#and i'm not sure farming anime is the best choice for that?

[luboy7rt]

What Animal Task Force 141 Would Randomly Bring Home To You (GN - Headcanons)

(Note: This is just what I (My headcanons), enjoy reading!) (Platonic, romantic) (Price, Soap, Ghost, and Gaz) (GN - Reader)

John Price:

- Accidentally finds a horse while out on a mission, the horse is a black with white spots on her.

- The horse clearly was trained but no owner in sight, even when John asked around, so John had a choice to make, 1. Bring her to other authorities and let them deal with the horse. 2. Look around longer for an owner despite finding the horse in the middle of nowhere. 3. Bring her home.

- He brought the horse home. The man has no clue how to care for a horse, but ends up bringing her home as it was late at night, and the poor horse was a bit skinny.. So does John just walk into the house with a horse, the horse peeking her head through the window? Yes. That's what happens.

- John gives a small chuckle, and a tilt of his head when you spot him feeding the horse through the window.. Say bye bye to all your carrots and apples.

- John kept the horse in the backyard for a few days, feeding her and getting a vet to check up on her and tries to do his best to care for her.

- If he keeps her.. it's all up to your reaction, if you don't like the horse, he will find an appropriate farm to ensure to care for the horse for him and give the horse a lot of room to live her life. (He would visit the horse when he has a time about once or twice a year just to check up on it)

- if you do like the horse, he'll figure it out. Getting a bigger backyard or house? Alright, let's do it, he's down as long as you both are responsible about it. if he had time? He would personally build the horse a stall in the backyard, if he doesn't, he would get professionals to build it for her to be nicely built.

- Man would do research, he doesn't usually get pets so swiftly, he likes to be a responsible pet owner. He would end up buying the horse toys, lots of food, annual vet visits, gear, cleaning supplies/tools, and etc.

- If you want to learn to ride the horse or you know how and you want to ride this specific horse. He would have mixed feelings on it.. He would just cross his arms and think about it for a while.. 

- He ends up letting you do it.. if you both get to see the horse trained first, wanting to make sure it was safe to do. He would always be close whenever you are riding, always ensuring to be close, making sure you wear horse-riding gear.

- If you don't want to ride, he sighs filled with relief, he's just a tad bit nervous, But he's content just watching the horse fool around or watch alongside you.

John (Johnny) ‘Soap’ Mactavish: 

(Btw: Just calling him Johnny because of John above this)

- Racoon. This man comes home in the middle of the night, ‘smuggling’ the raccoon into his apartment. Laughing softly when he accidentally wakes you up.. Quietly tries to shush you, and snickers at your confused face.

- He would do a tad bit of research about raccoons.. ends up just feeding the poor little guy some leftovers…

- Raccoon stays, he apologizes but even if you want him gone.. everytime Johnny tries to get rid of the guy.. He just comes back, always manages to find the way back, and breaks back in.. the little guy always manages to sleep on your couch, gets comfortable real fast.

- Johnny would say, ‘Aye, this lil’ shite will protect ya while I'm away’ and the raccoon Does. If you feed him, bites people when they come over. ‘Johnny JR.’ Was the name you came up with and it fits quite well after the little guy manages to get into the cabinet and eats all the food, like what Johnny does when he gets home late after missions.

- The raccoon becomes a life-long pet, he's an indoor raccoon now, you can't kick him out, he just comes back. Becomes an overweight raccoon slowly over time.

- This raccoon has a little walking machine and mimics Johnny on his treadmill, Johnny would grin wildly at you, whenever the raccoon mimics him.

- The little guy will mimic you too, likes playing with cat toys as well, if you just like sitting and relaxing, he's sitting next to you, you're going outside? You're not going alone, better get him on a leash, oh you want to go to the washroom alone? The raccoon is always watching.

- Raccoons are actually quite smart, he learns how to get all the food in the house, and Johnny ends up needing to buy a dog cage, and makes the raccoon sleep in there at night. (The little guy got into the fridge the night before and ate the groceries).

- Johnny is banned from bringing home any other animal, but hey, ya got a raccoon for life.

Kyle ‘Gaz’ Garrick:  

- Kyle brings home a military dog from work, a retired one with a few healing injuries, he makes a sheepish face when you see him carry a K9 into the house. 

- He's the only one that actually offers an explanation for bringing an animal home, he would say that the poor boy was retired early, and no one wanted to deal with the vet bills… So he decided to adopt him due to the fact he wanted this guy to have a safe time recovering.

- Only one to apologize too, if you don't want the dog, he'll be upset but he'll compromise.. You both keep the dog until it's all healed up and then he'll find a nice home for him. 

- (If you are allergic, Kyle is apologetic, keeps the dog in one room allowing it to heal up, he takes full responsibility, ensures he doesn't get in your space, takes care of the dog, takes the dog on walks about three - five times a day then ends up rehoming him with a trusted family friend once he's on the right track to healing)

- If you want to keep the dog? Great! Kyle's excited, all ready for this new responsibility. The dog becomes one of the greatest home guard dogs. He's an amazing dog, very loyal and makes a great recovery.

- You have watched Kyle make breakfast for this dog Every. Morning, the dog gets a forehead kiss before you do at this point.

- Kyle is always upbeat with this dog around the house, always ‘sparing’ the dog, or running around the house with him once he heals up.. Much more smiley and upbeat, does more stuff around the house for you too, want breakfast In bed? You'll get it more often, you'll get gifts from a shop when Kyle and the dog goes out for walks, basically just more ‘active’ around the house with his little buddy around

Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley: 

- He doesn't really say anything when you see him walk Into the house, at about 2AM, with two grown cats, one on his shoulder and one in his arms, he just gives a nod.

- Simon.. adores these stray cats, but he doesn't show it, he feeds them a bit of fish he bought earlier, and ends up cutting it in half and fair amounts for both cats.

- (If you are allergic to cats.. He instructs you to please go to your room for the night, and he will drop them off at the vet than a shelter in the morning but they are staying the night, he does a half asses sorry apology but makes it up to you by showing pictures of the two cats after he separates you from them, he makes sure you are alright and they don’t go near you) 

- Simon practically doesn't really ask, but he gets toys, a cat tree.. a litter box, all of the above, as a silent, we are keeping these cats, they are moved in within a week. If you are happy, he's happy. 

- If you really don't want them.. He'll sigh quietly, a bit upset but does move all the stuff and the two cats to a friend's (sorta friends) house, he still goes to visit them.

- Simon's alright with doing most of the chores for the cats, they actually get him to start relaxing a bit more around the house, and he's less on edge when the cats start ‘attacking’ his feet, or jumping out at him, like he's expecting it to be cats now instead of a intruder.

(What animal do you think other characters would come home with? I need more ideas, thanks if you comment, I hope you enjoyed these headcanons :)

[grison-in-space]

Question about dog breeding/breeds, if you’re ok with answering:

I’m a would-be dog owner, never had one before, and I really want to get a companion dog from a breeder/group that is ethical and aims to produce healthy litters, but… I also understand that healthy litter =/= healthy gene pool, and it would be great to support breeding efforts that promote the welfare of the breed as a whole rather than the specific animals they sell. How the HECK do I identify breeders that promote ethical breeding for both healthy animals and population diversity? (I live in Australia, not sure if that makes this harder to answer or not)

(I mean ideally I’d adopt a rescue but there are pros and cons to that and, as a newbie, I’m not going to take on an animal I can’t adequately care for. And also I can never find rescue dogs of the breeds that work for my lifestyle)

So I don't know Australia as well as some other folks (@farm-paws?), but I do know that the best way to figure this out is to find out where breeders are talking to one another and listen to the things they say. The second best thing to do is to just ask breeders producing dogs you like: how do you breed with an eye towards producing the dogs you want, and how do you breed with an eye towards making the whole breed better?

The thing about this question is that there's lots of ways to answer it, but how a breeder answers that question given your breed's context will help you figure out how much they're thinking about each. And it does mean thinking very clearly about things you value. Any person trying to achieve a goal with limited resources, which describes many passionate breeders, is going to have to make trade offs based on resource limits. Increase the genetic diversity of the population as a whole, or win big at a given sport?

Let me get you some examples under the cut.

Here are a couple of examples of what I think of as pretty nice kennels I would be happy to consider approaching for a dog, if they bred dogs of a type I currently want to own and I wanted another dog. (Some do, some don't, and I won't have space in the inn for several years yet anyway.) They are unfortunately American--without knowing your breed of choice it's hard to figure out how to navigate the Australian scene--but most of the tips should carry over okay. Because Dog Culture can sometimes be really black and white and mistake cultural markers for meaningful ethical distinctions, I'm going to try and share a wide range of perspectives, orientations, and viewpoints here from breeders who think about long term breed improvement.

Wayout ACDs: This post on the importance of collecting and storing semen from older, sometimes long dead dogs is a great green flag that this breeder thinks deeply about the long term future of the whole population--especially given her emphasis on these older dogs who might not have contributed heavily to the gene pool in their younger, living days. Collected semen from old dogs who aren't closely related to younger dogs can be a great way to help broaden and revitalize a larger population.

Border City Bullies, coming from a breed with a relatively low incidence of health testing and some big cultural variations, has a ton of resources available on how health testing works, what to do about it, and how to responsibly move forward even if a dog fails a test. The breeder here clearly feels very strongly about teaching and encouraging other American Bully breeders to start monitoring longer term health as a breeding goal and fostering a community of breeders who want to work with each other to make the dogs healthier. I love this approach. Especially when population bottlenecks are not a major problem but health monitoring is, building a better breed community is also a signal of someone who is thinking about their breed over the very long term.

Woodpont Beagles. I really like this breeder as an example of someone who keeps his dogs differently to mine, but who has firm standards for their comfort and care nevertheless. I also admire this breeder's ability to assess two "camps" in his breed that don't communicate much and do his best to take the best from each perspective. Finally I really like the emphasis on the successes and failures of breeders from the past: a good vision for the future often includes a deep knowledge about how we got to the present.

The Functional Dog Collective is probably a good place to check on, even if it's heavily North America based; my understanding/experience is that while there is certainly a lot of disagreement within the broader community of breeders, that's a spot where anyone with an interest in long term breeding for health in particular is going to pop up. The Institute for Canine Biology is another good place to look around for people in your breed of choice who are broadly interested in evidence-based approaches to more healthy breeding, too.

