#but them dating is a canon event the longevity of the relationship is up for debate tho

[astererer]

5, 9, 11, 28, 33, 34, 48, and 56 for Cleo and Kaz? (I love them i need more of them)

Ask meme here

under the cut for length!!

5. Can they cry on command? If so, what do they think about to make it happen?

Cleo

Yes she can!! She only cries on command for two reasons:

She finds anyone that isn’t a very feminine and cute girl super unattractive from a dating standpoint, to the point that if someone she isn’t attracted to tries flirting with her she will intentionally make a scene to either make herself as unappealing as possible or make them look like they’ve done something wrong. Is this incredibly shallow and unpleasant of her? Yeah. Does she care? No. She knows exactly what she’s doing. it’s a defence mechanism for her.

On rare occasions if a customer is being particularly rude at her barista job and she can’t be bothered with being professional. If she’s tired and someone starts having a go at her for being “too slow” at making their order with like 5 alterations to it she will turn on the water works and pretend to be a new hire to make them feel bad. Does not do this with regulars for obvious reasons. Her manager doesn’t care and actively plays into it sometimes because she thinks it’s funny.

Doesn’t have one specific thought, instead pulls up various bad memories so she doesn’t get too used to the same thing being used too often. Was bullied a lot in elementary school, so has a lot of options to choose from.

Kaz

No. Doesn’t like crying in general because to him it shows weakness. If he ever cries it is genuine but private.

9. Do they give tough love or gentle love most often? Which do they prefer to receive?

Cleo

Prefers to give and receive gentle love. She doesn’t like tough love because teasing and what others may consider playful insults among friends remind her too much of the bullying she’s experienced. Just wants to be cuddled and doted on and would like to do the same for her favourite people in turn.

Kaz

Gives tough love to most people he cares for with a few exceptions and is used to receiving it in turn, but won’t turn down gentle love from the right person. Kind of craves the softness but at the same time it makes him sort of uncomfortable because he’s just not used to it. Gets kind of freaked out if anyone other than Aster, Cleo or @peachsodama ‘s Pecha are soft/gentle with him, and all three of them had to work over varying periods of time to get to where they are with him in their respective relationships.

11. If someone was impersonating them, what would friends / family ask or do to tell the difference?

Cleo

Put a friendly and cute ghost type like a pumpkaboo next to her. If it’s the real Cleo she will probably have a panic attack before passing out from fright, due to having an extremely intense fear of ghost types. An impersonator would likely not react anywhere near Cleo’s level, or if they tried to it would be pretty obviously exaggerated.

Kaz

Get the impersonator to play guitar. Kaz is a skilled guitarist and has his own unique playing style + alternative tuning preferences. If anyone else was just handed one of his guitars and expected to play something they would likely assume the instrument was out of tune and start messing with the strings, a dead giveaway for not being who they claim to be.

28. What do they tell people they want? What do they actually want?

Cleo

Tells people she just wants to have a good time. To have an easy and uncomplicated life with nothing to worry about and plenty of time to spend partying with her friends. A cute girlfriend would also be nice.

Deep down she wants her DJ side gig to take off and be taken seriously within the world of electronic music, but kind of knows she’s dug her own hole with her internet presence as pokétwitter’s most annoying Klara stan. She wants fame and success but the risk of being tarred by her own actions makes her hesitant to fully commit beyond playing sets at friends’ parties and local shows.

Kaz

Tells people he wants the band to take off and to be able to make an actual living off it. He wants the fame and attention and the travel. He wants to perform to crowds of thousands. He likes to think he would give everything he has to achieve this.

What he really wants is truly unconditional love. The sort a parent is meant to give except his never did. Doesn’t know how to ask for it anyway and finds it kind of embarrassing.

33. How do they greet someone they dislike / hate?

Cleo

Actively avoids people she dislikes if she can. If avoidance is impossible she’ll blank them or make it abundantly clear she finds the other person’s presence repulsive. Pulls a face like she’s smelt something rancid and says something along the lines of “oh….. it’s you” 😒 before walking off.

Kaz

With a precision aimed insult designed specifically to provoke the other person into trying to hit him. Then he has an excuse to hit back. Actively looks for fights he can start with people he hates.

