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⮡  prior to sara coming over, grissom is lost deep in his thoughts, contemplating how all of the evidence in the investigation so far seems to indicate that hodges is indeed guilty. this line of pessimistic thinking on his part is represented by the image of hodges that constellates on the hotel window looking out over the strip. notice how when sara enters grissom’s sphere and draws his attention, that image instantly fades away—the implication being that she literally “pulls him out of his head,” rescuing him from his overthinking. the original series often hinted at the fact that sara possesses the unique ability to retrieve grissom when he retreats too far into his own mind (see, for example, episodes 02x05 “scuba doobie-doo” and 07x01 “built to kill” pt. i). to receive visual confirmation that such is indeed the case here is a lovely touch. she provides him grounding in a very real way.
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artbyblastweave · 5 months
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There's a question which the west coast Fallout games are quietly litigating, which is that age-old gotcha about what you do with the remaining orcs once you've deposed Sauron. In the original Fallout, the Super Mutants are basically universally aligned against the quote-unquote "good guys," for whatever value of that term is applicable to the wasteland at large, but subsequent games make it clear that this was an ideological thing, and a product of the political moment of the mutants creation rather than an ontological quality that they have. The game is very aware that this is something that was done to them, and the tragedy of that; the first mutant you're likely to run into is dying scared and alone.
Fallout 2 presents super mutants who've broken in every direction ideologically in the aftermath of the Unity's collapse; the peacemakers under Marcus at Broken Hills, Gond as a member of the abolitionist NCR rangers, reactionary remnants of the original mutant army, genocidal self-hating fascists like Frank Horrigan. Fallout: New Vegas iterates on this beautifully. The mutants dovetail perfectly with the theme of how every faction in the wasteland is trying and oftentimes failing to reckon with the weight of history. Their utopian movement imploded outside of living memory, closer to the apocalypse than to the present day. The survivors- who can only dwindle in number due to their sterility- have been left to reckon with that in whatever way they can. And they have their backs to about a hundred and twenty years of that reckoning not going particularly well, of being the bugbear and boogeymen for bullies and ideologues whose grandparents weren't even alive to suffer from the Unity's actions. The lack of a collective future for mutantkind casts a pall over even the best ending for Jacobstown; humans are collectively resilient within this setting, but through violence, and accidents, dementia and senility, the day will inevitably come when there are no mutants left. And worse still will be the day before that, when there's only one mutant left. Finding some form of satisfaction or contentment within that dwindling window, with the world against you, is a task that falls to the individual mutant. (Take Mean Sonovabitch, for example. He seems to be doing alright for himself.)
Then we slide on over to the east coast games, where the mutants are.... morons. Cannibals. Marauders. And when you meet one who isn't, the game throws itself a ticker-tape parade for containing such an audacious twist. To go back to the orc thing, it's like if The Hobbit had contained a lengthy, empathetic subplot about the rich internality and fleshed-out-if-deeply-flawed ideology of the orcs, and then there was a pivot to treating them like a monolithic block of ontologically evil marauders in LOTR. While staring you straight in the eye the whole time, unblinking. Daring you to say something
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npc-is-drawing444 · 5 months
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I can try and add more if you'd like
Edit:Guys i literary made an updated version of this since everyone liked it here
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adanima · 4 months
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headcanon time!
i'm gonna say that Pete prefers to eat rice over noodles while Vegas prefers noodles over rice
in Pete's introduction scene, he's seen eating rice
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this is food he's eating of his own will instead of what the main family gives the bodyguards in the cafeteria, because "it tastes way better".
for Vegas, my half-assed argument is that he cooked noodles for Pete in the safehouse
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that means the safehouse is stocked with noodles, maybe because that's what Vegas likes to eat.
and now comes my favorite part of this headcanon. because what are Pete and Vegas eating in their respective "cry into my dinner" scenes after Pete escapes the safehouse?
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Vegas has a plate of rice and Pete has a bowl of noodles. they're eating the type of food that the other person likes to eat.
they're not eating for comfort, they're not eating to fill their stomachs, they're eating to remember (each other). i might even go as far as to say they're eating for penance.
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prismolovessideblogs · 9 months
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datura-tea · 10 months
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some ulysses facts
ulysses is not the name he was born with; he named himself after ulysses s. grant
he's from the twisted hairs, a tribe that was forcibly assimilated into the legion after vulpes inculta "pacified" them at dry wells. their history and culture were erased, and some of their people were crucified along interstate 40. the rest were broken, brainwashed, and absorbed into the legion
he rose through the ranks of the meritocratic legion slave army, becoming a frumentarius who worked as an undercover courier for caesar
he was one of the scouts who scouted the hoover dam for the legion
he was walking the wastes when he found the community that would become the divide; there, he found a potential home. until courier six came and delivered a package that blew it all up
in the wreckage of his potential new home, ulysses was saved by medical eyebots who saw the flag on his back and recognized it
he was sent by caesar to become an emissary to the white legs, who tried to honor him by mirroring his hair, which, unbeknown to them, was personal to him, because woven in the braids was ulysses' and his tribe's histories
he left the white legs shortly after they showed him their new hair, fashioned after him - it felt like a hollow mockery of his dead tribe
he defected from the legion after the battle at new canaan, becoming a bighorner herder at wolfhorn ranch and working and roaming he wastes as a courier
he found the big mt by tracking irregular weather patterns, and there he found father elijah and christine royce
he directed father elijah to the sierra madre, knowing elijah would find his death there
he rescued christine and nursed her back to help in a cave, learning about the brotherhood of steel from her. she gave him a recorder, which he used to create the logs that courier six would find along the divide
he spoke with the think tank asked them one question - "who are you, that do not know your history?" - and this shook them, made them remember the old world. they told him about the missiles under the divide
he went back to couriering, finding out that courier six was still alive from johnson nash - he was supposed to deliver the platinum chip but somehow knew it would be trouble, so he passed it on to courier six, hoping that the job would kill them
but discovering that courier six, the person that destroyed his new home, the person that he has been obsessing over for years, was still alive, awoke his desire for revenge against them
he made a plan to teach courier six a lesson about history - his, and theirs, together - and accountability, and how one person can make such a huge impact on the world, even unwittingly
he lured courier six to the divide, to see what they had wrought, and what he has planned
his plan: aim missiles at dry wells and the long 15, two strategic locations that would cut the throats of both the legion and the ncr. whether they launch would be up to the courier after their confrontation
he does not want to nuke the world and kill millions. only two locations that would weaken both warring armies. again, the decision to nuke these locations is up to courier six
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newvegascowboy · 1 year
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food & agriculture in fallout: extrapolation and speculative worldbuilding
Okay, well. This is going to be an extremely long and data heavy post. Bear with me.