[theysaidhush]

⭒⭒⭒⭒⭒⭒⭒⭒

Chapter 1: Animal Farm

Pairing: Stray Kids x 9th member!OFC

Warnings:

I'll say this only once, this is the only warning you'll get. Future chapters will contain lot of smut (eventually) angst and fluff. Heavy topics will be discussed (idol life y'know) but I don't wanna spoil it. This story isn't for sensitive person? I don't know how to put it. Just don't read if you think you'll feel uncomfortable!

This is a x OC but will be tagged as a x Reader. I find it difficult to write properly about a character while worrying about making it inclusive and fitting my story. I don't really care about her name or physical apparence though so if you have any suggestion I'm up for it.

No pressure chill under the trees. Updates will not be regular as this story is solely for my entertainment and whenever I feel like writing it. Means that I'll keep on posting even if I don't have any feedbacks but also means that chapter lengths will vary to very short to more words. You can have many chapters the same day, depends on my life, but I don't really like short chapter so ill do my best.

"I am not being a pain in the ass."

"Yes you are."

"You kinda are."

Minho sent a chilling glance to the boy who was curled up next to him on the living room's couch. It was enough for Jisung to shudder. But the topic was serious, he wasn't about to change his opinion just because his hyung was giving him that look.

"No seriously, you really are."

"Okay."

Minho smiled and kept on doing what he was doing on his phone, ignoring everyone's stare - Jisung's stare particularly. The younger boy was looking intently at him, he was waiting for something, something he was sure his hyung would do. And he did. Like three minutes after. He blew through his nose, still looking at his screen.

"Ah! I knew it!"

"I really don't understand what's the problem. Has she done anything to upset you? We can talk it out like adults."

The couple on the couch looked up from each other and Minho stared at Chan intently yet silently. The leader couldn't really tell what was on the dancer's mind, and it was upsetting him to no extent. Any other day he would have brushed it off as Minho being Minho. The latter was a great friend, he almost considered him his brother, despite not knowing on the tip of his fingers the boy's small quirks and habits. It was a Jisung thing. But now, more than never, he wished he could know him a bit more, he wished for the other boy to let him in.

"I don't want to talk it out with you."

"Minho..."

Jisung's hush whispers was not a warning, yet, it felt like one. He was not scolding his Hyung, he was just trying to appease the tension. Chan's face was contorted in what people would consider anger, but Jisung knew better. He was frustrated.

"This is about the whole group, not just me. I didn’t come to you as a friend, Minho, I'm here as a leader."

And it might have not been the right thing to say. Because Minho frowned, and retreated into silence.

"What a mess." was Jisung's thoughts, his eyes drifting toward his leader’s, whose head was turned toward a silhouette standing in the hallway.

"No. You can't do this to us."

"You don't have a choice."

"We do! It's my group, our group, we've worked so hard to reach our goals and create the music that will fit us!"

Chan did not know what was more upsetting at the moment; the fact that he was having this conversation while he was sleep deprived - he would blame himself for that latter, saying that it was the reason he couldn't plead their case better - or the fact that he was even having this conversation.

"They've let you do your things, you know that Chan."

"No, they gave up on us, so we had to fight our way to the top! That's what happened."

The word 'top' was a far too big word for Chan, but one he had to use nonetheless to prove his case. They were enough. They were just fine.

"They..." his manager sighed and pinched his nose. The situation was getting out of hands and even he could not do a thing about it. But at the the end of the day, his job was on the line, and he had a family to feed. "They threatened to disband the group if you don't agree to the term."

"Just fine by then! We'll go elsewhere and keep on doing music together."

"You don't understand Chan, think it through! This is not a GOT7 type of situation, they'll take Stray Kids' name, your music, your brand and all that you've accomplished by yourself, and if you do try to prosecute them you'll lose. I've read the contracts, everyone's contract. You can't refuse."

"I can't - " Chan laughed and sat on his chair, running his hands on his face. "This is disgusting and despicable."

"I know, Chan, I'm sorry."

"They just want to make publicity, it'll bury us."

"I know..."

It was a one in a life time opportunity, the young woman really and truly understood that. She was considered too old to even sit in that room, she was told countless times. Yet, it did not change the fact that she was sitting in that room. The room where all important decisions were made.

She felt uncomfortable, growing uneasy, fighting the urge to scratch her skin off - one bad old habit. Her choices, her decisions; all of those were flashing in her mind like a broken tape, image and pictures of the times she spent practicing to be here - not that much, if you ask her.

Those people stare - those important people's stare was making her fidget in her sit, avoid eye contact. Were they testing her? Waiting for a particular reaction, the one which could get her out of here in a matter of seconds? The room was feeling too warm, she will sweat buckets if she doesn't go out. Right now.

"There you go. Miss?"

They did not even knew her name. It was a bit disappointing, but then again, she was just another someone wandering between those halls, wasn't she?

"Athéna."

"A- Axina..?"

"More like, Ah-thé-nah." she corrected their pronunciation with a soft voice, continuing, "You can google it."

But their glare was enough for her to shut her mouth and look at the ceiling. It was a fool idea to correct them, they were older, knew much more things than her. It was a little unnerving, this whole elder situation was a lot to get accustomed to in South Korea.

"Axina. Have you read the terms and condition of the contract?"

"I have."

"Any reclamation?"

She wanted to laugh at their face, but she couldn't. She did not had it in her to do that. So she nodded, pretending to be genuinely interested by their answer, even if she quite knew what they would say.

"Regarding the whole part of you managing my...image. I'd like to know if it concerns my hair too?"

"Yes, obviously. And your weight too."

Freezing cold in her bones. Was it because the window was opened? Or was it their stares? It was chilling nonetheless. It was sending her back into a period of her life where she had looked at her reflection days and nights to get a glimpse of her ribs and be satisfied with the view.

"Oh."

"You'll have to work on your Korean too, your pronunciation isn't that good."

"What are you?" another one asked, shifting through the page of the contract she had signed.

What she was. Not who. Not her nationality. But what.

"I'm French, mister."

"Great, it'll help with publicity oversea. Are you fluent in English?"

Why was she having this discussion with them?Wasn't she supposed to talk to the manager and the team helping Stray Kids? Why was she sitting in front of JYP's shareholder.

"I'm almost fluent. I've learned while traveling."

"What a shame. If she was prettier we could have scored partnerships with French luxury brands such as Dior or Channel."

"She'll be perfect for the role that will be given to her."

"I guess so."

"We're done with you."

Was it an animal farm? She never felt that disturbed by a conversation in her whole life. She shuddered, getting up from her sit as she grabbed the hem of her sweatshirt to pull on the lose strands. She couldn't help herself but rock back and forth on her feet - another bad habit of her that some even called weird.

"And stop doing that it's weird."

Chapter 2

[acti-veg]

genuine, perhaps dumb question: so I oppose factory farming and want to make environmentally conscious choices. I have been vegan for about 8 years and plan to stay vegan until the day I die: When I eat processed, cheap, vegan meals - does this contribute to factory farming? or is factory farming only an aspect of animal agriculture? I have been very broke for most of my life but I am expecting to start making a living wage soon, which should increase the sustainable options I'm able to buy. What should I focus on to contribute to boycotting unsustainable farming practices? (not sure if relevant, but I live in the Netherlands)

Congratulations on the pay increase, anon! This is not a silly question at all, don’t worry. When we talk about factory farming, we’re talking specifically about Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, or CAFOs. Other agriculture is industrialised of course, but factory farming is something very specific to animal agriculture.

People often impose a moral dimension on healthy eating, so there is this underlying message that processed, pre-packaged meals must somehow be harmful as well as unhealthy. There is nothing really wrong with instant vegan meals, they’ll generally not be as healthy as eating fresh, plant-based foods, but they’re certainly more sustainable than their non-vegan counterparts.

If the meal were a vegan mac and cheese for example, the wheat the pasta is made from will be from a mono crop system, as will the soy, the sugar, the potatoes etc. But that would also be true if you bought that soy straight off the shelf, and the same for sugar and potatoes. Unless you can afford to buy from a small-scale, sustainable farmer directly, then the environmental impact of the meal is going to be pretty comparable to if you had just made it yourself with the same ingredients.

When it comes to eating sustainably, what you buy is far more important than where it is from, so you just weigh up the available options and select according to sustainability. Some crops, like almonds, are higher in water use than others and involve more emissions or resources than others, so for plant milk for example, oat or soy would be the more sustainable choice. There are some crops that you should just avoid if you can as well, such as palm oil. Donating to some environmental charities would be great, too.

Aside from that, unless you’re growing your own or buying from a farmer you know, it isn’t really possible to boycott unsustainable farming practices entirely. You can stop buying particular crops as I said, you can select more sustainable foods and you can reduce your reliance on plastic, you can buy Fair Trade for some fruit, coffee and chocolate. You can also research particular brands and check on their ethics, now that you have more disposable income you will be able to be more selective about who you find.

Keep in mind though, that because you’re eating a plant-based diet, you’re already doing a lot to make your lifestyle more sustainable. The best thing you can do with that extra money is support Fair Trade, buy plant-based staples, and cook healthy meals with them. Use lots of lentils, chickpeas, beans and pulses, whole grains, as well as seasonal fruits and vegetables. Cut down on plastic use, avoid food waste, and invest in a good spice rack.

I think it is wonderful that you want to spend that extra money on making more sustainable choices. But you have also been broke your whole life, so you should remember to spend some of that extra money on yourself and your loved ones, too. Use it to live more sustainably, but also clear your debts, set some money aside to secure your financial future, fund some new experiences and treat yourself from time to time. You deserve it!

[moonlight-sonata99]

What Comes After?

Hunter x Reader

Drabble

Not having definitive answer for breaking ties with Cid, You have a talk with Hunter.

Warnings: Light arguments and disagreements. Dreams of the future. Established Relationship, Marriage talk..(Hunter just ask reader to marry you already smh)

A/n: ngl...I like this one- I'm trying to get back into my writing schedule, so I'll be working on fics the best I can, but I'll also be working on my original story:]

“Hunter.” Your walk after the sargent as he walks to the barracks. turning his head towards you , You begin, 

“It really would be a good idea to seperate from cid,” you say sitting down and shifting your gaze to ensure no one else was there

.” We cant go on like this...” hunterlooks down in thought,

“I know, But...”

