#or maybe you would need enchantments to make that block radius grow. and instead every time you use the scythe the durability goes down

[gardenoftransexuals]

personally i think mojang should add scythes to minecraft

[snowbellewells]

A Birthday Gift for @itsfabianadocarmo

So I have been LOVING @itsfabianadocarmo​‘s CSR Aesthetic Picsets, and especially the ones telling the story of an alternate S7 in Hyperion Heights, but where Emma was also present as a waitress named Eva Cygnet.  Then, as @itsfabianadocarmo​ and I began to chat on here more, I learned we share the exact same date of birth! (What are the odds?!?) So, my birthday twin, I began plotting a little surprise for you. I hope you’ll like it. It’s just a little one shot to go along with your first picset in that series (which I have hopefully attached so those who haven’t seen it can do so HERE).  I hope you’ll enjoy this - and maybe, if I get a few more WIPs finished, more will accompany this one!

Anyway, I hope you have the very best birthday!! I’ve so enjoyed getting to know you!! :)

“Marmalade and Tea”

by: @snowbellewells​

“What about this place, Tilly?” Rogers questioned his jittery passenger with a sidelong glance as he eased his classic Chevelle into a parking space along the sidewalk. “Looks cozy, hmm?”

Though making a valiant effort to remain patient and upbeat, the vagabond sprite he’d taken into his home and his affections had already shot down every dining establishment in a two block radius and he had begun to fear none would suffice and they’d run out of options. Not for the first time, the worry struck him that he was ill-equipped for the needs and wishes of a young lass such as Tilly. But she was so lost, so vulnerable - scrappy and resourceful as she might first appear - that he hadn’t been able to leave her fending for herself. She tugged at his emotions more than he could understand. All he knew in that moment was that he was far too hungry to get by on the toast and marmalade Tilly usually wanted for supper.

His young companion cocked her head to the side, staring out the passenger window to study the kitschy little diner her detective had indicated. She bit her lip in concentration, and Rogers held his breath, hoping this one might be a winner, until finally she bobbed her tawny head, light-brown waves of her hair rustling as she did so. “Yep! Let’s check it out!”

Without further hesitation or doubt, Tilly flung her door open and hopped out onto the sidewalk excitedly. Shaking his head at the quick change in disposition, Rogers found himself hurrying after her as she practically skipped up the walk toward the diner’s entrance, humming cheerily to herself. For all her deliberation of moments ago, once Tilly made up her mind, he had to admit she threw herself into any given course of action with gusto and commitment.

Catching up to Tilly at the door, Rogers playfully bowed to her with a crooked grin and raised eyebrow, “After you, milady,” he teased in his lilting voice, as he held the door open for her to pass.

To his delight, she giggled, just as he had hoped, her face lighting up with glee at the simple moment of playfulness. Lifting her chin regally, she preceded him into the diner with a haughty toss of her hair, “Why thank you, good sir,” she returned.

As she spoke, her shorter form brushed past him in the entry, and Rogers felt a current of recognition run through him - freezing him in place. It was as if he had spoken those very words, heard her exact response, lived the entire moment before. He blinked, trying to shake his head clear of such impossible nonsense. Not only had he only known Tilly for a few months, but before that he had been utterly alone, no one in his life to joke around with - or even to enjoy a pleasant lunch with as he and Tilly were doing now. He had to be mistaken, and yet…

He glanced to the young runaway, now living in his spare room and filling it to the brim with her colorful, splashy paintings and sketches as well as the trinkets and treasures she picked up on her daily rambles while he was at work. She too appeared startled, wide-eyed as though she were trying to process something which had flashed across her mind’s eye before vanishing again.

For a second, superimposed upon his vision of Tilly before him, he saw a younger version of her, dressed in a pretty dress and pinafore, a much younger iteration of her face gazing up at him in adoration. It was all he could do to hold onto his breath. What was happening to him?

