Even more progress on the submas Stardew Valley mod I’ve been working on!
It is still very much a work-in-progress, but it’s chugging along! Still need to finish writing more daily dialogue, making heart events, ironing out their schedules, etc... Their Pokemon will be added in too, but I can’t implement that until the 1.6 update unfortunately...
Anyways! Ingo is now in the mod... he infodumps about trains with Emmet and likes trash for Garbodor.
Super special thanks to @xdoctorsparklex for helping me make it— helping with writing and even coming up with the very first heart event (shown here)!
peace and love to all of those who find joy in attempting to extract a coherent and “correct” narrative from Jenny from Thebes, but, in my opinion personally, a story is true, a story is untrue. as time goes on, it matters less and less.
Thinking about Vulcans prizing “calm” over “happiness”.
Like how humans look back on their childhood and remember how happy it was - joyful days spent running around in the sun, getting into a bit of trouble, laughing with peers and family - that’s how they know it was a good one.
Meanwhile Vulcans might look back on their childhood and remember how peaceful it was. Quiet days spent studying, the warm glow of candlelit lessons in caves, getting along smoothly with ones peers - that’s how they know it was a good one.
Humans typically chose their friends and romantic partners based on if this person makes them feel happy above all.
The question of “Do you like being with them?” is interpreted to mean “Does being with them make you feel happy?”
But since Vulcans don’t experience (or strive for) happiness there would have to be some other parameter.
So I was thinking about like, what is a good relationship to a Vulcan?
There’s obviously a big emphasis on ‘togetherness’ in Vulcan unions. The Pon Farr ritual Tuvok does with his [hologram] wife involves them committing to becoming “Two bodies one mind” and it’s stated that they give and receive from each other all that they are. There’s also of course the iconic “Never and always touching and touched”. This is all (as was said during T’Pol & Koss’ wedding) “The Vulcan heart, the Vulcan soul, this is our way.”
Vulcans are also (ENT) expected to live together for at least a year after being married - I imagine so that they can bond with and get to know one another.
In SNW T’Pring wants for Spock to honor the commitments he makes to her so in that case T’Pring values Spock keeping his word to her and placing her above other things.
I see a bit of Tuvok in that, where he prizes his commitment to T’Pel over anything else to the point where he’d nearly rather die than break it:
(Even though he eventually agrees to having sex with a hologram it MUST be of his wife and he lets Tom/The Audience know that he will NOT be making a habit of it. There’s no ironclad logical reason for him to react this way as a hologram is not a person but his commitment to T’Pel seems to take precedence and I believe that’s his reasoning. His bond with T’Pel is logical, sustaining and important to him and he’s loath to break it over some bodily need. some desire that will pass even if it kills him.) <- By this way of thinking, betraying T’Pel would be the emotional choice while remaining loyal to her is remaining loyal to his logical self.
A strong emphasis on loyalty to one’s mate seems to be a common Vulcan trait. In the beginning this seems to be rooted in tradition but later on its probably assumed that the couple will be loyal to one another out of some sort of actual connection between two people as opposed to pure obligation.
In ENT T’Pol says that a certain degree of “affection” is eventually expected to happen within a marriage (though the way she says it makes me think this doesn’t always occur and isn’t necessarily The Goal) and her mother says that she and her husband developed a “deep connection” to one another.
All this makes me think that a connection and a sense of ‘togetherness’ or ‘compatibility’ would also be prized over more emotional things like a passion for one another. It’s a partnership above all and that would be prized over a romantic union.
It makes me think of Vulcans’ roots in violence and war. Maybe this commitment to a steady togetherness, two people who don’t know each other being able to work together so seamlessly they nearly become one, is a way to show they’ve moved beyond that despite the pon farr remaining.
Vulcans are a naturally very emotional species. Someone who incites that would probably not be seen as someone you should spend your time with. Someone who makes your heart pound, sets you ablaze, fills you with passion - that sounds like a bad Vulcan time v_v
Tuvok says as much when he talks about how he was struck with “shon-ha’lock”. Humans wouldn’t see anything wrong with having a crush on someone (and indeed in that episode Tom only comes to the conclusion that it’s a shame Tuvok couldn’t act on these emotions) but it’s obvious that even a teenaged crush when uncontrolled can become a very big problem to a Vulcan.
In one of the Star Trek Novels Tuvok even stops being friends with and talking to a girl because she tearfully admits she has feelings for him and he sees that her feelings for him cause her pain.