“But what? Cid could sell us out in any moment! At any moment she could change her mind..!” you exclaim waving hand on the air. “I know-” he said looking at you. 

“I know its...” he trails off. All of his life,all he had ever known was the life of a soldier. Hunter thought thought of the choices before him. He could choose that life once again, Choose to go with rec and echo who sought to fight the empire, or, Leave and make new life for everyone somewhere else.

“Im sorry” you whisper out, “I've just been...so worried.” you admit looking to him. “i-i just...what comes after this you know...?” you say and hunter chuckles, of course you thinking the same. He liked that about you. you begin once again,

“What are you thinking?” you ask and he sits next to you on the cot as he thinks,

“I was thinking, if we went to help echo and Rex,” he admitted hesitantly as you listened next to him. Hunter sighed and looked up at you. 

You seemed to sense it, as you looked at him with a knowing gaze as you turned your head to the cockpit where omega and the group stayed talking.

Hunter followed suit,

“and the other option?” you asked softly 

“The other option is...We leave everything. And start somewhere new” he stated thinking about the options this path contained.

“Leave everything behind..?” you repeat in thought as hunter turns his gaze back to you, 

“Yes” he simply said as you sat deep in thought.

Starting somewhere new you thought, away from everything. Hunter had mentioned this to you once before,just once. You two had been talking when everyone was asleep on the way to get Dookus treasure, how he he wanted omega to live a life away from war.

"Where would we go?" You whisper out, shifting your gaze to his, now it's his turn to think.

"We could ask Cut if he knows anywhere..or could find somewhere nice, build a home." He bluntly says and your eyes widen.

"Build a home?" You ask, setting your hands on your thighs "build a home??hunter do you even know how to do construction work?" You inquire with a small smile.

He averts his gaze away, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, "no but..I can learn." He says shifting closer to you.

You nod slowly "uh-huh. And then what? What comes after?" You ask with a smile as he chuckles and looks away,

"I'm not sure..." he says, crossing his arms in thought.

Though...it's obvious what he thinks, what you both think.

This idea hadn't shocked you completely, you would never admit it. But ever since hunter introduced you to Cut and Suu lawquane, you always thought

'Could that be us...?'

And hunter too.

The two of you sat in silence thinking about this, to shy to bring it up.

With warm cheeks you fiddle with your fingers and look down at them.

"S..so like..." you trail off and hunter looks at you, "just a thought-but maybe we could uh make a farm. Buy animals and that stuff.." you said,gaze lingering on your fingers as hunter waited for you to continue.

"And uhm..maybe get married?" You hadn't intended for it to come out as question, but your heart was beating fast and your eyes widened out of fear, even though you knew hunter would never reject it. You two had spoken about it, but decided this life was to busy for it. You both were content just having eachother, you didn't need a ring and a ceremony to prove that. But still, it was still a nice thought.

Hunter stood still besides you and you didn't dare looking up as your heart raced.

You only felt of his hand sliding into yours and intertwined your fingers with his, his hands were warm. He had his gloves on so they were soft, He said nothing still but slowly placed his head against yours and you set your attention on every breath he took.

"Yeah," he mumbled closing his eyes enjoying your warmth next to him as he imagined a life with no worries with you,on that little farm in head. Where he would wake up every morning in a soft bed, sometimes you would be there sometimes not. Even sometimes omega would sneak into the middle of the two of you when she would have nightmares.

In the mornings when he woke, he would go into the kitchen and you would be their drinking your morning brew talking to omega who was to energetic for the morning.

It would be nice he thought,

Just a thought..

[alex51324]

Besides the farm box, my other adventure today was going to the agricultural fair!

This time, I became fascinated with a contest called "vegetable dress-up," where kids enter vegetables that they have arranged to look like animals, people, vehicles, etc.

My favorite was this Red Pepper Sheep:

Or cow. I'm not sure, but either way, it's great! The head and feet are scallions, and the horns are green beans. Tragically, this entry did not win anything. I am not privy to the judging criteria for this contest, but my tentative assessment is that this child was robbed, I tell you. Robbed.

The winner in the animal category was this zucchini dog:

He's nice, but I continue to have my doubts about the judging. The potato pup came in third. His spots are oatmeal!

Vegetable train was also rather good:

First place in Vehicles was something that I assume looked a lot better at the time of judging. (I think exhibits were entered this past Saturday.)

This potato family was first in People, I think.

I took a picture of this one because I do not fully understand it:

Spider-beet in the back is kind of neat, though.

Here's another angle each on Potato Pup and Pepper Sheep:

Over in the grown-ups exhibits, I always like looking at Homemaker Of The Year:

They have to do sewing, baking, canning, flower growing & arranging, and a category of their choice from the arts & crafts division. They usually do some sort of a theme to tie the items together; I guess this year's winner picked "purple."

And here's the year's Best-in-show quilt:

It's a jellyfish! (They put plastic up over the textile exhibits so people don't spill snow-cones on them and stuff; you can still see them pretty well in person, but it's not great for taking pictures.)

Here's a really intricate crocheted...tablecloth, I guess? Big doily? Anyway, it's neat!

Another one that's fun to look at is the Artistic Arrangements in the houseplants and flowers section. Fairy gardens were big this year. Here's a fairies' tea party, in a teapot!

This was the winner:

The county extension office had a butterfly exhibit:

And then I didn't take many pictures of the animal exhibits, but here's Mr. Hopps!

He won a ribbon for being such a good French Lop.

Extreme nose closeup!

And then this is Hector, the Demonstration Bunny:

He is very soft, and his human friend was spinning yarn from his fur!

Anyway those are my pictures from the fair. I also had a cheesesteak and bought some raffle tickets; if I win anything I will report back!

[bluegekk0]

what sorta games would the fpk family play? together or separate, digital or physical

I'll answer the last part first since it relates to all of them. I tend to place the modern AU somewhere in the early 2000s, so during the time physical games were still dominant. Though I won't limit the game choices to that era, so I suppose we can assume that all those games I'm going to mention released way earlier than they did. Or just not think too much about it hahaha

And they very often play together, they'd have a Minecraft server for sure. They also often play in pairs. Vyrm and Grimm play co-op games, with Grimm doing most of the work and Vyrm fumbling and feeling a little embarrassed about it. Holly and Zote play sometimes, though Zote also joins Hornet as well. And Vyrm also likes to join Holly whenever they're playing their relaxing games, if there's co-op available.

---

Vyrm - he's not much of a gamer, I don't think it's his first choice when it comes to free time, at least. Well, unless he gets into a game that really sparks his interest, then he won't leave it for hours. Minecraft is a big one (particularly the redstone mechanics), though I imagine he would be a big fan of Cities Skylines or any similar game. He'd also enjoy simulator games. His ideal game is something he can play to sit back and relax, while also getting his brain cogs into motion. He wouldn't like mechanically challenging games, and if he ever plays an action game of anything of that sort, he's going to choose the easiest difficulty, and usually ask Grimm for help with all the quests that he struggles with. As for whether he prefers to play together or alone, I think he gravitates towards playing with his family whenever possible, though he definitely has moments where he wants to be left by himself so he can focus, especially with something like a city builder.

Grimm - he likes reading and so I think he'd enjoy story-driven games, especially those which let you affect the course of events, he'd love messing with it to see how far he can push the limits of the system (and how much chaos he can cause). Aside from that, he shares Vyrm's love for Minecraft, though he's more of a builder - he can make some very impressive builds, he has the eye for details and unconventional solutions that push the game's simplicity. Whenever they play together, he loves making Vyrm's redstone farms look pretty from the outside. Speaking of building, he also loves the build-buy mode in The Sims games - he's the type to spend hours making beautiful houses and then not move anyone in.

Hornet - she's the competitive gamer for sure, and quite a toxic one as well since she gets angry easily. FPS games are her favorite, and despite her tendency to do things by herself, she plays a lot of team-based games (and gets into shouting matches if she's on a losing streak). I think she also enjoys very difficult games, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, anything else of the sort. That said, she's not opposed to more relaxing experiences, like The Elder Scrolls games, of Minecraft with the family. In those cases, however, she tends to be the type of player to play it in the most efficient way and constantly look for challenges. Though very occasionally she stops to for a while to admire the view or enjoy the music, showing that despite how moody she might seem on the outside, there is some softness hidden in there.

Holly - definitely the chill and relax type of player, even more so than their father. Similarly to him, they don't have the best gaming skills, and the tend to gravitate towards the relaxing experiences, especially those based on routines. They're the one to have a little farm in Minecraft and spend the whole time tending to it instead of progressing. Stardew Valley, Paleo Pines, Animal Crossing - those are some of their favorite games. As long as they can sit down and have a relaxing time while also taking care of a little farm and cute animals, they will enjoy it. Anything more fast-paced and chaotic often becomes overwhelming to them, though they don't mind watching others play.

Zote - he plays competitive games just like Hornet (they sometimes even play together, though that usually ends with them arguing and blaming one another). He's not good at them but I suppose the determination is somewhat admirable. Despite acting like he's already a pro, he does secretly look at guides and such to improve, if only to beat Hornet and show her that he's better than her. He doesn't have the patience for relaxing games, though he often plays with Holly. For example, if they play Stardew Valley together, while Holly tends to the farm and makes friends with the NPCs, Zote goes to the caves and gets himself killed over and over before eventually ragequitting. But he does come back eventually, so there's that.

Lewk - he's a big fan of Minecraft, he also loves games like Spore. In Spore, he'd play the most peaceful creature almost every time, he really enjoys those little minigames that let you befriend other creatures. He doesn't quite understand the stages after the creature stage, though, they're too complicated for him at this age. He's a little too young to really comprehend most games so most of the time he watches the other family memberd play. Grimm often lets him sit on his lap and play whatever he's playing for a while, even if it gets him killed over and over in the game. Vyrm shows him various redstone contraptions or the cities he built, which Lewk finds very entertaining. Holly shows him their farms and lets him pick things to buy and name their farm animals. And Hornet, like I mentioned in the past, lets him play around in the character creator in games like TES, it's one of those occasional moments where she takes a step back and relaxes a bit. Zote doesn't let Lewk play, if anything, he'd be the one fighting for the controller with an actual toddler.