I'm going to go into detail about the crops and available food given to us canonically and textually. I'm going to be drawing some real world parallels between the crops we see in Fallout and what we have here. I'll be pulling relevant data from all the games, but the majority focus on this post is going to be about the east coast and Massachusetts in particular because it gives us the opportunity to participate in the agricultural climate of the wasteland.
Is there a point to this? Not really, but I'm pedantic and I take things too seriously.
my sources will be linked in the text throughout. for those of you who want to read about agricultural and growing zones of the continental united states, please follow me under the cut.
Growing zones and real world agriculture
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Shown here are the growing zones of the united states, divided into a temperature map of about 19 different regions. It's fairly intuitive to read -- colder temperatures are north and east, while warmer temperatures are south and west. The majority of the Mojave desert sits between 7a to 9a, a temperature range of about 20 degrees. DC and the nearby section of the southeast coast sits between 7a and 8a. The interactive map linked below will tell you where your growing zone sits.
The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones and further divided into 5-degree F half-zones.
For the moment, we are going to focus on Massachusetts.
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Using the temperature above, we can see that the growing zone of Massachusetts is 5a (-20f) at it's very coldest, all the way to 7b, (5f) at it's warmest during winter. Most of what we see in fallout 5 sits in the 6a to 6b zone, which is middle ground during the winter, but cold enough to want to warrant crops that can withstand the frost.
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There is a solid 5 month window for planting annual crops, like corn, melons, and gourds like pumpkin. Your perennial crops are limited to fruit trees and possibly grains, depending on the variety and whether or not a perennial variety has been bred.
Cold weather crops include beets, carrots, greens like cabbage, collards, kale, and potatoes. These aren't the types of crops that will survive the winter as much as these are foods that can go in the ground as soon as it is unfrozen enough to be workable. Root vegetables and greens can germinate in soil as cold as 40 degrees Fahrenheit, which provides some leeway with unpredictable frosts and late planting times.
Much of the agricultural landscape of Massachusetts is dependent on the dairy industry, farming cattle, and aquaculture -- fishing and catching shellfish. Those with access to the coasts, fish and shellfish ought to provide protein during lean months.
Why are we talking about this? Well, if we're stepping into the shoes of a subsistence farmer in the fallout universe, we're going to have to take into account climate and ideal planting times for certain crops. It's not wholly important in terms of things like fic writing, unless you happen to be writing about the life and times of wasteland agriculture, in which case, I hope this is helpful! Again, I am pedantic, and this section is to provide a template when considering and discussing other parts of the game and what their specific diet and agricultural landscapes might look like.
Something to keep in mind when thinking about how farms might function in the Mojave, for instance, or if you're doing worldbuilding for a different part of the US.
Crops in the fallout universe
Now that we're familiar with growing zones and why certain crops are planted and when, we're going to apply some speculative worldbuilding to fallout itself. We will be revisiting growing zones when we talk about other climates, but for the moment, we're going to focus on fallout 4.
Now to preface -- I don't think that the food that is given to us in game is wholly representative of the plants or animals that survived the apocalypse. If some managed to mutant and survive, I'm willing to bet others did. I certainly won't deduct any points from anyone who wants to talk about growing cotton, or farming peaches or cherries, and I won't raise any eyebrows if someone includes things like spices into their wasteland cuisine.
In the 210+ years since the bombs fell, I do not think that the majority of the US is a desolate wasteland, but this post is not going to be my beef with the devs about how brown everything is. This beef is about food in particular. However, for sake of ease, I'm mostly just going to focus on the food that is presented to us in game.
There will be some extrapolation and speculation later, but if I do that for everything, then we'll be here all day, and we've all got things to do.
I would also be remiss to mention that agriculture in the US is old. It predates colonialism. The Native Americans cultivated the land long before any European settlers. They practiced a type of crop growing referred to as Three Sisters planting, which utilized corn, pole beans, and squash -- all things that exist in the agricultural landscape of Fallout as we know it.
Corn
I'm not going to say much about corn because there's not a lot to say about it. We all know what corn is. Fallout's corn is visually similar to wild violet, a hybrid corn.
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But I am not going to say Fallout's corn is one such variety or another. In the 210 years since the bombs dropped, I imagine corn varietals have been bred and interbred a thousand times, and it is probably it's own unique strain. It's kind of a moot point. Corn is corn. You can do with yellow corn what you can do with wild violet, and whatever special breeds that make up Fallout's corn.
Corn is the third largest plant-based food source in the world. Despite its importance as a major food in many parts of the world, corn is inferior to other cereals in nutritional value. Its protein is of poor quality, and it is deficient in niacin. Diets in which it predominates often result in pellagra (niacin-deficiency disease). Corn is high in dietary fibre and rich in antioxidants.
You can do a shit ton with corn. It's a staple grain. It would not be incongruous with the fallout setting to have settlers making tortillas, cornbread, polenta, grits, tamales, etc. Corn can also be used to make corn whiskey. The husks can be spun into yarn and woven into garments similar to cotton, which I thought was interesting and also solves the problem of where the hell wastelanders are getting their clothes. Corn can be used as livestock feed, especially in the winter when cattle can't graze. While corn is a staple grain of the US, the east coast has minor corn production compared to places like the midwest. Corn is a staple, but it does not consist of the entire diet of your average wastelander.