Afraid to share what he had seen, knowing Tilly’s grip on reality could already sometimes be fragile, Rogers tried to push the strange near-reminiscence and the image aside, gesturing toward the counter in question to see if TIlly would prefer a seat there in the tall stools rather than a booth. She too seemed to shake a dazed expression from her face, and nodded, hopping onto the nearest seat quickly. He noticed her agitation though as she softly drummed her fingers on the countertop and swiveled in her seat. 

Rogers wondered briefly if he should ask her what was wrong or let her pretend. Should he find out if she had seen something odd as well, and if so, what? He hated to disturb the equilibrium she had recently found; dreaded upsetting her or encouraging flights from reality. So he bit his tongue with effort and held back his questions. Instead, he asked what she had been working on in her latest art piece, and Tilly launched into a detailed and enthusiastic description of the enchanted setting of some Wonderland in a book she’d read.

Just as he was drawing in a breath of relief and feeling normalcy return, their waitress arrived before them. “Hello, welcome to Ruby Red’s! What can I start you off with today?” The voice was welcoming and pleasant, but lower and less gratingly perky than often assaulted one’s ears in such small, cutesy restaurants. The detective had hardly even picked up his menu, much less perused his choices, and he flushed, embarrassed to the very roots of his dark hair, scruffy cheeks pinking and even the tips of his subtly pointed ears taking on the hue. Tilly noticed, and elbowed him with a snicker, causing Rogers to fumble with the laminated sheet of their offerings and bring up his stiff, gloved hand as well to keep from dropping the menu. He’d been too busy pondering over his strange reverie and observing his younger companion’s disquiet, but she seemed to have thrown that aside and resumed her jovial nature once more, so he attempted to do the same. 

“Ah, hello Lass,” he offered awkwardly, reaching up to scratch behind his ear uncertainly and wishing for at least the hundredth time that he were a bit more suave and self-assured. “Sorry about that, haven’t quite made up my mind yet.” Looking to offer her an apologetic smile, Rogers nearly swallowed his own tongue at the sight before him.

Their waitress was stunning. Surely the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. She was dressed simply in a sleeveless chambray button-down top and khaki skirt that came to mid-thigh toped with short red apron. Yet, even with her bright fall of blond hair pulled back in a ponytail and dark, plastic-framed glasses on her nose, she was dazzling to his senses.

“That’s quite alright,” she assured with an easy smile. “Maybe just your drink orders while you decide?”

“Right you are, Miss…” he paused, stumbling over his words and inherent politeness when he realized he didn’t know her last name. “Ah... Eva?” he finished sheepishly as his eyes found the small plastic nametag she wore.

Not seeming in the least put off by his nerves or fumbling manner - in fact, if Tilly, who was watching the exchange with a deviously pleased grin and avid interest, were any sort of judge, their pretty waitress seemed decidedly charmed. Nodding, the woman hurried to answer him. “Yep, Eva, that’s right. Eva Cygnet.” She reached out to shake his hand only to find that he hesitated to offer his, leading her eyes to fall on the prosthetic she had failed to notice. Rogers’ eyes fell to the countertop, lips pressed together in a firm line, but his head shot back up in surprise when she laid her hand atop his gloved replacement appendage, kindly adding, and holding his gaze until it was clear she meant her words and that the false hand didn’t bother her at all. “Glad you decided to visit us today, Mr. …?”

“Rogers,” the detective spoke up, confidence growing in his voice as he marveled at the woman’s simple kindness and understanding. “Joel Rogers, Hyperion Heights detective.” His cheeks flushed again, not sure why he’d added that part, but holding her gaze all the same.

Tilly, however, was now completely won over. Seeing the change that had come over her friend and benefactor in the short exchange with this Eva Cygnet, and just how amazed he seemed by her mere presence, Tilly was practically beaming. With a bounce of enthusiasm, she chirped, “Best on the force, that’s him!”