Milo and Asta - they're too young to play, so they just watch. Sometimes when Grimm lets them sleep on his desk while he plays (he puts a little bed there for them), they'll walk across the keyboard like cats to cuddle with him. Milo sometimes tries to catch the mouse cord while still in his little nest, while Asta gets brave and attempts to climb Grimm's shoulder or bite his hands. Same thing happens while Vyrm and the others play, I just loved the mental image of Grimm focused on his game and having one of his babies chew on his hand, it's such a funny thing to imagine considering he's a god of nightmares hahaha

[ratsoh-writes]

((lol, honestly? That's more generous than I would have given her 😅))

Emerald blinks at the prize in her hand. It's cheap and tacky, and barely big enough to fit an adult's finger. Out of the corner of her eye she can see the smirk that Ram is trying to hide. The stall keeper isn't nearly so kind.

Emerald has two choices: get embarrassed and/or angry, and make everyone feel bad. Or...

Sliding the plastic ring onto her finger, she pretends to admire its beauty, putting on a jokey expression.

"Sorry, Ram. Looks like I'm betrothed to the Spider King now. I'll make sure you get an invite to the wedding."

Ram laughs and shakes his head

Ram: I’ll only go if moppet gets t’ be the flower girl~

The sheep had done a wonderful job at being a mama and the lamb was sold off this summer. In fact most of the farm animals were sold as rancher and peaches transition to the orchid being the biggest part of the farm. Rancher still has his prize dairy cows, and some chickens for pest control, but the other animals are gone

Except of course the small handful of sheep ram keeps with the cows. And one new cow, barrel. One of the tanks (rams best cow) daughters. Ram sold a few sheep to buy her off his boss and is looking forward to the steady supply of milk.

Ram: y’ just like the ring cause it’s green~

[1moreoffkeyanthem]

my wife my life, i have ojv brainrot -- will you please go into crazy amount of detail about what the style boys look like to you in the ojv? what kind of outfits they like to wear? comfort sweaters/shirts? <3 also i love you i am waving $50s and shouting louder than everyone else to be noticed i'm the ride or die bi disaster ojc kenny of the irl

ASHFVGKKVHLJK MY DARLING WIFE HI AND FUCK YEAH!!!!! Helllll yes!!! Ok ok I’m bouta go *rm Jersey voice* AWF!! (This is gonna be so long im sorry)

So OrangeJuiceVerse style my BELOVEDS!!! Ohhhhh my god these two own my entire goddamn soul! And smh they’re so pretty in their own right!!!

OJV Stan… he is a fucking stereotypical DREAM MAN! Kyle is down astronomically bad. Like I’m talkin tall dark and handsome, total sweetheart, inherently boyish charm that just makes everyone adore him! His heart of gold and that deep melancholy he sometimes gets behind those sapphire eyes make him all the more alluring! So this is what our affable Everyman looks like to me:

He is TALL (hit his last growth spurt between sophomore and junior year), like tops off at a lil over 6’2 and is the second tallest of the ojverse Star Seven also he’s BUILT AS HELL?!? In high school his physique could be attributed to the myriad of physically demanding hobbies he cycled through (football in particular when he started dreaming of going pro rip to that) and work on Randy’s Fuckass Farm (fuck u randy). But when he’s older he gets softer, sure (best pillow ever) but keeps working out JUST so he can hold every animal ever like a BABY!!! If you want an approximate art reference of young adult OJV Stan, @bunytime ’s drawings on here for SURE! Like he is tall and strong and BUILT FOR HUGS!!!

Blue blue BLUE eyes like not scary stare into your soul but this soft deep shade that reminds you of calm waters and gemstones peeking from the depths of the shadows of his brows. Just gentle waves and clear dusk light.

Ojv Stan didn’t go through the ever popular bleached hair headcanon, most of my Stans didn’t, but this one bc on the brink of a SadSack episode he mentioned getting Kenny to pierce his ears and dye his hair and (this was before they were dating) Kyle was like NO!!! Bc he always loved Stan’s classic all american look and knows him well enough to know that he would’ve hated it a few days later.

DIMPLES!! TWO OF EM!! And his smile is SO sweet his whole face splits omg my sweet boy!!! And he has tiny, almost imperceptible random scars in various places from childhood tomfoolery, especially on his hands bc he sometimes rivals Kenny in recklessness, and those hands are so rough but so TENDER when they touch you and he’s so aware of his own size and inherent ruggedness that completely juxtaposes his personality and it’s so!!! (God forgive me I’m thinking about nsfw ojv style hcs now)

Aight so OJV Stan IS greasy to some extent, c’mon he’s very Boy, but (this is important) only when he’s having a rough time mentally. Like he’s one of those people where while his horrendous lack of style doesn’t change much, you can tell by the stubble and the gross hair when he’s not doing well. Uhhh later down the timeline he has a beard tho. The bear jokes definitely emerge.

And for his style choices ohhhhh my god this man CANNOT fuckin dress!!! I’m constantly putting ojverse Stan in my clothes bc WHAT is this guy doing wearing the “Bigfoot is real I made s’mores with him” shirt and he is GENUINELY confused when he can’t wear jeans to something formal. His socks are STUPID and GIMMICKY and never match, and his wallet has a million keychains HIS BACKPACK omg like every stereotypical veggie boy he has alll the vegan loser pins and patches. Animal activist Stan forever.

A very casual dresser tbh, t shirts and jeans, sweatpants, hoodies (that have mostly been confiscated by Kyle) like he truly sucks at clothes unless he’s going stupid abt a Halloween costume. He kinda relies on Ky to know what looks good on him irl, bc Kyle is VERY reactive when he’s dressed a certain way and Kyle climbing him= ah yes I look Not Disheveled right to jail for both of them.

Oh KYLE!!! From Stan’s pov??? OJV Stan is a huge fucking fantasy loser and he only knows the word “ethereal” bc he’s a nerd and it describes Kyle. On GOD OJV Kyle is so pretty!!! Like Stanley Down Bad Marsh is ENTHRALLED!!! Always, like since he knew what beauty was, beauty was Kyle.

Ojverse Kyle keeps his hair a little past his shoulders since like freshman year of high school, his HAIRRRRR lord those gorgeous red curls, Stan simply cannot get enough of them, that ponytail, the half bun, the little braids Marj used to do when she and Ky would hang solo… dear god Stan will not shut up about his beautiful elf kings hair. Like hair wise if u want a reference picture the homie @grimsbane ‘s long hair Kyle EXEPT

My guy, OJV Kyle is TINY. Not as short as Kenny and Tweek, but close and definitely skinny to the point where if he misses a meal EVERYONE is on his bony ass bc 1) diabetes and 2) they all know his past with eds and no one’s gonna let that shit get its claws on him again! Unfortunately, OJV Kyle has a really hard time gaining weight, but as an adult he’s fully recovered, just kinda slim and at risk of health problems from the damage he did, but he’s mostly ok.

Ky topped off at 5’7 and was the tallest of the m5 in 7th grade and then EVERYONE but Kenny surpassed him WHICH he was pissed abt for a while. But he kinda stopped caring once he and Stan got together bc Stan wasn’t thattt much taller at first (and then this mf got huge) but Kyle was… VERY INTO THAT! It’s so unserious bc when they’re older Kyle’s like dude just fuckin toss me around and Stan WILL NOT because he’s NERVOUS and also traumatized from the ONE time he reinjured Kyle’s bad knee during Super Best Spicy Time (yes that’s what his loser ass named the sex playlist) but when Ky gets in the mood he wants to be manhandled frfr (I will do a nsfw headcanon post prolly) like the SIZE DIFFERENCE kyle is so spicy 100% calls the shots out here climbin Staniel like a tree.

He’s pale as fuck, cannot tan at allll this dude will not go outside without sunscreen bc he IS Sheila’s son and had it drilled into him that they are pale redheads and uv rays are not their friend, BUT his freckles are faint and so prettttttyyyyy he doesn’t even hate them bc Stan loves them and Kyle loves Stan (losers) he’s got a little group of them on his left cheekbone that Stan INSISTS looks like a heart aaaaaaaaaa

Good lord those eyes. Like you look into them and you are LOST in the most beautiful woods you have ever SEEN!!! I’m serious his eyes look like a forest, green and threaded with occasional brown like tree trunks and they are MAGNETIC!!! He is POINTY too like his features are sharp but his eyes are comfortable and it’s just a beautiful balance.

I’m fully of the belief that this lil redhead is a CHRONIC CLOTHES STEALER!!! Sneaky lil fox like if he’s comfy at home he’s 100% wearing Stan’s lame ass “earth day 2013” hoodie or some shit BUT!!!

His actual clothing is VERY much hot professional dark academia vibes the sweaters, the reading glasses, that hair, like he’s so cute in his button ups and when he stops wearing cargo pants so much in college (man likes pockets change my mind) Stan is SALIVATING bc he can see the sbf’s lithe legs better and he wants to SNAG him smh down horrendous. Kyle wears a lotta green, bc we ginger losers know that’s our COLOR and he looks GORGEOUS in jewel tones what a PRETTY BOY!!! Favorite item of clothing is DEFINITELY Stan’s Peace Love Pine Trees hoodie!!!

They do have friendship (lovers) bracelets that Kenny made them btw

Ok I THINK that’s what I got for now on what they look like but lord knows I’ll probably be more insane later NINA MY BELOVED WIFE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS

[heyiwrotesomethings]

Hey, I've been loving these shorter posts lately and I have a lot of thoughts for them so I hope you don't mind me sharing one! I had the thought of a modern Shinobu playing horror games both for the horror and just to scare her S/O and I wanted to ask what you thought the others would like as well? I'm thinking farm games like Stardew are things that Kanae would like but I think it's also funny to imagine the poor girl has hardly touched a controller in her life and is constantly mixing up controls or having to look down at her controller. As usual I hope you have a nice day, you deserve it!

My mental catalogue of video games is pretty poor, but I’ll do my best to match them up with a couple, or a genre at least.

Shinobu:

100% yes to Shinobu and horror games. She is canonically into ghost stories, so it just makes sense. Some good ones that I think she would enjoy are The Mortuary Assistant, Outlast and the Resident Evil series. If she’s playing with friends, Phasmophobia is a fun choice.

