouse (or Ex). Compatible with 1.6+.

Stardew Aquarium — So excited this updated! Adds an aquarium you can donate fish to and get special rewards.

Train Station — Creates a train network and allows mods to add maps reachable through the train station.

Traveling Skill — Adds a skill, Traveling, that allows the player to unlock faster walking speeds via, well, walking around.

Vanilla Plus Professions — Expands the vanilla skill system by adding additional professions at level 15 as well as adding in a who knew talent system.

Wildflour's Atelier Goods — An all in one artisan good expansion mod. Add as many or as few categories as you like to run the atelier (shop) of your dreams. Highly configurable.

For my masterlist of Stardew Valley Mods, please look here.

[citrlet]

i have a slight mods addiction so here's part 2! part 1 linked here

~under the cut as usual because there's just too dang much

visual aesthetics

medieval sheds (to go with medieval buildings / medieval sdve / way back pelican town)

secret garden terrarium

starkissed skintones

rosedryads fairy wings & accessories

dynamic reflections

chest deco

hummingbirds

moths

bees

ladybugs

too many swatches furniture recolor

fancy trash and resources retexture

fancy vanilla and sve elixirs retexture

fancy qi items and misc stuff retexture

fancy fishing and tackles retexture

fancy crops and forage retexture

fancy artisan goods icons retexture

fancy rings and shoes retexture

fancy artifacts retexture

fishing rod bobbler retexture

warp totems to magic books

more elegant farmer body

gameplay

aimons more lively quarry

aimons lively sewer

distant lands witch swamp expansion

the farmers children

mr. ginger cat npc

jorts and jeans cat npcs

amanita lover

lnh fantasy farm cave

downtown zuzu

strange machines revisited

fieval goes east scarp

rodney o'brien

juliet and jesse

professor jasper thomas

alecto the witch

mechanics

better shipping bin

smart building

furniture placement tweaks

furniture adjustment

misc

buildable large tree pack

mystical buildings

shyzies string lights

divine decor

guxelbits furniture

lunes offerings

aimons fancy farmhouse

aimons tidy cozy cellar

aimons fancy greenhouse

redesigned shed layout

tidy cozy ginger island farmhouse

additional bus interior map

greenhouse furniture set

sailor moon hairstyles and clothing (fashion sense version in the comments section)

shyzies seasonal rugs

seasonal open windows

futan bears

romantic fountains and arches

romantic furniture

bathroom furniture

[room-surprise]

Wasn't feeling well, so my spouse taught me how to play Stardew Valley. We did co-op and made our characters into Kabru and Mithrun just for fun.

Mithrun spent a lot of time in the mines fighting monsters and digging up ore while Kabru foraged in the woods and tended to the crops. They both overworked themselves at one point and passed out right outside of their house LOL

(And don't worry, I'm feeling much better now.)

[toxictoad]

HADES 2 GODS RANKED BY HOW MUCH I WANT TO KISS THEM

(and also gameplay)

DISCLAIMER: I don’t think any of the gods are bad. I’m ranking them in comparison to each other. Even the worst boon in the game is still good, and obviously all the art is great.

Also I'm writing this in EA patch 4.

Aphrodite–

I mean she’s obviously hot– she’s THE goddess of beauty, but Hades 2 is an absolute improvement. This isn’t just Aphrodite, this is Aphrodite Areia. Kick ass, honey I love you so much. You don’t need clothes to fight a war. She’s so salty I want her to step on me.

Her boons are pretty good. Decent damage and her duo boons are nice. Heartthrobs are BROKEN and I do builds with them as often as I can. Meshes well with other gods. Love Handles is my favorite duo boon in the game.

Please kiss me 9/10 times Gameplay 10/10

Apollo–

He’s a pretty boy, but his prep vibes bring him down a bit. He’s funny though and I love all his interactions with other gods.

Good boons. I don’t usually take his core stuff unless I have the Sister Blades, but having a larger area of damage is nice. I like his sprint boon. Sunny Disposition is great if you’re doing a Heartthrob build. Generally he’s good but there are better core boons.

Please kiss me 5/10 times Gameplay 7/10

Artemis–

Goddess of lesbians. Not wlw but I believe in their beliefs you know. The bear pelt and all the antlers are SERVING. She’s like if one of those hunter dudes on tinder was actually hot. I love her but also I’m a man so I feel like she should be with someone else.

