Coffee and CSI

prompts for characters getting to know each other.

“i don't think you realize how much people notice you.”

“you don't seem particularly trusting. then again, maybe neither am i.”

“you have a habit of appearing at interesting moments.”

“you strike me as someone who trusts their gut. am i wrong?”

“i've noticed you always leave before everyone else.”

“i think you enjoy keeping people guessing.”

“you seem restless.”

“it's strange how you can be surrounded by people and still feel alone.”

“have i ever told you that you're difficult to read?”

“you look like you haven't slept.”

“you know this place well enough that i'm starting to wonder if you've always lived here.”

“do you ever worry about the kind of person you're becoming?”

“i've known a lot of people. none of them were quite like you.”

“i can't decide whether people truly change, or if they just become better at hiding parts of themselves.”

“i had the strangest dream last night. do you remember yours when you wake up?”

“the more i get to know you, the more i keep noticing little similarities between the two of us.”

“i didn't realize you'd remember that.”

“most people seem uncomfortable with silence. i never minded it much.”

“you seem to know more than you're saying.”

“you seem comfortable on your own. i wonder if that's the same thing as never feeling lonely.”

“do you always look this serious?”

“you're easier to talk to than i expected.”

“i've always thought trust is harder to earn than people pretend.”

“you always seem to be watching.”

“i think you've been avoiding me.”

“you're not at all what i thought you would be.”

“whenever i ignore my instincts, i end up regretting it. what about you?”

“i wasn't expecting to run into you again.”

“i can't tell if you're someone who enjoys solitude or just tolerates it.”

“i know it sounds childish, but i can't help believing some people are meant to find one another.”

“you make a terrible liar.”

“you don't strike me as the sort of person people forget.”

“i think people underestimate you.”

“i can't decide whether you're charming or frustrating.”

“i don't think i've seen you smile before.”

“i wasn't sure you'd come.”

“it's a little strange. i think i've started looking forward to seeing you.”

“sometimes i wonder if we ever really know anyone.”

“you're surprisingly good company.”

“i think most people would like to believe they're good. i'm not sure it's always that simple.”

“i think being truly understood is a far rarer thing than people realize.”

“i don't usually tell people this...”

I LOVE stoic silent brooding characters secretly feeling and unable to express it

But one variety of emotional constipation that I think is criminally underrepresented (ESPECIALLY in female characters??) is the Superficial Emoter™️

The one who is warm and social but never expresses anything really deep about themselves or their emotions!

The one that seems like the most well-adjusted person in the whole group, capable of taking on anything and seemingly just rolling with all of it!!!

The one who doesn't seem to have the emotional range of all the other characters, just always seems to be "doing well"!!!!!!!

The one everyone looks to as a role model of resilience and endurance and really they are just absolutely incapable of processing/understanding/expressing their own emotions, all they have is positive affect with nothing solid beneath it!!!!!!!!!!!!

(And don't even fucking get me STARTED about the ones who help everyone else process THEIR emotions, while they themselves have little to no insight about their own feelings -- not because they're unable to understand, but because they're totally unwilling to examine them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

make sure to include the pairing(s) you are wanting these questions to be answered for . these should work for poly ships as well as monogamous . feel free to edit these as you see fit .

💕 How did they both realize “oh wait, this is actually love”?

🌹 Who fell harder & who fell first?

🫂 What’s their favorite way to hold each other when words aren’t enough?

🔥 What’s the pettiest thing they’ve ever argued about?

💋 Who says “I love you” first & how?

🌙 Who’s the little spoon & who pretends they hate it but secretly loves it?

💍 Would they ever get married? What would the proposal look like?

🧸 Who still has the very first gift the other ever gave them?

😈 Who is more likely to start chaos “for the vine” & who films it?

🎶 What’s their song - the one that makes them both tear up / grin like idiots?

☕ Who’s the morning person & how do they lure the night owl out of bed?

🛡️ Who jumps in front of danger for the other without thinking?

😳 What’s the most embarrassing thing they’ve walked in on the other doing?

💔 What’s the one fight that almost ended them?

🩹 How do they comfort each other after nightmares?

👀 Who gets jealous more easily & how obvious are they about it?

🍳 Who cooks & who sets off the smoke alarm trying to help?

🧳 If they had to run away together tomorrow, where would they go?

😏 Who is bolder in public (hand-holding, kisses, etc.)?

🌧️ Who steals whose hoodies when it rains?

🎂 How do they celebrate each other’s birthdays?

🖤 What’s the darkest “we’ll never tell anyone” thing they’ve done together?

💌 Who leaves little love notes & where do they hide them?

🛌 Who hogs the blanket & who ends up freezing dramatically?

😴 Who falls asleep first & who watches them with heart-eyes?

🚪 Who’s more likely to say “we’re not leaving this room today”?

🌸 What nickname do they have for each other that would mortify them if others heard?

🎤 Who sings in the shower & who secretly records it for blackmail?

💞 How do they act when one of them is sick?

🩸 Who would literally kill for the other & who would help hide the body?

🌅 Do they go on sunrise / stargazing dates? Which one do they love more?

😤 Who apologizes first after a fight, even if they weren’t wrong?

🧩 What tiny habit of the other do they find unbearably adorable?

