#it's like... the equivalent to 2 fences

[pb-s-corner]

One, please bring Gaty back, I can't handle another episode were Two is depressed, he deserves happiness.

[slowdrawl]

Shear Luck | joel miller x f!reader | [masterlist] {18+ minors DNI}

|part 2| Smoke and Smirnoff | 2.8k words|

Joel Miller, a single dad, came into your salon for a haircut, but he never expected to leave with a crush. Sarah's alive, tension's are high, the jokes are bad and the chemistry is crazy!

Fluff ?✔️ Slow burn? ✔️ Age gap? ✔️ Puns? ✔️

sprinkle in a little bit of smut 🔥 and dbf!joel energy and BOOM. You got this sweet-feel good fic.

“You open the fridge door, catching the pack of Smirnoff Ice in there—giving you a dumb idea and you snicker to yourself, giddy like a teen. ‘Hey—’ You grab the drinks and whip around, launching one in his direction ‘Get Iced big guy!’ He leans for it, stumbling a bit into the counter but catches the bottle and gives you an unimpressed look—but you can see the smile creeping underneath. ‘You’re a menace, know that?’ he says, twisting off the cap and getting down on one knee. ‘You ever act your age before?" |A/N I'm so happy that y'all liked the first part of this lil series, your comments and reblogs are giving me life!! (plz gimme more) This story is so cute and self-indulgent for me, I'm having an absolute blast with it!!! hope you like this next part! 🥹

Warnings: Mild language, flirting, fluff, puns, age gap (Joel's 38, reader's 23). eventual smut, alcohol use, YEARNING.

The backyard is chaos, with hordes of kids from the block running around, throwing bocce balls like baseballs, splashing in the pool, and screaming. The grill is hot, smoke filling the air, your dad stands beside it smiling big, Corona in one hand, spatula in the other; flipping burger after burger.

You and Kim are lounging in camping chairs next to the fence, half covered by the shade, with drinks in hand. You’ve been catching up on gossip, you—work, her—school, it's a good day, easy, warm. A playlist of stomp-and-holler, country, and as always—dad rock blaring through speakers, one of your dad's favourite mixes. The drinks are going down easy and nobody’s blown themselves up yet, so it’s wins all around—until your stomach drops.

Sarah sees you before he does, and she tugs his arm—hard, skipping towards you. You turn, locking your eyes with Kim, who gives you a questioning look, then moves her eyes up to them, quickly making the connection.

He looks even better in natural light, no fluorescence to dull the golden hue of his skin, his hair glows amber in the sunlight; which looks fuckin’ perfect still, thanks to you… and pomade.

He’s swapped his regular uniform of jeans and flannel for the BBQ equivalent, some kinda’ athletic shorts, and a very ‘dad-coded’’ button down. He looks a little like a tourist, but a hot tourist nonetheless.

“Oh no fucking way, that’s him isn’t it?” She says, jaw wide, then smiling at you.”God damn, girl, dilf is right! I’d hit it!”

“I knew he looked familiar. ‘Course he's fuckin’ buddies with my Dad—so cool—love this for me.” Your throat feels dry, stomach woozy, and it's not from the heat or the vodka.

Your eyes connect from across the yard—shifty like you don’t know if you should act like strangers or not, Sarah would blow that one pretty quickly anyway.

You slam what's left of your drink and brace for impact, they’re closing in quick, and you try to shake it off and act cool.

“Hey, trouble,” he says, his smile too fuckin’ smug right now, “told you you’d figure it out,”

“If you wanted to see me outside of the shop you could have just asked, Joel, didn't need to stalk me to my damn house,” you bite, holding back your own grin, head shaking in disbelief.

You reach for Sarah, tugging her close and covering her ears, looking up at him to say “un-fuckin-believable!” just loud enough for her not to hear you.

He just smiles, shit-eating grin on his face like he’s proud, like he's won some game—Sarah pipes up, “Dad you’re staring again, weirdo, stop flirting.”

Joel looks down at her and glares, dad mode setting in, “go play with the other kids, brat.” but he can’t keep his face straight. He's smiling through harsh words, face flushing “Beat it before I throw you in the pool.” Sarah just lets out a huff, rolls her eyes at him, and walks towards a group of girls sitting on the edge of the pool.

“So you’re the old guy.” Kim chimes, “I’m Kim,” she holds her hand out towards him and you shoot her a death glare.

That little bitch!

Joel’s expression falters for a second, but he still gives Kim a firm handshake before shifting his gaze to yours, “Old guy? Damn, kid. I’m hurt.” he says, pouting and clutching his chest. He looks back to Kim, “What's she been sayin’ bout’ me? I bet you she's lyin’.”

Kim stares back at you, half-apology, half-mischief in her eyes. “Not, tellin', don’t think she was lying though.” She lifts her hand to her mouth, motioning like she's zipping it closed and throwing the key away.

The backyard continues to hum, more neighbors trickling in as the afternoon goes on. Kids shrieking, playlist pumping out Eagles and Van Halen like it's a legal requirement, firecrackers popping. You’re perched on the edge of your camping chair, Kim’s smirking beside you, and Joel’s standing there, with—you guessed it, his hands in his fucking pockets again. He’s looking far too good in the afternoon light, thanks to you and your expert eye for detail when it comes to men’s grooming. Sarah’s playing marco polo in the pool with her new crew, leaving the three of you sitting in this weird little triangle of tension and teasing.

Eventually, your dad wanders over, Corona sweating in one hand, spatula waving like a conductor in the other. He takes a good look at Joel, squinting and tilting his head. “Who did that to your hair man? Shoulda’ let her do it,” he points to you with his beer, “looks like someone let Edward Scissorhands loose on you, bet she could fix you up.”

Joel's eyebrows shoot up, he rubs the back of his neck, a nervous tic you’ve already clocked as his tell. “That so? Maybe I should try her out, huh?” His eyes dart to you, quickly, like he’s trying to test the waters.

You choke on your beer laughing, leaning forward in your chair, tipping it on the front feet.

Yeah, no fuckin way I'm letting that slide, fat chance.

“Ouch, thanks for that one, asshole. Guess we can call me Eddie from now on.” You shoot your dad a mock glare before you swing it back to Joel, smirking. “You don’t gotta play dumb for me, Miller, let him have a taste of his own foot—I saved your life with that haircut and we all know it.”

Your dad blinks, looking at you dumbfounded while the gears turn in his hopp-filled brain.

“Wait, you cut it? How the hell do y’all know each other?” he asks.

“So, there's this thing about being a hairdresser, dad. You sometimes cut strangers' hair,” it comes out real cocky, “and then eventually, they stop being strangers and turn into clients, and sometimes they happen to be buddies with you!” You explain it real slow, like he's six—just to piss him off.

“You’re a fuckin’ smart ass, kid. When did this happen?” his eyebrows are raised, facing Joel instead of you now.

“Went in a few weeks back, then the other day, Sarah’s been on my ass for looking like a lumberjack, and your kid’s pretty good with the scissors, didn’t lose an ear or nothin’!”

“Pretty good,” you mock his drawl, leaning in a bit closer so your knee is brushing his shin, “I made you go from looking like someone got at you with a weed-wacker, to a pretty solid candidate for a GQ cover. You’re fuckin’ welcome, by the way.

Kim’s vibrating with laughter in her chair, slapping her knees, “She’s got you pegged, Joel, I knew she was right when she—” You elbow her in the stomach before she says another word. You don’t need her incriminating you further, especially not with your dad around.

Joel’s lips twitch into a smile, showing off that dumb dimple, “GQ huh? Damn, that's why you charged me double, huh?”

“Damn, straight! Deserved every fuckin’ penny too,” you fire back at him, grinning, “can’t forget that I also had to put up with your grumpy ass. Twice—and the sawdust, it's like you dunk your head in it for fun or something.”

Your dad laughs, thoroughly entertained by the banter between the two of you, having but a clue of how hard y'all are flirting right now.

Bless his heart, sweet, sweet, summer chi—dad.

“I shoulda’ told you to go see her sooner, maybe you’d ave a girlfriend by now.” He nudges Joel’s shoulder playfully, “Glad you found the best in town! She’s been doin’ my hair since she was old enough to hold scissors without cutting her knuckles off.”

Joel just nods, playing it cool, but his eyes linger on you too long. “Guess I got pretty lucky, maybe I’ll have to set up monthly appointments—get me that girl you’re talkin’ ‘bout.” His eyes dart to yours, stupid sparkle in them.

I hate this old man…I need him.

“Oh please do.” You say in a sickeningly sweet, mocking voice. “You keep coming in every three weeks and I’ll be able to save enough to open my own shop,” you wink, “plus, I think Sarah’d appreciate not being seen with a raggamuffin at school drop-off.”

Your dad keeps laughing, slapping his hand on Joel’s shoulder. “Yeah man, better keep her on speed dial. She’s got magic hands!” He wanders back to the grill, that's smoking considerably more now.

“Magic hands, huh?” Joel mutters, low enough that only you and Kim can catch it, his drawl teasing you.

You lean into him, real close smirking, “Don’t you remember purring when I washed your hair? Don’t act like you didn’t already know I know how to use em’.”

Kim giggles, dramatically fanning herself before standing up and announcing, “I’m gonna leave you kids alone, feels like I’m… interrupting.” She gives you a cheeky grin like she's saying ‘get it, girl’. “If you need me, I’ll be getting drunk, I came here to drink and eat, not be a third wheel.” She stumbles her way towards the house, not bothering to look back, saying “Don’t do anything I wouldn't do!

“Pretty low bar, Kimberley!” you holler back, and Joel snorts.

You watch her nearly break an ankle on a bocce ball as she looks over her shoulder, before half screaming, “Use protection!” Shaking her head all the way inside.

You cringe, checking to see if your dad noticed her—but he’s distracted, yelling at some kid to stop throwing watermelon rinds in the pool. Your hand meets your face in embarrassment, feeling the heat creep to it before you get the courage to look at Joel again. When you do he's still grinning like an idiot.

“Sorry they’re—”

“Fun!.” He interrupts you. You can see a faint blush crawling up his neck and he reaches for his nape again.

“Yup… that's a word for it.”

You slouch back in your chair and Joel offers to grab you another drink, which you immediately accept. You watch as he walks over to the pool to check on Sarah, who’s on some kid’s shoulders, playing chicken, curls slick to the side of her face, beaming with joy.

You find yourself staring, and then smiling as you watch him knock her off the kid’s shoulders, embarrassing her. When she resurfaces from the water, she splashes him and shakes her curls like a dog after a bath; spraying water damn near all the way over to you.

After a few minutes, he comes back, drinks in hand, pulling the chair next to you closer and settling in, “You’re trouble, you know that?” he says, voice dropping low, taking a swig of his beer.

“Only the good kind,” you say, nudging his knee with yours. “So, when you gonna stop playing coy and ask me out to dinner like a grown-up?” you ask him like it's no big deal, thanks to the booze in your blood.

He chuckles, shaking his head, molasses eyes shimmering in the waning sunlight.

“We’ll see darlin', be patient.”