34. How do they greet someone they like / love?

Cleo

Hugs and kisses on the cheeks for her besties!! If she has a girlfriend they will be greeted with more kisses and getting spun around or picked up if Cleo is strong enough to lift them. Otherwise she will jump for them to catch her instead. Always very excited to see the people she likes spending time with. Will tone down on the kisses though if a friend finds that too much.

Kaz

Playful insults (e.g. Romy frequently gets a “what’s up, cumslut?”) or just a casual wave of the hand with a lopsided grin. Plays it cool. Cleo gets scooped up in a hug though without any insults because she is Much More Sensitive than his other friends. Usually he wouldn’t make such an exception but she is like the little sister that he never had.

If he’s dating someone he will greet them by kissing them with tongue and maybe grabbing their ass.

48. Who would they say ‘yes’ to if invited to do something they abhorred / strongly didn’t want to do?

Cleo

If she has a girlfriend she will say yes to anything she asks of her. Even if that meant going to an opera or through a haunted house or going/doing anything else she finds boring or scary. Cleo would watch paint dry if the girl she’s dating asked her to. A simp through and through.

Kaz

Heidi can ask Kaz to go or do anything and he will likely say yes. He craves their validation and will put up with stuff he finds incredibly boring and tedious if it means they’ll approve.

Will also do things for Aster even if he’d probably hate it because he loves her. She doesn’t demand much and when she does invite or ask him to do/go somewhere she knows he wouldn’t like, she makes sure to make it up to him later.

56. If they’re scared, who do they want comfort from? Does this answer change depending on the type of fear?

Cleo

Runs home crying to her parents every time. Still pretty attached to her parents and seeks them out for comfort 9 times out of 10. They kind of baby Cleo, to the exasperation of her sister. If they can’t tend to her she will go to her girlfriend (if she has one) or Kaz if he’s not busy. Otherwise she will just cuddle one of her pokemon until the fear passes.

Kaz

Tries to deal with his fear on his own, and doesn’t like showing it to other people. If he can’t deal on he own, Kaz will go to Heidi, Aster or Romy but won’t outright look for comfort. Instead he will act antsier than usual and refuse to talk about whatever’s bothering him unless it’s painstakingly coaxed out. If they’re all busy he doesn’t really know where to go. Tries to distract himself by grooming his pokemon if that’s something he can do in the moment.

#oc cleo #oc kaz #ask meme #additional info: #cleo went from being a cute ditz with an evil stan shitter account to a shallow bitch aaaahahahaha #i like making my characters kinda mean lol #ftr cleo would date a trans woman as long as said woman met her standards #she’s not a transphobe none of my characters are hahaha #when i say respective relationships re cleo aster and pecha + kaz i wanna clarify #aster and kaz have romantic ties to one another while cleo and pecha are friends only #have not decided if kaz and aster are still together or exes it kind of depends on the timeline lol #i like throwing both of them at other ocs and canon characters too hahaha #but them dating is a canon event the longevity of the relationship is up for debate tho #love that i tagged u in this despite bringing up your own oc lmaooooo #like YOU’re the one who asked hahaha

[infamousbrad]

Should you read the 1984 sequel "Julia"?

You may not have heard that the Orwell estate authorized author Sandra Newman to write a canonical parallel story to George Orwell's justly-famous book 1984. (Yes, that 1984.) I'd be surprised if you hadn't at least pretended to read the original, it's frequently assigned in school, the jargon he created is quoted heavily in politics and journalism, the book itself nearly universally praised as the greatest ever dystopian science fiction novel.

1984's protagonist, Winston Smith, works for the "Ministry of Truth" ("Mini-True") in the Records Department, editing old newspapers and library books to eradicate any mention of facts embarrassing to the ruling English Socialist Party ("EngSoc").

Over the course of the book he drifts into "thoughtcrime" (questioning the party's right to rule) and "sexcrime" (an adulterous relationship with Julia Worthing, a much lower-ranking party member who also works in Mini-True, as a mechanic who repairs the novel-writing machines in PornoSec, the pornography section).

At the end of the original novel, they get caught by the "Ministry of Love" and successfully tortured into denouncing each other on national TV, and brainwashed into actually loving Big Brother, then released into the public as forcibly ostracized "un-persons" pending their inevitable execution dates.