Ms. Cygnet chuckled easily, flattering laughlines crinkling the corners of eyes that might have seemed a bit tired when she first reached their seats, but now appeared friendly and amused. “Good to know,” she said seriously, turning her attention to Tilly then. “If we have any trouble here, I’ll know just who to call.”

Tilly nodded smartly, reaching out to shake Eva Cygnet’s hand readily and then adding, “And you don’t have to wait on my order, either. Could I just have toast with butter and orange marmalade and a glass of milk?”

Eva’s head tilted as if uncertain, and possibly even trying to decide if the younger woman was playing some sort of trick on her.  She scrunched her nose in a thoughtful way that made Rogers want to reach out and tap the tip of it with his finger, an urge he barely managed to wrestle down. Finally, the waitress seemed to make up her mind, and with a shrug, jotted Tilly’s order on her pad. “If you’re sure that’s all you want, you can certainly have it. Our bread is baked fresh right here in our kitchen every day - and Granny makes the preserves herself as well - best I’ve ever tasted.”

“Granny?” Tilly repeated curiously as she looked at their server.

“Oh yeah, sorry,” Eva offered. “Mrs Lucas, the owner. Most of us have worked here forever, so it’s almost like family, and that’s what we all call her. She told me her name was Granny when she hired me.” Shaking her head, she leaned in closer to Tilly in a conspiratorial whisper. “We just finally got her to take a two week vacation for the first time in years. She went to Colorado to see her granddaughter and her husband and great-grandkids. He’s some sort of woodsman, forestry officer, something like that, and they live in a national park basically. Granny’s been thinking about it for ages, and Ruby - this place is named after her - keeps begging her to, saying she and Pete would love to have her stay with them. And so she finally did it!”

Tilly’s eyes were shining, looking as thrilled with the happy story as if she too knew the people Eva spoke of so fondly. “Wow,” she commented. “That sounds amazing.”

“Yup,” Eva confirmed, with a bob of her head, “but look at me gabbing on when you’d probably like your food sometime today!”

She turned to Joel then, a patient look on her face and pen poised to take down his order as well. He would never have assumed it had anything to do with him (it did) but she looked flushed and more than a bit apologetic, and he wanted to tell her that he would listen to her stories all day. She could read them the entire menu word-for-word, and he would welcome it if that was what it took to keep her near.

“What would you recommend?” he questioned instead, brow furrowing in consternation as he almost added “Love” at the end of his request.

Eva grinned, offering her pick without hesitation. “This may sound crazy. I’ve been told more than once I’ve got the palate of a 10-year-old, but I’d have the grilled cheese club. The bread’s all crisp and buttery and there’s this secret sauce and bacon in the cheese. It’s just melty, perfect goodness.”

Winking at her, badly, both eyes seeming to close as if unable to work independently, Rogers took her at her word. “Sold! That does sound delicious, maybe with a side of - “

“Onion rings?”

“Yes, exactly! Brilliant, Lass.”

“You have good taste,” Eva Cygnet offered sagely. “I’ll always pick onion rings over fries myself. And to drink?”

“Iced tea, please,” he concluded, handing his menu to her as Tilly did the same.

When she had taken off to place the order, assuring them it wouldn’t be long, Tilly nudged him repeatedly, looking all-too-excited. “Was that flirting?!?” she half-whispered, half-squealed in a tone that felt entirely too noticeable to Rogers’ ears. “Ohmygoodness! Adorable! I’ve never seen you like that, Detective!” More nudging and giggling followed, even after Eva returned with their food, until Joel honestly wanted to slide under the counter and out of sight. However, the food was as delicious as promised, and he found himself happy in a way he hadn’t been in some time - despite any lingering embarrassment.

Tilly seemed to feel the same satisfaction, even asking Eva when she returned with the bill and to hear what they thought of the food, if they sold the marmalade by the jar.

“Not yet, I’m afraid,” Eva laughed good naturedly as she rang them up. “Though I’ve been telling Granny she should.” She paused for a second as Joel offered her a twenty and her fingers deftly made change. “You’ll just have to come back often to have more.”