The yard is still buzzing, a constant stream of burgers and hotdogs leaving the grill, it feels like the whole town has been through to eat dinner tonight; you’re surprised Dad hasn't had to change the propane tank. The sun starts to dip down low, casting warm shadows over the grass. You and Joel sit, drinking, knees touching, watching the sunset slowly getting painted like some instructional Bob Ross scene—happy little streaks of pink and gold filling the Austin sky.

You’re half-buzzed, feeling bold enough to push, so you do. “Patience huh? Pretty rich coming from a man who fidgets as much as you.” You point at his hand, tapping away at the beer bottle, and then you place your hand to stop the absentminded shaking of his knee.

“Hey now,” he looks at you, furrowing his brows and pouting. “Gotta keep em’ busy, idle hands, trouble—you know the drill.”

“Oh yeah, I’m the trouble expert here, we established that,” you giggle. A young boy sprints through the narrow gap between you two, holding a sparkler, damn near lighting one of you on fire as he does, causing you both to flinch. “Fuckin’ warzone out here!”

He chuckles, looking toward the pool to find Sarah, she's wrapped up in a towel. Hanging with a gaggle of kids her age blowing bubbles, all with popsicle mustaches—red 40 for sure.

“Is anyone even running this circus at this point?” you ask.

Joel points to your dad, who’s on hour four of standing at the grill, batting a kid's hand away from grabbing a hotdog with his bare hands off the grates. “Don’t think so, might need a new ringleader.”

“I vote you do it, you even look the part, I'm sure we could find one of those stupid jackets!” you wheeze rocking your chair, “Can picture it perfectly, top hat n’ everything.”

Joel just laughs, shaking his head at the ground and smiling, muttering a low “stupid fuckin’ jokes.”

You both just watch the chaos for a minute before you groan, “Okay circus master, need a top-up, wanna be a hero?” You flip your empty beer bottle upside down, looking at him for an answer, “Or are you scared to leave me out here unsupervised?”

“Scared of you, maybe,” he drawls, standing with a groan, “c’mon let’s go raid the stash, less likely to get a sparkler in the eye inside.” You jump up off the chair, smoothing out your dress as you do. He whips his head towards the house and grabs you by the shoulder, close enough for you to smell that familiar pine, mixed with a hint of beer from his breath. “Lead the way.”

You both stumble towards the house. Keeping your eyes on the ground, avoiding the full water balloons, half-full paper cups, and kids' toys that have made a minefield out of the yard as you do. His arm falls from your shoulders and he hesitates—hovering right at the small of your back, you scan the yard and find Kim, with a group of old friends from high school, giving you a nod and a wink as you walk into the kitchen.

You click the door shut, sighing as the sweet relief of air-conditioning hits you, noticing the way your ears are ringing in the silence, it's been a long day of screaming kids and Springsteen.

You open the fridge door, catching the pack of Smirnoff ice in there—giving you a dumb idea and you snicker to yourself, giddy like a teen. “Hey—” You grab the drinks and whip around, launching one in his direction “Get Iced big guy!”

He leans for it, stumbling a bit into the counter but catches the bottle and gives you an unimpressed look—but you can see the smile creeping underneath.

“You’re a menace, know that?” he says, twisting off the cap and getting down on one knee. “You ever act your age before?” You mimic his movements, getting down on the floor in front of him yourself, eyes gleaming as you clink his bottle with yours.

“Nope, not once, now drink up, cowboy!” you say, slamming down the drink. You keep eye contact as you chug down the sweet cooler, both trying desperately not to laugh—Smirnoff out the nose is bad fuckin’ news. Joel finishes his first, shaking his head at you, but the lines at the corner of his eyes don’t lie. You finish yours right after him, hiccuping as you do so.

You both kneel there for a second, laughing so hard there are tears in your eyes and he reaches forward—hand cupping your cheek, wiping away one of your tears. Your heart barely has a beat to skip, he yanks you towards him, lips pressing against yours. You’re shocked, a startled gasp swallowed by the kiss, you push back towards him—desperate, hungry, reaching your free hand up to his hair, tugging. He tastes like fruit and hops, kissing you like he’s been holding it in all damn day. It was quick, chaotic, all teeth and —till it was interrupted by the swinging of the back door.

“Shit.” You both say it at the same time.

You lurch back from each other, still on one knee with your empty bottles in hand, you get up off the floor quickly as a feet tap and a voice chimes.

“Dad! Fireworks! They’re starting!” Sarah cuts through as you stifle a laugh, cheeks on fire. Her curls are still wet, plastered to her face, and thankfully she's oblivious to the scene. “C’mon, can’t miss them!”

Joel runs a hand through his hair, neck pink, face flustered. “Yeah, yeah, I’m on my way, brat.”

She grabs both of your arms and tugs you toward the yard.

Your dad’s voice booms through the crowd “Fireworks people! Let's get a move on!” and you stumble towards the crowd, heart hammering, lips still tingling—left wondering how the hell you’re supposed to keep playing it casual now.

[haru-dipthong]

Fansub release + translation notes for Utena ep 29!

Girl 1: でもさー　るか先輩もひどいんじゃない？ Girl 2: そう？あの子が勝手に盛り上がってただけじゃない。 Girl 1: あー　そういうとこある！ All: あるある。

Girl 1: Don't you think Ruka was kinda mean though? Girl 2: Yeah, right. I bet she was just getting hysterical over nothing. Girl 1: Oh yeah, maybe! All: Yeah.

I love translating these scenes with the faceless girls talking because the Japanese is so natural and real. Naturalistic speech is a fun challenge because there’s a lot that can’t be directly translated (like filler words and the absence of words), so you really need to consider what these people would be saying if they were speaking English instead. It’s a challenge of creative writing, recalling lived experiences, and using learned social scripts all in one!

For example, the “getting hysterical over nothing” part translates 勝手に盛り上がってた (lit. getting herself worked up) and the 勝手 part implies that Ruka is blameless. But “getting worked up” sounds a bit too animenglish for my tastes, and doesn’t communicate the intensity of the emotions involved. On top of that, I think these gossipy scenes are intended to be a commentary on how women also uphold patriarchal ideals and perpetuate misogyny. So with that in mind, I chose the word “hysterical” — it being a word often used to belittle or dismiss emotional outbursts of women. “Over nothing” was a way to communicate the “Ruka is blameless” piece in a natural sounding way. Altogether I think it’s a great example of the challenge of translating natural language while also factoring in your other aims in the translation like preservation of major themes.

Ruka: だが彼女はわがままで強引で自分勝手で、おまけに嘘つきときている。申し訳ないが、誰があんな女とだ。 Juri: 貴様！何様のつもりだ！

Ruka: But she's narcissistic, coercive, and selfish. And a liar to boot. I'm sorry, but who could put up with that bitch? Juri: Fuck you! Who do you think you are?

This scene is so intense. I’ve never used so many swear words in a single episode before, let alone a single scene! During editing, Anya asked about how I decided where to put the swear words, given that there aren’t really equivalents in Japanese. It’s a complicated question but there are a few things that I factor in.

First of all, there are kind of equivalents, sometimes. In the example above, I translated 貴様！ as “Fuck you!” Kisama is often translated as “bastard” or “jerk” or something similar because it’s a disrespectful form of address. Japanese has lots of disrespectful ways of saying “you” but no equivalent of “fuck” or even “fuck you”. I thought “fuck you” got across the anger Juri put into her 貴様！ much better than any name calling she could have done. Having done this translation now, I really lean towards “fuck you” being a standard translation of 貴様 (content rating depending).

Juri: 誰が貴様なんかと！ Ruka: 本当はフェンシング部の部長である僕の事が好きだったんだ��う。 Juri: ふっざけるな！侮辱するにはほどがある！

Juri: Who the fuck would want you? Ruka: The truth is, you've always had a crush on your fencing captain, haven't you? Juri: Are you fucking kidding? I've never been so insulted!

The second factor is, unfortunately, based solely on vibes (and tone). Juri’s first line here literally translates to “who would … you (derogatory)”, with the verb omitted and implicit. But there’s that kisama again, adding an extremely spiteful and emotional tone. The fact the sentence is a rhetorical question also impacts the tone, and the lack of verb makes it feel even more like it’s being spat out at Ruka like an attack. All of this together makes me feel like it needs a swear word in here to properly convey the vibes being communicated in how Juri is talking.

And again, in her last line from the above example, the vibes are powerful and resentful. Even though it’s just a single word, ふざけるな (lit. don’t joke around/are you kidding/etc), the way she delivers it is so spiteful that translating as “are you fucking kidding” just feels right.

Juri: なんといやしいやつになりさがったんだ！

Juri: When did you become such a miserable piece of shit?

I don’t have anything to say on this line that I haven’t already above, but I liked it so much that I wanted to highlight it!

Thank you as always to my amazing editor @dontbe-lasanya! This project would be impossible without you!

Follow the blog for new episodes, and for previously released episodes, check the drive:

Rose divider taken from this post.

[in-the-drowning-deep]

Why My OC Sucks

This is delightful, thanks @rooks-dagger for the tag! Gently tagging @maagisterpavus, @gatesofminrathous, and @litchigaming, if any of you would like to join in!

Esha Mercar

1. Stubborn

Esha has a very distinct moral compass. She will not budge on it - not a step. She's inherited every inch of her Legatus father's backbone, and she hasn't yet found a hill she's not willing to die on. She's faced down gods, and earned the Thedosian equivalent of a PhD mostly out of spite for the people in the Minrathous Circle who thought she couldn't, so it definitely comes in handy!

It's just... not so great for making friends and building people up in peacetime, or for knowing when to give up on a fight.

2. Impulsive

For a woman with her level of education, Esha tends to treat thinking as surprisingly overrated. (Maybe because she doesn't want to spend too much time in her own head. Who knows what she might find there?)

Anyway, if she gets an idea, she'll generally do it. Whether that's a wildly ill-advised situationship with the woman who killed her original PhD supervisor pre-Veilguard, bringing down a building on slavers in Nessus, or a Hail Andraste-type plan she comes up with while leading the Veilguard. As @rooks-dagger once described her - she will always swing for the fences. She doesn't know how to do anything different.

Except that those plans miss, sometimes. And when they do, they get her (less important) and the people around her (very important) hurt.

3. Confrontational

If you're doing something Esha doesn't approve of? She'll tell you so, and she won't mince words. She never had that many friends in Minrathous, in no small part because of that tendency, and she took a long while to warm up to Emmrich (the Mourn Watch's casual use of undead slaves freaked her the fuck out, what do you mean slavery might not end with death?)

Harding's a useful counterweight here, though. By endgame, while Esha will still pick fights where they're needed, she's learned that sometimes gentler words can win out, too. Which is partly also down to the influence of...

Lucien Trevelyan

1. Stubborn

I mean, he's a Trevelyan - there's a reason their family imagery tends to feature draft horses and goats. If he sets his mind to do something, he will do everything in his power to get it done - even if he burns himself out in the process, or ends up losing far more than he gains.