Carrots
Not going to say much about carrots either. They're carrots. They grow well in colder soil and tend to have a lot of natural sugars. The carrots we're shown in FO4 seem to be a mutated variety different than the "fresh carrot" consumable in FNV, but there's virtually no difference, so I'm not counting it. Make some carrot cake.
Razorgrain
"This species appears to be quite promising. It's a toothy grain that we may be able to grind in order to replace wheat, which is untenable in the Wasteland. We are uncertain how to increase crop yields, which are very unpredictable. Will continue to study."
Razorgrain is our first unique mutated crop in the fallout setting. It most closely resembles a barley or a rye. Both are a fairly hardy species and can grow all across the continental united states; rye can germinate in cold weather temperatures. It wouldn't be outrageous to assume that razorgrain is similar too or a crossbred variation of both rye and barley. I have decided to base the majority of my research assuming it is a barley variant. Barley is also a major crop on the east coast near the Commonwealth, so that would explain why razorgrain is present in FO4 and not in the other games.
Barley requires a mild winter climate and can grow in growing zones 3-8, so it would be viable in Massachusetts. Barley can be milled into flour and it contains gluten; the gluten content of North American wheat and barley tends to be higher to survive the colder climates, so razorgrain would likely be very glutenous. It is also less susceptible to ergot than rye, but barley can still become infected -- and, I am assuming, razorgrain could as well.
Razorgrain fills the nutritional niche of carbohydrates and can be used to make breads, cakes, pastas, etc. It produces darker breads that have an earthier flavor than milled white flour. There has to be some method of actually milling the grain, though, which is an intensive process that can often be dangerous. Grain can also be used to make malted candy, which is our first option for wastelanders with a sweet tooth. Obviously, razorgrain can also be used to make malt or grain alcohol and is probably the source of all the beer you find littered around the wasteland.
Gourds and melons
Gourds and melons are actually a part of the same family, Cucurbita. The category of 'gourd' covers several different kinds of vegetables, including ornamental fruits that shouldn't be eaten. We aren't going to spend a whole lot of time on this one, simply because canon doesn't tell us that much and there's a lot of wiggle room in terms of interpretation.
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FO4's model looks the most similar to a pumpkin, but it could be some other squash varietal from the Cucurbita family, which includes watermelon, honey melon, cucumber, squash, zucchini and pumpkin.
Melons is another pretty broad category. Melons and squash are part of the same family, as mentioned above. If we're going visuals again, the model is likely intended to resemble a watermelon. Watermelons grow best in humid and semi-arid environments between 70 and 8- degrees Fahrenheit. It's not impossible for wastelanders to be growing watermelons, but considering the humidity and frequent rainfall in Massachusetts, the melons would be vulnerable to fungal infections.
There isn't a lot of information on what specifically gourds and melons are in the fallout universe, so you could get away with writing in a pretty wide variety. Personally, I lean a little bit towards melons being a muskmelon variety, like cantaloupe or honeydew. Squash fills in some vitamin requirements for the human diet, and can be canned and stored for winter. It tends to be high in vitamin C and magnesium.
The limit to this one seems to be your imagination. Go crazy.
Mutfruit
This wiki claims that the mutfruit (it has a scientific name apparently, malus maata) is a mutated species of apple and crabapple. There are two different wikis about the mutfruit, both distinct. The first is linked above. The second is linked here -- I got most of my information from this second wiki.
There is a handful of "canon" information we can take from this set of wikis.
Priscilla Penske in Vault 81 is attempting to create foods that have increased resistance to radiation. She mentions the mutfruit would do well, but isn't certain how the hybridization would affect the flavor and texture.[5]
This claim is taken directly from the second wiki, but in comparison, it makes no sense. If the mutfruit tree is a product of mutation, then radiation shouldn't really affect it at all. It's survived and propagated to this point, hasn't it? I am disregarding this claim on the basis of being stupid.
Farmers in at Warwick homestead will comment on the fruit's characteristics, such as tasting sweet and being versatile in recipes.[1][2] The vault dwellers of Vault 81 trade for mutfruit with the outside world, and use it to make special occasion desserts such as pie.[6][7]
If the mutfruit is an apple variant, then it likely has a high sugar content, and it would have to be harvested in the peak of summer or in early fall.
There are fresh apples the be found across the wasteland, implying the existence of apple trees that have been unaffected by the bombs. Personally, I was assuming that the mutfruit was some kind of blackberry, given its appearance as a clustered fruit, or maybe even a type of plum. Regardless, the mutfruit is a fruit, which means that it would preserve well by being jarred or canned, has a high sugar content, and could likely be reduced to form sugar syrups. Like any fruit, it could be used to make alcohol.
Tatos
I want to stop myself from editorializing too much, but goddamn tatos. The crop that makes the least goddamn sense in the fallout universe. The bane of my existence. Let's get into it.
First off, we're given some pretty damning canon facts about tatos:
Tatos are a mutated hybrid of the cross-pollination of the tomato and potato plants.[1] The new consumable looks like a tomato on the outside, but the inside is brown.[2] Commonly cultivated in the Commonwealth, Appalachia and on the Island, its fruit is easy to grow and can keep one from starving, but their taste is described as "disgusting"[2][3][Non-game 1] and resembling "ketchup-flavored cardboard."[1]
According to some old botany texts we found, this appears to be combination of a now extinct plant called a "potato" and another extinct plant called a "tomato." The outside looks like a tomato, but the inside is brown. Tastes as absolutely disgusting as it looks, but will keep you from starving.
Note: This text was written from the perspective of someone who is unaware that both the tomato and the potato are being cultivated elsewhere. The writer also does not mention any sort of DNA test. However, the potato is also found in the Capital Wasteland, and the writer is a scribe in the Brotherhood of Steel, which originated from that area.
Both potatoes and tomatoes are from the nightshade family. They have the same nutrient requirements, and would compete for resources if planted separately but in the same soil. There is a method for planting them together where you splice a tomato stalk onto a potato root, but this is not the same as cross pollination and will not result in what fallout presents as a tato. What will happen is that the roots will grow potatoes and the fruit of the tomato will branch off the stems.