Kanae and Mitsuri:

Putting them together because I feel like they could be on the same wavelength with this. I agree with Stardew Valley as something they could both get behind. Kanae focuses on completing the community center while Mitsuri is more concerned over who she will choose to romance and making sure her cat has water each morning. Thousands of hours played between the two of them. They would probably enjoy Animal Crossing too. I could also see them enjoying cooking games like Plate Up/ Overcooked.

If the art of a game looks deceptively cute, they may get more than they bargained for. I could see Shinobu/ Kanao playing Hollow Knight or Little Nightmares and they decide to watch only to get bummed or freaked out. Kanae would probably handle it better than Mitsuri.

Kanao:

I had a really good one, but I immediately forgot it and it’s not coming back! AHHH! But she probably prefers single player in whatever she’s doing. I think she’d be good at Elden Ring/ Dark Souls kind of games. She would probably be good at fps games too, but since they are usually multiplayer and she doesn’t want to voice chat with strangers, she doesn’t play.

(Edit: I remembered! It was Stray! She’d like Stray, I think!)

Aoi:

She really doesn’t strike me as a video game person. If she’s invited to play something, she’ll do it, but she often finishes last. Probably the most relevant games in her life are mobile games like Candy Crush or one of those cat collecting games. Mitsuri would probably like that one too and they would talk about which cats they have.

[oh-surprise-its-me]

Hello there! I hope you are having a good day.

I'm not sure if I have come to the right place or if I am in any position to make a 'request', but there are a few plot promts I've been wondering about. (You don't have to accomodate any of them, naturally. I just thought I'd put them somewhere.)

So, they live on a farm, right? Speaking from experience, working and living with animals comes with a lot of beautiful moments but also heartbreak. To keep with a fluffier theme; how would the different members of that lovely family react to, say, a foal being born? Or, for the sake of balance, the heartbreak; how would they react if one of their animals was ill and suffering and the only choice would be to put them to sleep?

Another one on the fluffy side; coming of age often comes with bigger presents over here, so say when Jake turns 21 (or 18, depending on the law and country, I suppose) his dads come up with the idea of giving him a small plane, a Piper or Cessna or something, as a present. It could be an older model, and Chris, being mechanically inclined, could teach him how to fix it, and Tom and Ron (and Chris, of course) could go up with him, just as a shared experience. Perhaps even make family day trips with the aircraft.

(I fear this is getting way to long, so I'll stop here :) Love reading the works of all of you!)

OH MY GOD DARLING I LOVE THESE

Absolutely the right place! I’d bet that you’re welcome to ask Phanie (aki-draws-things) but I was the one that started this!

You’re always welcome to make requests about them, I will literally always be excited to talk about them!!

Okay going to split this up into two, I’ll tag the second part here!

-

Chris is so excited when they’re told there’s going to be a foal. Ron and Tom don’t quite have the same excitement that Chris does but they’re just happy Chris is happy.

Chris wakes up every morning and takes extra special care of Orange, he give her all the carrots and the pets she could ever want.

Tom isn’t too sure what to make of the tiny horse that follows Chris around like a puppy. He thinks it’s pretty cute. She’s a calm foal from what he knows. She doesn’t bite to hard.

Ron, he uh, he likes her? He’ll let her bonk her head into his leg, he’s just not too sure about her. Doesn’t seem right that something so small is going to be that big.

Once Jake is old enough he gets so excited for the babies of the year. He literally bounces around the house.

———

The first time they had to put an animal down it was a goat. He just wasn’t healing. The vet said cancer.

Chris cried. He couldn’t stop crying. He knew it’s what’s best for the goat. He always does what’s best for the animals.

Tom cried a little. He felt bad for the animal, made him think a bit too much about life.

Ron didn’t cry but he got close. He hated how badly Chris and Tom were taking this. He signs all the paperwork and does all of the details.

They try to shelter Jake from that as best as they can. They want him to be a kid. Not have to deal with it. He knows that sometimes it just has to happen though.

Jake gets rushed by a rooster one year and there’s no hesitation to get rid of the rooster. Jake was terrified.

[toxicnorn]

Wives

Harvest Moon 64

This is the first Harvest Moon I ever played and I have a lot of nostalgia for it. It's notable for having the best Harvest Moon wife that has ever existed: my beloved and darling Karen, who I married in my main save file. Karen was great because she was the rude, rebellious girl with big dreams and issues with her parents, which made her the best girl in my eyes when I was 9. Also, she could permanently leave the game if you didn't befriend her, so she had that limited edition thing going on for her.

Most of the rest were okay, except for Popuri because I didn't like her. This is mostly because I liked her mom better, who I thought was her sister for the longest time until I read the wiki just now. Maria was fine and I liked that she was a bug fan, but she was scared of my dog, so that ruled her out. Ann's okay. I should've liked her more bc she had the tomboy thing going on but she had the crime of not being Karen. Elli was my second favorite after Karen and I married her in one game. She seemed like the one best suited for being a farmer's wife and also I felt bad for her because her grandma dies.

A Wonderful Life

This was my next game. It's my favorite because you can grow old and die in it. I liked that you could buy different kind of cows in it because I prefer to play as a rancher. You could also get a few new animals that I don't think were in HM64. Sadly, this game had fewer options when it came to who you could marry.

My wife of choice was Muffy in the middle. The others were okay! Nami was cool and mysterious and Celia was a cute farmgirl. They just weren't Muffy. She's a barmaid that's experienced heartbreak. If you don't marry her, she never marries anyone and she's sad about it. I could not allow that to happen. She was also great bc she liked most food except fish, which is a very important quality in a Harvest Moon LI. Also, she had a red dress.

Magical Melody

This was my next game. It was unique in that it had a lot of LIs but also it had a farming rival. I believe that the map was significantly bigger. Sadly, the ranching was more simplistic and I don't think you could create weird hybrid crops, though tbh I just used cheats in the game they were in so that I could get them.

I think I played as a girl more in this one, so I don't really remember the bachelorettes very well.

I know for certain that I married Ann in one save. I think she's an inventor in this one. I'm also pretty sure I went after Eve in another save too. She works at the inn. I liked that she looked like she was over 15.

What's important here is that I didn't marry Jamie, who's a girl if you play as a boy and a boy if you play as a girl. They're the rival farmer, sort of rude, and are a secret LI, which should be very appealing qualities but the game literally ends if you marry them. Fucked up.

Tree of Tranquility/Animal Parade

The Wii era. I'm counting them together because I think the LIs are more or less the same across them and Animal Parade struck me as an improved Tree of Tranquility. Also, I think I only ever rented ToT. Animal Parade is a really good game. It's got a huge map, plenty of characters, and lots to explore. There's really a ton you can do. The big downside, however, is that the map is almost too big and the introduction is ridiculously long. Still, solid game.

This is another one where I preferred to be a girl. This was mostly so I could pretend that Julius was a girl.

I went after Cadace in one file, who's a shy seamstress. I don't think I ever got as far as marrying her, however. She was cute from what I could remember and relatively easy to get her hearts up because she likes herbal tea.

I definitely romanced Maya in another file. She's super bubbly and cute and she's really into food. In ToT, she has a pink dress instead.

Obviously, I married the Witch at least once. You have to. She's a witch. Isn't that reason enough?

Finally, I married Selena at least once. I don't really remember a lot about her but she has purple eyes, which is cool.

Story of Seasons

This is one of the more recent ones but I don't actually remember a ton from it. I think I got it a few years after it came out. I generally liked the game, though. The art style was pretty.

I liked Elise because she was rich, selfish, and kind of mean, traits that I appreciate in a Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons love interest. Girlboss. Her outfit's over the top and I appreciate that.

However, my heart was truly reserved for Iris because just look at her. She's one of the only female love interests who looks like she could even be above 30. This is the closest thing to a romanceable MILF in the series. She's an elegant novelist. Obvious choice. Fantastic.

Trio of Towns

This the last one I've played and I generally like it a lot, though I never got very far into it. I'd like to pick it back up but I never remember to charge my 3Ds. I think there were some online features but I'm sure that Nintendo has taken the servers down by now. Sadly, the LIs didn't make much of an impact on me.

I think I married Komari but it's more because I had to marry someone. I don't really remember her character. I think she was cute? I don't think I really got far enough into it for the LIs to make a deep enough impact on me.

What's important here is that i preordered the game and got the preorder bonus of a capybara plush, which is still in my desk.

[jeanjauthor]

While the storylines eventually veered into weirdness (and according to a few fellow readers I know, the author even ends up violating the canon of her own characters' established thoughts & behaviors), Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series, starting with the book Clan of the Cave Bears, does actually provide quite a lot of solid research-based evidence in the worldbuilding she did for the two races in the story.

These are the "Clan" (presumed to be Homo neanderthalensis) and the "Others" (Homo sapiens). The author chose to create a "men as hunters only / women as gatherers only" culture for the Clan, establishing the root cause of this lies in the "inherited memories" of each gender, where they can meditate and learn from the ancestral memories of those who came before them in their biological lineage.

In this case, the daughter of the best medicine woman, who in turn was the daughter of the best medicine woman, stretching back into antiquity, would therefore have an instinctive knowing of herbal & primitive medical techniques as well as whatever she was directly taught, with this direct teaching reinforcing the biologically retained ancestral memories. However, because of the weight of these inherited memories (enhanced instincts), it is actually quite difficult for the Clan to learn new things.

The Others, on the other hand (pun not intended), are presented as being much more mentally flexible. Both women as well as men hunt, both men as well as women gather, and because they are not limiting who does what, they literally have more manpower to gather & process both kinds of resources at any given point in time.

It's a very interesting literary / worldbuilding choice, since while it's clear that Clan and Others are close enough biologically that they can interbreed, they're still presented as being culturally very distinctly different from each other. The Clan (Neanderthals) had gender-segregation based activities that were reinforced by their own biology, while the Others (Modern Humans) were far more flexible, and thus far more able to adapt to wildly fluctuating circumstances. If a Clan family's males were too injured to hunt, they would get no meat. If the females were too injured to gather, they would get no plants to eat. (Both, by the way, are necessary for a truly healthy diet, since all primates in the Homo genus are omnivores.)

