Certiably Baby 🌻

I make Stardew Valley mods on occasion

[himetarts]

Hypothetically, if I were to make fanart of a selfship with Sterling, or even just art of Sterling, would I be allowed to make merch out of that completely for myself? I just really love ARV and your work as a whole and I wasn’t sure if that was something you’d feel comfortable with!

ONLY IF YOU SHOW ME

(Of course !! Absolutely, you wouldn't be the first. I love knowing there's all kinds of ARV works, physical and digital out there!)

[himetarts]

How do you feel about people writing fanfic about ARV? I started a fic a little bit ago featuring the gang, and just wanted to ask if there was anything that really bothered you about the way people write your characters, or content that makes you uncomfortable to see, before I kept going.

It probably goes without saying, but I love ARV and I love Henry, Sterling, and Mia <3 I hope you're rightfully proud of what you've made.

The thing is, if any of my work every inspires you to be creative in any way, no matter the outlet, then the hours I put into it become immediately validated.

ARV was written because a thousand other works inspired me to be creative, so if I can continue passing that baton by making you want to do something as well, then I truly feel like I accomplished something.

I would be delighted to see your work! Some people post their ARV fics on Tumblr, but there's also a small ARV precense on AO3 as well. Regardless! Know you don't ever need my permission, because anyone always, always has my encouragement.

[sukigairu]

Anteiku ☕️

— 000

[himetarts]

Hi! First off, I just wanted to say I really, really love ARV. Sterling has become my favorite person to romance and a hyper fixation at this point. He is just so babygirl that it just makes me scream at all of his dialogue. If it wasn't for the fact my farmer is 5'0, she would carry Sterling bridal style, over her shoulder, on her hip like a toddler lmao But onto my actual question, I found out that Sterling has a butterfly and hummingbird tattoo. I think I read that the butterfly tattoo is from when he started to recover from his substance abuse as like a symbol that he's changing his life like a caterpillar to a butterfly sort of thing. But I haven't been able to find if the hummingbird tattoo has a meaning. Or maybe it's just so explanatory that it doesn't need to be explained lol (So sorry if this has already been asked!)

It's because he's a WHORE. and he jumps from flower to FLOWER.

(I am pulled away exit stage left)

Sterling was never much of a kid who read, but he was an older brother (cousin, really, but he leaves the role of being a pedant to Henry) and that meant having to walk Gloria the few country miles from the farm to the library so she could.

She was one of those kids who derived pleasure from inane things such as *school* and *education* and had larger dreams than the stretch of horizon bathed by the orange glow of dawn at Cooper Farms. Sometimes she'd squint her eyes at the line where the sun went to hide behind the mountains, and Sterling could swear she could somehow see through stone and dirt all the way out to the city.

"Did you know the hummingbird is the smallest migrant bird?"

Sterling didn't know that. Sterling didn't know a lot other useless things either, like how many kilometers in a mile or how much resistance a chair could handle before it would tip over backwards. In a few minutes, Gunther would remind him once more to keep his feet off the table and the legs of the old, repurposed school chairs on the floor, but for now, he yet had a few minutes of freedom.

"Did you know you are the tiniest Cooper? Just a few years and it'll be official. Smaller than my aunt Mary, there ought to be a prize for that."

It wasn't even approaching one of Sterling Cooper's best retort, so the spine of the book to his stomach that stole his breath away was entirely warranted.

"Can you even feign being a little impressed?" "Birds travel together, Gloria." The chair snapped forward as he leaned in, fingers outstretched to pinch her nose in between two fingers. He was starting to sound like his uncle, unable to ramble about anything more than the importance of family sticking together when there'd never been even an ounce of warmth between the kitchen walls of their dining room. "They can do anything when they stick together."

Empty platitudes had only earned him that book spine slamming into fingers.

"Hummingbirds do not." Years later, Sterling would catch a midnight screening of Harry Potter on national TV and he'd hear Gloria's voice again in the echoes of Hermione Granger. It would drive him down the bottom of another six-pack of beer until Emma Watson's was reduced to nothing more than pleasant gibberish, far from the echoes of ghosts. "They travel alone, up to 500 miles at once. Even in spite of their size."

...

"Don't they get lonely?"

"It's just in their nature, Ster."

She was doing it again. That thing she did when she watched the horizon, arms folded over what would become her favorite book in years to come. That thing where she somehow understood the weight of the world, years before her older brothers would ever come to.

"It sounds scary."

The look she'd given him, all quick wit, raised brows and disbelief, had shamed him into silence.

"If the tiniest bird can travel all alone to fulfill its biological destiny, what do we have to be possibly scared of?"

"Little hummingbird." Sterling had snorted, trying to chase away the loss that would not come to fruition for years to come yet. "My uncle's going to beat you if he hears you talking like that again."

A small shrug. The weight of the world, of family, legacy, and expectation shaken off her shoulders.

"I think we could all be hummingbirds."

[himetarts]

Progress on Mia

Something I've always deeply prided myself in ARV is the dynamic dialogue that changes on who you're dating/married, what stage you are in life, etc. Now I finally begun work on Mia in earnest, part of honoring that commitment to me looked like not shying away on what a hard day around Sterling might be like.

But also celebrating the good.