The potato itself is a stem tuber -- high in starch and calorically dense. A stem tuber is an offshoot of the parent plant that will grow beneath the soil as a type of asexual budding reproduction. We all know what a potato is. The tomato is a berry. It's the ovary of a flowering plant -- again, we all know what a tomato is.
I am going to give Fallout a little bit of grace and not comment on how mind bendingly stupid their description of a tato is. The outer skin is a tomato, but the inside is brown and starchy like the potato? I am not going to comment on how it makes little to no biological sense. The starchy tuber is starchy because it's an energy and nutrient storage device. The tomato is the enlarged ovary of a fruit. Why did those things, which are separately very good, combine into one very terrible thing? I don't know. It doesn't make sense. I don't really want to think about it. But these are the facts as they are given to us in game and I suppose I have to live with that. Obligatory "goddamn you todd howard. a pox on your house."
The tato is probably extremely calorically dense. It's specifically mentioned as being easy to grow and it is a better alternative to starving. It's probably grown as a staple crop throughout the planting season. I'm not entirely sure if the tato can produce glycoalkaloids like the potato does (that is, the green sections of the potato that can become poisonous when exposed to light) but if they can, and if stored improperly, it would negatively impact the health of whoever ate them.
I suppose since the taste is so offensive, tatos are better served as a carrier of some other type of food. Fried, mashed, baked -- the purpose of the tato is simply to get calories into your body. Starch can also be turned into alcohol, which I am going to need a lot of after reading the canonical facts of this stupid fucking plant.
 Fallout: The Roleplaying Game Rulebook p.158: "A mutated hybrid of the pre-War tomato and potato plants, with the stem and reddish skin of the former and the brownish flesh of the latter. Tatos provide decent nutrition, but taste disgusting. However, they’re relatively easy to grow and thus are a staple of wasteland agriculture and is an ingredient in a variety of recipes."
fucker
"non farmable" crops
You can't cultivate these plants, but again - we're taking what's given to us and interpreting it extremely literally. There is no reason that these crops could not be domesticated and farmed.
Siltbean
Siltbean is likely a type of bushbean, rather than a pole bean. It's squat and low to the ground. Bush beans require little care or attention and you can pick them when you're ready to harvest them. Historically in North America, beans and corn were grown side by side (though those beans were pole beans using the stalks as support). Bush beans require successive plantings since harvests are early.
There's no good allegory for what type of bean this might be. The potato bean (Apios americana) is native to North America and also produces edible tubers, but there's no reason this couldn't be just some other type of bean. No beans that I could find had red/orange pods.
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Beans are a good source of both proteins and carbohydrates, and another crop that can store well for the winter.
Tarberry
Tarberry is a little iffy, considering it is farmed by the ghouls at The Slog, but they're the only farm shown capable (or willing?) to farm the berries. Originally, I had assumed that tarberries were a type of mutated cranberry, and I thought the wiki was supporting me in that claim by saying this:
Tarberries are small, dusty orange berries of the tarberry plant. It is a water-grown crop similar to cranberries.
But cranberries themselves are also canon in the world of Fallout. So who knows! There's no canon information presented on the tarberry's characteristics, so it can be treated the same as any other fruit or berry.
Fungus variants
Glowing fungus: Glowing fungus is one of the few real world equivalents we have. It is a Japanese mushroom called Enoki. It is also farmable as shown in FNV at Hell's Motel.
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Brain fungus: This is harvestable, but there aren't any "crops" shown as we would consider them. Considering it's benefits as a mentat replacement, then it's likely that there could be a dedicated space for growing it.
Food and Plants mentioned in the text
Potato
Thank god almighty, potatoes are canon in the universe of Fallout. Fresh potatoes are found as consumables in FO3 and FNV but potatoes are also mentioned in the text of FO4:
Mentioned in dialogue -- {Angry} Shut up Jake. If I hear anything out of either of you, you'll both be peeling potatoes for the next year.
I'm taking this as word of god. Potatoes are canon and I don't care what anyone says.
Tomato
Tomatoes are mentioned in the text, but are never actually seen in game. The only hint that this plant survived extinction is this excerpt from the wiki.
Note: As fresh tomatoes and potatoes are seen in the Mojave Wasteland as of 2281, with the potato seen in the Capital Wasteland as of 2277, the claim of either's extinction by 2287 in the Commonwealth Plant Database could be taken to mean local extinction in east coast regions, as opposed to global extinction. This entry may also just be in error.
There's potential for leeway here, but take it as you will!
Fresh apple
We discussed this back up in the mutfruit section of the essay, but the existence of fresh apples implies the existence of non mutated apple trees. They're found in both FO3 and FNV as a consumable item, so the apple tress have either proliferated across the continental united states, or multiple varieties survived the bombs.
Fresh pear
See above. Pears are also naturally high in pectin, which makes them useful for making jams and preserves.
Pinto beans
Pinto beans are a consumable in FNV and is another W in the bean category of the agricultural landscape.
Jalepeno
Look, I'm picking out this one specifically because I need to believe that other spices and peppers exist in the world. Where would we be without her? Nowhere good.
Raw sap
I am going to say that sap collecting is probably where most of the sugars and sweeteners in the wasteland come from. It's relatively easy to tap trees and collect sap, and it only takes a few hours to reduce the sap down into useable syrup.
Wild Blackberry, Lime, Cranberries, as well as Watermelon as being distinct from simply 'melon' are all mentioned in the text. The list of fruits mentioned or found in the games can be found here.
Animal husbandry
Fallout doesn't give us a lot of canonical information on the animal side of farming. The biggest real world agricultural export of Massachusetts is dairy and cattle farming. Chickens are canon in the worldbuilding of fallout as of Far Harbor, but canon feels both restrictive and extremely loose with regards to what animals can be cared for and how.
We aren't going to spend a whole lot of time on this one, only because the information is pretty limited.