However...I do not believe this was the case in actual prehistoric times. I don't know for absolute certain about Homo neanderthalensis, (the studies like the ones above aren't always clear if they're only talking H. sapiens or if they include other branches of humanity) ...but I'm pretty sure both males and females hunted. In fact, it would be necessary, since according to several lines of published research, H. neanderthalensis ate diets that were very animal protein-heavy.

It should also be noted that gender-segregated societies of "hunting vs gathering" are more likely to be found in areas where both game and gatherable edibles are plentiful. If it's easier to hunt and gather, then you can specialize all the more. We know this is the case with groups that develop agriculture, because once a society develops a calorie surplus, their members can specialize all the more. This is most easily done through farming & herding, but it can also be done in areas where there is simply that much abundance.

(The cultures of the Coastal Salish tribes here in Western Washington were quite complex and did indeed arise from a significant calorie surplus each year based on quasi-agricultural farming of tending plants growing in the wild wherever they were found--they had plenty of easily attained food most years, and thus had the leisure time to develop their culture. The main reason why their technology did not advance was due to a lack of understanding of metalsmithing. They did have rare access to metal tools, iron axe blades and the like that had been traded from group to group all the way across the Pacific Rim, from the Chinese to the Aleutians to the Haida to the Salish, etc...but they didn't have knowledge of finding ore, smelting it, and forging tools of their own.)

...The reason why I point out Auel's storytelling is because these books, The Clan of the Cave bear, The Valley of the Horses, etc, started coming out in the 1980s.

Yes, the '80s.

Researchers knew prehistorical women had been buried with hunting tools, and Auel found this information during her masses & oodles of research all the way back then, and incorporated it into her storytelling. Again, I'll say that she made a literary choice to portray the Clan (Neanderthals) as strictly males-hunt-and-females-gather...but her portrayal of Others (Humans) as both genders can hunt and gather was spot-on.

The problem was when she released this information in her novels. the 1980s were literally butted up against the Women's Liberation Movement of the 1970s. Prior to this point, the whole misogyny / toxic masculinity / toxic patriarchy mindset had stolidly established the false narrative that men-hunted-and-women-gathered...which was based on Victorian attitudes & mindsets when people began trying to study anthropology a bit more seriously....bringing a LOT of prejudices into their observations.

...Basically, if anything is based on research coming from the 1800s, eye it at arm's length with great suspicion, because in most cases it will be biased to hell and back.

These days we have been working for literal decades to try to remove those inherited / inherent biases. These days, we have instructors actively trying to teach how to stop your own biases from impacting your observations. They didn't have that in the early days of anthropology & paleoarcheology & archaeology, etc, etc etc.

This is why Auel's assertions, based on a craptonne of research that she did, literally talking to a wide number of experts, visiting archeology digs, so on & so forth, were so revolutionary...and so overlooked at the time.

The climate for accepting that the majority of hunter-gatherer societies aren't gender-segregated still wasn't quite there just yet, back in the 1980s. So here we are, 40 years later...and people are finally beginning to accept the truth that the archaeological record shows.

We have always hunted. Just as we have always fought. Who gets to record history will always have that recorded history come with biases, unless the historian is very careful about excluding those biases...and we have only been focusing on trying to get more people to do that for the last handful of decades.

Lastly, it should be noted that most modern hunter-gatherer societies will have been influenced at least somewhat by the often patriarchal agricultural societies they interact with on the fringes of their territories...which in turn were influenced by other cultures, etc. It's either a very strong or a very isolated culture that will be able to resist all or most outside influences.

To be frank, a lot of men have over the millennia found a genuine thrill in being able to "lord it over" the other genders, believing that "might makes right" and taking advantage of literal physical strength to impose that social control on others. (Power can corrupt, and all that...and if you let the sociopaths get into positions of power, they will alter the culture around them to stay in power.)

In contrast, in societies where every single member is taught to consider others' needs as dearly as their own, you'll find most of those societies are far more egalitarian than patriarchal, gender-wise. And it's also far easier to be egalitarian when everyone has to pitch in to survive, because it's obvious that everyone is contributing. It is harder for sociopaths to be tolerated in those situations, because they aren't going to share resources with others if they don't have to...but in hunter-gatherer lifestyles, they do have to share, and will be socially punished far more quickly if they don't, compared to agriculturally based societies.

Anyway...researchers have known about women being found in graves with hunting tools for literal decades. The research was strong enough that it was incorporated into a popular pre-history fiction series decades ago. (Admittedly in a "rah rah, H. sapiens is superior to all!" sort of way, but it's not like there are any living H. neanderthalensis around to glare and protest.)

It's just that it's now becoming accepted on a wide scale. So my point to my long-winded ramble is this:

Progress is often only made in baby steps across literal lifetimes, folks...but it is progress.

I genuinely believe that Auel's novels had a definite positive impact on budding archaeology & paleoarchaeology students, and yes, even anthropology students. She put it in writing that women hunted alongside men, and men gathered alongside women, in a series of novels that were based on a lot of actual real-world research. (Social & other details were made up, but whatever could be based on archaeological findings was based on actual findings.)

What we write can impact the world, in both fiction and non-fiction.

Analysis of data from dozens of foraging societies around the world shows that women hunt in at least 79% of these societies, opposing the widespread belief that men exclusively hunt and women exclusively gather. Abigail Anderson of Seattle Pacific University, US, and colleagues presented these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on June 28, 2023. A common belief holds that, among foraging populations, men have typically hunted animals while women gathered plant products for food. However, mounting archaeological evidence from across human history and prehistory is challenging this paradigm; for instance, women in many societies have been found buried alongside big-game hunting tools. Some researchers have suggested that women's role as hunters was confined to the past, with more recent foraging societies following the paradigm of men as hunters and women as gatherers. To investigate that possibility, Anderson and colleagues analyzed data from the past 100 years on 63 foraging societies around the world, including societies in North and South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and the Oceanic region. They found that women hunt in 79% of the analyzed societies, regardless of their status as mothers. More than 70% of female hunting appears to be intentional—as opposed to opportunistic killing of animals encountered while performing other activities, and intentional hunting by women appears to target game of all sizes, most often large game. The analysis also revealed that women are actively involved in teaching hunting practices and that they often employ a greater variety of weapon choice and hunting strategies than men.

These findings suggest that, in many foraging societies, women are skilled hunters and play an instrumental role in the practice, adding to the evidence opposing long-held perceptions about gender roles in foraging societies. The authors note that these stereotypes have influenced previous archaeological studies, with, for instance, some researchers reluctant to interpret objects buried with women as hunting tools. They call for reevaluation of such evidence and caution against misapplying the idea of men as hunters and women as gatherers in future research. The authors add, "Evidence from around the world shows that women participate in subsistence hunting in the majority of cultures."

[the-dragon-chronicler]

Prompt One: 8+ years ago

At first, we thought the black liquid was oil, that we'd struck it rich and that we'd be able to retire and live in leisure. We started writing down all the ways we'd spend the money. Our first choice was

to buy some more farmland. My family wasn't poor, exactly. We lived on a farm with all farm animals, added a few dogs. We had a small amount of land, hardly enough to live on, and we needed some more to grow crops on. When we first discovered it father went into town while we made our list. Mother told us not to get our hopes up and we did. Truth was, was that was oil. The man who told us was an evil man that father had once done business with. Father, being the wise man he was, told a lie. Told this man he had believed him, that was until he called my little sister Sally out. Sally was a smart little girl for her age and knew what father meant by "go get our guest a gift." I had to help her bring fathers shotgun out, since it was a bit heavy for a six year old. Fathers shotgun was wrapped up in a box with some wrapping paper he got when he went into town two months ago. We handed him the "gift" and watched as he opened it. The man, being dumb, thought that it was for him and went to reach for it. Before he knew it, father had the gun aimed at his legs and shot it expertly. Fathers gun was always loaded when we wrapped it up. Again, that day, father went back into town, with the bleeding man, and got a good oil inspector to check out our farm. Turns out we indeed had struck oil and the bleeding man was right. So we harvested that oil, got all the money we could get at the time for it, and got the farm land we needed. After this, we had enough crops and animals that we didn't need the oil, but we do use it when needed.

-Florida, Narrator

*Now, don't say a single thing about the way I did this. I'm so sure I was around thirteen or fourteen when this was written. I was holding back the urge to completely redo everything I wrote down. So trust me when I say I doubt there is anything one can say that I saw almost instantly. You guys are welcome to rip this thing to pieces though. I will try to post all the prewritten ones daily but as far as the ones I will be writing presently, I will do my best to get those out daily but it may be more like every other day. I also have plans to do a short story for every day of October. I hope you all enjoy this old snippet and have fun poking at it.

[redrosesandforgetmenots]

Through Your Eyes

Pretty Little Liars (Chapter Four)

3,974 words

The storage closet of Art Room B was quiet, the stiff air smelling like oil paint with a lingering under current of pencil shavings and paper. Tweek was tucked away into a corner, working on the project that would make or break his grade this semester- a mixed media project meant to "evoke the image of the written word." He sometimes wanted to know what was going through his teachers head when she assigned this type of shit.

He had chosen to depict a poem from "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins. And was trying to figure out what picture from a magazine evoked the word "coalescing." Tweek gently pulled the magazines out of his bag, the folder Craig had given him earlier falling out as well. Distracted by remembering its existence, he opened it, curious to see what he had dropped.

He was immediately greeted by Craig's face, the half finished portrait of the boy who sat next to him in first period. Tweek quickly closed the folder, flushed. Craig had seen it? It was the first thing in the folder that the other had assembled. Questions flooded his mind. Is that why Craig came out to him? Did he think Tweek had a crush on him? Did him coming out mean he had a crush?

Tweek quickly shoved the folder back in his bag, turning his attention back to the magazines. He stared blankly at the images in question, but his mind was still racing with thoughts about Craig. Soon the bell rang, and he made his way into the actual classroom, quickly zipping past everyone on their way out and running to Wends' locker. 

Thankfully, they were actually there, in an animated conversation with Stan. Tweek stood behind the dark haired boy, not saying anything. Luckily he was quickly spotted. "TT?" Wends asked, looking behind Stan.

"Hey, Tweek! We were just talking about this weekend-" Stan noticed Tweek absolutely shaking, his breathing ragged. "... You okay man?"

"I-Im- What if I like Craig?" Wends expression went vacant, eyes empty as they measured their response.