What Julia: A Novel Adds to That Story

Newman's novel tells the exact same story, treating all of the events of Orwell's 1984 as canonical (or at least, true as far as Winston knows). It starts before Orwell's book, ends a couple of days after the end of Orwell's book, and is told entirely from Julia Worthing's point of view. And hers is an interesting point of view because, as mentioned in Orwell's novel, Julia is a lot younger than Winston, a lot less political, and far more cynical. Oh, she's a victim of the regime, but she has none of Winston's pessimism about the Party's pretended omnipotence, omniscience, or eternal longevity.

In Newman's Julia, we find out that her private nickname for Winston is "Old Misery," and to her, the moment all becomes clear is the scene (in both books) where, after the first time they have sex in a rented room in a prole (non-party-member) neighborhood antique shop, Winston tells her that by defying the Party, they have both sentenced themselves to torture and death, that Mini-Love will catch them and kill them but it's worth it to him to have these few days of imagining what it would be like to be free, and (in both novels) Julia chews him out for saying this. Winston has given up on out-living EngSoc, but Julia absolutely has not.

Questions You Might Want Answered before Reading

I have more thoughts about this, a lot more, but it's too early to get that spoilery; anything else I write will be posted under a cut in later blog posts. But right now, you're probably asking yourself the same questions I asked when the book was first announced, and I can answer some of those without spoilers.

"Should I even care that this book exists?" Mostly only if you're a fan of the original. I'm a big fan of 1984, I've probably read it all the way through (voluntarily!) at least four times, maybe five. A book that respects the text and yet has actually interesting things to say about it was inherently attractive to me. Maybe you would also enjoy it if you're a fan of what's now sometimes being called "hopepunk," realistic dystopian fiction about people who haven't given up on making things better yet.

"Has it been updated to modern times?" Absolutely not. You have to treat this as an alternate history where both the United States and Great Britain had successful communist revolutions in 1973, a "what if it had happened" instead of the near-future sci-fi it was when Orwell wrote it in 1948.

"Is it rape-exploitation porn?" Flatly not. The novel acknowledges that rape exists as a weapon of war and that there are women who are raped, and if by a party member then often with impunity. But these are not things that happen to any of the characters in the book.

"Does the dog die?" It is mentioned that, during the English version of the Holodomor, some people ate stray dogs and cats to survive. But no beloved pets are threatened, let alone injured, in the course of this novel, nor are any animal deaths incorporated into the actual story.

"How grim is it?" Julia, who has processed her trauma differently than Winston, is not a chronic depressive and that, all by itself, goes a long way towards making even the grimmest parts of the book less stressful to read than the original. And while I don't want to spoil what the ending is (I really don't!), I can assure you that Julia gets a good first approximation of an actually-happy ending.

"What's Newman's message, here?" I don't blame you for asking, given that Orwell wrote, and intended, 1984 as anti-communist propaganda, after his gruesome experiences after the Soviets took over the anti-fascist resistance during the Spanish Civil War. Newman clearly shows me, at least, that she's specifically aware of soviet communist atrocities and the specific failures that resulted (after Orwell's time) in the fall of the Soviet Union, but that's not her personal obsession. If I read it right, her message is that during times of extreme oppression, when you're not in a position to actually bring down the regime, mere survival with a relatively clean conscience is a revolutionary act, is still heroic.

#george orwell #1984 #sandra newman #julia a novel #harper collins #dystopia #hopepunk #alternate history

[cateringisalie]

My list of bearable Binal Bantasy VII tags is thinning...

But seriously. Being skeptical of Tifa’s narration of past events is not without merit. By the time the Lifestream scene rolls around she has been through three comas and some grevious injuries. The Lifestream scene is as revelatory for her as it is for Cloud.

The new assertion she was in any way actually friends with Cloud is not only in conflict with the OG’s portrayal but counter to Cloud’s development, her development, the growth of their relationship as adults and why (in general) people have them stay together post game.

Its unnecessary, frustrating and further damaging Tifa’s character who is spinning off further from who she was.

That Tifa and Cloud were not actually childhood friends does not mean they do not have a relationship in FFVII. It does not mean they cannot be together. Tifa “falling in love” with Cloud at the water-tower does not for a second make their later relationship any more meaningful.