Instead of thinking “Oh, she really likes me, good! We’re close friends so maybe we can make this work.” or even “I don’t like her romantically but since we’re close friends we can work through it.”
Tuvok thinks “Oh, she really likes me. That must be causing her to become very emotional and I can see she’s clearly upset. I’ll remove myself from her life so my presence doesn’t incite those emotions anymore.”
And while him flat out just cutting himself out of her life might seem weird and kind of cruel and a frankly hilarious reaction to someone confessing their love to you - I also think it’s something he thought of as a kindness. If his presence harms her (stirs up emotions in her) then he will remove himself to keep from harming her.
Along that vein, calmness or the absence of strong emotions would be a good relationship and one worth staying in. Not that there can’t be any emotions (Tuvok and T’Les obviously care[d] deeply for their respective spouses) but that they must be controllable and able to be cast aside in the face of logic.
I also think that “knowing” the other person would be considered very important (after marriage of course). If you’re to operate as a partnership, a team, and especially if you’re both telepaths you should be able to know your spouse pretty damn well. I see T’Pring attempt to do this in SNW where she is constantly fighting to get to know Spock which Spock self-consciously discourages since he’s been told/shown that his human side is unappealing to Vulcans.
But yeah man idk...just picturing a Vulcan and a human talking for hours...walking along the beach...sleeping side by side...getting to know one another...and at the end of it all one says “You make me feel happy” and the other says “Your presence calms me” and it means, essentially, the same thing.
Honestly I can take the other definitions but, “not caring to act on attraction” just seems like celibacy. Imagine if we called people who felt romantic feelings but didn’t want to be in relationships aromantic instead of just “people who didn’t want to be in relationships”. Does the fact that they’re “functionally” asexual (ie meaning they’re not looking to have sex) mean that the label of asexual fits the kind of experience/treatment they want from people in the future anyway? Asking in good faith.
I think that if someone who experiences sexual attraction but has no interest in acting on it, in good faith identifies as asexual, they should be taken as such. I’m in the business of trusting people to know which terms will be most useful to them in describing themself and finding community.
My experience with asexuality includes many things. Here’s a short list of the ways it makes me feel outcast from society, driving me to find community with fellow asexuals:
Sexual attraction is viewed as an inherent part of the human experience, but it is something I cannot fully conceptualize, much less relate to and experience. Thus I am often deemed less human than my allo counterparts.
The society I live in is built around the idea that everyone desires and has sex, and often this means there is no place for me within certain areas of society.
Individuals and society as a whole treat those who have not had sex (for whatever reason) as less than and childish, so I am looked down upon by my peers for being asexual (and assumably never having had sex).
As someone who has occasionally desired romantic partnership, I am excluded from the world of romance because society deems romance and sexuality as inherently linked.
Now, not all of these points would necessarily apply to someone who experiences attraction but doesn’t want to act on it, but a lot of them would. And some of these points might not apply to even some asexuals who don’t experience attraction, like sex neutral and sex favorable aces. I’m sure there are also experiences some asexuals have that I don’t share.
At the end of the day, the asexual community, I think, should be a place for people who fall outside the allonormative, amatonormative societal model in terms of sexuality. If someone is experiencing sexual attraction, but does not care to act on it, they will have what I would be willing to define as an asexual experience. And if they deem it as such then I see no reason to exclude them from a community they could serve and be served by.
on the one hand we have many people treating me like Mrs. Bennet trying to marry off her daughters, just like Maria pls date someone go on a date once, anyone, just GO, get out there and then on the other hand we have my mom saying she doesn’t think you should try to make Romance happen but only take opportunities as they come if you want to. so.
📩 Random simblr CAS prompt of the day: Pick your favorite sim couple (if you don’t have a couple, your favorite sim is fine) what would they wear for a date?
theo's pick for what they'd wear when grabbing coffee together in the gap between his lectures
matthias's pick for what they'd wear on a walk after lavishing theo with good food and wine all evening
exactly how and where do the Endless have their family dinners? hosting it in any one of their individual realms seems fraught with power dynamics, that's right out. it has to be on neutral ground. so... the human world then? meeting in a human restaurant would also prevent a fair degree of antics and fighting, as they can't be revealing all their Endless powers to a bunch of random folks.
this is all to say, i invite you to imagine Endless family dinner at Olive Garden.
When will the "Cartman has a crush on Kyle, but shipping Kyman is crazy" crowd realize that they make absolutely zero sense.