"That … would be okay. But hes… I don't think you know him well enough to like him." Wends pointed out, before mustering up a pitiful smile. "I'm not sure he's exactly boyfriend material, T…"

"Craig's a dick!" Stan exclaimed.

"I know." Tweek replied bluntly. "B-but I could get to know him better!" Wends and Stan shared a glance.

"... Well dude… I know parties aren't your thing, but … my dad's taking my mom to a cannabis convention so I have the farm to myself. I was gonna have a little get together. I could invite Craig, if you want?"

Tweek paused for a moment. He knew Stan meant the best, but he was also inviting Bebe and Eric, so chances were their little get together would become a full on rager, and that was absolutely not his scene. But if Craig went, it'd be a nice neutral place to talk. "I'd be okay with that." 

"Cool! Chances are he won't show up unless I invite the other guys he hangs with… I guess this little party isn't going to be that little." Stan said, looking to Wends, who shrugged. With who he was inviting, it didn't seek like it ever would've been in the first place. 

"Charge a door fee, see who still shows up," Tweek joked, before the bell started ringing. He quickly scurried to his next class, dodging others in the hallway.

*****

"Its not l-like it's a full on date Bebe, i-its just a party!" Tweek had once again been dragged out shopping. This time it was just the two who were out thrifting, Bebe holding an assortment of women's blouses up to Tweek, attempting to visualize him in them.

"Mmm… this isn't gonna work, you're gonna have to actually try stuff on." Bebe said, putting her choices into the cart. "And besides, Craig dressed up to give you your papers back! You need to like, return the favor?"

Tweek shrugged. "He probably had s-something else to do, or he just ran out of clean laundry-"

"I've seen Craig wear the same exact shirt for a week straight. And there definitely wasn't anything else going on today, I would know!" Bebe pointed out. She went to the sweater section next, pulling out a mint green cardigan. "Cute… but not super you. Yknow?"

"That colour is f-fucking ugly." Bebe gasped in faux shock, horrified by his hatred for pastels. 

"Excuse you, it's almost spring! You really need to experiment with florals, or something." She pulled another cardigan off the rack. Brown, with little crochet leaves hanging off it in various shades of green, vines giving it more texture as they ran parallel down the front and sleeves. It looked handmade.. Tweek had to admit he liked it. They put it in the cart.

"OK so like… cargo pants are not going to go with my Spring Awakening forest academia vibe I'm trying to go for..  how do you feel about shorts."

"Abhorrent." Tweek replied, but was dragged over to the rack anyway, this time on the men's section. 

Bebe huffed. "You're not being a very good dress up doll!" She joked, pulling a pair of very short corduroy shorts off the rack. They matched the brown of the cardigan, but Tweek shook his head. Who would ever want to see that much of his legs? "Pleeeaaaassseee at least try them on? You'll be so cute!"

"Im n-not supposed to be cute, Bebe." Tweek replied, "I-Im trying to not get peoples attention." He already looked weird enough.

"Okay but, do you wanna look cute for Craig?" She asked, putting the shorts in the cart. Tweek flushed, but didn't push any further. He had to admit, he regretted not putting in any effort today. He literally just picked the same sweater from yesterday off the floor because he knew it was still mostly clean from being washed two days ago. Should he have worn a button down too today? No- he could never get the buttons right. Which was concerning considering how many of them were in the cart right now. 

Bebe rifled through them, picking out one that looked pretty sheer, it was white, and had way too many ruffles for Tweek's liking. They lined the collar, down the front, and the ends of the sleeves. "It's not perfect," she said, "But I have an idea!" She handed him the shorts, shirt, and cardigan. "Go try these on right now!" Tweek groaned, but did as asked, entering the dressing room.

There was a slew of hangers already in the dressing room, and the mirror was cracked on one side. Still, it would work. Tweek changed as quickly as possible, avoiding his reflection before stepping back outside for Bebes reaction. He hid in the door frame, pulling down the hem of the shorts. They couldn't even make it past the middle of the middle of his thighs. 

"You look so perfect!" Bebe replied, but swooped in to make adjustments. She tucked the top into the pants and thankfully did up the cardigan. It left only about an inch of shorts hanging out the bottom of it, and Tweek glanced down to his bony, bruised knees with a grimace. "Okay, so I'm gonna take this blouse, wash it obvi, and then dye it green. So then for jewelry-"

"No." Tweek stopped her in her tracks. He was already uncomfortable enough, the party was bound to be overstimulating, the last thing he needed was the feeling of accessories. "Th-this isn't girls go games, Bebe. I-I was just gonna wear jeans and a t shirt or something. This is… i-its too much."

Bebe was pouting. "Okay… no jewelry, I can do that but please, please at least come in with this? We can bring you a change of clothes, I promise! But you'd look so good next to me and Wends in our matching sweater dresses!" Tweek sighed, but relented. 

"A-as long as I can change … c-can we go now?" The music was loud, and the smell was really starting to get to him, it made his exhaustion feel all the more prominent. 

"Totally, thanks for doing this, TT! You're like, the first customer in my new stylist business!" She joked. Tweek quickly went into change back, ignoring the mirror once more. Now he was gonna smell like thrift store all day… hopefully Bebes trip to Ulta wouldn't take that long, he desperately wanted a shower.

Tweeks phone buzzed in one of his pockets, and he pulled it out as he exited the dressing room.

Unknown Number:

Have a good weekend everyone! Enjoy the party, I'm sure it's gonna be killer!

-L

Okay, what the actual shit? Tweek rolled his eyes and blocked the number. How cheesy, who even signed their texts anymore?

The shopping trip wrapped up with relative ease, and Tweek and Bebe made it to Wends house for the pre party sleepover. 

*****

"But, are you sure you like like him?" Marjorine asked while Bebe was pushing Tweeks cuticles back. Tweek groaned.

"I-I don't know! He's just- AGH! This is too much pressure!" Tweek pulled his hands away from Bebe to grab at his hair. He wasn't sure how the topic of his liking of Craig came about, but he wanted this conversation to be over. 

"Isn't he straight?" Nichole asked, looking up from the TV where she and Heidi were trying to figure out a movie to watch. Tweek simply buried his head in his hands, refusing to answer. He knew Craig wasn't, but that wasn't anyone else's business. He was good at keeping secrets- he'd kept his parents for long enough after all. 

"Didn't he have that crush on that kid with tourettes in the fourth grade?" Heidi offered.

"Craig is definitely gay." Red piped up, "at every family reunion it always gets brought up. He's never had a girlfriend, at least."

"Guys! It's uncouth the speculate on someone's sexuality!" Wends said, "... but I remember in fifth grade he held hands with Tweek all the time until Cartman called him… well, you know."

"Fags?" Tweek replied for them, before letting out a sigh. "I-i mean.. he's always been like that though! H-he was a very clingy kid."

"To you," Nichole said, "I don't remember him ever holding hands with Tolkien or Jimmy."

"H-he held hands with Clyde!"

"Yeah, but Clyde was a cry baby. I mean like, I get it after his mom died, but it's like he never stopped." Bebe replied, gently taking Tweeks hand again to finish her task.

"Well, I think Craig's just afraid of what other people will think! And you can't live your life that way!" Marjorine said with a smile. "And I think all the fellas just gave him shit because they're too afraid of themselves."

"Well said," Wends said, handing Marjorine a bag of Cheesy Poofs. 

"C-can we just not talk about Craig tonight?" Tweek asked, and all the girls nodded and replied in agreement. 

*****

Craig couldn't believe he got dragged to a lame party and Stan's house. He would have absolutely said no, if Stan hadn't promised that Tweek would be there. Now he was in the living room, sitting on the couch with Kenny and Jimmy as they passed a blunt back and forth. 

He still hadn't seen Tweek, but honestly he was just trying to zone out the overly loud music and chatter around him. Thankfully the lights were dimmed, but he still could hardly think. "..  I wanna go home." He mumbled, more to himself than anything.

"H-hang on, the girls aren't even-arent even here yet!" Jimmy replied, before taking a hit. That was a lie. There were plenty of girls at this party, but he knew which ones Jimmy meant. 

"Yeah dude! And they're bringing the tweeksterrrrr!" Kenny replied, sing songing the nickname for Tweek in a teasing tone. "And I heard from Marj that he's gonna look super hot tonight." Craig rolled his eyes, leaning back. He guess he could at least hold out to see Tweek, then go home…

The door swung open, letting in a blast of cold air. Bebe, Wends, and their friends all entered in, Tweek bringing up the rear, wearing the shortest shorts he'd ever seen. Wasn't he freezing? Still, Craig took a long, appreciative look at his legs. They were pale, and covered in light blonde hair and bruises- they looked like they were sculpted out of marble… at least to Craig. Tweeks internal monologue was far less kind.

"Everyone is looking at me- these shorts are too short, I'm fucking freezing! Are my legs turning blue? Oh god fuck everyone can see my goosebumps they must look so gross-" Tweek's mind rant was cut short when he made eye contact with brown eyes from across the room. The door closed behind him,but he didn't move to get closer inside. He and Craig stared at each other for a moment, before Craig finally made a move to get up. 

"...Hey." Craig greeted, feeling much less confident on his feet than he had sitting down. He finally felt the full effects of the weed hitting him, and he was probably staring a little too intensely at the shorter blonde in front of him. 

"Hey…" Tweek greeted back, wrapping the cardigan tighter around the sheer green blouse underneath it. Luckily the cardigan covered everything, but it still made Tweek nervous.

"You look cold." Craig said simply. "Do you want a blanket?" He had no fucking clue where the Marshs kept their spare blankets, but he could figure it out.

"Uuuhh… kinda.. kinda wanted to get a drink first? Maybe a snack or something?" Tweek couldn't give a shit about snacks right now. Truth be told he wanted the blunt sitting plainly in Kenny's hand, but he needed to get a scope of the party first. At least make the rounds before bailing. 

"Oh… yeah, for sure. I'll come with you." The song changed, playing Speed Drive by Charli XCX, which effectively got most people dancing. Craig absent-mindedly took Tweeks hand to lead him through the surprisingly thick crowd and into the kitchen. Thankfully it was mildly quiet, Stan and Kyle having a conversation by the fridge withstanding. There was a good amount of alcohol on the kitchen counter, mostly stolen from Randy's stash. 