All this new ship information does is make the relationship have longer longevity than previously assumed. As if whichever relationship has lasted longer is betterer and stronger. As if this should automatically undercut any other relationship Cloud or Tifa can possibly experience.

(in fact - and darkly cynically - this feels a lot more like enforcing that Cloud/Tifa and Zack/Aerith operate in near exactly the same way. The pairs fall in love in record time (two years prior to the Nibelheim incident both times as far as I’m ware), the boys go missing and the girls never move on with their lives. I get the boys have gone missing without a shred of explanation or closure, but now for both of them people are willing to wipe out a quarter of their lives waiting. Teenagers are resilient you know? They will be inconsolable if this happened but they would bounce back a lot faster and cleaner than they would expect. The approval of the never moving on this is purely to keep the shipping uncomplicated. There can only be one pairing for Tifa, there can only be one pairing for Aerith. And if you think otherwise you’re wrong in canon. And who wants to write or read about a non-canon ship? Unless its yaoi/yuri in any case. I am so tired)

Childhood friends incidentally is not, however much some insist, a common trope of the series - unless you stretch it a fair amount and it encompasses a trivial number of the pairings. And none of the big ones (you know; Squall/Rinoa or Tidus/Yuna).

Could Tifa do with more backstory? Of course. Did Tifa’s mother deserve a name? Absolutely! But not like this. Not when Cloud helping round up cats in Remake is now tied to finding Tifa’s cat in a new authored backstory. This speaks again to the constant magpie-ing of existing imagery and moments from older parts of FFVII to feed the present. The retconning in of importance by changing the meaning of otherwise unimportant moments.

Tifa is not and never was under any obligation to like Cloud as a child. She did not bully him, but neither should she expected to involve him in anything she did. I understand the book has muddied this gloriously, but for what effect?

I mean, I know where the desperation to make Cloud and Tifa childhood friends stems from. I know why you want Cloud to have fallen in love with Tifa at like age 5 or something and for Tifa to fall in love with him at 13. And I rail against it all the time that its not necessary. Being first does not mean better.

Maybe I am old, cynical and exhausted, but I kind of like watching Cloud and Tifa grow closer in FFVII. I like watching Cloud and Aeris grow closer in FFVII. I like to experience these things where I can... experience them? I don’t like reading books which assert things in blunt statements that clarify exactly what the writer intended. I certainly don’t have the patience to wait for a later book to clarify what happened on-screen when I have drawn my own conclusions based on my preferences. Especially as this is all contributing to that continued sense that the OG is a smelly, badly designed embarrassment we would rather tiday away for the crime of being graphically inferior (never mind it was championed on its looks on release) and “goofy” (and apparently unable to run the gamut of emotions I remember from serious to comedy, to silly, to tragic, to pessimistic and quietly optimistic and moving).

I’m coming back to this point to stress it - I want to see the relationship growth. Remake gave me that for Aerith and Cloud even if the details aren’t to my taste. First meeting is awkward because hey, random stranger/Cloud is tired. Cloud gets involved and spends more time with Aerith. And the high-five thing is used as a clumsy/awkward/eh but clear metaphor for how their relationship develops over the course of their time together.

To the point that yes, it makes sense for Cloud to want to rescue her. Less sense for Elmyra and Tifa to be “Well they might not vivisect her” and then delay for two full chapters, but the whole thing flows.

And here’s where I get accused of being a fake fan: I don’t like how Cloud and Tifa’s relationship develops in Remake. Flirting. Tifa being mildly fazed by Cloud claiming its been five years. Scared when he almost kills Johnny. Maybe hurt depending on your resolution scene (hey podcast people! No Gold Saucer multiple dates because too expensive? How are there branched resolution scenes in Remake then?). But there isn’t growth. They seem to fit into each other’s lives without worry, bit of flirting, strange super-intense moments jammed into inappropriate sequences (the train roll, climbing the plate, Cloud remembering the promise unprompted, Tifa not actually engaged with Avalanche’s plans). There’s no sense anything has changed between them, the missed five years has done anything to them.

And I’m sure some would take this as proof of correctness. But... somehow Remake is better for realism despite a lot of new clumsy, but this relationship is not dinged for being implausible? No way does that five year gap not seriously impact any prior relationship to say nothing of developing from scratch.