2. Trusting

Or... not trusting, per se, but he looks for the best in people, always. It's one of his greatest strengths and flaws, because sometimes he'll keep on holding out that peace offering far past the point where he should. He's learned to be a little more circumspect when other people's lives are on the line, but he's still not great when it's 'just' his own.

3. Proud

I touched on this in the OC as Demon meme, but while Lucien thinks of himself - and comes across to most people - as quite humble for someone of his status, that's not entirely the case. Outwardly, he doesn't think he's fit to hold high office, and sees himself as doing it entirely out of duty.

But he fundamentally does see himself as Andraste's Chosen Herald, even if he believes the purpose of that role is to serve others. He believes he is uniquely positioned for the task in front of him, and that tendency means he's reluctant to seek help or admit when he's feeling overwhelmed. Bull helps a lot with that, but it remains a core part of his personality nonetheless.

[trg-if]

Hi!! This is one of the best IFs I read. I love everything about it, from the writing to the dialogue to the MC and love the small flavor text you have for the mc gender. Really fun demo so far.

Already hooked, and we're only just starting.

Would you be willing to give us some fun facts about the ROs? 👀

Thanks! Fun? 😂 I'll try.

Raoul/Briar

Leo (zodiac) August 10

They like animals, especially dogs (Raoul a little more than Briar, Briar's partial to cats). He'll have fun riding horses, while she'll prefer not to.

They're subtly different from each other but the core stays the same.

They would try driving a car. They can get conservative about new technology but they'll try it anyway.

Raoul trims but doesn't shave his beard. Briar prefers to keep her hair short for practical reasons.

Their experience is only with one-time squeezes. Raoul explored more, just because of the access, but the danger kept him from overstaying his welcome. Neither of them slept with anyone.

They have opinions about MCs backstory and that will be explored.

Many assume that just because they can throw hands and have an accent, it means they're not smart. They play into that stereotype on occasion.

Anthy

Scorpio (zodiac) November 2

Anthony studies Classics and Arts at Oxford. Anthonia went to Bedford College, in London. Their education gave them strong opinions on suffrage and human rights, much to chagrin of the elite.

Their middle name is Maria.

Anthony might seem more forward than Anthonia but they both have a tendency to suggest their interest and play games. Once attached, they don't let it go easily.

They can play a violin and piano. Fem!Anthy is considered accomplished. M!Anthy is considered charming but effeminate. They get hit with a different stick of upper class sexism.

Proud libertine but they struggle with intense feelings of shame.

Proud romantic. No ifs or buts. And you will be romantic too, if you know what's good for you.

Edward

Virgo (zodiac) September 7

He studied the equivalent of a Business and Management. He'd be happier with Science.

He keeps active - fencing, riding. And gardening. It helps with stress.

He had a short stint in the army after graduating and before his father died, as an officer.

He tends to sedate himself at night. He keeps a doctor working at the estate near full-time just in case of accidents.

His staff likes him well enough. One of them watched over the siblings since Anthy was a child. He has strong morals and finds it particularly distasteful whenever he learns of men of rank sleeping with maids or abusing their wives or children.

Everyone has their hypocritical moments and then there's Ed.

[nowisthewinter]

Okay, I have seen so many terrible "hot takes" on Catholicism on this site over the years and have simply ignored them. Takes like how nuns' habits are the Catholic equivalent of the hijab. Nope. They're not. Habits may have started in a time hundreds of years ago when women did cover their hair out of modesty AND fashion but now habits are simply a part of the uniform. They tell you what order of nuns that particular nun belongs to. You have orders of nuns with white habits, orders of nuns with brown habits, orders of nuns with navy blue habits, orders of nuns with black habits, orders of nuns with habits that cover the entire head of hair, orders of nuns that only partially cover the head of hair and, yes, even orders of nuns that don't wear habits at all.

But to get off the nun track, I have to throw in my two cents with the latest "hot take" on Catholicism that is going around and that is the new Pope.

And, yes, I think am qualified to speak on this because 1) I am a cradle to the grave Catholic and 2) I am American.

So, the new Pope is American.

I know many people are shocked because this guy wasn't on anyone's radar. And I know other people are dismayed because, "Ugh, Americans!"

But let me tell you this move is brilliant.

Allow me to explain for you non-Catholics and non-Americans.

There is a growing schism in this country between Vatican leaning, more progressive (progressive as in "feed the poor" and "protect the earth") classic Roman Catholics and the Far Right leaning "Ignore the Pope and listen to Trump" ironically named "traditional/Trad" Catholics.

And the Far Right leaning Trad Catholics are trying to infect not only as much of this country as they can but they are also trying to branch outside our borders.

One of the main tactics being used here as to why American Catholics should listen to them and not to the Vatican is how the Vatican is being led by a non-American. Why should a non-American affect American affairs?

And as you read that, a lightbulb should be going off in your head right now as to why the Vatican picked an American for the next Pope.

Oh, yes, this choice was purely tactical.

It was made to stop the Far Right corruption of Catholicism in its tracks by going directly to its source; America.

This choice cuts off the legs of the Far Right movement.

As a result, we might finally see a schism in this country. Which, personally, I hope it happens seeing I am part of the Left Leaning Catholics in this country. The Far Right might finally be forced to break completely from the Vatican and declare themselves a new denomination. They'll probably call themselves "American Orthodox" or something of the like.

But doing this will draw a line in the sand among many American Catholics who are on the fence on which way to go. There are plenty of Roman Catholics around the world. We are the biggest denomination on the planet. But there would only be a tiny fraction of "American Orthodox" Catholics if they schism. Thus, nipping their power in the bud and ending their spread for the most part from the rest of the world. Oh, they'll still be around but, again, they won't be as powerful or infectious as before.

So, you see, this is why the new Pope HAD to be American. This was a tactical move against Trump and the Far Right movement.

We've already seen a Far Right uproar happen when the first speech the Pope gave wasn't in English despite him being American. It was to show that this very American Pope was for all and, in turn, America is for all. Not just for the Far Right "American First" white supremacy. If that wasn't a, "What are you going to do about it now, Far Right?" push for them to schism, I don't know what is.

Again, this move is brilliant.

[kiyawritesforf1]

TANGLED HEARTS

Pairing - Carlos Sainz x Norris!Reader

Words - 3.2k

The Monaco sun blazed down on the paddock, a chaotic swirl of mechanics, media, and the occasional rogue seagull eyeing someone’s sandwich. Y/N Norris, younger sister of McLaren’s golden boy Lando Norris, strutted through the chaos like she owned it. Her oversized sunglasses perched precariously on her nose, and her trademark smirk screamed I’m about to cause trouble. She was a classic Norris—charming, a bit bratty, and utterly incapable of thinking three steps ahead. If Lando was the family’s lovable goofball, Y/N was the human equivalent of a sparkler: bright, unpredictable, and likely to set something on fire.

Today, her target was Carlos Sainz. Ferrari’s smooth-talking Spaniard was everything Y/N wasn’t: measured, sensible, and infuriatingly good at keeping his emotions on a leash. They’d been dancing around each other for months, ever since a blurry, tequila-fueled night in Miami where a hotel room and questionable decisions had left them both flustered and avoiding eye contact for a week. Y/N wasn’t one to let things slide, though. She wanted Carlos, and when Y/N Norris wanted something, she’d move heaven and earth—or at least annoy everyone in a 10-mile radius—to get it.

Carlos, on the other hand, was playing the long game. He liked Y/N—more than he’d admit to himself—but the idea of dating his best friend’s little sister was a minefield he wasn’t keen to cross. Lando was protective, and Carlos valued their friendship too much to risk it over what he kept telling himself was a fleeting crush. Except Y/N wasn’t making it easy. She flirted relentlessly, in private with teasing whispers and in public with winks that had the F1 gossip blogs buzzing. Carlos was holding strong, but his resolve was cracking like a cheap phone screen.

The Paddock Shenanigans

It was Friday, free practice day, and the paddock was buzzing. Y/N lounged against McLaren’s hospitality suite, sipping an iced coffee and scanning the crowd for Carlos. Lando was nearby, chatting with Oscar Piastri about tyre strategy, oblivious to his sister’s scheming. Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were loitering nearby, Max scrolling through his phone while Daniel tossed a stress ball at anyone who looked bored.

“Oi, Y/N!” Daniel called, grinning. “You causing trouble yet, or are we still in the warm-up lap?”

Y/N smirked, flipping her hair. “Danny, I don’t cause trouble. Trouble just finds me. It’s my magnetic personality.”

Max snorted without looking up. “Yeah, magnetic for chaos. Didn’t you crash Lando’s golf cart into a fence last month?”

“That was an artistic statement,” Y/N shot back, unfazed. “And anyway, Carlos fixed it. Didn’t you, Chili?” She spotted Carlos walking past with Charles Leclerc, and her voice took on a syrupy edge.

Carlos froze mid-step, his brown eyes narrowing. “Don’t drag me into your crimes, Y/N,” he said, but there was a twitch at the corner of his mouth. Charles raised an eyebrow, clearly sensing the vibe but too polite to comment.

“Crimes? Me?” Y/N pressed a hand to her chest dramatically. “I’m an angel. Tell him, Lando!”

Lando, distracted, glanced over. “Yeah, sure, angelic as a tornado. Carlos, mate, don’t let her rope you into anything. She’s got a knack for disaster.”

“Too late,” Y/N muttered under her breath, winking at Carlos. He shook his head, but his ears were turning pink—a dead giveaway he wasn’t as immune as he pretended.

The flirting wasn’t new. Y/N had been at it for weeks, dropping innuendos in team meetings, brushing past Carlos a little too closely in the garage, and texting him memes at 2 a.m. with captions like “This could be us but you’re playing hard to get.” Carlos would reply with a single emoji—🙄—but he never told her to stop. That was her green light.

The Miami Flashback

The Miami night was a hazy memory, but it haunted them both. It had been post-race, the air thick with champagne and bad decisions. Y/N, tipsy and bold, had cornered Carlos at the bar, her usual bratty confidence dialed to eleven.

“Carlitos,” she’d slurred, poking his chest. “You’re too serious. Live a little.”

He’d laughed, his guard down after a few drinks. “And you, pequeña, live too much.”

One thing led to another—banter to dancing, dancing to wandering hands, and suddenly they were in his hotel room, giggling like idiots and kissing like they’d been starving for it. Morning came with a pounding headache and mutual panic. Carlos had bolted upright, muttering about Lando killing him, while Y/N sprawled across the bed, smirking.

“Relax, Sainz,” she’d said. “It’s not like we robbed a bank. Just a little fun.”

But it wasn’t just fun. Not to her. And, if she was reading him right, not to him either. The problem was getting him to admit it.

The Flirting Escalates

Back in Monaco, Y/N wasn’t backing down. During a drivers’ briefing, she slid into the seat next to Carlos, ignoring Lando’s raised eyebrow from across the room. As the FIA droned on about track limits, she leaned closer, whispering, “You look good in red, but I bet you’d look better in my hotel room.”

Carlos choked on his water, earning a curious glance from George Russell. “Y/N,” he hissed, “behave.”