She’s not a core god so her boons are a little hard to judge. Critical damage is always nice, and running into her is always better for a run. All her offerings are good, although Pressure Points is better with the Sister Blades or the Witch’s Staff. I’m just gonna rank her compared to the other ‘lesser’ offerings in the game, not compared to the regular boons because she only appears once per run.

Please kiss me 7/10 times (But like platonically) Gameplay 10/10

Demeter–

Gilf. Don’t @ me you know it’s true. I’m a little disappointed that they made her look younger for Hades 2 but I guess it makes sense lore wise. Old lady in armor is peak art. I love her, I adore her, and her design is magnificent. Mwah.

Her boons are good. Freeze is a great effect especially for getting used to the game. Not as effective with the Umbral Flames or Sister blades, but they’re great with the Moonstone Axe and Witch’s Staff. Rare Crop is only good early and Plentiful Forage is objectively kinda bad but I take it every time.

Please kiss me 8/10 times Gameplay 8/10

Hephaestus–

Spoilers: He’s the hottest male Olympian. I LOVE him. Please hold me in your arms my stupid little bisexual heart needs to be cuddled by a sweaty blacksmith. HOW could Aphrodite cheat on this man? He's perfect. Also legit the funniest god.

His boons are a little hit or miss. When they’re common they aren’t great but they stack pretty well. His magic gain boon is probably the worst out of all of them, but Mint Condition and Uncanny Fortitude are hands down my favorite boons, and like I said: Love Handles is my absolute favorite duo boon.

Please kiss me 10/10 times Gameplay 7/10

Hera–

My QUEEN. I love her. Please leave your husband. I would treat you so much better. She’s elegant, she’s powerful, she’s HERA. Josette Eales voices her and does an IMMACULATE job. I want Hera to call me a good boy please please please.

Her boons are alright. Hitch is a good effect if you can apply it in a large area but it’s not great against Guardians. In the most recent patch they changed her cast and I think it’s a little worse. She has alright duo boons, and Queen’s Ransom is funny and also can be pretty op if you have Hera as some of your main boons.

Please kiss me 10/10 times Gameplay 7/10

Hermes–

ADHD TWINK. He’s my homeboy and I vibe with him hard. Longer hair suits him and I wanna take him on a date to an aquarium. So pretty. I hope he can see his husband Charon again soon.

Speed boons are always cool. Dodge chance is invaluable if you have shit reaction times like I do. Nimble Mind is his only boon I don’t like because it just doesn’t feel very effective. Nimble Limbs is awesome for the Moonstone Axe, and Quick Buck is one of my most chosen boons. Ultimately good but his boons can feel a little ineffective when they’re common.

Please kiss me 7/10 times Gameplay 9/10

Hestia–

Not a gilf but I do love her. She’s sassy and ruthless and I love her design so much. I want to sit in the thicc auntie’s lap please. Super hot punk old lady.

Scorch is a great effect. Her attack and special boons are awesone and her cast is good. Getting Flame Strike, Ice Flourish from Demeter, and then their Freezer Burn duo boon is how I beat Chronos the first time. The rest of her duos are fine but not amazing.

Please kiss me 8/10 times Gameplay 9/10

Poseidon–

He’s definitely hotter than in the first game, just not my type. He’s very funny in an annoying kind of way (Side note: I REALLY want him and Odysseus to learn about each other. Their beef would be SO funny)

His core boons feel less powerful than in the first game. Double Up and Hydraulic Might are the only boons of his I take consistently. Damage isn’t terrible but not the best. His duo boons are generally pretty good though. Island Getaway is nice when you can get it.

Please kiss me 3/10 times Gameplay 5/10

Selene–

Ethereal moon mommy. I love her. Would probably be terrifying to approach in any capacity but she’s just SO pretty.

It’s a little weird to rank her since hexes are the replacement for Olympian aid in the first game, but generally they’re all pretty good. Wolf Howl is my favorite. I never take Twilight Curse or Dark Side, but that might just be because I don’t understand them.

Please kiss me 8/10 times Gameplay 7/10

Zeus–

No.

His boons also seem a little weaker than the first game, but chain lightning is a fun effect when you get it pumped up a bit. Blitz is a kinda weak effect but if you can get Toasting Fork on them they’re good. His legendary boon and duo boons are both a little meh.

Please kiss me -100/10 times. Leave me alone. Gameplay 4/10

This was fun. I'm probably gonna do this again with other characters lol.