Brahmin
There are plenty of brahmin found throughout the landscape of the wasteland. We most commonly see them as either livestock or beasts of burden. Things like milk, cheese, and other dairy products would be common if a farm has access to dairy cows. The investment to raise cows would be enormous for a subsistence farmer. Dairy cows would likely be kept for a number of years, where steers would be raised 12 to 24 months before being slaughtered; they'd likely be grass fed in the summer and corn or grain fed in the winter. Leather and beef would be products, of course, and things like soap and candles can be made from the beef tallow.
Chickens
Chickens are largely easy to keep and care for, producing eggs and necessary proteins. Chickens can provide niacin, filling in the nutritional gap that would be left by a heavy corn based diet. The investment for keeping chickens is lower than raising brahmin, but so is the payoff.
Bighorners
Bighorners are mutated bighorn sheep native to the American Southwest.[1] Humans have since domesticated them for their horns, meat, milk, and hides,[2][3]
Granted, bighorners are only seen in FNV, but I don't think there's any reason they couldn't have migrated east. In the text, it says they're kept for meat and milk, but there's no reason that they shouldn't provide a fleece as well. In the colder climate of Massachusetts, they would find value in wool, which can keep its warmth even when wet. They may be sparse across the commonwealth, but that would make wool and fleece all that much more valuable.
Fish
Yeah, I know. Technically we can't fish in Fallout (and depending on the game you play, you might not even know what a fish is). But aquaculture is huge in Boston, and with access to the coasts, it's completely fair to say that fish, shellfish, and hydroponics is a completely viable source of food in the wasteland. We see dead fish washed up on shore all the time, along with whatever the hell those shark things are. There should be fisheries and fishing towns all along the coasts.
New Vegas and Fallout 3
Consulting our growing zone chart, we can see that much of the southwest sits between 7b to 8b. The winters in the southwest are fairly mild, and while you can get seeds in the ground sooner, the majority of the battle is going to be finding a reliable water source.
The farming we see in New Vegas has one distinct notable inclusion: the NCR sharecropper farm.
The sharecroppers are growing a number of crops, including maize, tobacco, pinto beans, and honey mesquite. Corn can handle hot, arid weather, it's just not commercially grown out west. Barley can also handle hot, arid climates, and razorgrain would be suitable for the western front -- maybe we can assume it's made it's way that far west and is being cultivated alongside corn.
Most of the plants we see in FNV aren't the type we would see typically domesticated for agricultural use, but that doesn't mean people haven't adapted to their surroundings. It makes a lot of sense for locals to have domesticated local plants like prickly pear and banana yucca. There are a number of fresh produce items to be found as consumables, alongside local fruits the local fruits.
Heat-loving plants are best suited for summer production in desert climates. The plant families that fit into the heat-loving category are nightshade or Solanaceae (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) and squash or Cucurbitaceae (cucumbers, melons, summer and winter squash). Corn and beans also perform best in hot climates.
Most plants CAN handle the heat and climate of the southwest, the issue is just finding a reliable source of water. Somewhere close to Lake Mead or the banks of the Virgin River would be prime real estate for farming, since irrigation could be accomplished without the use of pumps, like the sharecroppers use.
If we look back at the history of agriculture, it's developed along established waterways in almost every ancient civilization because that's what's easiest. There should be thriving communities surrounding the lakes and rivers in the southwest.
Comparatively, DC was formerly a swamp. It's hot and humid in the summer, though the winters are fairly mild. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that farming practices in the Commonwealth don't differ all that much from farming in the Capital Wasteland -- you could even posit that food from the Capital is of better quality ever since the successful activation of Project Purity. Fresh and unirradiated food was growing there before, so it's entirely likely that even more is growing now. YMMV!
Other consumables
We would be here all damn day if I did research onto every single consumable item available across all three games, so this mostly just because I'm covering my bases.
I am going to say that sap collecting is probably where most of the sugars and sweeteners in the wasteland come from. It's relatively easy to tap trees and collect sap, and it only takes a few hours to reduce the sap down into useable syrup.
Look, I'm picking out this one specifically because I need to believe that other spices and peppers exist in the world. Where would we be without her? Nowhere good.
Pre War food
Most shelf-stable foods are safe indefinitely. In fact, canned goods will last for years, as long as the can itself is in good condition (no rust, dents, or swelling). Packaged foods (cereal, pasta, cookies) will be safe past the ‘best by’ date, although they may eventually become stale or develop an off flavor. 
The risk with improperly canned good, or damaged canned goods, is botulism. Botulism will straight up kill you. You don't even have to consume that much of it; just a little bit will leave you dead in days. As desperate as I might be for a meal, I'm not going to risk dying because that can of two hundred year old peaches looks really tasty.
If properly sealed and in a dry, ideal environment, I... guess things like cereal and instant food could be okay? But again, with access to fresh grain, sugars, and yes, even potatoes and pasta, why would you want to risk eating InstaMash that's been around since before your great grandmother.
Pre War drinks
Sigh. Okay.
Unless stored extremely, extremely well, most bottled drinks aren't going to last much longer than 9 months. A year, if you're lucky. Exposure to sunlight and improper storage will break down the contents -- the best bottles are brown, then green. Clear glass is the worst because it does nothing to protect the liquid inside.
All the Nuka Cola you find throughout the world is flat, nasty, and will probably make you sick. I don't think that really needs to be pointed out, but there we go. I suppose the soda could probably be reduced to form sugar syrups, but with access to sap syrup and grain malt, I'm not sure why you would be desperate enough to do that.
So what does food look like in Fallout?
If there's one thing I know about humans, it's that humans like to eat. Food is culture, as much as culture and community is built around food. Good food and access to it is paramount to human happiness. All this to say is that food in fallout is whatever you want it to look like.
I can extrapolate and theorize all day long based on what Fallout tells us definitively, but I'm not going to tell you what the culinary landscape in the wasteland looks like. The only point that I will stress is that humans are really, really good at making things appetizing.
The fandom is already so creative when it comes to developing their idea of what food means in the wasteland. It's what's directly inspired me to write up this stupid, long ass post about farming and agriculture.