“Make me,” she shot back, batting her lashes.

He glared, but his hand lingered a second too long when he passed her a pen later. Progress.

That evening, the drivers hit a bar to unwind. Y/N, in a dress that screamed trouble, was in her element, laughing with Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda while keeping one eye on Carlos. He was at the bar with Lando, looking like he was trying to solve world peace instead of enjoying his beer.

“Mate, you alright?” Lando asked, clapping Carlos on the shoulder. “You’ve been weird lately.”

Carlos forced a smile. “Just tired, amigo.”

Lando didn’t buy it, but he didn’t push. Y/N, however, saw her chance. She sauntered over, leaning between them to grab a cherry from the bar. “Carlos, you gonna sulk all night, or are you gonna dance with me?”

Lando groaned. “Y/N, leave him alone. Not everyone wants to deal with your chaos 24/7.”

She stuck her tongue out at her brother. “You’re just jealous because I’m more fun than you.”

Carlos’s lips twitched, but he stayed silent, sipping his drink. Y/N’s patience was fraying. She’d been flirting for weeks, and while Carlos wasn’t shutting her down, he wasn’t biting either. It was driving her up the wall.

The Breaking Point

By Sunday’s race, Y/N was done playing nice. She’d tried subtle, she’d tried bold, and Carlos was still dodging her like she was a DRS zone he didn’t trust. So, she did what any self-respecting Norris would do: she went nuclear.

Post-race, the paddock was a zoo. Lando had finished P3, Carlos P5, and the media was swarming. Y/N, in a McLaren cap and a devilish grin, cornered Lando by the motorhome while Carlos was nearby, signing autographs.

“Hey, big bro,” she said loudly, ensuring Carlos could hear. “You know how you’re always saying I need to be honest? Well, guess what? Carlos and I have been sleeping together.”

The world stopped. Lando’s jaw dropped. Carlos dropped his Sharpie, spinning around so fast he nearly tripped. The fans nearby gasped, phones already recording.

“Y/N!” Carlos barked, his face a mix of horror and fury. “What the hell?”

Lando blinked, processing. “You… what? With Carlos? My Carlos?”

“Your Carlos?” Y/N scoffed, hands on hips. “He’s not your property, Lando. And yeah, we hooked up. Miami. Great night. He’s just too stubborn to do anything about it.”

Carlos dragged a hand down his face, muttering in Spanish. “Madre de Dios, this is a nightmare.”

Lando rounded on him. “Mate, is this true? You and my sister?”

Carlos opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked at Y/N, who was staring him down, daring him to deny it. “It… happened,” he admitted, voice low. “Once. We were drunk. It was a mistake.”

Y/N’s bravado faltered for a split second, hurt flashing in her eyes. “A mistake? Wow, okay. Good to know.”

The tension was thicker than Monaco traffic. Lando looked between them, torn between betrayal and confusion. “You’re my best mate, Carlos. And you—” he pointed at Y/N—“you’re my sister. What am I supposed to do with this?”

Daniel, who’d wandered over because he smelled drama, piped up. “Mate, sounds like they need to sort their shit out. Maybe lock ‘em in a room till they figure it out.”

“Great idea,” Charles added, appearing out of nowhere. “But maybe not during a race weekend. Ferrari needs Carlos focused.”

Y/N crossed her arms. “I’m done chasing you, Carlos. You want to pretend it meant nothing? Fine. But don’t cry when I move on.”

She stormed off, leaving Carlos staring after her and Lando muttering, “I need a drink. Or therapy.”

The Aftermath

Carlos found her later, sitting on a balcony overlooking the harbor. The sun was setting, painting the sky pink, and Y/N looked smaller than usual, her usual fire dimmed.

“You’re insane, you know that?” he said, sitting beside her.

She didn’t look at him. “Worked, didn’t it? You’re here.”

“Not because you told the entire paddock we slept together,” he snapped. “That was reckless, Y/N. You could’ve ruined my friendship with Lando. Your relationship with him.”

She shrugged, but her voice was softer. “I don’t think before I act. It’s kinda my thing. And I was tired of you ignoring me.”

Carlos sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I wasn’t ignoring you. I was trying to do the right thing. Lando’s my brother, Y/N. You think I want to hurt him? Or you?”

Her head snapped up. “You think you’re protecting me by pushing me away? Newsflash, Sainz, I’m a big girl. I know what I want. And it’s you.”

He stared at her, the weight of her words sinking in. She was a whirlwind, a liability, everything he wasn’t. But God help him, he was crazy about her.

“I’m gonna kill you one day,” he muttered, but there was no heat in it.

“Promise?” she teased, scooting closer.

He laughed despite himself, and when she leaned in, he didn’t pull away. The kiss was slow, tentative, nothing like Miami’s frenzy. It felt like a beginning.

The Paddock Reacts

By the next race, the news had spread like wildfire. Lando was still grumbling, but he’d grudgingly given Carlos his blessing after a long talk—and a threat involving a golf club. The other drivers were having a field day.

“So, Norris Jr. and Sainz,” Max said, smirking. “Didn’t see that coming.”

“Liar,” Daniel countered. “Everyone saw it. They were practically eye-fucking in the paddock for months.”

Charles grinned. “As long as Carlos doesn’t crash because he’s distracted, I’m happy.”

Y/N, true to form, didn’t care about the gossip. She walked into the paddock hand-in-hand with Carlos, her smirk back in full force. When a reporter asked about their relationship, she winked. “What can I say? I always get what I want.”

Carlos rolled his eyes but squeezed her hand. “She’s impossible,” he told Lando later.

“Yeah,” Lando said, clapping him on the back. “But you’re stuck with her now. Good luck.”

[scrumptiousstuffs]

are there more iconic moments that will go down in the FK rabbit hole like this taipei fanmeeting? moments that every somsom needs to know!

Cracking knuckles, stretching my neck and ready to dive in hehehe....

I already mentioned many of my favorites (and iconic) moments of FK during previous asks…

But other moments including way, way back when they were babies (back in 2018) and not officially a CP:

First saying in front of Khaotung’s fans he will love him forever (so, even back then, First has decided who he wants, y'all)

Plus the IG live in 2020 where they stared deeply into each other eyes like separated lovers in a regency novel and calling each other handsome/cute

Hopefully, you already know all the thirdwheeling First did when Khaotung was promoting with Podd for Tonhon Chonlatee.

(I say the boys were laying the ground work so that their fans would get behind them when they finally officially became a CP)

Once they are officially a CP:

Who could forget First’s inner voice during GMMTV safe house season 4, which led to countless gentle teasing by everyone to the point First now just accepts it and says it out loud in front of everyone he finds Khaotung cute (he said this during the GMMTV Live House on 15/09/23 when he and Khaotung were guests on the show) or call his bestie boyfriend in front of live TV 📺

Also, I highly recommend you read through the thoughtfully curated recap FK moments in GMMTV Safe House Season 4 by @firstkanaphans (if you haven’t got the chance to do so!)

This particular interview where First earnestly (and cue more waterwork) informed the interviewer and Khaotung he sincerely wants to build a house that share a fence with his bestie🥺😭

And while the whole GMMTV StarLympics is not my cup of tea, it gave moments like our boys becoming dramatic actors on the field or First being possessive of his bestie (what else is new? 🫣). Plus, Khaotung being a princess 💅 by wearing the dainty diamond necklace and Cartier watch while playing futsal

Both LOLfanfest (2023 and 2024) have great moments from First twerking to Khaotung shaking his booty (also the song is a banger!) and of course who can forget First stripping off his jacket in both events in front of his bestie 🤭🤭🤭...

And anon, I really, really recommend (if you haven’t yet) to watch both ArmShare episodes when they featured First & Khaotung's birthdays. Not only do we get to see them being their emotional self but they have unhinged moments like the iconic forehead kiss by Khaotung causing his bestie to breakdown into giggles.

I'm going to finish up with my most favorite clip of FK: First sabotaging himself (ThaiFuLove Event). Instant serotonin boost! Also, how do First go through all the intimate scenes with his bestie without breaking out of character???

It is also the same event we learnt our boys have GPS? (or something equivalent) on their phones, which allows them to keep track of each other.

(The interviewer and Chinese translators were giggling and laughing cause of these 2 and it made the whole thing even funnier 🤣🤣🤣)

Special mentions: FK Fanmeeting Hong Kong 2023 and the EFMFandomLive event. The latter where we have FK meowing (no seriously, like actual meows) where they were having a conversation in front of the hosts

[catenary-chad]

Electra headcanons part 2: mostly random pointless stuff this time. How human vs train they are varies wildly. I have a lot of weird contrarian takes I explain in the first part here but the shortest explanation is that the 2013 tour videos are generally my starting point and I expand on things with heavy irl train context.

-their ire for older equipment is pretty much limited to diesel and steam engines.  This is because the former is a dirty stopgap solution with surprisingly heavy links to the auto industry that has absolutely dominated the US since after WWII and shuts down valid economic arguments for electrification with short-sighted complaints. The latter just won the propaganda war despite being proven losers, and tends to overshadow if not outright erase electric history from their time.  These same factors also exist in the UK to lesser degrees.  Basically it’s a very political thing in a way that other old equipment isn’t.  

-Electra is generally fine with old coaches and freight though.  I think there’s actually more respect for elders among electric trains vs other traction because of how long they can last, especially if you’re talking the US circa the 70s-80s where there were still a ton of 50+ year old boxcabs and EMUs.  Electra would definitely prefer somewhat newer (30s-on) lightweight coaches vs really old heavyweight ones for speed purposes, but it’s not a deal killer. 

-they do try and egg old coaches (and even freight and other engines) into getting makeovers for PR purposes because if you’re going to be a sad old commuter train, pretty colors slapped on top go a long way.  “We have better paints now you don’t have to be dark brown/green/maroon”.  See the New Haven Railroad, early Amtrak, and low-cost trains in France and Sweden, where painting oooold equipment fun colors made it more endearing. 

-Electra cares a lot about PR and marketing in general and usually has a good eye for it as long as they don’t try too hard.  They’re good at casually making things look or sound cool but when they make a concerted argument they tend to come off strong and overly hostile and turn people off.

-Related to the part about how old many electric trains are: they were raised by the equivalent of a grandparent, due to the previous “parent generation” of electric locomotives being dysfunctional.  This goes for both “GG1 successor” 80s Electra or “AEM-7 sucessor” more modern Electra.  Electric trains have unusually long “generation lengths” to begin with and it’s not rare to be raised by someone that old, but it’s usually not exclusively so.  

-Because of that, Electra actually has some weirdly antiquated tendencies that pop out.  Like calling car drivers “Moloch worshippers”, wanting interurbans to come back, and being unusually fond of 20s-30s era jazz for their age (80s era).  Or being way too into ABBA deep cuts and familiar with 70s-80s politics and pop culture that time forgot, like a literal “30 year old boomer” (modern).  I think Electra of any era likes old amusement parks (ala Coney Island) because of their heavy links to trolleys

-They made up a zodiac system based on transmission towers.  