Her words were spoken to Tilly, but her glance darted over to take in the handsome dark-haired detective as well, hopeful as they studied his face quickly before flickering away again. 

“That we will,” Tilly affirmed, her look bouncing back and forth between her friend and the waitress mischievously. “Don’t you worry.”

“Aye,” Rogers added with his own crooked smile, reaching out to take his receipt. “I’ve no doubt we’ll be returning often.”

His words cut off abruptly when he and Eva’s fingers touched. The thin cash register paper crumpled as their fingertips met, and his calloused fingers brushed her soft palm. Pictures flashed behind his eyes - of her golden hair cascading loose from her ponytail and his hand tangling in it, of her in a pale pink dress and his favorite leather jacket draped over her shoulders, the two of them sitting by the water somewhere passing a flask of rum back and forth, her fingers clutching at his collar desperately while she hauled him to her for a kiss, surrounded by green leaves and sticky humid air. It was all the more shocking for his having so recently experienced something so similar with Tilly, but if possible this with Eva Cygnet was even more intense. There was no way to deny what he saw - or the way it made him feel.

Eva said nothing, but was similarly arrested by pictures in her own mind: this man before her running his tongue along his lower lip as he flirts with her shamelessly, opening an old-fashioned spyglass with his mouth and then offering it to her as well, brushing her hair back over her shoulder with a hook at the end of his arm in place of the prosthetic, him standing with her by some sort of well, holding out a ring on a necklace chain.

Both of detective and waitress stumbled backward with similarly stunned gasps for air. Their hands fell to their sides, Rogers’ flexing unconsciously as if he had been shocked, and the receipt falling forgotten to the floor between them.

Neither were able to speak, until another customer behind them cleared his throat impatiently, and Tilly linked her arm through the detective’s, propelling him toward the door. “Thanks! We’ll see you soon.”

Eva moved to ring up the next tab, but her fingertips danced over her lips briefly, as if feeling the tingle of a kiss that didn’t happen. “Good,” she thought to herself. She could only hope those words were true.

Tagging just a few others who might enjoy (or have seen enjoying the aesthetic inspiration!) : @kmomof4​ @searchingwardrobes​ @jennjenn615​ @whimsicallyenchantedrose​ @tiganasummertree​

[sleepymarmot]

Adventures in house-hunting, gardening, and modding, feat. Lakeview Manor & Breezehome

A lot of the stuff in the previous post was happening on my way back to Whiterun to finally buy a house here... I do a favor for a jarl here and suddenly buy land from him. Okay...

The garden is pretty disappointing. I'm excited to grow ingredients, but I expected it to be pretty! Wild flowers are pretty and grow near each other, this looks terrible. I hoped to have my own colorful patch of flowers that attacts butterflies and bees... And why can't I grow a full size juniper tree if I want?

Also the interface flickers between "harvest" and "re-plant" pretty fast, and the harvest option doesn't have the enhanced UI mod's captions :(

It's also slightly immersion breaking that I can smith with only an anvil, but no proper forge. And I generally don't feel safe leaving it all out in the open, especially in the middle of nowhere...

Why can't I dismiss a steward without a mod?!

Why do I have to build an entire useless hall if I just want an arcane enchanter and an alchemy lab?

It's completely absurd that I can build a bedroom OR a greenhouse OR an enchanting tower. What if I want all of these, but none of the east wing options?

I finally reached Whiterun and bought Breezehome... Time to waste several hours on deciding between different mods, namely Breezehome TNF - Elianora's Flavour and Breezehome FullyUpgradable.

TNF works out of the box and is very beautiful. My favourite things are planters inside and outside the house, part pre-planted so they look pretty already, part free for me to choose. A detail that instantly made me like the mod before I even entered the house: chimney from the basement forge. And the tower is also very cool, obviously (with more planters!!). But sometimes it can be too much, like that armory with red carpet. That said, I love the bath; it's obscenely luxurious, but I feel like my Argonian needs it.