"What did you want?" He asked, dropping Tweeks hand, who looked at them briefly, before grabbing a beer off the table. "Gross… that's all?"

Tweek shrugged, "I'm a simple man." Craig cracked a smile, before pouring midori into a mountain dew. "That's disgusting…"

"You have your drinks, I got mine." Craig replied, now secured with his stereotypical red solo cup. "Wanna head back out to Kenny and Jimmy?"

"... Not really? I-i mean… it's kinda loud in here, man." Tweek replied, shifting from foot to foot as he looked around. 

"I brought my car. I'm sure we could just sit in it with the heater on and smoke." Craig replied. "Come back in when we're good and stoned."

"... I'd like that. Yeah…" Tweek replied, grabbing another beer. Just in case he finished it in the car. Craig took Tweeks hand again to lead him outside, out to his shitty PT Cruiser. 

"So…" Craig started once they were inside with the heater blasting, and he pulled out a joint from his pocket in a plastic baggie. "You look really nice tonight."

"... Thanks man." Tweek replied, and Craig could swear he saw Tweeks cheeks redden in the dim light. "I never dress like this though… i-its um… I-I'm pretty cold?" Craig passed him the joint, and finally noticed the polish on the others fingers.

"Did you paint your nails?" Olive green had been perfectly manicured onto them, with flecks of gold sitting on top.

"Ummmm… B-Bebe did, actually. Said my outfit needed more green tones." Tweek pulled his hand away protectively, before taking a hit off the joint. 

"Maybe she can do mine sometime." Craig replied, showing off the manicure he'd done in sharpie. It was mostly faded by now, but the black was still managing to just barely hang on. "I think nail polish is pretty cool."

"Damn, you really are gay." Tweek said without thinking, immediately shutting his mouth and looking towards Craig, who was… laughing? He didn't seem to be upset at all.

"I mean… yeah I guess… I mean I had to think about it and..  I guess everyone else realized before I did, and that sucks ass but, I am pretty damn gay." He locked eyes with Tweek again, his gaze hazy. "And you look really pretty…"

"You are so stoned right now!" Tweek replied, going to take a few more sips of his drink. The way Craig was looking at Tweek made him feel butterflies, but he was so obviously high out of his mind- he couldn't really mean it, right?

"Tweek… I am so serious. You're the prettiest boy in the whole damn school I swear- you-you..  fuck man, I don't know what I'm saying."

"...Clearly." Tweek replied. "I-I'm just going to smoke the rest of this, if you don't mind." 

Craig nodded, focusing more on his drink instead. He still stared at Tweek, his eyes drinking in the way moon light looked on him. It highlighted the curve of his nose in pale light, caressing his gaunt cheekbones and long eyelashes. He even looked pretty smoking a joint, his lips wrapping around it in a way that made Craig's recent realizations about his wants prove more than true. "You look like an angel," he said after a while of silence, feeling the warmth of the alcohol fill him.

"D-dont say cheesy shit like that man!" Tweek replied with a laugh, "I'll think y-you have a crush on me or-or something!" The joint was almost done, looking like it was down to the tips of Tweeks long fingers. Piano hands, Craig remembered.

"Do you still play piano?" He asked quietly, now staring at Tweeks hands.

"Uhh… y-yeah. Thankfully my-my parents never cooked anything or brought any-anything to the house so I got to umm… sorry I got to keep my stuff? S-s-sorry I didn't mean to talk about it."

"No its okay… I'm glad you gotta keep your piano." Craig replied. Tweek was still shivering slightly, and Craig took off his hoodie, handing it to Tweek. Tweek graciously took it, immediately putting it on. He'd tolerate the teenage boy stink if it meant that he'd be warm..  and honestly, Craig didn't smell that bad.

"Thank you," Tweek said, zipping the hoodie up.

"Ready to go back inside?" Craig asked, to which Tweek just shrugged, but got out of the car anyway. The hoodie was so long it actually covered his shorts. Something about the sight made Craig feel warm inside- or maybe that was the alcohol. Either way, the warmth kept him going until they got back into the house, where rain started pattering on the windows. It went unheard over the music.

"You do look really nice tonight, that outfit looks good on you." Craig complimented. It looked like Tweek had even made an attempt to tame his wild blonde hair, though any effort was destroyed by the wind outside.

"I feel l-like a ti-tik tok alt kid circa twenty twenty."Tweek replied bitterly. "But thanks man… B-Bebe just wanted t-to dress me up t-to-FUCK. … Tonight. She just wanted to dress me up tonight."

Craig slid a little closer to him, taking his hand again. It was subconscious. It honestly felt natural. He could feel Kenny gleefully staring at them, he looked up to see the bastard flashing him a thumbs up. "Why'd she wanna do that?"

Instead of a reply, Tweek just smiled awkwardly at him, squeezing his hand. "... I think I need another drink."

"Third beer of the night… I'm surprised you're not a lightweight." Tweek just shrugged.

"M-my bodys been through worse."

They made their way back into the kitchen, which had gotten busier in their absence. Tweek quickly grabbed another beer before he was pushed out of the way by a girl with long black hair, and he and Craig retreated to a corner. "T-too loud in here…" Tweek mumbled.

"Hey queers," Came the ever grating voice of Eric Cartman. "You guys need a room or what?"

"Fuck you-w-wait… is that an offer?" Tweek looked at the larger boy in confusion. Eric had the most smug look on his face, but it wasn't evil… it was so odd.

"Figured if you two fags wanted to hook up you should at least have your own room! They've got a spare bedroom now, I could take you to it." Cartman offered. Craig and Tweek looked at each other incredulously.

"I… we.. we're not gonna fuck, dude." Craig replied, incredibly confused.

".... sure, whatever, but isn't it too loud in here, aren't there too many people here for your autistic asses? Don't you guys wanna confess all your gay feelings and shit?" Craig tensed at that, but nodded. There were too many people here for his autistic ass, actually.

They followed Eric up the stairs to a bedroom that looked like it belonged to Stan's older sister once upon a time, and Eric quickly shut the two of them inside alone. Never in his life did Tweek think Eric Cartman would be his saving grace.

Tweek went to sit on the bed, immediately pulling the blanket up over his legs, kicking off his boots. He leaned back against the wall, letting out a sigh of relief as the noise was finally muffled enough for him to relax.

But now the two were alone. In a room. Together.

Sure they'd been in the car together, but being in a bedroom had more expectations. People would certainly talk, especially since Cartman was absolutely running his mouth right now. "Hey so… we aren't gonna be…y-yknow… sleeping together?"

"I'm not interested in sex." Craig said plainly. It sounded almost rehearsed.

"C-cool! Just checking!" Tweek replied, "me neither… a-anyways um… I guess we could talk?" Craig nodded, sitting on the bed next to him, but reached out to hold Tweeks hand again. Tweek didn't protest. Actually, it was kind of nice.

"W-we held hands all the time when we were kids…" Tweek whispered. Staring at the interlaced fingers between them.

"Yeah… why'd we stop?" Craig asked, his words slurring slightly.

"Cartman called you a fag and you stopped."

"Oh…"Craig had a look of concentration on his face. "... sorry." He mumbled finally, his thumb stroking the back of Tweeks hand. 

"D-dont worry about it. A-a-after that I came out and we stopped talking as much."

"Wait- I thought we stopped talking because your parents got arrested?"

"A-are you kid-kidding me? Dude, I came out and you never texted me again! Y-y-you wouldn't pick up my calls-"

"My dad took my phone that year. Shit grades."

"What-why didn't you say that then?"

"I didn't know you were texting me!" 

Tweek and Craig stared at each other for a moment, mouths agape in mirroring expressions of shock.

"Oh… I… I guess I didn't think to ask… wh-why you weren't picking up."

"And then your parents got arrested and you kind of… you kind of stopped talking to anyone but Wendy and Bebe." 

"Yeah…." Tweek bit his lip in thought, before looking back up at Craig. "Everyone thinks you're a complete dick, you know?"

"I know." 

"I-i-its kind of funny… y-you have a reputation of being such an ass wipe, b-but you've always been nice to me… I mean-usually."

"I like you." Craig stated bluntly, putting his other hand on top of the one he was holding.

"Man, y-you can't say shit like that-"

"No. Tweek. I like you. I have a crush on you. I have for years."

"I-you-I-WHAT?"

[explosionsofchrysanthemums]

Continued impressions of Harvestella, through Spring and the first two towns.

I'm not gonna lie here, I'm actually mid-Autumn in my play through now. This game seriously hooked me in with the story, the cute animals, and farming, of course. Serious binging occured over the weekend.

When we last left off, I was caring for a sleepy human-ish woman, named Aria, whose suit disappeared while she slept in the bed next to mine in my gifted farm house on the hill. I began exploring the first dungeon/Seaslight/Higan Canyon. I made friends with an Omen, the "bad guy" race to other humans in the world, but hey, a small goddess lady told me I needed to save the world, and my interpretation of that is to be nice to everyone. The game doesn't give you true choices in dialogue response, so conversations and quests feel constrained after awhile. I decided early on to love the bomb and not fret about it, or other surface quality issues, like character models or the same few songs used for everything.

I spent my mid-spring mornings tending to my farm and checking in on Cres in town. At one point, she's not wearing her stylistic representation of a lab coat and her undershirt is a tiny strappy thing. I appreciated the animated eye candy. I help her in trying to be the best doctor she can be, because I need to save the world and maybe this is the answer? Maybe, maybe not, but I check up on her and buy some wheat seeds to plant at home later. I start some other villager quests in town, making sure that a group of children remains friends despite it all, and that some lovers find each other again despite it all. Lots of "despite it all" vibes in this world.

Back in the combat part of my life, I'm wandering through Higan Canyon with a robot. At some point, we are joined by the most dramatic and pompous unicorn ever represented in media but he helps save me (after we battle because he's convinced I'm nefarious) so that's cool. I learn how to be a mage! And I shoot ice and lightning!

My robot friend and I eventually make it to the Seat of the Seaslight, where another robot pops out of a portal to tell us we need to battle him for some reason. It seems like this new robot tried to kill my robot friend, so I deduce there's some infighting beyond my lost memory compensation. I also note the portal the new robot came through and the hints of timey-wimey fuckery happening along the periphery. I sense some "off the rails" story lines incoming, and I'm going to be leading my team to some bright new furniture,. I strongly hope.