-Their favorite instrument is “hijacked stepper motor” and they think all random consumer electronics should be able to play a cute little song when ready/done

-I think they feel weirdly safe in enclosed spaces because larger/combustion engines can’t get in there (without smothering anyone and/or getting escorted out).  A piece of them also kind of yearns for the mines…

-hazardously close to being an elevator enthusiast.  hazardously close to being a fire alarm enthusiast too.  I’m on the fence about whether I see them as autistic or not because I don’t really see them having sensory issues and there’s another explanation for traits they have. They just have inherent reasons to care about mundane urban/electrical infrastructure because they depend on it so much, and were isolated during their equivalent of childhood and are socially weird because of that.  

-Unlike many others I don’t see Electra as terribly anxious, just socially clunky, but I think they flee when they sense physical danger.  They’re a bit more European-style vs most of the cast and operate more on the “avoid incidents all together” mindset.  When it comes to words though, they’re a lot more confrontational.  I feel like Electra can really enjoy arguing and yelling at people. It can even be weirdly easy to get through to them that way if you hit them with hard numbers.

-In a similar vein, I feel like they’re broadly very forgiving.  It’s easy to make them hate you but just as easy to flip them back, unless you’re Robert Moses or General Motors.  People laugh at them going from bitter rivals to hugging other characters in the megamix but I’ve known people like that irl. 

-They tend to understand counterintuitive things but get frustrated by more conventional/straightforward ones.  And likewise get frustrated when others are the exact opposite.  

-Surprisingly not awful as a deserted island/camping buddy since they can learn the basic skills reasonably well… they just eat way more than people expect and oops you run out of granola bars two days in.  You really don’t want to be too far from a convenience store or even vending machine with Electra because they get faint and weak FAST after getting hungry (and can’t just eat extra beforehand or they’ll also feel miserable)

-barely capable of cooking, prefers to eat out or minimal-prep stuff.  Would have been the target audience for Gerber Singles and have no shame because “it’s efficient and glass is recyclable”

-I always imagine a more human Electra/Components living in one of those unrealistically large sitcom apartments in some ambiguous large city

-On a related note to the above, I think they have a notable communal streak.  A lot of electric trains do as a reflection of how they share a power supply and are heavily associated with left-leaning economic politics.  Electra will just grab food off your plate and treat all shelves as shared until stated otherwise, and doesn’t mind at all if you do the same.  

-I don’t really see trains as having much of a “child” phase outside of commissioning/testing, but I think a more human Electra would be good at entertaining (and even teaching) kids.  Awful as an actual parent and maintaining any kind of order, and I wouldn’t even let them be a babysitter or you might get the house burned down.  But they have an almost endless tolerance to a lot of annoying kid stuff, like bright, obnoxious things, and will play silly games with them for hours if needed.  I think they’d have a weird knack for making unapproachable and “pretentious” things weirdly easy to understand, and could get most kids engaged with taking apart busted appliances, Balkan folk music and free jazz, and early 20th century abstract art because they can explain it and break it down in approachable ways.  

-I think they would be at least mildly enthused by maps.  There’s just a weirdly heavy overlap between that and electric/transit oriented railfans.  Bold and well-designed subway maps are their favorite.

-Electra likes roller coasters but REALLY likes intense, European-style spinning rides because they’re a lot more forceful.  But not as much as Krupp, who is the kind of guy who will just ride the Gravitron/Rotor all day if not stopped.  

-I’ll vary a bit on basis but toothpaste/80s era Electra is a DC-motored engine no matter how I slice it and thus runs surprisingly hot and is more comfortable in cold than hot weather.  They have more issues with heat with age as their traction motors wear out.  In a more human verse, it still works out this way because I have them short and thick, they make a lot of heat but aren’t built to shed it well.  

-Human Electra is small and cute enough to pass as a kid until about their 30s.  They have exploited this to get discounts plenty of times.  

-They’re also generic enough looking dressed down and without makeup that it’s deceptively easy to lose them in a city.  

-In my mind and probably my mind alone (because I base their proportions on EMD E-units vs “typical larger European electric loco” more than casting conventions) Electra and Greaseball are similarish size-wise going around, but NOT vertically.  Greaseball could just about wear a lot of Electra’s clothes… but they all turn into crop tops and capris on him because he’s so much longer, especially in the torso.  

-Electra’s natural speaking voice isn’t very high and actually sounds like a somewhat smoother, lighter version of Greaseball’s.  They just talk higher for various PR reasons but will flip between the two as desired.  

-Electra and the Components have a communal trainset that’s a bizarre hodgepodge of whatever electric models Electra could buy and all their various other interests all smashed onto one fictional, isolationist, highly mountainous tropical island.  It’s got wacky animals, an elaborate military base, elaborate ice caves/mines, a detailed economy, and public referendums on what color to paint the lightly used cast-off trains they bought from de-electrified lines in the US.  They have extended lore for it and roleplay as government officials complete with stupid hats and unreasonable numbers of military medals.  Greaseball and the Nationals come over to roleplay as ambassadors from other countries.  

[ecto-hazard]

all the pikmin games take place on a distant planet, later named PNF-404. this planet is all but confirmed to be the planet earth in the games. the exact appearance of the planet has changed in different games, but has always had a resemblance to earth. in pikmin 2, you find two halves of a globe which are confirmed to look like the planet viewed from space, and geographical information from them lets them discover more areas in the game. in pikmin 3, a larger scale map of the planet is shown from orbit with a different continental layout, but is clearly based on earth, and is more specifically based on the proposed Pangea Proxima, which is a continental layout possible in the far future where the continents drift into each other. this design retcon doesnt reappear in pikmin 4 so its debatable what the canon geography of the planet looks like, but its clearly supposed to be earth, potentially in the far future

the implications of this are left vague seemingly on purpose, which i think adds to the atmosphere of the games a lot. pikmins storyline focus heavily on being in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar creatures. the player, however, is familiar with elements of the environment, which adds a layer of dramatic irony. but at the same time, this environment is at a scale that players are unfamiliar with, as the player character and pikmin and all creatures are comparatively tiny. furthermore, while the environment is familiar, none of the creatures are equivalent to actual animals or bugs. the earlier games have some fringe cases, such as the flitterbies being generic butterflies, but the later games seemed to focus a lot on redesigning these vaguer creatures to be more identifiable from normal animals

one of my favorite things about the pikmin series is how it can blend naturally forming and manmade objects to make the inbounds area feel organic. games with open world elements often have to implement some sort of barriers like fences, water, or the ever intimidating invisible wall to block the player into the main area, but in pikmin these barriers feel mostly normal. for example, forest of hope incorporates tree roots to to section off different areas. what really adds to this is the fact that while these higher elevations are inaccessible to the player, you can throw pikmin up on these ledges. this feature makes these barriers seem less like a vague wall and more like part of the environment, and the fact that you can toss pikmin up on or over these barriers is often incorporated in puzzles in the games

all the pikmin games have incorporated breakable barriers in the games to access new areas of the map, and the design of these barriers has varied a little, and ironically they changes over time has causes these barriers to start breaking the immersion of the games

pikmin 1 introduced two main types of breakable walls. one of these is the Wooden gate, which seems to be made out of white brambles. these are walls that are breakable by any pikmin with enough time. There are stronger variants that are black in color, but generally they go down without a hitch. some of them incorporate elemental hazards like being in water, or in pikmin 2 having poison gas pipes under them. But gameplay aside, the design of these walls is really odd. ignoring the low res of the models, they just feel like a strange obstacle in an otherwise naturally formed environment. Obviously they need the walls to stand out from the rest of the world and have a consistent design whenever you see them but its just sort of weird to me. As a kid I thought these walls were supposed to be some sort of thick spiderweb or something, so the idea of an area being walled off by webbing like this didnt seem too unreasonable. I think if these walls has been shaped more organically, this wouldnt be so immersion breaking. their design is iconic to pikmin though, so the weird mysterious walls add to the atmosphere in a way. theyre used in pikmin 2 as well, which is the game im most familiar with

the other kind of gate in pikmin 1 is reinforced gates. these have to be broken by bombs. They also look a bit weird in the environment, but its not unreasonable to say they arent formed concrete rather than naturally occurring rocks. These appear in the later games with little change to the design and i don't have a huge problem with them.

Pikmin 2 didn't have reinforced gates, but introduced the electric gate, which seems to be a charged coil. it can only be broken by yellow pikmin, and touching these gates with any other pikmin types in pikmin 2 results in instant death. theres little to no cohesion with the environment with these, and thats true with all the future games they appear in as well. However, the design is nice in pikmin 2. It's sort of like a wire fence and even sounds like youre banging against one when you try to break it down. But they dont incorporate anything into the environment at all to make them feel like they belong there. I dont think theyre even used in any of the pikmin 2 caves, which was a missed opportunity. pikmin 2 has metallic caves that are supposed to be like the inner mechanations of some sort of buried machines or something, so i feel like if theyd feel natural anywhere, itd be there. but they do have the mini versions of electric gates in caves that erupt from exposed wires, which feels much more cohesive.

pikmin 3 came out in 2013 and with it came many redesigns. along with the creatures, environmental barriers also got a new coat of paint.

the wooden walls are outright replaced with Dirt walls, and this is perhaps the best way they couldve implemented a solid barrier. These walls are molded like they came out of a sand castle mold. It seems like they leaned into the fact that these walls were incongruous with the rest of the environment, so they went in a different direction to imply they are manmade. this is not only a great revamp, but also has a level of relatability to it. kids who had these sorts of molds would totally do stuff like this, making sand walls to block off pathways they find in the natural environment. not only does it reinforce the scale of the world, but it also once again hints to intelligent life that may or may not currently exist. another fun detail is that the stone walls in this game have similar molding to the stone, further enforcing that these walls are unnatural and possibly made from concrete

pikmin 3 introduced the crystal walls as well. these are walls exclusively broken by rock pikmin. these walls are glass panes held in place by metal frames. its a bit odd, but you could dare imagine someone knocked over a tiny glass outdoor table and this was the result. and whenever you see these things, the modeling and rust detail never makes it look ridiculously out of place. and in addition to these blatant walls, they use naturally formed crystals to block off areas and hold objects as well. so they do a good job of incorporating rock pikmin puzzles into the world

an additional barrier introduced in this game is mushrooms. I dont need to explain much why this works as a barrier. they're far faster to break down than the other walls, and can even be damaged by the player character. it seems the purpose of these things is less to serve as a solid barrier and more to serve for multitasking. you can toss a couple pikmin to deal with one of these by themselves while you go do something else. they have the added bonus of dropping nectar when destroyed, which is always nice

but as great as these walls are, pikmin 3 also has some letdowns with their other barriers. the electric gate makes another appearance, but has gone through a substantial redesign. it's now these sort of glass neon like tubes with these huge metal pillars. Again, this design doesn't really make a lot of sense, but they also don't incorporate anything in the environment to justify them being there at all. A detail i like is the gauges on the pillars that drops when you finally break down the gate. But theres no reason for this to be here at all. The same could be said about the lightbulbs found in the cavelike areas of the main map, but at the very least setting up lights for a cave makes some sort of sense, even if the scale of it makes it a bit nonsensical. But theres absolutely no reason to have this fucking neon signs littered around the jungle