See this was a neat thing about the OG; while Tifa seemed to have an edge over Aerith by knowing Cloud longer, he was in effect meeting them at the same point in his life and more or less starting from scratch with both. Both ships are valid, and even if Cloud is with Tifa come the end, it doesn’t mean he can’t have romantic feelings about both women.

Oh, but Nojima has changed his mind/always intended it this way. And? I can change my mind about liking what he’s written - and my patience and tolerance of Nojima has waned massively since 1997. To the point where his involvement invokes a pained groan from me.

Plus the hilarious attitude that this is from the same people who insisted “the OG will always be there, stop moaning about Remake”. Well guess what? I don’t like Remake and I don’t really want it around. The OG is better.

Yes, Tifa is under-served and sure, it could be clearer about shipping (but the apparent hostility to ambiguity and personal interpretation is deeply distressing. These things can mean something to you and don’t have to mean the same thing to everyone. Interpreting the romancs - again - not a competition).

BUT

I will take the OG version of Tifa where she believed in the cause, where she had friends (again, yes, the relationship between Tifa and the rest of Avalanche is not well depicted, but it was better than actively curtailing it), where she ran a bar THAT ACTUALLY OPENED AND SERVED CUSTOMERS, where she hated Shinra, where she didn’t know how to treat Cloud because she had only really talked to him once in her life and DESPITE THAT that they great closer and spent their last night before THE END OF THE WORLD together over the Remake.

Where Tifa is wary of Cloud for about 5 seconds, twice and then defaults to constant flirting. Where Cloud is near smothering Tifa every second they’re together and she doesn’t tell him to fuck off once. Where she’s allied with Avalanche but hates their methods (and the pacifists are in a shop around the corner and she is not with them because...?). Where she has some absurd contrived plot about medical bills and buying Seventh Heaven for Barret and Marlene.

Which would lead to a whole other rant titled “Marle is the Worst” but this has dragged on quite long enough.

But seriously; if you argue that we can’t hate Remake because OG is always there, then you have to stop applying Remake back to OG and using it as proof. Which is exactly why many people bemoaned the Remake at all. OG is one thing, Remake is another. I don’t care for the latter.

And I know if anyone does read all this it will be about the meanie Cleriths who diminish Tifa for no good reason. And yes, they are indeed acting in bad faith. But what makes you think for a second evidence will convince these people?

In particular, the argument has raged so long and always will because if people do not like a ship they will not accept it as canon (if they care about this as a factor) NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS. Literally. Look at Loki if you want the most recent example of this.

Canon is to many “what I want” and often does not tally with the general interpretation. And you know, if being “canon” or guessing right early wasn’t triumphed as such a vital thing, we might not get these really terrible and pointless arguments.

Canon is a prize but here’s the big secret: fandom - in general - does not care. FFVII is an excellent case example given Sefikura overwhelms the other ships (and I think AZGSC is close?). And that’s not canon. That’s not even in the ballpark of the Cloud/Tifa vs Cloud/Aerith arena (even give that the former is roughly twice the size of the latter, you already won, so please stop?). Canon is only important if you think its important - and you get some more official art of sequences you can gif. And maybe you get kissing/implied sex/marriage/kids, but most of all you get a smug sense of superiority. And the last is why I have no patience with this.

[awellboiledicicle]

Mok’s Mods List

Because sometimes people wanna play Stardew, but better.

Stardew Lottery Letters by Jokerine

Replaces letters from Mom/dad with Lotto letters, in case you don’t wan your parents anywhere near your escapism.

Animal Sitter by jwdred

Have an NPC pet, feed, and harvest from your animals so you can focus on exploring etc. Can toggle whether you pay the npc or not. I have my pet do it and idk where the cat spends the money but its amusing.

Skull Cavern Elevator by bifibi

What it says on the tin, can adjust on what interval the elevators show up. I go for 5.

Better Fruit Trees by catcattycat

Lets you plant the trees where you want, because sometimes you wanna line a fence with trees and it’s harder to get fruit if you have a fence/crops near by. Works with Replanter.