FullyUpgradeable: Garden! That was my biggest selling point from the screenshots. It looks like I expected the vanilla gardens to look. It's convenient to have all crafting stations in the same room, though the guy is right: who the hell puts a smelter and a tanning rack in their basement?! Another plus is that the vanilla alchemy table on the second floor was replaced by a generic "study", so I can replace it with the children's room without hesitation. All upgrades have to be bought separately which makes it feel less like cheating. But it took a long time, I kept running out of money and missing the dialogue I needed -- which had only happened once or twice in the entire game before this mod! And I didn't really need all the storage -- I carry everything in my infinite inventory -- and without all upgrades, the basement looks too big and bare. When I first came down there, it was like a freaking metro station! Not to mention the rest of the lower area -- I was just looking for a small convenient house... Speaking of storage, the alchemy and enchantment containers are cool but I'm not about to return here for every single slow potion or banishment iron dagger! I live and work everywhere and this is just one of my stations, no reason to keep my resources here.

I wanted to try out every Hearthfire option myself, but watched videos instead and came to the conclusion that the vanilla houses are irreparably empty and ugly. The only thing I want to build is the greenhouse because it attracts insects, plus the two crafting tables -- is it worth to build a giant hall just for that? I'd be better off with a modded house that is pretty and useful from the start, instead of trying to polish this turd. There are mods for Hearthfire that swap the contents of the wings but is it worth it? Like, when it comes to mods I struggle choose the most beautiful option, and with the vanilla house I search for the least shitty.

I wonder if I can duplicate the "fertile soil" with Jaxonz Positioner... If so then I can make my Lakeview garden more lush and copy it over to Breezehome, right? And I should also try the version by Lupus since it's intentionally simpler which I want too. I actually like the simple and cozy vanilla Breezehome, and I'd like to preserve the general feeling, just with some polish and practical additions. I don't get why I'd need display cases or mannequins -- especially since they can glitch and start walking around! I prefer furniture that doesn't give me heart attacks, thank you very much!

The following testing was all done with FullyUpgradeable.

Okay, copying fertile soil doesn't work. This page recommends the "build fertile soil/planters" mod that I've already been eyeing.

Jaxonz cant't multiselect, but turns out there are other options! Cobb Positioner + Atronach Crossing looks powerful... I don't even think this is cheating at this point, the amount of effort is no less than buying stuff through the vanilla mechanics.

Testing Cobb Positioner. First of all, it can't copy-paste. Second, I wanted multiselect specifically for moving potted plants, and it selected the pot with no problem but managed to select a plant only once in all of my attempts. Third, I can't move the crafting equipment in the house ("Can't select this object, something is blocking it"); their counterparts in the city and other interactible objects work fine. It's probably because the modded Breezehome ones are molded into the house just like the fence.

Oh right, there's "Select console ref" for the normally unselectable objects! Now it doesn't even want to select the pot without that, lol. But it doesn't work well on plants, either: leaves stuff behind. I could move parts of the fence that way, but the crafting equipment still returns error messages.

Testing Craftable Hearthfire Planters. It requires Campfire which I don't need and which also for some reason conflicts with Simply Knock (why?!) The "Fertile Soil" activator is in a very large radius around the planter. Every time I activate the soil, it also shows the planter's "What do you do? Use/Pick Up/Exit" even if it doesn't have a pot. I can't move the soil with Cobb Positioner (but maybe I’m doing something wrong).

Atronach doesn't have fences :( Bye then

So, here's the interaction between the positioners and the fertile soil (both vanilla ones and the craftable mod ones). When you move the soil with something planted in it, the plant stays behind. It stays until respawn in about three days, when the old plant is deleted and replaced with a new one. The plant respawns even if it wasn't harvested and doesn't need to refresh the model. While the plant is waiting to respawn, it can be moved to the new spot separately. All of this is probably ABCs to anyone familiar with this game's mechanics, but I needed to see it for myself.