Obviously this is not a comprehensive list of all the base ingredients you can find in Fallout. I picked the ones I did because of the potential for consistent farming. Wastelanders have had two centuries to develop agricultural practices based around subsistence farming. I am not a subsistence farmer, and I have no idea how wasteland cottagecore would work at the heart of it. Running a farm is extremely labor intensive, and so much of your investment has to be immediately recouped in the form of eating what you harvest.
What a farm is likely to look like will start in the early spring when the ground begins to thaw, and a farmer can plant his cold resistant crops, like green vegetables and razorgrain. Potatos, carrots, and tatos will also weather the spring chill. When it starts to warm up, the more delicate plants like corn, beans, and squash or melons will get planted and tended to.
If your family is lucky enough to have a greenhouse, you can keep crops growing all through the winter and have a surplus for trade and barter, or just to preserve and refill the pantries.
A lot of the investment will have to be immediately recouped. Eggs from the chickens can't be preserved, obviously, but there will be meat from hunted animals, milk from the brahmin, probably an early harvest from the beans and tatos, and whatever else is in the pantry from the previous harvest.
Some of it will be canned or preserved in the forms of jams or jellies (just remember what I said about botulism). Meat from animals that get hunted can be smoked or otherwise preserved. Grain can be milled into flour or eaten whole and unshelled. Even the corn silk can be woven into clothes for the summer.
There really is no limit to what can be done in the end. While a lot of this information was taken from what we're given in the text, there's no rule that says you have to follow it word for word. If you believe something exists out there, then write it! We're all just making shit up as we go along anyway. If you need permission, then here it is. You can do whatever you want. Make up recipes! Go insane. Follow whatever your little foodie heart desires.
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fallout-lou-begas · 7 months
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read @ikroah btw
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pepsi-pinacola · 7 months
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Pete: Are we arguing or flirting?
Vegas: I'm literally pinning you to the wall by your neck?
Pete: Well, that's why I'm asking…
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Note
Hi!
Hope you are doing well :) Just a fun and silly question ....
How do you think Sara and Grissom would react now if Sara were referred to as Mrs. Grissom?
I think there have only been two scenarios (I could be wrong) this has happened on CSI – in 10x2, Sara refers to herself as Mrs. Grissom, and in 11x13, the Two Mrs. Grissoms – in which both times it was explicitly made clear she kept her last name.
I realize that it’s the 21st century and it’s not uncommon that women keep their surname after marriage so no biggie that Sara, for all (personal and professional) purposes has kept her last name. But the GSR-fan in me was really hoping someone – either by way of humour or not – would refer to Sara as Mrs. Grissom on CSI: Vegas (in front of the hubby) and we get a reaction. (we got a "my husband" and a "my wife" so can't really complain here)
The version of GSR we got in CSI: Vegas was more jovial. They probably would have teased each other about it?
(I mean she could have gone by ‘Sidle-Grissom’, no?)
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts!
hi, @renb80s!
good to hear from you again!
so this topic is one that tends to be polarizing in the gsr fandom, with some people really hating the idea of sara taking grissom's last name (even as part of a hyphenate) and some people really liking it/wishing tptb would have gone that route in canon (either in the original series and/or the reboot).
regardless of one's personal feelings on the matter, the facts are these:
as you point out, sara is twice in canon referred to as "mrs. grissom," once in episode 10x02 "ghost town" and once in episode 11x13 "the two mrs. grissoms."
she is also referenced as one of the two titular "mrs. grissoms" of the latter episode in an extratextual sense.
in the first case, she refers to herself that way, albeit in jest.
in the second, she is referred to that way by julia holden.
in both instances, her reaction to being called "mrs. grissom" is to smile widely and blush.
while she does in the former case correct brass's mistaken impression that she has legally taken grissom's name and in the latter case allow her mother-in-law to correct julia holden's mistaken impression that she has taken grissom's name on her behalf, she doesn't, in either instance, appear at all offended by the mistaken impressions themselves. her responses are both very mild.
i'll take things from there after the "keep reading," if you're interested.
__
now.
canon never delves into why sara doesn't legally take grissom's last name.
the choice could be a personal one on her part.
given the attitudes she expresses in episode 06x21 "rashomama" re: women being treated as exchanged property in marriage, she could be opposed to taking her husband's last name after marriage on feminist grounds.
in a similar vein, maybe she feels maintaining her own identity even within the context of her marriage is important and so doesn't want to either give up her name or merge it with grissom's.
alternatively, perhaps on a more intimate note she wants to keep her family name as something of a testament to herself: to prove her legacy is not determined by her family of origin and that she can be a good, just person while still bearing the last name sidle; to show herself and the world her whole lineage isn't cursed/broken (“everything that happens to us—good and bad—is a part of us. it took me a long time to realize that it doesn’t have to define who we are. we get to decide”).
as an aside: i've always found it interesting sara doesn't change her name upon her emancipation from the foster care system. not only might one expect her to change her name because many former foster kids do once they age out (a fact sara herself even remarks upon in episode 07x16 "monster in the box"), but also because one might think, given her feelings about her family and her childhood trauma, she might be eager to get a fresh start under a new identity once she has the chance to. that she sticks with sidle even after she is at liberty to do otherwise is curious. whether she opts to retain her family name for the personal reason detailed above or perhaps only because legally changing her name would be prohibitively expensive for her (particularly as a financially insecure young adult), we're never told. however, the fact that she still bears her father and mother's last name 25+ years on from her father's murder is certainly fascinating.
i wonder if she was ever worried while she worked for the sfpd that someday someone might discover a link between her somewhat unique surname—according to this tracker, there are fewer than 1,000 sidles (spelled sara's way) worldwide—and a particular 1970s marin county homicide case?
more inanely, maybe she opts to stick with sidle because grissom is commonly called by his last name by their close friends/found family, to the extent she feels her being "grissom," as well, would just be too strange/confusing.
maybe she just likes the way her maiden name sounds due to the alliteration.
maybe she doesn't want her initials to be "sag."