Range Display by catcattycat

Cycle through a visual indicator of the ranges of scarecrows, bee houses, sprinklers, and jumino huts. Helps if you’re bad at counting squares. Helps plan out crop plots.

CJB Cheats menu by cjbok

Sometimes you just wanna turn on infinite stamina/health because you wanna explore and slimes are fast. Also has a toggle to make fishing easier.

CJB Item Spawner by cjbok

Mostly useful for decoration, finishing the community center if you just can’t be bothered, and also for getting all the dwarf scrolls so you can be friends without taking a million years.

Dammit Clint Stop Hitting On My Wife by Rubecula

Rewrites most of Clint’s dialogue and events to take him from “Creepy Incel” to “Dude with actual shyness issues and nerves”. Works even if you don’t marry Emily, but there are two versions just in case.

Abigail Dialogue Expansion by farmerjack

More gamer talk and adventure. 

Immersive Festival Dialogue by tangeriney

People now actually comment on the festivals! Talk about things leading up to, or following the events! People comment about who they wanna ask to the flower dance! It feels like it actually matters that these things happen!

Spouse Rooms Redesigned by Ryukanohi

Rooms are redesigned to be more aesthetically pleasing/fitting to the characters. 

Remote Fridge Storage by arjan3004

toggle a little option in a chest for whether you want to treat it as an extension of the fridge or not. Fill one with fish, one with fruit, one with veggies, one with wine etc. Cook with them all connected.

Gift Taste Helper by tstaples

Tooltip over the calander/relationship page for what they like because holy shit is it a pain to guess gifts/remember them. 

Doki Doki Dialogue - Alex by alistairweekend

If you’re dating/marry Alex he has new dialogue. He has more flirty and in character dialogue when you’re at max hearts

Doki doki dialogue - Elliot by alistairweekend

Gives him more lines. A good many are sappy poetry.

Doki doki dialogue - Sebastian by alistairweekend

Adds more dialogue to sebastian, including more refs to his life in general

Doki Doki dialogue - Sam by alistairweekend

Adds more depth and lines.

All Professions by cantorsdust

You could limit yourself to one profession at each benchmark, OR you could get this and multitask.

Elle’s New Coop Animals by junimods

Reskins Coop Animals- cute

Elle’s New Barn Animals by junimods

Cute reskins of Barn Animals

Elle’s New Horses by junimods

You can have a rainbow horse. RAINBOW. HORSE.

Free Dusty by Skuld

Lets Dusty--alex’s dog-- out of his doghouse and he’ll follow Alex around or wander the town. 

Canon Friendly Dialogue expansion for all friendable characters by gizzymo

Makes everyone talk more/have new dialogue to make things interesting.

NPC Map Location by Bouhm

Tired of running around, looking for people? Just pull up the map and know instantly where they are!

Happy Birthday by omegasis

Pick a birthday, and your friends in town will give you presents!

Replanter by jwdred

Like Pet Sitter, but for the plants. Toggle if you pay the npc that does it, and has smart replanting/getting rid of plants that are dead. Replants seeds after harvesting etc. Very good if you wanna go do mine stuff without spending all day on watering.

Long Haired Cats by stylbash

Reskins your cat as a cute floofy boy

Seasonal Outfits by tanpoponoko

Finally, people wear a goddamn coat when it’s cold! Shane puts up his hoodie! Haley won’t freeze to death! Emily has a rainbow hat in winter!

Longevity by RTGOAT

Repaces the game to make it more enjoyable to play for longer than 3 years-- in terms of “things are still happening”. Paces out content, adds new content, adds taxes at the end of the month so you don’t just amass a million gold easily, along with rebalanced prices to reflect how much the end product costs. Includes both More Crops Mod internally--totally optional, but included--and an internal mod that rotates through new character sprites dependant on weather and indoor/outdoor status. More crops adds several new fruit trees and crops and flowers. Converts alcohol/juices to sodas that gain sell value in mass selling. 

MCM is not compatible with Replanter, and you will have to manually do things with that. Also may crash if you have other things going on with it. 

Rest of the mod runs great if you don’t install MCM

Note: Seasonal Outfits and Longevity don’t mesh if you have a part of Longevity active--the alternating seasonal outfits. Just turn that off in the config. 

They’re all v good

#farmer mok #sdv #sdv mods #stardew valley