🎪 Who plans elaborate surprise dates & who just wants to stay in?

👑 In their relationship, who’s the king / queen & who’s the knight / advisor?

🌪️ What’s the most chaotic thing they’ve done together on pure impulse?

💤 Who has the weirdest sleep-talking lines that the other quotes constantly?

🧡 What color reminds each of them of the other?

🕰️ If they could go back in time, what moment would they relive together?

😶 Who’s terrified of saying “meet my parents” & why?

🍷 Who gets tipsy first & starts spilling embarrassing love confessions?

🌿 Do they want kids/pets/plants together? What do they name them?

🪞 Who takes longer getting ready & who hypes the other up in the mirror?

💥 What’s the biggest risk one of them took for the other that the partner didn’t find out about until much later?

🧣 Who steals the other’s scarf / gloves “on accident” every winter?

🌌 What’s their “we made it through hell” memory they’ll tell their grandkids?

😘 Who kisses the other first thing in the morning, morning breath & all?

🩰 Slow dancing in the kitchen at 3 a.m. - who starts it?

⚓ If one of them had to leave forever, what would they leave behind for the other?

and it is 100% the kind of Cover Your Ass report that you write when everything has gone wrong and you want your boss to be very clear that it is not your fault

First is my megalist of homesteading-related links I’ve gathered over the years. I’m a mod over at r/homesteading and this is where I’ve put a lot of good sources (not all, admittedly some are still sitting in my bookmark folder waiting to be added). The search function at reddit is wretched, but there’s also been lots of good things I’ve shared there too. Please note that many of these sources are not actual webpages, but PDFs. That’s not an accident, PDFs are where you find the really good in-depth stuff.

Many of my sources are from the Extension Service. They won’t try to relate to you based on your lifestyle or sexual identity or religion or whatever, but due to that, they also won’t be alienating you either.

The Cooperative Extension Service (US only) exists in all 50 states and in most counties. It is taxpayer funded. The Extension Service exists to help people become more self sufficient, for farmers to be more successful, for people to be healthier, for kids to be well adjusted, to figure out how to grow the best plants in your area, etc. Some county offices even offer cheap classes in things like gardening, canning, soap making, and they’re taught by people with training in these areas (I once heard a great talk on composting from a soil scientist that way). Do you want to know what type of plant something is? Do you need help figuring out a plant disease or pest issue? You can now contact them online and get great info.

I HIGHLY recommend checking out your state’s extension service website, because they do offer different types of information, depending on what is grown/raised where you are (and how well funded they are). My county extension puts out a monthly gardening newsletter, which includes a helpful ‘this is the time of the year to do —-’ part.

Here’s an example from North Carolina - check out that left sidebar

Here’s an example from California - this website is HUGE so dig around

Here’s an example from New York - they have a calendar at the bottom, showing how they have things like hydroponic and urban agriculture workshops coming up.

Interested in raising animals? Penn State Extension is really really good. They have tons of free materials and courses available online, some I pulled for my megalist at the top of this.

National Center for Home Food Preservation - they cover the important aspects of food safety, and also have some recipes. Many state Extension Service websites will have lots more recipes.

If you have kids, check out 4-H programs for them. It’s part of the local public school system here. If you’re homeschooling, you can also purchase their science-filled educational and self sufficiency materials (materials are divided by age ranges - Cloverbud Member: ages 5-8, Junior Member: ages 9-13, Senior Member: ages 14-19). One of my coworkers is in 4-H, she’s still in high school, and last year she raised an award-winning heifer.

Congress grants the money for funding these programs, and they’re connected with various universities. There’s a level of cutting edge scientific knowledge and academic rigor you don’t find in blogs or even most books. There’s LOTS of homesteading books filled with outdated information like ‘till the earth every year’ hell I still have older coworkers who do it and I’m trying to figure out how to gently tell them that they’re destroying their soil that way, and that there’s better methods now, methods grounded in science.

Knitting - try this youtube series

DIY Crown - here’s a youtube video on how to make a mermaid crown

One of the reasons I mostly stick to one Shep is because the variation of game choices just isn't different enough for me to invest in a whole nother story, but leaving a different character on Virmire—an alien character—could have consequences more far-ranging than just personal regret.

I also like a bit of realism so to me there's one obvious choice here. To start at the beginning, it makes the most sense to leave Kaidan with the bomb no matter what. A team of alien operatives is dismantling part of your ship, an Alliance ship. An Alliance officer must oversee that. And it makes the most sense for Shepard to fall back and protect the bomb at the crucial moment of decision. The bomb is the primary objective, saving lives is secondary. In my mind, it's always the person with Kirrahe who doesn't make it.

Ashley is of course a good choice to send with Kirrahe, she's got broad combat training. There are few other good choices, actually. Tali and Liara are civilians without real combat training. Liara's primary offensives are biotics which STG doesn't typically utilise and Tali is more vulnerable than anyone else if wounded. Wrex is obviously capable but I don't see STG trusting him after his outburst at the beginning. Or before it, honestly. That leaves Garrus, who is actually a great choice. He has military training that he has continued to use as a cop, tech and sniping skills that are useful when outnumbered, and he's accustomed to following orders—by appearances, at least. Given the long relationship between turians and salarians, I think STG would probably prefer Garrus above any of the other squadmates.