[himetarts]

Not an ask just thought id let you know that my farmer named Thalassa has a beach farm with a green house full of sunflowers so her boy can enjoy his favorite flower while soaking up the waves straight from the front porch

That makes me incredibly happy and I know Sterling would be the happiest camper he could possibly be in that environment. Thank you for sharing 🥺🥺🥺

In the Sunberry Discord we have a running joke about the "Jason Todd to Sterling Cooper lover pipeline" that began when I mentioned Sterling's original concept art heavily referenced Jason Todd in my moodboard, and big Sterling lovers came out of the woodwork to say their favorite fictional characters were Jason Todd *and* Sterling Cooper. The list is ever-growing, and your @ gave me a good chuckle because of it.

[himetarts]

Sterling/Farmer (Cerise) commission so that ceiling nation be rising.

[himetarts]

I feel like this update is giving us more Sterling lore which I love! What about Sterlings parents? What’s his relationship with them like or are they dead? Based on the motorcycle heart event in the game it sounded like they were alive but estranged. It makes me wonder if Sterling started as one of those kids who worked hard to please his parents all his life by getting good grades and winning awards at sporting events only for them to never be satisfied which leads to him finally snapping in high school and rebelling. Or they died causing him to spiral out of control.

This actually has a FULL answer during the spring mini-date, where you can ask him directly about it, so I'll keep this to a very short answer!

Neither of Sterling's parents are in his life, but they're both alive. Mom dropped baby Sterling at his father feet and never looked back, and his father left him behind in Pelican Town sometime when he was 12-14 to resume his life of travelling (and being a whore). He has not seen or had any contact with either since.

Three cheers for abandonment issues! (and complex feelings about parenthood he actually talks a lot about in the ARV Kids mod)

[maeyumeia]

Off work, sleep-deprived, but this lil pup got spoiled… @binuba drew me something and I’m sobbing… 😭🐶❤️

[himetarts]

In the bandaid post you mentioned Sterlings I assume ex Kai? Not sure if this goes into spoiler territory but how did those two meet, get together and how long were they together?

Hi there! In the marriage update, there's now an event where you can ask Sterling about Kai more yourself! So I'll fill you in on the details he doesn't talk about.

They met in college! Orbited the same group of friends to party. Sterling was a party animal and Kai was more moderated guy who just wanted to blow off a little steam and release some stress.

I'd say they got together relatively quickly? Sterling and Kai had a bit of an unhealthy, unclear on-and-off kind of relationship for a while. Sterling was like 20 and Kai was 19, both in their first year of uni.

They were (on and off) together right until Sterling moved back to the valley! So technically, 7 years, but in all likelihood they were together only 4-5 years of those 7. It was a pretty serious relationship despite it not being the best.

[himetarts]

Okay if this wasn’t the intention please don’t mind me but did you make the toxic yaoi situationship implications between Shane and Sterling on purpose. I feel like im the only one who’s noticed this in my friend group and it’s made me feel insane

1. I am always supportive of the toxic yaoi narrative, whether I intended it or not. God bless.

2. (Serious answer) I actually never shipped Sterling and Shane myself because of the toxicity of their dynamic. ARV to me has always been about healing, so that narrative seemed counter intuitive to me because of that. Sterling needed to get away from what was bad for him, even if it was a friend if he was ever to get sober.

That said, in what to me is a hilarious twist of fate, I’ve been helping with a Sterling/Shane rival hearts mod ! It is beautifully well written, healing focused and definitely sold me on Sterling x Shane so here we are now LOL. I hope you guys will get to enjoy it on saves you’re not marrying Sterling! (Which you should do, for me, I spent so long making this mountain of new content for Sterling marriage)

[himetarts]

two bros chilling in a dock five feet apart bc they're not gay

[peachdelta]

i got three drunk men heart events in a row in the same night for some reason

[himetarts]

always drunk in the valley.png

[himetarts]

I think a downside of mod making (or creating anything, really) that no one warns you about, is you lose access to certain spaces geared towards people consuming content when they start consuming yours.

I believe in the importance of mod users (or people who consume content) to gather together and talk candidly about their experiences with what we create; but jesus christ does it sometimes hurt to read the things people read so casually. There are many spaces I stay away from, like subreddits or sometimes servers for example, because of the way people will speak about my work or the work of the people I love. And of course they would, it's their space, why would they have to write anything assuming the author might scroll by and read it and have their week ruined or their muse shot?

I love creating, I would not trade it for the world. It is my greatest passion. But boy do I occasionally miss being someone who could just consume and opine on other content passively, unaffected by other people's words.

[himetarts]

hi! i hope working on your mod is going well, and i hope you are taking care of yourself too! thank you for sharing your amazing art with all of us in the stardew valley community <3

Thank you anon!

Happy to announce marriage update is completed, as well as an extra surprise that will be released on the 14th with it.

Need to draw my son to celebrate (as soon as I'm done with i18n'ing all this dialogue...)

[himetarts]

Hime, Im literally in love with ARV. The characters are so real and colourful, slot perfectly into the valley. You've got your finger on what makes canon characters tick in the cutscenes. Adorable designs. Perfect title. Funny dialogue. Absolutely in love with Sterling, charmed by Mia, would die for Max. Really really really lovely mod <3 thank you so much for making it!!!

Thank you so much for the kind words! And thank you for playing and enjoying it, it keeps me going 🥺

[sophiesalacia]

microdosing interpersonal conflict by giving stardew npcs hated gifts