maybe grissom (for whatever reason) never actually offers her his last name and she, not wanting to be presumptuous, never asks if she could take it and so just ultimately doesn't.
maybe she reasons since she and grissom aren't planning to have children, there isn't much imperative for them to all have the same name.
maybe she and grissom talk about the matter and make the mutual decision they don't want to take each other's names or hyphenate (for whatever reasons).
of course, the choice also could be more of a practical one for her.
maybe, like many professional women who have earned degrees, published, been awarded accolades, and built their careers under their maiden names, she doesn't want to separate herself from 20+ years of work and accomplishments.
conversely, her surname status may be more a reflection of the circumstances under which she gets married than anything else: under costa rican law, not only do women not automatically assume their husband's names upon marriage, but foreign citizens who get married in costa rica must use the same name that appears on their passports on their marriage certificates. while a foreign citizen who gets married in costa rica can opt to legally change their name in their country of residence once their costa rican marriage license is sent there, that step is 100% optional and is something the person must undertake to do on their own time/at their own expense ex post facto. that so, if grissom and sara have their wedding in costa rica (which i tend to think they do), then it's entirely possible sara ends up remaining a sidle after marriage by default: because that name is the one on her costa rican marriage license, and she doesn't take the time/pay the fees to make an official change stateside. this option may be especially likely if we consider she probably spends very little time in the states as a newlywed before moving immediately to france.
similarly, even if sara and grissom do marry in the us, she may end up a sidle not due to any strong personal feelings about the matter or professional considerations but simply because the process of legally changing one's name is, frankly, a pain in the ass: while in nevada, people can change their names upon marriage simply by making note of their intentions on their marriage certificates, there are still various costs associated with changing over all of one's legal, professional, and financial information to match one's new name, typically to the tune of about $100-$500. the process can also be time consuming/involved, often requiring in-person visits to prove one's identity at the dmv, bank, city hall, etc. figuring out what all you have to change and what documentation you need in order to make said changes can be confusing/laborious. maybe sara, after initially mulling changing her name, considers the time, expense, and effort required of the endeavor and simply says, "to hell with it," figuring since most people in her life would still know her as sara sidle anyhow, it isn't worth her while to jump through all those obnoxious hoops.
case in point: my mother, who has been married to my father and had his name for forty years, only recently discovered she apparently never changed over her social security number from her maiden name. the process of getting it changed over required dozens of phone calls and filings on her part (made difficult as, four decades on, she doesn't have much documentation linking her to her maiden name left to use for verification purposes) and took her several weeks to complete.
alternatively, maybe sara does initially intend to change her name and is maybe even in the process of doing so but never actually gets around to finishing the job due to the fact that, as a newlywed, she is so frequently in and out of the country, is extremely busy, (once she gets back to the states) works night hours, etc., etc.
maybe there is a paperwork glitch that makes the process difficult enough she doesn't elect to push the issue, even if perhaps she had initially been interested in taking grissom's name to start out with.
as a former ward of the state of california, she would not have access to her original birth certificate and was likely issued a new social security number when her mother's parental rights were severed. though she in theory has a redacted birth certificate and new ssn that are valid for legal purposes, maybe when, after her costa rican wedding, she goes to the state of nevada with her redacted/reissued documents looking to file her legal name change, they give her a hard time about them because they look funny ("how come your birth certificate says you were born in 1971 but according to this database your ssn was issued in 1980?") and require additional verification she simply cannot be bothered to provide.
it's also worth noting that while she doesn't legally take grissom's name either the first time she's married to him or the second (at least insofar as we know), her reasons for making that choice may be different in marriage 1.0 vs. marriage 2.0—for example, maybe the first go-around, she doesn't change her name due to the whole "we got married in costa rica" thing, whereas the second, she figures that after a 25+ year career, she wants to maintain the same name she built her reputation on.
of course, without knowing sara's exact reason or reasons for keeping her maiden name, we can't say with 100% certainty what her feelings on the matter of being "mrs. grissom" are—whether or not it's an issue she has strong feelings about, one way or another; if it's a decision she intends to stick with forever or if she ever might consider changing her name to grissom eventually; etc.
however, based on the two reactions to people referring to her that way we see in canon, i think, at the very least, we can infer she isn't adamantly opposed to being called mrs. grissom socially, even if she didn't take his name legally—and, indeed, may even be somewhat tickled by the experience, finding the notion amusing, if not even cute.
that so, i tend to imagine if someone were to refer to her as mrs. grissom or sara grissom during the events of the reboot, she would probably react much in the same way we see her do in s10 and s11: she'd get a big smile on her face, fluster a bit, and look to grissom, if he were with her. then, either she or he would, laughingly, point out she hadn't changed her name (at least not legally). maybe there'd be some playful banter about why she hadn't ("eh, i thought about it, but living in international waters? it would be a pain to file" "just say the words, and i'll take you to the consulate's office next time we're in guam, darlin'").
my take—and, full disclosure, i'm in the camp that doesn't mind the idea of her changing her name or even just going by grissom's surname more informally/on occasion (as is probably obvious from the fact that i often label my gsr gifsets as "the grissoms")—is that while she's never made the effort to actually legally change her name to grissom's and maybe even sees some advantages to keeping her maiden name for professional reasons, she has no problem being associated with his name socially and in fact kind of gets a kick out of it, which is why she sometimes refers to herself that way unprompted and doesn't really go out of her way to correct people who make mistakes about what she's called.
i can very easily imagine that after sara and grissom leave vegas at the end of csi: vegas s1, a few weeks later, a postcard arrives at the lab addressed to max, postmarked from panama, bearing no inscription other than a signoff "from the grissoms," written in sara's hand.
thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.
also, shameless plug: for those of you reading "an opposite of echoes," eventually, you'll get to see sara react to being called "mrs. grissom" in that story (on multiple occasions).