the most egregious wall in pikmin 3 is the bamboo gate. mechanic wise, i think this gate is a clever concept. This gate can only be opened by flying pikmin, and cannot be broken down. instead you lift up the bamboo pieces to create a temporary opening that closes again once you call your pikmin back. it forces the player to pay attention to the types of pikmin they have with them, and if you dont remember to whistle them back, you risk losing ten pikmin at the end of the day. its a great opportunity to introduce puzzles to the game, especially in things like the challenge modes where youre limited to so many pikmin types. however, as far as blending into the environment, this is the worst gate of the bunch. Everything else up to this point lets you suspend disbelief a bit to accept they could be there organically, but this gate was explicitly designed for pikmin to open and close them. it's made of bamboo shoots roped together for an inexplicable reason, and each of the bamboo shoots has a convenient pink handle to let you know thats where the flying pikmin can pick it up. other items in the game are colored pink to hint that its a puzzle for flying pikmin, but theres cohesion with the fence at all in this case. Bamboo shoots seems like a good concept for a barrier in game, either growing naturally or constructed into a wall, but this design is so poorly executed because it feels neither like a natural part of the landscape or a coincidental manmade structure. perhaps most egregious of this wall is the fact its not even a wall. its got gaps in it. you could absolutely throw pikmin through it, or probably even walk through yourself, but the game doesnt let you. its an absolute joke atmospherically and they made the right decision not bringing it back for pikmin 4

speaking of pikmin 4, they felt the need to redesign the walls again in this game. The rock wall and the electric gates are so similar in design to pikmin 3 its not worth mentioning. mushrooms reappear as well and function basically the same way, and some are incorporated into sticky mold which is less a barrier and more an annoyance. you get an upgrade that completely nullifies the mold anyway but at least it makes sense in the environment. some are even poisonous, which necessitates white pikmin or another oatchi upgrade to nullify

a new barrier is the vases. these can only be broken by rushing with oatchi. it doesnt really blend into the environment that well, but like crystals they can contain items so theyre pretty versatile for level design. the old clay appearance lets you suspend disbelief that these things might be lying around randomly underground, but overall theyre kind of weird.

they also added the ice gate, which is an electric gate but Blue. it sort of reminds me of the cooling mechanisms in refrigerators but like the electric gates, they dont have a reason to be out here. in fact, this game HAS a refrigerator in the environment of one of the maps, and they dont even bother incorporating it there. But it does appear in caves that are supposed to be reminiscent of air conditioning units, which is nice

the dirt wall has been redesigned as well. and by redesign i mean they made a fucking slab of dirt and called it a day. this is the most disappointing downgrade ive ever seen. i dont know why they didn't just stick to the pikmin 3 design, it was a lot more appealing to look at. they reintroduced caves to pikmin 4, so i can see it being unrealistic that sand castles would be set up in a 5 inch space underground, but this wall is just sad. im glad they put the oatchi rush mechanic in this game cause it lets me put these walls out of their misery as fast as possible

the crystal wall suffered the same treatment, being turned into a shittily textured blue slab. i dont know why they didn't just put in naturally forming crystals instead, itd be much more visually appealing. worst of all this gate is bolted down for some reason. someone put this piece of shit in this cave and felt the need to make sure it was properly adhered to the dirt floor

they DID sort of incorporate naturally forming crystals if you squint, but in perhaps the worst possible fucking way. we now have these fuckig Hydro Jellies which can only be destroyed by first freezing them with ice pikmin and then shattering it. i guess you could argue this is some sort of. mold? or some shit? idk. i dont fucking know. its so dumb. not even mechanically, it just looks so out of place wherever you see it. at the very least incorporate similar textures in the environment where these appear.

and shittily of all we have the metal gates activated by switches, worst of all being the numbered gates. these gates only lower after you kill all the enemies in the area. why the fuck would this exist at all. what mad scientist is setting up tiny walls rigged to the EKGs of random fucking bugs under the ground. level wise it controls the progression of the area, which is good for stuff like the dandori challenges which are inherently a bit unnatural in set up, but its so sickeningly out of place everywhere else

so yeah pikmin normally has good environmental design but stuff like these walls break down the illusion of the landscape. what makes the environments appealing is the fact that its usually just something you could stumble upon outside, and a lot of this stuff just doesnt mesh with that. pikmin 4 in particular struggles with that a lot, not just with the walls. youve got stuff in the environment like flying platforms and fucking rails you can ollie off of that work for making interesting level design, but dont fit the overall style. if pikmin 5 ever comes out, itd be nice to see more attention brought to making these things match the environment while preserving the ability to stand out as obstacles

[isuggestwishcraft]

actually.....

now that i think about it. its kinda silly isnt it? the wish i mean.

loop said that siffrin resets because they have 'no desire to continue'; as in- its equivalent to death. i thought its the Conflict of wishes, because it makes sense, in retrospect. the vaugarde wanted to see 🅱ing defeated, siffrin wanted to be with one of their friends when all of this ends (thus requiring to defeat the 🅱ing) but He wanted the country to freeze over and remain perfect as he see fit. its objectively not a hard conclusion to arrive to- especially after hearing isabeau and bonnie discuss What Ifs of having 2 contradicting wishes, like making the world explode or letting both wishes come true, just in its own, monkey paw way

the thing that wont let me go tho is.... the very fact that loop mentioned that its siffrin who initiates loops. as well as the one being in a somewhat 'full control' (and i use that term Very Generously) of them, ergo being able to not only loop back but also Forward, and taking object with them as well. despite it being rather contradictory by nature

so i thought... huh. Huh.

what if siffrin loops back after seeing head housemaiden because..... they see no reason to continue? because they have no destination? because they have no desire to go on? because... they think theyre aimless, right after that?

im on the fence with what theory to go, exactly. theyre both plausible in their own right, as well as leaving some loose ends in both variations (why was the gang feeling pain? why siffrin thinks its aimless if they Do have a goal- meet bonnies sister? what Does happen when wishes contradict for real?)

[lutethebodies]

How did Zafraia get into piracy?

The TL;DR is basically she became a "pirate" when it was no longer politically convenient for her mentor/benefactor to designate her a "privateer." Sort of how Francis Drake was an English privateer but to the Spanish he was a pirate. But that's the quick take. For the longer version join me below the cut, where there be maps!

Note 1: All locations are in my homebrew world. Zaf's native land of Narán is sort of a faux-Al Andalusian Iberia, as if, say, the Reconquista never happened. Her birthplace, Enáncia, is roughly the latitude of Gibraltar, her adoped home of Caranácia (my Baldur's Gate equivalent) aligns with Barcelona, and the east coast aligns with northern Portugal. Cannor and Ruy describe it a bit more here. But this isn't about those guys, it's about her, so let's do it:

Zafraia Zital grew up a streetwise urchin in the deadly docksides and backalleys of Enáncia’s Blackwharf slum. She ran away from home (if you can call a cave outside the city shared with twelve siblings "home") when she realized her poverty-stricken parents would have no choice but to quietly attempt selling several of their extra mouths into slavery (which was and had been highly illegal in Narán for over 500 years).

The curious and quick-thinking girl sharpened her senses to survive the daily urban stresses of finding food and shelter. At age 11 Zaf led a gang of semi-feral adolescents who stole and fenced anything valuable so effectively that adult criminals and authorities had to team up to stop them. Stowing away on a smuggler’s skiff to avoid capture, Zaf’s luck held when the craft’s crew kept her on as a useful proxy.

However, one by one all her comrades were caught or killed, so she soon operated alone—working her way up from Enáncia through the Narrow Sound, avoiding its notorious pirates and bandits, arriving in Caranácia at 13. She balanced freelance intrigue with smuggling, joining the Equiposium (Academy of Balance, described here) for lucrative but dangerous espionage and privateering work on behalf of the High Ambassador, Doña Regina de Atraveisa.

With the High Ambassador's authority at her back, Zaf soon commanded her own ship and crew: ferrying Equiposian agents southwest to the lands of the Inner Seas, scuttling ships and caravans of the notoriously amoral Padrini syndicate of Repeia, and on one memorable occasion helped evacuate the Arbascan navy of Saván when its volcanic island base suffered a minor eruption.

When assignments returned her to Narán, Zaf kept smuggling—evading laws, gangs, and guilds by liaising with powerful nobles—but after one such affair (with Doña Regina's niece, the powerful Doña Esadora de Errocamesi) exploded in a public duel, she was banished from the City of Fortune and reluctantly branded a pirate by both Doña Regina and Doña Esadora. Forced to go straight at 23 to lie low, Zaf became a freelance navigator in Orangeport on Narán's east coast, striking deals with local merchants as an envoy to all points east: towns, tribes, and trading posts along the arid (and incompletely-mapped) Marakeen shore.

Zaf has made three voyages in six years (all sponsored discretely by Doña Regina, and accompanied on two of them by Nevelese cartographer Ruy Acavés), but lack of supplies has kept her from going as far as she'd hoped. Currently (age 29), she’s recruiting a new crew for a fourth voyage, seeking great riches beyond the southeastern horizon, dangers be damned.

Note 2: I'm not sure how all of this would translate to Faerun beyond Caranácia as BG. Maybe its southern bits could stretch to be Amn-like. I think her voyages would be all Chultward, since there's not much in the immediate west on the Trackless Sea.

I hope all this answers the question. It's sort of the Cliff Notes version. Maps by me, inserted into PSD templates. Thanks for the ask!

[dr-spectre]

Gamers since its Halloween I wanna briefly talk about my biggest guilty pleasure ever!!!

And you guys aren't gonna believe it...

It's.... it's Saw.

Yeah the fucking Splatoon guy who loves girlypop Idols and cute shit is also into one of the most gory and brutal franchises of all time. I have range!!!

I love all of these movies, Saw 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 , 6, 7/3D/The Final Chapter, Jigsaw, Spiral and Saw X.

These movies are the equivalent of junk food. It's like each Saw movie is a different flavour of a doughnut you would get at a 7/11. Sure, there are WAY BETTER doughnuts out there and it's not healthy for you, but MY GOD! THOSE DOUGHNUTS BE HITTING DIFFERENT WHEN YOU'RE IN THE MOOD FOR THEM!!!

Saw 1 to 3 I would actually consider good to decent movies. I would recommend the first one to most people.

Saw 4 and 5 are... boring. They got some good traps but they are just.... boring!!!!

Saw 6? That's pretty good... I like the unique angle they took with the criticism of the American healthcare system.

Saw 7.... you wanna hear a hot take? I enjoy that one. It's so bad that it's good in my eyes. It's just pure trash that it rolls back around to being enjoyable.

Jigsaw, that movie sucks I'm sorry HAHAHA! NO STYLE! NO GOOD TRAPS! PLOT HOLES ALL OVER THE PLACE! That movie was not made with love AT ALL!!! But... I do like that giant spiral trap... and the laser collars are fucking dumb as hell but I love em.