What if I planted the garden by simple copy-pasting, without reusable fertile soil? It'd be more of a pain to re-plant it, of course. And it'd be almost purely for aesthetics, not harvesting. Normal plants respawn after 10 days and only if you don't visit the cell at all during that time; Hearthfire plants respawn every three days and you only need to leave the cell once.

Tried House Decorations - Plants and Flowers. The plant and the planter are a single active object that can be taken -- so, they can’t be harvested at all, and they’re bad decoration because the “take” message appears every time you mouse over them which is almost as irritating as Craftable Hearthfire Planters. Pass...

I think my Whiterun is broken. It refuses to reset after 10 days -- plants can’t be harvested, dead bodies lie in the middle of the street. I’ve noticed that the plants have never reset before, but I thought it was because of the bug Flora Respawn Fix would solve. But it’s like the entire cell is stuck. The flowers inside my house, Arcadia’s Cauldron’s shelves and all merchants’s inventories reset normally. Now I’m waiting for 30 days to see if that does the trick, even though it shouldn’t. Why make the player wait at all irl? I’m so tired of all this troubleshooting. I want to go back to adventures. 

At least I found out that toggling free camera (tfc) makes waiting much quicker for some reason. Isn’t it possible to make a fast waiting mod based on that -- whenever player activates waiting, toggle camera back and forth?

I read advice on the internet to fast travel and wait in another location (I was waiting in houses inside the city and just outside the city walls). I came back, and it worked! The bodies disappeared and the “normal” lavender in the city (that was in the game from the start) respawned.

My test plants didn’t respawn -- but I finally figured out why! That’s because I copied them from the planters. I guess they’re just dummies without any respawn mechanic of their own, all scipts are inside the planter. Should have figured that out sooner, since even the models are different, and they respawn where the planter is, not the original plant... Eh, better late than never. Whew, that’s a relief! Of course this makes things a bit more complicated -- I thought I’d just grow stuff in a pot and then move it to open ground. But now looks like I have to bring them from their natural habitat. Can Jaxonz positioner go across load screens? I think it has a function to put items in the inventory. I guess I can just spawn anything I want with the console, somehow this option has never even occured to me during all this... But I guess this feels too cheaty. The point is not to build a Super Cheating Free Alchemy Area to break my game. The point is to make my property as pretty, functional and customized as possible. I can’t do it irl, let me at least have a house and garden of my dreams in a game! Give me my wish fulfillment!!!

Alright, I think I’ll stick with Breezehome by Lupus, at least for now. It’s simple and cozy so it doesn’t look drastically more luxurious than the rest of Whiterun and fits my character’s progression -- when I get obscenely rich, maybe I upgrade to a more overwrought mod. I like the rustic style -- and it’s very green with a lot of ivy (which I wish I could take...) and hanging moss. I kinda like that most of the clutter is bolted to the shelves -- in other houses I took all of the pretty gems and stuff out of habit / to see if they respawn somehow, which ruined the design, and it’d be hard to stop myself from doing that repeatedly.

Finally, I could leave Whiterun and take care of my other house. I completed my plans -- built an animal pen, made Lydia a steward and was about to move on... but it felt wrong. This isn’t a “manor” for me -- it’s a tiny refuge away from busy streets. I just come here to tend to my garden, craft something, rest for a bit and then be on my way. Why invite a stranger to live here, why make it a farm?

(And then, visiting Whiterun next time, I discovered that Lydia invites herself to Breezehome anyway. And I feel so possessive of them after all this trouble... Oh well.)

I did build an apiary, that fit the image. And now I think... I’m done? The garden is pretty good now with More soils for Hearthfires gardens -- though it’s hard to make picturesque because the plants come more or less in only two sizes. Maybe I should try to enlarge some of them... I started bringing stuff to decorate the house both inside and outside, so it looks more inhabited now. I even managed to bring some ivy at last! So I think I’m finally ready to return to the game proper -- I have only discovered about half of the major locations and they’re getting old!