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artbyblastweave · 8 months
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One thing I really enjoy about Fallout New Vegas is that it's really really good at modeling The Long-Suffering Protagonist Who Things Just Keep Happening To. Fallout 4, one or two things happen to you at the start, and they're doozies, but then for the most part you start happening to everybody else. You don't suffer that many ignominies. Fallout New Vegas, you get shot in the head and dumped in a shallow grave. Two different guys stick a bomb collar on you and force you to run errands. You have to dodge howitzer fire like in that one Malcom In The Middle Episode. All your organs get stolen. You think you're gonna get an easy payday killing some feral ghouls at a test site and then boom, you're getting canonized as a saint by a ghoul rocket cult, pouring radioactive coolant out of toy rocket ships into a real rocket ship one at a time. You get tricked into initiating a nuclear strike. Twice. You play a shell-game with human trafficking victims to bluff a guy into thinking he's pulling a tantalus when it's really just beef. You're forced to have conversations with Mormons. You simply get involved in more situation per situation, hands down. Sole survivor's memoir, I mean, whatever, it'll be okay. Courier's memoir? Oh boy
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kinnbig · 11 months
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"are you going to talk or not?"
KP Anniversary | Underrated Moments [3/?]
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npc-is-drawing444 · 5 months
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I have updated the meme based on the character requests on the previous meme here. Also i have the biggest thanks to all the people who interacted to that post, it became by far my most popular one
Oh boy here come the tags
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pastelcheckereddreams · 9 months
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"I don't want to go to the safehouse alone. Guess I'll bring a pet to keep me company."
Are you surprised? Really, are you surprised?? This won't be a full series, I just wanted to do something for the kprewatch event and set maps are what I do best 🤷‍♀️ Especially because it involves watching the same episodes again and again very, very closely and going insane, which seems appropriate for all the brainrot VegasPete have caused me. The complete design:
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Silly little observations below the cut, but also have this diagram that illustrates where all the scenes take place relative to the aerial shot from episode 11:
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If you'd be interested in prints, let me know! I may end up having a crack at a more substantial safehouse piece. A front elevation view would be so interesting to put together.
Reblogs are encouraged, reposts are not. This piece is now crossposted to my instagram account here. Check out my cdrama set maps and other art at the links/socials below: The Untamed (ongoing): The Jingshi | The Hanshi | Lotus Pier Word of Honor: Four Seasons Manor (in progress) instagram | kofi | inprnt
A small note on my design choices/silly little observations: 1) The room where Pete is kept appears to be smaller and squarer than it is in the aerial shot. I'm guessing it's to accommodate the mood lighting and to give the room a more claustrophobic/cage-like feel. I've attempted to depict that empty space above relative to the dimensions of the birdseye view.
2) I'm not entirely sure there actually is a bit of a bump-out for the unseen room that makes up part of the main living space, but the apparent interior corner in the far right of this shot makes me think there might be:
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3) There's fresh herbs growing in a planter by the fridge and I think we should all think about Vegas planting them and watering them and cooking with them:
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4) There is one single shot of the bedroom where there might (a big might) be an armchair next to the bed at one point and I ran with it for personal headcanon reasons:
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5) What is in this mystery room at the back of this shot?? There seems to be a welcome mat or something put down? Is that the true entryway?? A bathroom? A utility room? I don't know nearly enough about vernacular Thai architecture to make an accurate guess:
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Anddd that's it, that's about all I've got for this blorbo house! As always, thank you for your support 🙏Feel free to yell about this location in the tags, I'd love to hear your thoughts and maybe improve my design.
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yeetlegay · 2 years
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What gets me lately is how Vegas is always trying to outdo Kinn both professionally (mafia-ly) and personally, and yet Kinn is the one who has a kiss embargo out of a fear of it being a gateway to real intimacy and vulnerability. Of the two, Kinn is actually the one who’s fallen in love before and knows what barriers to put up to keep it from happening again. He knows how to keep people out, when he wants to.
But Vegas doesn’t have that experience to jade him about what intimacy is emotionally dangerous for him. He throws himself right into kissing Pete, fucking him, lying in bed with him, completely oblivious to how thin a line he’s treading. He’s fucked up and traumatized and repressed, but where Kinn’s walls are carefully, meticulously built and designed to leave no weakness, Vegas built his walls for show, to intimidate people so much they’d never bother trying to knock them down. It’s no wonder he crumbled the second Pete made the barest effort to find the way in.
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chibipandaao3 · 3 months
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Babe and Charlie’s reunion
I know a lot of people have advocated domestic violence… oh wait, you don’t think Babe beating Charlie is DV oh… okay…. *scowls in sarcasm*
Anyway, I know a lot of people want Babe to be exceedingly angry at Charlie, and to not forgive him for what he’s done. But that reaction would go against Babe’s character.
Charlie has become literally and figuratively everything for Babe.
Unconditional support, unconditional love, a person who never stopped trying to care for Babe regardless of how Babe treated him.
Because remember, Babe was an asshole early on to Charlie. Getting jealous without asking questions. Accusing him without asking questions. Saying means things, being harsh. (And yes, this was mostly Way’s influence).
Yet regardless of that, Charlie stayed. Because Charlie’s only (internal and personal) purpose in life is to protect and care for Babe.
Now Babe might not like that. He might not like how willing Charlie is to sacrifice himself. He might want it to be more balanced or more nuanced, but regardless, Charlie’s only purpose is to protect and care for Babe.
And Babe knows this - he knows how he’s treated Charlie - he knows that he overreacted just before the accident.
And Babe regrets it. He regrets how he acted and the things he said, he regretted them the moment the accident happened. And worse, he’s lived in that regret for at least a couple weeks.
For Babe any anger he might feel towards Charlie, will easily going to be overshadowed by the sheer feelings of gratefulness, wonder, disbelief, affection, and hope. he is not going to care much about the event and solely focus on having Charlie back and Charlie’s safety.
I think that’s why in the preview we saw him protect Charlie three times - in like 15-30, he protected Charlie multiple times in that clip.
Babe is not the same person he was before Charlie’s accident. The person he is now, recognizes how fleeting life is, and how important Charlie is to him. He is going to live the rest of his life, making sure Charlie knows that. And it’s going to start the second they are reunited.
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