Like-
IN CANON neither Cartman nor Kyle have a crush on eachother. What they do have is a deep and weird obsession with eachother. YOU are actively choosing to interpret that obsession as a crush Cartman has on Kyle, but that is not the "canon" dynamic or nature of that obsession. In the same way people who ship Kyman will interpret it as reciprocal (or maybe they won't, it depends), cause the thing is that Kyle is just as obsessed with Cartman as Cartman is with him. That's why you can interpret this dynamic as any shade from nonexistent, to one sided, to reciprocal.
If Kyle is as obsessed with Cartman as Cartman is with him, and you think that Cartman has a crush on Kyle because that's how you CHOOSE to interpret that obsesssion. Then it's just hypocritical to go off on people who use the exact same logic you did to come to that conclusion. You don't have to think of it as reciprocal, it's completely valid to see their obsession as manifesting as a crush in one and not the other, or to even see it as just obsession in both.
It's just god damn weird to be so nasty about it to other people. Both of them are obsessed with eachother in a way, and people are allowed to interpret each of their obsessions however they want. If people who ship kyman are delusional for interpreting Kyle's obsession with Cartman the same way you interpret Cartman's obsession with Kyle, then I'm afraid you are all sinking in the same boat load of delusional together.
There’s a study going around rn about how ADHD may have evolved in order to help hunter gatherers collect more food without exhausting resources, and that’s an interesting theory! But I take umbrage with the scientists’ (and article’s) reasoning for why this theory was conceived of:
“This MUST be useful to us as a species, or else it would have evolved out by now.” (They literally said that.)
Like is it just me or is this an incredibly ableist way of viewing the world. Maybe I need to go touch grass or something, but it’s rubbing me the wrong way.
What ships do you have for Yu-Gi-Oh! male leads and the Yu-Gi-Oh! series you have seen?
For most of the main characters, I don't really have any ships! Not opposed to an idea of any of them in relationships, but one of the reasons I got into yugioh was the lack of romantic subplots. This being said, I am an utter fiend for starshipping (Jaden x Yusei)
They're two of the most ace aro idiots of all time how are they dating no one knows it doesn't even look like a relationship to most people, but they know each others demons they are foils they are soulmates.... I will yell about this to my dying day. I have an entire aspec romance novel sitting uncompleted in my drafts about this. They just get eachother despite being completely different breeds of people.
Also Jesse having a crush on Jaden and having to get over it and settle into this completely anormative chaos relationship where they're soulmates who aren't dating but are each others' Most Important Person.... Yubel accepting and loving Jaden just the way they are now regardless of promises made in the past.... I see a queerplatonic ship and I go "Mh yes delicious."
Jason and Nico are dating and in love and their connection is deep-rooted and incredibly complex and everything.
jason and hazel are best friends. They're besties. They hang out and try over-complicated coffee drinks together and they have sleepovers (with Nico ofc) where they gossip and paint each other's nails and swap stories about growing up and inevitably dive into trauma about their mothers and how that has affected them in the modern day.
Jason and Nico are dating but more often than not Jason has his arm around Hazel's shoulders when they all three hang out together. Nico is always reluctant about touch, or maybe only in the earlier stages of their relationship, but Hazel has no such reservations so she and Jason hug all the time. Jason carries Hazel around on his shoulders when they're in large crowds, usually with Nico holding onto the back of his shirt so they don't get split up.
Hazel and Jason have matching tattoos (Nico and Jason do too, but Jason and Hazel got theirs first). Hazel is the person Jason goes to when he first realizes he maybe wants to wear skirts. Jason is Hazel's first stop when she wants to spar or train with someone, because she KNOWS Jason will not hold back or pull punches.
Nico is beyond happy about all of this as well, because he loves Jason so much and so deeply but there are some days he just. cannot deal with people, he doesn't have the energy to talk or interact or even be in the presence of other people, and on those days, Jason and Hazel hang out and Nico knows that the two people he loves most are taken care of, that they will still be there when he's ready to see them again because they'll keep each other safe.
It's like. Jason and Nico are soulmates and they will always find each other, always save each other, always know each other. but Jason and Hazel are life partners in the way where they didn't fit at first but as they grew older and spent more time together they learned that they were both rebuffed by the walls each other put up and, actually, the person underneath is pretty cool.
Jason and Nico are married and Hazel lives in their third bedroom kind of situation. IDK. they are just important to me. they have to be Connected. near each other. spidey senses tingling when they're in danger.
(this rant brought on by the reminder that there are 7 different kinds of love given names in greek and Jason Hazel and Nico are three of them. Romantic, Familial, and some form of deep platonic.)