Spiral? Eeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh.... I meannnnn.... it's got some decent traps? The uh... the finger trap was cool! The... train one! I like that one... um.... the hot wax one is dumb but the concept is fine enough I guess? The puppet trap with the blood needles is one of the only traps I can't watch because sucking blood with needles makes me lightheaded. The other trap that i cant watch is The Rack. (Also, don't fucking hire Chris Rock in any serious role ever again.)

Saw X... I like that one. It truly felt like a return to the series, even down to the fucking ASPECT RATIO they filmed in!!! Thats good attention to detail!!! And the traps were actually good and memorable, well, most of them. Seeing John Kramer back as the focus is awesome too and Amanda... it was so nice seeing her again.

So yeah, I don't have much to say because my Saw fixation only appears once in a blue moon so I dont remember much. But when it strikes? Oh it STRIKES ALRIGHT!

Only watch Saw 1 and MAYBE Saw 2 and 3 if you're curious. These movies aren't for most people and I don't recommend it to everyone.

Also, I love Billy. He's such a silly guy. I love how he rides in with his tricycle!!!!

I love him in Saw X where he delivered the surgery tools so that a man can cut open his brain! And in Saw 4 where his head became a shotgun!!! And in Saw 1 where he rides in after a traumatised woman cuts open a person's stomach to stop their skull from being utterly destroyed!!! And in Saw 2 where he laughs at some police officers getting killed by a set of deadly stairs and an electric fence. And in Jigsaw where he watches people getting hanged!!!! And in Saw 6 where he swoops in from a wire around his neck and laughs at a guy who has to choose who's he gonna let die. And in Saw 7 where he crashes through a window in a cage to tell a guy to stab himself with spikes to stop a woman from getting impaled on a giant wheel!!!

[p-receh]

EPISODE 2

preview

ep 1

.

.

.

.

I low-key forgot Adu Du stole the armor during Windara’s arc lol.

By the way, I didn’t get with insects that resembled his armor. Judging from its eyes…

... A gecko?

Update: holy shit, I forgot this character exist!! Now it's pretty close! Thanks @nerialter !!😆😆

(hot take: I love the og design more than the reboot ver. It's one of my favorite monsters from og Ben 10 afterall)

Oh yeah, I must mention his armor here. It reminds me of some unit from Evangelion.

Alright!

After I watched the ep and read the comic back and forth. Gentar’s arc might be the first who is closely accurate on one another. No cramped multiple issues within one episode like Sori or drastic changes like Windara.

Sure there's still some differences here and there. But to me, both are equivalent to each other. As in the tv compliment what the book doesn't have and vice versa.

In this episode, the main star of the show is the return of the 'BuBaDiBaKo' team. Kinda didn't expect they would come back this early! The comic ver was only mentioned at the end of the arc!

For those of you who don't know, this team debuted in the original Boboiboy season 3. It consist of, you guessed it: Boboiboy, Gopal, and Adu Du.

English dub ver 👇

The name itself was an abbreviation for “Budi baik dibalas Koko” which translates to:

For context, this team was made because Adu Du felt a bit stressed to revive Probe who tragically died in the early season. He desperately needed cocoa for extra help. Therefore, he forcedly attempted to hijack Tok Aba's shop publicly (keyword: tried).

As always, he failed miserably. But unlike previous times in the good old villain trope—“I'll be back for revenge!”—Kinda thing, this time he got a chance to redeemed himself by Tok Aba and Boboiboy in exchange for cocoa. That's why he abruptly changed his appearance in order to succeed at that. He even went to school and blended with society to do good deeds. With the help of Gopal and Oboi, thus the operation 'BuBaDiBaKo' was born that day.

Of course, it's just a temporary tho where the team only lasted for two episodes. Once Probe was revived, Adu Du was back to his usual self and everything went to their normal shenanigans like nothing happened. :D

And same as the previous ep, the rest of the story followed the same pattern. Not directly toe to toe between the book and the screen ‘till the end, like there's an extra scene from tv ver where the enemy easily detected the gang due to…Gentar's high impudence with his 'Thor's Stormbreaker' hammer lmao.

(I don't know the name of the weapon so let's just assumed it's Thor's)

It's kinda debatable about his attitude within fandom. On one side people were annoyed by his unusual clumsiness, on the other side people were frantic about his wild trait and sometimes referring him to his dad aka Mechamato especially since season 3 came out before Gentar's.

Me? I'm at the fence. As I said before in the preview post, fusion characters aren't my favorites and I already tell my reason why. But I'm not gonna be so critical about them when I myself also like their designs and appearances(Supra my beloved 😍).

Regardless, the next ep gonna dive into Gentar's downed scene after Ochobot gets kidnapped. I'm interested in what Monsta does to tweak his redemption arc.

That's all for ep 2, onto ep 3!

.

.

.

.

ALSO--

How the heck it got 8 notes??? Has this happened to you guys too or just me??

[emberphoenixisgoingtolive]

how my two day camping expedition (probably) gave me appendicitis

this is kind of funny lowkey so you guys are allowed to laugh about it in the reblogs/replies

so. i was fourteen, going on my bronze level duke of edinburgh expedition - in case you're reading this and not british, the dofe award is a qualification where part of doing it is participating in a 2 day 1 night expedition out somewhere. you have to do stuff like bring your own food to cook, put up your own tent, etc. if you never knew what day old peanut butter sandwiches that have slowly cooking in a 65 litre rucksack taste like, you will find out!!! we had to pack a LOT of snacks for the event. i think i ate about seven meat sticks in two days.

i cannot be sure but it was probably the awful diet over those two days that triggered my appendix to burst (appendixes can burst because of hardened stool blocking access to the appendix from the large intestine or some kind of infection).

ANYWAY, the expedition was over two days - saturday and sunday. i did the most walking i've ever done in a day, ate mostly raw porrige (oatmeal), got mildly electrocuted by a fence, wandered around countryside with five other fourteen year olds and one paper map which only one of us knew how to read, and had to run across a dual carriageway with cars going 80km/h+ holding hands with my maths teacher. wild shit. i got back sunday evening, and on monday night i started having stomach pains. i thought nothing of it and thought it was either the obscene amount of meat sticks i ate, or i was about to be on my period. i stayed off school tuesday, and when i didnt feel any better on wednesday my dad took me to the gp (general practitioner) to get me checked out. just in case, he said. he was almost certain it wasnt appendicitis.

well the gp sent me to a&e, i had a blood test, and about ten hours later i was being wheeled into surgery to get my inflammed appendix removed. my operation was, i distinctly remember, was from 10:40pm-12:40am (i remember seeing the clocks in the anasthesia room). my last words before i went under were me looking at the light on the ceiling, and singing (badly) "and at last i see the light..." (from tangled the movie). when i came to, my throat hurt so badly i could not talk. at all. i was told it was the breathing tube.

all things considered, i recovered pretty well. i had no appetite for a few days, and stuff that was greasy/oily or particularly strong tasting made me nauseous. by far the worst part was having this drainage bag tube my lower belly. it was extremely uncomfortable and i still remember the pain when they took it out. i recovered pretty quickly otherwise - the thursday morning when i woke properly, i was standing at around ten am, and walking a few hours later. by the afternoon i was getting around the patient ward just fine. the friday tomorrow i was discharged from the hospital, feeling extremely weak. (keep in mind anything i tried to eat was either thrown up or passed right through me (i took a laxative when i thought it was constipation) and i ate maybe one meal's equivalent throughout thursday and friday). and i recovered :)

[stemmmm]

Stem's Thoughts on Harvest Moon 64

(that other title's too long so i'm cutting it down now)

Harvest Moon 64 opens on a scene of your character walking around the street, speaking to everyone in the village who’s come to the event. You quickly piece together that this event in question is actually your grandfather’s funeral, the same grandfather who’s farm you’re about to take over. This little scene beautifully sets up both the tone of the game, and immediately shows the player that this iteration is far more focused on the story and characters. HM64 tells a story about the lives of many people in a small, dying town. It is a story about life, and it is a story about death.

A short disclaimer before we dig in: I played this game before the idea to write these essays cropped up, and have not replayed it since then, so this will be mostly vibes. I will try to do my research to make sure I’m not straight up lying though. (Also all of the images in this one are from google because I don't have a means of getting images from my N64 other than photographing the tv screen and I'm not doing that.)

What’s new!

HM64, also called Harvest Moon 2 by HMGB2 and nothing else I’ve ever seen, is the direct sequel to HM SNES. It’s not a sequel in the usual way sequels are, where you’re continuing where you left off with the same character, but in that every main character is the descendant of their equivalent in the previous game. It’s not important to the story, in fact if you don’t already know this, you probably wouldn’t notice anything past some similarities. I played this game before I tried out SNES and it still took me a minute, plus having it directly pointed out to me to get it. Maybe I’m oblivious, who knows. 

Gameplay-wise, this iteration is home of a few series firsts: For one, your house can be upgraded to have a kitchen! You can't cook though, only collect recipes. You can also get a greenhouse where you can grow crops year-round. Sheep are introduced as barn animals that produce wool. You receive a fishing rod you can use whenever you want, but as far as I understand, the timing is nigh impossible unless you’re playing on a CRT (I am not, and never managed to catch a single fish). There’s a mine you can access in winter for something to do while you can’t grow crops (there are fall crops, but not winter) where you can find about two key items and garbage otherwise. Tool upgrades are no longer done by magic, but by leveling them up through use! Which I think is very neat and feels very natural, like you’ve just become more proficient with them as a farmer through practice. Characters can now come to visit you on the farm at random times, for either special story events or just to say hi! Your farmer can get sick from working too hard in bad weather, just like your animals, and there’s now medicine for that, just like your animals. And there’s inventory menus that I'll discuss at better length later.

What’s the same is… Most things in a basic sense. You’re on a farm with a dog, planting crops, raising livestock. You can make friends with folks in town by talking to them and giving them gifts. The livestock mechanics, as far as I could see and as far as I’ve been able to understand from online forums, are exactly the same as they were in SNES, the exception being there’s no wild beasts that can kill your animals but they’ll still get sick if they aren’t fenced overnight– and they’re not going to eat any grass unless they’re out overnight anyways.

As for your farm, you’re set up with the usual: a small house, a barn, coop, and fodder silo, a wood bin to store debris cleared off your farm, and a big messy field that you have to clean up before you can properly use it. It starts with three new additions though; a doghouse, a bowl that you can feed your dog with by putting edible items in there, and a mailbox that you’ll occasionally receive letters and notices in! They’re small additions, but very, very charming. The one thing that’s been removed is the toolshed, now replaced by a tiny toolbox by your house.

The world outside your farm is like an enhanced version of the SNES map. Imagine the town and forest now have one or two extra sections tacked onto them, one in the town for some extra housing, and a couple in the forest to let you explore the mountain more and get you deeper into the woods. The mountain still has a cave in it (this time with Harvest Sprites, who have been removed from your farm) and a summit you can climb to for certain events, but it has been upgraded with little wild animals that wander around and can be picked up and shown to people for a few friendship points, if they like the animal. (This applies to your dog too, there’s a well known exploit to max out Karen’s friendship in one day by repeatedly showing it to her in the bar where time is stopped.) The crossroads zone is also expanded by having three new areas you can travel to– the ranch that you buy animals at, a vineyard that’s more of a story-area, and a beach that mostly comes into play for a couple of summer festivals! 

On the visual side, this game is the series’ first venture into the new frontier of 3d graphics… kind of. The artstyle is made of isometric 3D models that are rendered into flat sprites and then projected onto the TV as if that’s not what’s happening. The game even lets you turn your farm around in 3D to face different directions, but it’s locked to only let you play in specific angles. Changing the direction made me forget where everything was and get lost on my own tiny farm, so I never touched that mechanic.

Due to the dramatic artstyle shift– not only being in 3D but also presented at a 45 degree angle, the game becomes a fair bit harder to play than either of its 2D predecessors. The controls are just a little clunky, and the bizarre shape of the N64 controller really doesn’t help. This makes the tedium of farming a little irritating to do, since it requires pretty precise inputs done over and over for every extra thing you’re trying to grow. Fortunately, you're not on the hook to ship everything before 5PM comes around like in SNES, so you get to move a little bit slower. The fickle farming experience also gets a little help from the new inventory menu that can be accessed anywhere and any time. It has multiple inventory slots for both tools and items, each type having a dedicated section so there’s no need to prioritize carrying tools versus turnips. Unfortunately, this actually ends up being a little more cumbersome than useful, as the menu takes a little longer than is comfortable to open and is pretty clunky to use. I mostly avoided it unless I was bringing gifts to people. But the addition of an inventory opens up the opportunity for something else which defines this entire game...

Key items– a set of unique, unsellable items –are most frequently found in random, secret places around the farm and town, and they give you a reason to scour every inch of the place. They can also be given to you by NPCs when you gain relationships with them, which is convenient because their entire purpose is to help you get even better relationships with each of them, and maybe even unlock little stories with characters. For example, there’s a music box you can dig up in your field that can be given to any of the girls for a decently sized relationship bump. There’s also an old weathervane in the shape of a chicken that you can find in the little mine. If you give it to Rick, he’ll tell you that it was a precious thing that belonged to his grandmother as a cute scene to deepen the town’s lore and connect it to the first game. Key items quickly become the most important and sought after things in the game because they act as a vessel to deliver that which the game is all about: stories.

Lots of people in a little town

The narrative premise is exceedingly simple: you need to fix up your grandfather’s ruined farm and make a new life for yourself in this town within a certain amount of time, just like its predecessors. Except, this game is a lot bigger than either of them, and it didn’t fill all the extra space with new things to grow on your farm. In my entry on the SNES game, I mentioned that the introspective style of writing turned the repetitive farming gameplay into something more like meditation on things going on in the town. This game takes that idea and runs with it! The town in this game may only be slightly bigger than it was before, but it has a lot more people in it, and every single one of them has a lot more to say, more to do, more festivals to go to, and more story events to take part in. There's even a new photo album that fills in with images for reaching special events or succeeding at certain festivals! Your given goal may be to successfully revitalize your farm, but that rapidly stops being the reason why you want to play. Farming is only a means to further the narrative of the town.

Story events are no longer a reward for reaching the highest heart level with a girl, but instead something that happens naturally in the world as you make better friends with people, or if you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. The world doesn’t only consist of you living it and things happening to you. Instead, you end up being a fly on the wall to other people’s conversations and life events, and you get to see how those events change the people around you. People will begin to say different things, go different places, live different lives without your input at all– often much better lives, as everyone in the town is pretty deeply troubled, whether they seem like it or not.

There’s an added depth, too. While the characters in this series have always been defined by their conflicts (in the first game, every big cutscene with each girl was exclusively about their major life conflicts), this game takes it further in multiple ways. Characters have conflicts with their families: you as the player have a conflict with your parents who can take you home if you fail to farm well, Lillia and Basil have conflict over their marriage and the fact that Basil leaves for half the year, and Karen’s family situation is…. A lot. Then, there are characters at conflict with things much more nebulous, like the Mayor who tells you that the town is going to die out but he can’t find any way to save it, or like the young boy Kent who wants to be a farmer just like you, but through a series of events is forced to learn that life isn’t so simple, people can’t just do whatever they would like, and it takes very hard work to get to do the things you dream of. And then there are conflicts that aren’t even necessarily conflicts unless they run into your long-term plans.

Instead of only having a bunch of girls in town who exist only as your prospective marriage candidates, there are also five boys in the town who will marry those girls instead of you, if given the chance. Like in SNES, there are 5 levels of hearts that the girls can have for you. Unlike SNES, each one of these hearts has a corresponding event you can have with the girl where there’s a chance of her liking you more afterwards, if you say the right things. In addition to that though, there are just as many events coming from the other side of the story, rival events that trigger if you happen to be good friends with the boys.

My favorite story by far is that of Harris the mailman who falls in love with the librarian, Maria, from just seeing her handwriting on the outside of all the letters that she would write. I frequently saw him in the bar at the end of the day and he would tell me the woes of his love, saying that he just needed to work up the courage to finally speak to her. Then one day, I happened to be outside of the library when he and Maria met face to face and she handed over a letter addressed to him. No longer did he sit in the bar forlorn every night, instead all he would do was excitedly tell me about Maria, and then when I visited the library, Maria would tell me about Harris!

While I’m on the subject of these characters, I think it’s worth going in a little more depth on who these people are past the grandchildren of the characters from the last game. See, you may be familiar with names like Karen and Kai and Gray, etc., etc. from a little recently remade game called Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, which is a modern version of Friends of Mineral Town on the GameBoy Advance, which is a port of Back to Nature on the PlayStation. These are not those characters. At all. While the basic elements of these characters are intact– Popuri is cute and childish, Ann is a workaholic, Maria is shy and a little oblivious –nothing else is the same. They all work different jobs and marry different people than they are paired with in later entries, and in my humble opinion, it all works WAY better in this game, probably because of the fact that these characters were designed for this specific context!

As an example, Popuri’s exasperated mother, Lillia, runs the flower shop and Popuri was named by her father, Basil, who loves plants. She’s childish and sweet and loves flowers, but can also be a complete brat. She eventually marries Gray, Ann’s brother, who lives on the ranch run by his father, Doug, who struggles to understand his children. Gray is an angry young man who seems to have a particular dislike for you, but you don’t learn why until you discover he was a promising young jockey until he got a bad injury and had to give up the sport.

Am I gushing a bit and letting the game design part fall to the wayside? Sure probably, but I can only gush because the game does a brilliant job of making a cast of characters who, while simple on their own, have interconnected lives that come together to give every one of them so much more depth than they would have otherwise. It all builds a narrative, and while narrative design is definitely something different than game design on its own, this game is far more about the narrative so it’s impossible to not focus on.

The problems

The trouble with these events is that I nearly missed the chance to see that letter be exchanged. You have some control over the progression of the events, because you have to be decent friends with the boys in order for them to trigger at all, but unlike the girls who have a handy visual signal of how much they like you, the boys have no such thing, so you can’t really know if a new event is ready to fire off. There’s no way of knowing where or when they’ll happen either unless you look it up, and even then you have to get lucky because sometimes they just don’t trigger when you want them to. I had a lovely moment in my game where I managed to accidentally catch a cold from working too hard in the snow and lost a day to being bedridden, followed by the New Years celebration which takes a day away from you, then followed by Kai and Karen’s wedding– something that I had missed multiple events for and therefore had no idea was coming, which also took a day from me. After that three day chain of no work, I think I was extremely lucky my animals didn’t get sick and die. 

This chain of events led directly to me never speaking to Gray again, even though he was the boy I was most interested in, because I wanted to marry Popuri and there was too much risk of him getting to her before I could. The reason why I didn’t go into more detail about the relationship between those two when I was talking about them earlier is because I straight up don’t know it, I couldn’t risk giving them a chance to get together.

The thing is, even if I hadn’t forced Gray and Popuri’s cutscenes to stop, I still wouldn’t actually know what their relationship is like, because I have not beaten this game. I know what the ending entails and I can reasonably expect I probably would not have gotten an excellent one, but I’m sure it still would have been fine. I stopped playing the game entirely before I even managed to get married. Why? Because I couldn’t get any of Popuri’s heart events to trigger. I had her hearts maxed out and had a blue feather ready to go in my pocket, so I could turn on the game and marry her right away anytime I wanted to. But I wanted to trigger the little events, even if they’re just a couple seconds of some pixels talking to me on a screen. They’re cute. And it made me sad that I couldn’t see them for some imperceptible reason. So I stopped playing and didn’t pick the game back up.

I don’t remember how close I was to the end of the game, I know I was at least in year 2, but I don’t even remember how much longer the game is after that. Probably a good amount. I had definitely gotten most of the events you could get at this point, since multiple other characters had gotten married, and the farming wasn’t something I really enjoyed so I can’t say I wasn’t at least a little bored by this point, but I wasn’t frustrated with the general mechanics of the game. The days were long enough, but not too long, that I had just enough time to go anywhere I wanted and do what I needed before night came. I could still talk to characters and go to festivals and play minigames. But I didn’t want to, because the game wasn’t doing what it seemed like it was supposed to for some arbitrary reason and that frustrated me enough to make me stop. When the fun of a game is found more in experiencing special events rather than anything else, the player feels cheated out of their good time when those events are too hard to find or can be missed outright, and that’s exactly what I experienced.

Parting Thoughts

The ending, according to what I've read, is very similar to the SNES endings, in that you’ll get different results based on all of the different things you’ve done. Whether you’re married, how many crops you shipped, how many animals you have, how well liked you are by the town… I imagine it’s not quite the victory lap that SNES’s ending was with its little cutscenes, since apparently all you get are comments on how well you performed by various people in the town, but it still seems nice and rewarding! At least like more of a reward than whatever the hell GB1 was trying to do. It seems like a perfectly good ending that it would be nice to see myself someday.

Despite all my troubles with this game, I believe HM64 is still the best one out there– at least that I’ve played yet. The events are plentiful and the content is meaty. The repetitive day to day dialogue still has the simple breath of life that SNES did, that manages to make the most out of a small amount. Don’t get me wrong, this game came out in 1999, I’m giving it a lot of praise but the characters still repeat the same line to you every day, and they still freeze in place until you leave the room. It’s revolutionary, but this is comparing it to a game on the literal Super Nintendo. Absolutely pick up this game to try it out, but keep those expectations tempered. That said, I never picked up this game nor knew a thing about it until I was well into my 20’s, but the moment I started playing, it hit me with a wave of nostalgia as if I’d known this game my whole life. At least to me, the look and feel of the game were like coming home to a childhood I never had.

 Will I pick up this game again with the intent to beat it? Maybe! Hard to say for sure when I’m trying to play decades worth of games and write about them at a comprehensive level. What I do know is that this is exactly what I want more farming games to be. It’s a game that has thoughts about life, and about death, both good and bad. And I think this is the perfect context to share those thoughts.